stormTRacker Podcast
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stormTRacker Podcast
Carolina Hurricanes' Lineup Turmoil: Center Ice Battles and Goaltending Strategies Unveiled!
Can the Carolina Hurricanes regain their winning form amidst a whirlwind of lineup changes? Join us as we unravel the complexities of Coach Rod Brind'Amour's strategies with insights from Aaron Manning and Katie Bartlett. From unstable lines wreaking havoc on player chemistry to the pressing challenges at center ice, our guests shed light on the critical elements that could make or break the Hurricanes' season. Katie emphasizes the necessity for stable lines, particularly in road games, while Erin highlights the impact on possession metrics, suggesting a potential need for a return to traditional line structures.
Our conversation takes a deep dive into the center ice conundrum, as Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Jack Drury battle for the coveted second center position. The stakes are high with Drury's injury potentially reshuffling the lineup, bringing Tyson Jost into the spotlight. Erin provides valuable insights into this change, alongside a detailed discussion on the Hurricanes' ongoing struggles with five-on-five scoring, even for star player Sebastian Aho. The lineup dynamics are shifting, and the need for player synergy is more critical than ever to bolster offensive performance.
The episode wouldn't be complete without addressing goaltending hurdles and defensive strategies. We explore the tough decision to send Spencer Martin to the AHL, and the potential impact of Freddie Andersen's IR placement. Our analysis of the defensive core highlights the impressive performance of the Gostisbehere and Walker pairing. We explore potential strategies for reducing veteran defenseman Burns' workload and speculate on trade rumors and possible roster moves. As we wrap up, we're grateful for our listeners' engagement and remind everyone to stay tuned for more updates on the Hurricanes' journey.
Well, the Carolina Hurricanes got off to an outstanding start 14-3-1 in the season, and a lot of the critics were wondering did we get it wrong? But recently things have not been quite the same for the Canes. In fact, they're 4-6-0 in their past 10. They've been outscored 41-32, and things are a little bit murky with the canes these days. I've got with me, as always, my good friends and insiders, aaron manning and katie bartlett, and we're going to talk about what's happening in the canes camp these days. How are you ladies doing?
Speaker 2:well, how about you doing great?
Speaker 1:doing great. It's great to be back. I've been away for a while, as you know, and it's great to be back. I've been away for a while, as you know, and it's great to be back here talking hockey with both of you. So, starting it off, I thought we'd kick this discussion off with a big topic. These days, what's Rob Brindamore up to? He seems like he's changing the lines regularly. Doesn't seem to have anything that seems to be working for him. But, boy, it's a bit of a muddle. You want to kick that off, katie?
Speaker 3:Sure, I mean definitely been a big point of discussion on the social media sites what's going on with the lines and you can debate all you want. Are we looking for balanced lines so that you have good defensive pressure on all lines and offensive defensive pressure on all lines and offensive scoring ability on all lines, or do you want to create lines that have a little bit more of an identity? That's been my take. I'd love to see a top line that's created for scoring, a second line that is created to support that first line, the normal puck possession, dominance of Stahl's line and then just a gritty, grinding fourth line. That's always been my opinion, ever since we started talking back in the preseason about these topics.
Speaker 3:But regardless of your stance on which particular setup is best suited for the Canes and what the Canes can use, you have to pick one and stick with it, and I think consistency has been the name of the game as far as what the Canes have lacked, because with all of the scrambling of lines, the players aren't able to get into a rhythm with each other and develop that chemistry as a line. And so you're seeing that players are just and it's just a touch, but just a touch out of position or their passes are just a touch off or they're anticipating something and it just isn't quite there. It's just a touch off and it's creating a lot of the problems that the Canes are facing that if those players were to get three, four, five games under their belt, plus all of the associated practices together, I think a lot of those touch off missed plays would start reducing in number and start being eliminated altogether in certain situations.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Well, I agree, and I think that you know. It's interesting because when you, when you look at how most teams are constructed, they do create lines like what Katie was describing, and one of the reasons I think the Canes have been at a disadvantage through this experimental phase is that it makes the line matching so much harder, you know, and it doesn't it's especially, it's been especially hard on the road so much harder, you know, and it doesn't, it's, it's especially, it's been especially hard on the road. The road games have been not great. You know the games that they really should have won, games that they definitely should have had a chance in, and they just were struggling the whole time. So that's not characteristic of the Canes and I think that that's where you know, when you know Brenda Moore is not controlling the matchups in the road games, you don't have those lines. You don't have those lines. You don't have it.
Speaker 2:Well, where's my shot suppression line? Where's my scoring line? Where's my gritty grinding line? You don't have them because you have, um, I mean last night, um, the game started with a fourth line. That was william carrier. Uh is very. Kokanemi, yes, and jack rosliff. What is that line? There's no. You have no rhyme or reason for that identity to exist.
Speaker 2:So it doesn't matter whether that was you know whether how much time they were going to get, or what line you have that Rod not numbering his lines, that's not but but but why would you put those three players together?
Speaker 2:And what ended up happening? And I was talking about this a little bit on X earlier, is it just kind of proved the point that line had the worst Corsi 4 percentage of any of the many lines that played, because of course, with the injury to Jack Drury that I know we're going to talk about, they ended up scrambling the lines even more than normal because of course you were rotating centers in and out on different groupings. But to go from a 33% Corsi 4 with that line and then the Svechnikov-Kokuniemi-Nagis line had a 75% Corsi 4, and they played almost the exact same number of minutes. So that shows that certain lines just work and certain lines don't. And you know you look at this and think are we overthinking it too much? Are we trying to build these perfect sets of, you know, offense and defense and everybody can play the same way and everybody can match everybody else? It doesn't seem to work in practice, even though I know that's the theory. It goes back to that idea of hockey that's become very popular out there.
Speaker 1:Well, here's a question. For some of the folks who might be listening today is that maybe they don't totally understand what the Corsi rating is. Can you maybe share something on that Well?
Speaker 2:Corsi is just a puck possession number.
Speaker 2:It has to do with how many shots your line creates.
Speaker 2:How many times did your line get a shot on goal versus how many times did the opposition get a shot on goal when your line was on the ice?
Speaker 2:And because Rod Brennamore's team has always been a heavy shot suppression team, you can kind of see how well the lines are working by how much of those shots against are being suppressed. So it's been I think it's been a big focus of the Canes systems to create lines that suppress shots. The problem with that, as we've found out, you know, with some of the offensive lines that have been built over the years is that when you're trying to generate offense, you're probably not doing as much of that shot suppression work, because you're certainly in the offensive zone, you want to be there as often as possible, but when the play turns the other way, you're usually facing a situation where it's a quick transition and you're trying to, you know, to stop a goal from being scored. But you're not necessarily going to be stopping those shots from being taken, and that's why you need good goaltending, which is another area we'll get into.
Speaker 1:Well, we'll talk about that. Well, you know it's interesting. We've talked about the shots for and against. The Canes are right up at the top. They're second in both of those, so clearly they're getting the shots off. They're also able to reduce the number of shots on goal and I think that is as you say. That is the system of the Canes, that's what Rod likes. And the one thing I've noticed lately and I don't know if you have, but the Canes style, of course is to be heavy on the forecheck and to spend a lot of time in the offensive zone. Lately that has not been the case and it certainly is kind of perplexing, because you know the team is built to do that. So not sure why that's struggled, and of course they're giving up better chances to the opposition and they're scoring on them. So that's how they've been losing during this streak. The Canes stack up beautifully on the power play and penalty kills.
Speaker 1:So when they're not doing their regular lines. Things are working out very well. They're number two in the league on both of those. In fact, the Canes are almost at 30% of the power play. This is unbelievable how well they're doing. And, of course, we know that the magic is coming from two players in particular Marty.
Speaker 1:Natchez and of course, shane Gossespierre. Gossespierre has been all world, you know, looking at his numbers. He's near the top in really every offensive metric for defensemen in terms of power play, points, points and so on, and he's just been magic and it's great to see. But on the five-on-five side it's been to quote that phrase Rod Blendamore in action. He has really really played with us a lot. And you know, you have to wonder, because when the Canes rolled off those initial 14 wins, they had the lineup pretty well set. You know you had. You know KK was out there with Robinson and Natchez and that line was very, very strong and we were all impressed with the work of Eric Robinson, as he, you know, got off to a pretty good start for the Canes and then on the top line you had Jack Roslevic getting up to 13 goals pretty quickly.
Speaker 1:So he's a guy that you know again that line with he and Svetch and Aho was very, very effective. William Carrier steps into you know Jesper Foss' position and that line did very, very well. Hard to understand why you'd keep playing with these lines and not go back to them. I did see in the game against San Jose for a very short time Koken Ami with Natchez and of course, Eric Robinson, very short time.
Speaker 3:So, you kind of have to wonder.
Speaker 1:And you know you look at a guy like Jack Roslevic, and Roslevic is, I think he's well built to be on the line with Sebastian Ajo and Sveshnikov. I don't know if he's nearly as effective with anybody else.
Speaker 3:Well, part of it I mean going back to Aaron's Corsi real quick is when you had that second line of KK, natchez and Robinson. They were the best scoring line five on five, but they also were the worst Corsi line, and I think that's a lot of why they got split up is because of Brenda Moore's preference for shot suppression over the shot generation and the scoring, which in my mind, it's about a ratio. You know it doesn't. If you're giving up three goals but you're scoring 12, that's the same as giving up one goal and scoring four. I mean that. You know, just because you gave up two fewer goals, where you're also scoring eight fewer goals, you need to, you know, come up with that.
Speaker 3:And so I think that's kind of where the Ajo line comes in as well, because Ajo is good defensively and Roslevic has his defense is his Achilles heel, let's just put it that way and we have seen that in some of these games recently with these blended lines where he hasn't had someone like an Ajo looking out for him, and Ajo is also a playmaker. So their skill sets matched each other well Ajo likes passing, ajo likes creating scoring opportunities rather than shooting and taking those opportunities for himself. Roslevic is a sniper. He finds those soft spots in the ice and takes those opportunities to shoot, and then, whether it was Fetch doing the digging of the pucks out of the corner, or Jarvis or whatever, that particular skill set also complemented them. And so, you're right, I don't think Roslevic really fits well elsewhere, but that's because of how well his offensive and defensive tendencies match with Ajo's, both for the positive and to cover up some of the negative.
Speaker 3:What do you think, Erin?
Speaker 2:I think that you're right to a point. The only thing is is that we get into that dilemma of we have Spechnikov, we have Roslevic, we have uh spechnikov, we have roslovich, we have jarvis, we have natchez, and then if we want to put robinson in back in the top six, then suddenly we have too many top six wingers. I think, ultimately, either robinson or roslovich will probably be playing a little bit below, and and we know, we don't know exactly what's going to happen now but as far as being really effective with Ajo, absolutely. The only thing that's interesting, though, is that I think, even though they haven't played much together, by the expected goal metric, the line of Sveshnikov, ajo and Jarvis was actually a little bit higher, you know, than Roslevic, ajo and Jarvis, so Roslevic was scoring a lot of goals. Nobody was expecting them, apparently, sorry, just a little bit, but no, they weren't creating again, they weren't having the same effect on possession, and that is where I think that there's going to have to be those discussions about okay, do we want to prioritize the whole puck possession and suppression? And I think that they do, because I think that that is what Bryn Mawr sees as the right way to play, but you have to.
Speaker 2:I think you have to figure out how do you balance that when a line is really going you know, because even though they haven't played together, for instance in you know, the last nine, 10 games, now nine games the line of Robinson, kokaniemi and Natchez is still the according to Moneypuck, I think, is still the top line in in uh goals, four per 60. They were producing more goals per 60 minutes of ice time than anybody else in the NHL. We're not talking just on the canes. So when you have something that's working like that, I think that's where you have to step back and say okay, is shock suppression really so important that we have to start moving these people around and putting different people together to see if we can get the same effect without giving up so much at the other end. All of these questions seem to be interconnected, though, because then, once again, you're right back at goaltending. So it's, it's a it's an interlocking system.
Speaker 1:the other thing I was going to mention, yeah, absolutely. The other thing I was going to mention, aaron, is you know, there's there's warts with all the lines, but they were at 14, three and one using these units, and they may not, some of the metrics may not have been exactly where you want them to be or whatever, but the reality is they were winning and they were winning big time. So I mean, what did they have? Eight or nine in a row or something. So I mean, to me there's a lot of question as to why we're doing this and in the end, you know, we knew off the start of the season there was going to be some concerns at center ice, for sure.
Speaker 1:We knew off the start of the season there was going to be some concerns at center ice, for sure. We knew that. We had a special on that. We got into it in great detail and we knew, in particular, that the Canes were going to struggle in that 2C. It was going to be a battle between Coconemi and Drury. We felt much more strongly towards Coconemi and I think as he started the season that was the case and it was great. But as time has gone on, brendan Moore has done as usual, and of course he flip-flops Drury into that position, moves Kokuniemi to the fourth line, and that didn't work so well. Now We've got a new situation, of course, with Jack Drury going out, and one of the challenges the Canes have had, of course, in their center crew has been getting five-on-five goals. I mean, they're puny numbers like twos, and threes.
Speaker 1:I mean hardly scoring anything. In fact, I think Ajo, at seven, I think, is obviously number one in the center side. But you look at, you know, stahl and Drury and Kokanemi are all down in tiny numbers and you can't. To me that's not good enough. I mean, you've got to get more out of your centers, for sure. And so we look at the center ice situation. Erin, what are you thinking about center ice?
Speaker 2:Well, like you said, the injury to Drury is going to be a big factor in what happens going forward. We know we found out today that they have called up Tyson Jost from the Chicago Wolves. Some people are a little disappointed that they didn't decide to call up Ryan Suzuki.
Speaker 1:I'm very disappointed.
Speaker 2:I actually have learned to not have that knee-jerk reaction when it comes to prospects, just because I feel like right now Ryan Suzuki is having the season in Chicago that if injuries had not been a factor, he probably would have had last season or even the season before, maybe because he's always been this player, he's always had this capability, but he's been derailed by injuries so frequently, especially after the original uh injury to his eye. So he's just had. He's had a much harder path and right now he's the one C in Chicago. He's just below a point per game he's got. His confidence is growing game by game from the reports I've heard and the clips I've seen. I haven't been able to watch a Wolves game, but you know all of the little bits and pieces that I've seen put together. So, been able to watch a Wolves game, but all of the little bits and pieces that I've seen put together. So you look at that and you say, okay, you're going to pull him up to a team that's going through some kind of malaise we don't know what it is and you're going to plug him in at 4C where he's going to get nine or 10 minutes a game and clearly not be someone that they're relying on to do much. That's not necessarily the best way to shore up the confidence of a young player who hasn't had the opportunities yet. So I can see the rationale behind calling up Jost, because he's already knows the system, he's played it. He was he. He was fine in the role. There were no issues. You know he was a solid, I think would be a word you would use to describe him.
Speaker 2:I don't know if they're going to have him playing center. He played wing last time, but he does play center. So we'll see what he's going to do. Yeah, so I mean as much as personally. Yes, I would love to see Ryan Suzuki come up and play he's.
Speaker 2:You know I was agitating for that in the offseason but I was thinking if he made the team, that would be great. And since he didn't, and since he's having so much success in Chicago, I think let him keep having that success in Chicago until he really builds. Because I think when they call him up and I say when rather than if, but when they call him up, I think they will be doing it with the sense that he's not going back you know that he's not going to go back down and whether that's to come up as part of the Black Aces at the end of the year or whether that's some earlier situation due to injury or something you know. Let's make sure that Ryan Suzuki's entry into the NHL is not just a stopgap measure of a few games for someone being out with injury. So I'm kind of there, yeah.
Speaker 3:Katie of there. Yeah, katie, yeah, um, well, as unfortunate as the drury injury is, I do think it provides more clarity to the cane center situation, because there isn't a. Should it be this guy? Should it be that guy? It is now aho, kk, stall, and I'm assuming jost or I. I mean they could put Roslevic there, I guess, but I think that's not. 4c is not really his skill set. You want him to be in a position to be the sniper, not the play driver. But it is concerning. I mean, you mentioned that Ajo leads with goals, but the majority of Ajo's goals are power play goals. I think only two of his goals are five on five.
Speaker 3:So he's in that same boat as far as five on five scoring is concerned, and it goes back to the consistency of just being able to drive that play, get those zone entries, find those seam passes and if you're not playing with the same people regularly, you just can't get on a roll and can't get things clicking. And the centers, especially in Brenda Moore's system with the man on man, have to be extra mindful of watching their backs and making sure that they're in a position to defend. And when, when you have one foot back over the blue line, you can't attack at the net. And so you know, that's just. It's the reality of the system that Brenda Moore has brought to the team that has brought the team a lot of success.
Speaker 3:So I don't want to get too down on the system because it's produced many, many years of wonderful hockey many years of wonderful hockey, but at the same time, the players just need to be able to drive, play more, and that starts with the centers, is getting those pucks in and creating transition plays and cycle plays and that sort of thing in order to make the shots more dangerous.
Speaker 3:The Canes are creating a lot of shots because they're good at getting shots through, but the majority of them are low danger chances, and it starts with the centers. The centers have to be the ones to create the plays in order to up the danger level, because we have so many good shooters. If we're able to create more high danger chances, we have the people who can finish on them. At least on those top two lines we can. Yeah, we know, we know the finishing problems with the stall line, but that's that's acceptable for that line, though I mean the third line that's fine to not have that finishing because of all the other things that they are out there to do. As far as matchups and that sort of thing, those, those top two lines, we have the finishers. We just need to create the opportunities for them to be in those positions where they have a higher likelihood of scoring those goals and not just be shooting from the perimeter.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Well, the Canes have a couple of things they have to work on. One of them is that I mean they're relying on a few people to drive most of the offense right now. I mean, if Marty Natchez goes dry for any period of time, the Canes are going to be in a tough situation. They're not getting. They did see a nice quick bump from Sveshnikov six points in two games, which was great, but he has not been consistent at all this year and that's been a problem.
Speaker 1:I mean, I think you know the big opportunity right now for me is going to be Ysperi Kokuniemi. He is going to be in a situation where he can actually, you know, have an opportunity to take a key role for the Canes. Clearly, offensively, they're not going to get much from Jordan Stahl and they're not going to get much from Tyson Jopes. So if there's going to be any more contribution at center ice right now, that's got to be Kokaniemi. And I thought the last couple of games I was pleased to see some of his effort. He was starting to show a little bit more life. He went through that period again where he, you know, he was really almost non-existent on the ice, and so now he's, he's starting to show a little bit more life, and I think he's a guy that Canes are going to need to come through for sure. I mean, they have no other real options.
Speaker 2:At the moment? No, unless they're planning to make some big trade, but it's mid-season and they don't usually do that. So, no, I think this is an opportunity for Kokuniemi, but it's also an opportunity, if you want to look at it this way, for Rod Brendamore to step back and stop the pattern of demoting Kokuniemi whenever he has a significantly bad game, pattern of demoting Kokuniemi whenever he has a significantly bad game, because you're going to have, when your players are 23, 24 years old he's 24, svetch is 24, drack Drury is 24 they've all had their bad games, you know, and maybe it's not like I'm not trying to say that they're all on that equal level by any means, but I really feel like when you have a player who struggles with his confidence and we've seen that happen last season it becomes counterproductive to have that demotion be the first thing you go to and then to have it last so long. That was my biggest complaint and one of the reasons why I wasn't sure what was going on with Kokuniemi or what they were thinking, because I thought, you know, yes, he had a very bad game against Columbus. He had a very bad game against Columbus. He was demoted during that game, which was absolutely appropriate. They kept him. If they'd kept him down on the fourth line for a couple of games after that, I would have been sitting there saying, absolutely, you know, reinforce the message, give him some time to spend more time watching from the bench.
Speaker 2:But yesterday was game nine, I think, and even as he was improving and even as he was contributing and even as he was scoring and he ended up having the same number of points that Drury was having, with four more minutes a game, it's like. At what point do you, if you really see this person as being someone who's going to be at least a middle six center on your team for the future, at what point do you say, okay, there's no reason to keep playing him 10 minutes a night because that's never been. You know anybody's way of getting out of of a funk. You know that's never been anybody's way of improving. To play 10 minutes a night if that's not your usual role. You know anybody's way of getting out of a funk. You know that's never been anybody's way of improving. To play 10 minutes a night If that's not your usual role, you know.
Speaker 1:Well, you know it also hits on something we've talked about in terms of this minute thing and that's Jackson Blake. I'm very concerned about the low minute numbers he's getting these days. You know he does play a little bit on the second power play but you know that fourth line and in particular his role has been really diminished and for a young player who's, you know, just kind of first-year pro and so on, certainly he's got off to a great start and that's fine and he's done a lot of his scoring on the power play, as we've discussed. I'm concerned about that and you know a lot of folks are really crazy about Jackson Blake and that's fine. But on my view, I think this is a bit of a disservice for him. I think he should be playing big minutes. I think he should. You know he should be in all situations where he can grow his game as he should. This, to me, is not the ideal situation for Jackson.
Speaker 2:Blake. Yeah, I think that's part of what we've seen with the line scrambling is that he was put up on the second line at least once or maybe twice that I know of, and then during games he would be put up there and bumped up there. But even with all that, you're right when you say that his ice time has been over the last nine games. At least eight of the last nine Jackson Blake's ice time was either the second lowest or the lowest, one or the other. He was trading off with William Carrier quite a bit.
Speaker 2:So you know he's not being played enough minutes and that is something that is concerning for, like you said, for a young player, because development in the NHL is all about puck touches and time on ice. If you're not getting it, then you should be at whatever level that you're going to be getting it. So I kind of agree with you there. I think they're going to have to come to a decision point that they're either going to have to play him more or they're going to have to let him go, go back to Chicago and have some time there and have a really big role there. The issue is, if you want to play him more, where does he go?
Speaker 2:He's got to go to Chicago I mean, if you wanted to play him more on the Canes. That's the problem. Where does he go?
Speaker 1:There's no real place for him.
Speaker 2:He's not going to be in the top six. I don't see it. I mean you could play him.
Speaker 1:No, and he's definitely not going to be on.
Speaker 2:I don't see him on Stahl's line.
Speaker 1:So you're right, there's no real opportunity for him on the Hurricanes, to move up in the lineup, and that's concerning to me a lot.
Speaker 3:It goes back to the idea of consistency, though, right, and it's doubly important for someone who is a rookie, who's new. They need consistency more than anybody else on that team, so I still think he could be successful in a fourth line role. You go back again to the first chunk of the season when all four lines were doing well with their role, he was still fourth line. He and Drury had really good chemistry with each other and with the 10 to 12 minutes that they were getting per night. Whether who was, I guess it was Carrier. Was it Carrier who was down there with them?
Speaker 1:Or I guess they started.
Speaker 3:Robinson. Then they popped Robinson up and had Carrier down there. That trio really was very successful and they had consistent time working together and so, even without a ton of minutes, he knew his role, he knew his purpose. He got to know Drury, he got to know Carrier. They were developing good communication and habits together. So Jackson Blake is just as much a victim of the line scrambling as anybody else on that team if not morecia, because of his youth, I think that's true.
Speaker 3:I think he's fine on the fourth line but, just like the other lines, he needs a consistent fourth line. So, with Jost coming up, if Jost, as expected, is going to be the one who centers that line, hopefully, whoever else they put there, I imagine Carrier again makes the most sense. They put there. I imagine Carrier again makes the most sense, hopefully, whether it's nine minutes, ten minutes, twelve minutes, whatever time they get, and that's dictated by game situation and that sort of thing. I just hope they stick with it because I think Blake's game will stabilize as soon as his line mates stabilize.
Speaker 1:Well, of course he's going to be without Drury, so that connection is gone. And I you know I'm not. I was hopeful for Tyson Jost in the offseason, but from what I've seen so far in the brief periods he's been with the Hurricanes, he's kind of a fringe player to me and I don't see him as being a guy that's going to drive much in terms of offense and generally on the ice. So we'll have to see how that plays out. Maybe at center he's going to be better than he was on the wing, but we'll see for sure.
Speaker 1:Now you mentioned something earlier I think too, aaron and that's the goaltending situation. So you know, the Hurricanes are near the bottom of the league in save percentage. This is hard to believe, but they are as a team. I think they're in the bottom three or four. Not a good situation for the Canes. Piotr Kociakoff has been given the keys. Unfortunately, with Freddie going out, spencer Martin had an opportunity to jump in and really take a nice role, uh, supporting p order, but he struggled badly, as we know. He's now moved on. We have dustin tokarski, and tokarski has been a beast in the american hockey league, but he hasn't been, uh, he hasn't played all that much in the nhl and certainly has not proven that he could be a significant asset in terms of goaltending.
Speaker 1:He could do the odd game, I'm sure. But when you take a look at the load that's coming up with Freddie out for an extended period and the struggles that Piotr has had, particularly letting in some of these soft goals, what do we think the situation looks like for the Canes goaltending-wise going forward? What do you think, Eric?
Speaker 2:Well, I don't know if you saw this today, but there's an interesting little note that may or may not have anything to do with any of this, but Yannick Perrette has been assigned to the ECHL team as of today. He's been assigned to the Bridgeport Isons Wait. Bloomington, bloomington, bloomington.
Speaker 3:I don't know all the ECHL teams. Wait, bloomington, bloomington, bloomington.
Speaker 2:Sorry, bloomington I don't know all the ACHL teams yet. I'm working on it, guys, but yeah. So my first thought when I saw that was you know, and somebody else had pointed it out as well this is interesting. I was like, why is it interesting? You know, it's just an ACHL setting, you know shuffling. And then I thought, well, okay, but hypothetically, if the Canes wanted to do something involving goaltending whether or not they put Freddie on IR or whatever I mean LTI or whatever yeah, if they wanted to do something, they would have to free up a little space in Chicago because they would have to send Tarkarski down. So right now you have Kazaev and Martin in Chicago. You did have Kazaev, martin and Peretz. You don't have Peretz there, so you have potentially have a space there, so you potentially have a space. And then if the pieces were to get shuffled around this is just it's interesting because it's possible. Now I know I'm fairly sure the main reason they sent him down was so that he would get playing time.
Speaker 1:But I think there's two reasons. I think there's two reasons. You're right, he's going to get more playing time. He's kind of being limited. And Ruslan Kazeev. I think there's two reasons. You're right, he's going to get more playing time. He's kind of being limited. And Ruslan Kazeev, I think, is starting to come on quite nicely, according to what I'm hearing from Nick Bass and others. He's starting to get his game rounded out and, frankly, they couldn't run with three goaltenders, so they had to make a decision which one they were going to send back, and I think Kazeev is a guy they have much higher thoughts in terms of potential on for sure. So maybe they want him in that AHL situation, you know, working with Cam Abbott and, of course, with Spencer Martin. You know the question you brought up is kind of the right question, which is if the Canes are going to roll for a couple more months with Piotr Kociakoff and Martin or Tukarski. Is that good enough?
Speaker 3:sure, sure they can make do, but has I mean you look at some of the the say percentage numbers and that sort of thing, especially for Kochekov, and while it's not great, he has still won 75% of his starts. So that's making do. I mean? I think if you said that he was going to win 75% of his remaining starts the rest of the season, we would take that. But with the concern about workload and keeping him healthy, you want somebody more reliable than Martin or Tokarski to be there to take some of that workload off of him and trust that they can hold down the fort when he's getting a break.
Speaker 2:One of the things that I think that people don't understand sometimes or don't think about, is that goaltending really affects all these other areas that the Canes have been struggling with. They've given up a lot of rush chances. They've given up a lot of transition plays. They've given up a lot of transition plays where they've let the opponents get by them. But all of that, I think all of that starts with the mindset that we have to score four, we have to have a certain number of goals on the board, so that we've created this protective cushion for our goaltender. During the last couple of seasons of Carey Price's career, during the regular season, he would have games like that where he just wouldn't be sharp, you know, and he was battling so many injuries by that point in his career. Everybody was aware that that was what was going on, you know. But you would see the Habs of that time period have those same kinds of, you know, just really aggressive pushes offensively. That would oftentimes turn bad and, you know, I think it was the mindset of we have to create run support for our goaltender, because our goaltender isn't having a good game, you know. I think that that gets into players' minds and it makes them more aggressive, you know, offensively, and they start. You start seeing the Ds doing these crazy pinches where they're clear up past the goal line, you know, and nobody's back, it's just everyone wants to get into that safety zone where, okay, we've scored enough, now we can sit back and defend so our goaltender doesn't have to be overworked for the rest of this game.
Speaker 2:And I think there's been at least a couple games where I've watched the Canes and seen that same kind of mentality going on, that we must be as aggressive as possible, get as much going as possible and score as much as possible, and then, after a game like that goes badly, then you have the opposite effect. You know how many times have we, after the first period, we've heard, you know, tripp Tracy and Mike Maniscalco saying they should have had five in that period, you know, because of all the chances. But they're actually being more conservative because the previous game didn't go so well when they tried to do that. So I think it affects so much. It affects their ability to score, it affects their ability to play team defense properly, and you know it. Just. I mean you know, katie, because you've been watching this with the Avs.
Speaker 3:The other thing I want to point out that I think is a bit of a conundrum as far as the Canes are concerned when it comes to Kochakov is I think Kochakov is a goalie who plays better the more he is feeling the game.
Speaker 3:And it's hard to feel the game when there is a lot of shot suppression, because you'll see a lot of the games where he gives up three goals and there's only 19 shots against, games where he gives up three goals and there's only 19 shots against, and a lot of times those shots against, there's minutes between shots during those games and he just, I think he gets cold in the net and you think back to some of those spectacular games that he had last season and a lot of those games that he had that were spectacular. He faced over 30 shots in those games. He plays so much better when he is getting a certain amount of shots across and so, yeah, I just wonder if there aren't some tweaks where you don't want to give up a lot of high danger chances. But his stats are the best. They're the top five in the league for high danger chances as far as his save percentage and his oh, he makes incredible things, yes but it's the mid.
Speaker 3:It's the mid danger chances they get him. He's he's really solid on the low ones too. Um, when you look at the numbers, it's the mid danger chances that are that are getting to him, and a lot of that has to do with just not getting those touches and not feeling the game. So I I just wonder if there is a way to just tweak things a little bit in order to let kochakov kind of kind of get into a flow and to a feel of the game and I think his play will improve, especially because he's had fits and starts, you know, with the injury. A couple times he's been out for injury and that sort of thing.
Speaker 1:No, I think you're onto something because I mean one of the things I've noticed with Piotr for sure he'll make incredible saves. I mean how many breakaways the Canes have been giving up, a lot of breakaways and odd man rushes and he's made these circus saves and it's really something. And then he'll let in an easy one. And you're kind of thinking, I mean, what's going on here? Because you know the tough ones he's saving and the other ones he's struggling with. So I don't know, I and the other ones he's struggling with, so I don't know. I think there's a lot of different reasons behind this. Clearly, piotr has shown in the past he can do it. There's no question. He's got the capability and he's going to be the one they rely on. He has a good winning record this year. The numbers, kind of win-loss numbers, are excellent. It's just a safe percentage at this stage and I think it's part of what you're saying. He's, you know he's, he's. The play is inconsistent and, as you say, he probably gets cold. He's looking around, maybe he loses focus, who knows what it is. But in any case, they're going to count on Piotr for sure and as long as he stays in the crease and doesn't do the crazy things he does which we see so frequently. You know he should be fine In any case. That's the goaltending situation Again. To summarize, I don't think there's any deals forthcoming in the near future. Of course that could change tomorrow, but I think they're going to run with the order and he's going to see a lot of ice from here on in. I didn't look at the schedule so I'm not sure how many back-to-backs they have, but clearly they're going to count on Piotr to play as much as he can. Okay.
Speaker 1:One last thing I wanted to touch on with the player side is, of course, the defense core. A lot of criticism these days about the D core. Some folks are all over Brent Burns. They feel like he's starting to feel his age a little bit, struggling a little bit in his own zone these days. And of course, we've got the challenges with the third pair of the Canes, Shane Gossespierre and Sean Walker, sitting at minus six, I think, each right now. So a minus 12 collective. Not good numbers for them for sure. And on the other hand, you've got Orlov and Chatfield who I think throughout the season have been very consistent and have played excellent hockey for the Hurricanes. So what are we thinking about the current defensive core?
Speaker 3:katie, you want to take a shot at a shot at that one oh, I know there's some different concern but as far as I'm, as far as my opinion goes, I think just let them play through it. No, no need to stir the pot to make things crazy. Um, even with the recent struggles, the third pair of goss, despair and walker still has the best possession numbers in the league for a third pair. In fact, one of my favorite abs podcasters called them those freaks over in carolina. So when you're when the third pairs are impressing, you know pundits from other teams and you still got something pretty good going on.
Speaker 3:Is it as elite as they started the season off with? No, but again, what's going on with the forwards? And you know the forwards still kind of missing each other. You know missing each other a little bit with their play and not, you know, having some of those soft goals going in behind them. That's going to trickle over a little bit into the defense. But as far as I'm concerned, keep it together, don't mess with it, don't make things worse, because there's a whole lot more potential to make things worse if you tinker with the defensive pairs than if you just leave them alone. If there was one change that I would make is I think that Burns overall has been pretty good. He could use a little more on the offense, but he has led the team in ice time in quite a few different games at least as far as the decor.
Speaker 3:He just finds some ways to manage his minutes. Don't take him off that top line. No-transcript. But yeah, other than that, don't change anything. Don't take care of it, Don't mess with it. Let it work Okay.
Speaker 1:Well, actually you're on to something we've discussed before and it's something we'll continue to discuss, I'm sure. I think Sean Walker should play more. I think you recall his most effective play so far in the NHL was with the Flyers and he was averaging close to 20 minutes, or just over 20 minutes a game and playing in all situations. And we've talked about his acumen on PK many times. I think there's an easy decision here, which we talked about last podcast, which I want to keep bringing up because I think it's the right one is he should be the guy that joins Slavin on the PK and Burns should sit that one out. And I think it would help in a number of ways. It would certainly help Burns because, you know, reduces his playing time two or three minutes a game and clearly, walker, it gives him more ice and I think he needs that.
Speaker 1:I think he's a guy that thrives with more playing time and, yeah, sure he's doing fine on that third pair and so on, but I think he can do better. And if he really gets his game in top form and you've got, I mean, goss Despair is an elite offensive defenseman, there's no question If you've got both of those guys playing the way they can play. I think that's going to help the Canes a lot for sure. So now I guess we've kind of touched upon most of the key challenges with the hurricanes. We know that they're going to struggle at center ice. We've talked about trying to do deals for a long time and hard to figure out where to go with that. Of course, the big rumor this week that there might be an opportunity with the big centerman over in Detroit, but that didn't open up for Dylan Larkin Somebody, of course, saying that he was wanting to be traded, and we thought, boy, dylan Larkin would be just the right player.
Speaker 1:Yeah, somebody stirring up trouble with fake rumors yeah unfortunately that wasn't going to happen, but we knew that Eric Tulsky and Tom Dundon would have been right in the mix on that one, because they go after every big fish. There is, um, there's uh, there's definitely going to be some challenges at center and we'll see how that plays out. We might even see jack roslevic in there. We talked a little bit about that. He did, uh, he did pop into center the other night. He's done that, of course. He played, uh, several seasons with Columbus at center ice, so he can do it and we'll see how that plays out. And, of course, the goaltending if any injuries happen, we're going to see some movement there for sure. So, definitely an interesting time and we'll have to follow it closely.
Speaker 1:Now, one thing I wanted to talk about, which is around another team, which is Katie, one of your teams, which is the Avalanche. Was the big deal this week, the Avs making that deal to bring in Mackenzie Blackwood? I thought it was. They paid a price for Blackwood. They gave a guy that you've talked about before, nikolai Kovalenko of course, who went over to San Jose along with Alexander Georgiev and a second-round pick and, I think, a fifth-round pick. So they did pay something to get Mackenzie Blackwood. How do you feel about that deal?
Speaker 3:I'm feeling really good. I guess Katie's not so excited.
Speaker 1:The on-the ice thing is great. It was an opportunity for her to talk a little bit about that. There she is.
Speaker 3:Okay, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:Are we back?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I still heard you, but I am very excited for this opportunity. It has more to do with the off iceice stuff than it does the on-ice stuff. The on-ice will be great. The Avs have proven that they are a very good team with just average goaltending, but there was a lot of just lack of spirit. I think that was happening, just discouragement. That was happening. And these guys are upbeat, good locker room guys, good, good attitude, good mantra, and so I think that the abs are a team to be reckoned with again now that they just have some stability on that back end. See where they go from here.
Speaker 1:Well, for sure and you know I thought it was it was interesting to see that, I mean, they had just picked up Scott Wedgwood, of course, from Nashville, and then turn it right around and get McKenzie Blackwood. So kudos to them and their management team for for getting out and getting things done. And I hope Eric Tulsky is is watching some of this, because I think both of those goaltenders would have been nice additions to the Hurricanes for sure. You know, despite all the things, we're talking about with the Hurricanes having gone four and six.
Speaker 3:I was just saying Wedgwood has been good, but the one time he faltered was against the Canes. The Canes are the only team so far that has figured out Wedgwood while he's played for the Avs.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's interesting. In any case, I was just going to mention that. You know we talk about the Hurricanes' challenges. They've done four and six in their last ten, but they set number two in wins in the.
Speaker 1:National Hockey League right now. So they are, you know, the Capitals. The Capitals have been playing very, very well, as we all know. A bit of a surprise that they're still doing that, but they're doing an outstanding job and even with Alex Ovechkin out there continuing to win, so they've been doing it. They've got 19 wins. The Canes are right behind them and you know, again, the Canes are looking good in several different areas when you look at the metrics.
Speaker 1:So even with the slump, they are still holding themselves in a pretty good situation in the league and I think they'll come out of it. They've won two of their last three. They're starting to find their way, although the San Jose game was a bit of a sleeper to start, they didn't turn it on in the third period and get the win, so maybe they're going to start to pop out of this little slump. And if that's the case, the next discussion we have will probably be about some positive things that are going on with the Hurricanes as they continue to press hard in this Eastern Conference. In any case, any closing thoughts today, erin, what do we got?
Speaker 2:Well, you know just what you're saying there. I think one of the things that can happen in a long season I was actually comparing this on X to an experience I had once was going to see somebody you know rather famous in a play, but the play was a matinee performance in a small town in Ohio and you know they didn't bring it. They just didn't because it didn't mean anything to them at that point in their career to put on the performance. I think that the season is like that for the teams a lot. You know we see the Jets have fallen off, a lot of teams have fallen off. You know the Rangers we could talk about all day, but a lot of teams have gone through that winter blah kind of thing.
Speaker 2:You know where things just settle down and as ironic as it is and you don't want this to be the way that it is at all but going through some adversity together which they're going to go through now that they've lost Jack Drury for the time being, you know that kind of thing can actually bring a team back to their senses a little bit and say, okay, we have to win so that we'll be in a good position when our teammate and companion and brother comes back that he's not looking at what happened while I was gone.
Speaker 2:I've seen that happen before with teams, when a player that is well-liked and a big part of the room goes out with an injury, you know, and the team kind of rallies around and so that mindset is you know, we've seen that in all kinds of walks of life. So I think that this may, this is an opportunity for all of the Canes to say OK, now we're in a situation where we've lost somebody who's been in our roster since day one. Let's see what we can do to get things back on track and right the ship. Before you know, we go too much further down this road. So it'll be interesting to see.
Speaker 1:Katie.
Speaker 3:I'm right there with Erin. I'm concerned just in the sense that they've kind of seemed to stumble, but they're still moving forward. They're not going in the wrong direction. They're still getting some wins, they're still up there in the standings, they're still producing goals, they're still doing well on the power play. So, as long as you can stabilize and keep things moving in the right, direction they'll find their feet can stabilize and keep things moving in the right direction.
Speaker 3:They'll find their feet, they'll get their skates under them again and start to tighten up a few of those details, and I think we'll be right back to where we were at the beginning of the season. They'll get humming along in no time, agreed.
Speaker 1:I totally agree and I think you know, when you look at the specialty teams, for sure they've been outstanding. I mean the power. When you look at the specialty teams, for sure they've been outstanding. I mean the power play has been smoking hot, and the PK as well, and both of them moved into number two position in the league. That's quite a story and I think there's no reason for both of those groups to, you know, to decline. I think they're both doing it well and boy, that power play is wonderful to watch. They are really magic and I think, uh, those of us who've watched the canes for years, it's kind of nice to see a power play that works like that, for sure.
Speaker 1:In any case, uh, ladies, it's been great, uh great, to talk hockey. It's, uh, it's fun to talk about the hurricane. Sometimes we're talking about great positive things. This one, uh, some concerns, but still feeling pretty. Talk about the Hurricanes. Sometimes we're talking about great positive things this one, some concerns, but still feeling pretty good about the Canes this year. And I'm hopeful at the end of the year that those critics that started the year suggesting the Canes made it up out of the playoffs are certainly not going very far. We'll have to eat some croaks, so we'll see how that goes, for sure.
Speaker 1:In any case, for those of you who've been listening or watching, as always, thanks so much for joining us here. Uh, if you have any comments, please leave those down below and we'll be happy to answer those for you. And, of course, if you like this episode, please hit the like button. And if you want to find out about future episodes, please subscribe and hit the bell. And, of course, we'll keep you up to date on everything that's going on with the canes, as always. Thanks so much for joining us right here on storm tracker, and we'll catch up real soon. You, thank you.
