FINALLY!
My darkest fears of missing the chance to see how it all turns out after a busy and aggressive offseason to make a big long-term addition in Jordan Staal, but also a potentially equally significant addition with a 1-year deal in Alexander Semin. I called the Semin signing about 12 hours before it happened and am on record as loving the deal. I fully acknowledge that it could be a bust, but the risk in a 1-year deal is far worth it for the potential upside. As the lockout dragged on, the chance increased that Semin would simply become a trivia question along the lines of "Name the most expensive signing by the Hurricanes never to suit up even for a single game?"
But those dark days are over, and I like many other Canes fans have about 4 months of pent up hockey energy to release. Over the next week, I will take a run at a few topics:
--What does the new CBA mean for the Canes?
--What is the outlook heading into the 2013 season (since it is not actually the 2012-13 season) including consideration for who has been playing where or not playing anywhere over the past 3 months?
--The more normal pre-season debate of line combinations, last roster spots, etc.
I received a good number of Hockeybuzz messages and emails during the lockout asking me or even pushing me to blog. A few were a bit mean even calling me a fair weather fan. For me it was simple. I watch sports and root for teams for fun. I am the guy who even during the dismal Canes seasons still enjoys going to the arena and simply having a local hockey team to root for even when it isn't going well. Sure I do my share of backseat driving in the coach and GM's jobs and I prefer winning over losing any day, but I don't let that make Canes hockey negative. For me, the lockout was completely negative. Rather, than riding what was mostly a negative rollercoaster for months, I just checked out. I did my once a week check in on the CBA progress and then went about whatever else I was spending my hockey time on. To each their own in terms of dealing with a frustrating 4 months, but with hockey I am back as a Canes blogger on Hockeybuzz with about 4 months of Canes energy stored up.
Tomorrow night I will take a shot at going through the Canes situation player-by-player coming out of the lockout into a very short training camp and quickly into real games that matter even more due to the short schedule. But to get the ball rolling the short version goes like this:
From a general player readiness standpoint across the league:
--As long as they did not get banged up along the way, I think the players who have been playing competitive hockey (think AHL, KHL, etc.) have an advantage out of the gate. Skating 4 times a week with a couple buddies does about nothing to get you up to NHL game speed. It just keeps you in reasonable enough shape that you can at least try to play.
--I think this is even more true for goalies. There is no way to simulate game-hockey in workouts.
--But this could reverse come playoff time, when some guys feel like they are only 50-60 games deep in the season instead of 90 - because they are. I also think teams who were able to ship a bunch of young players to the AHL to play together (think Edmonton) could have a huge chemistry advantage out of the gate.
--Teams with minimal offseason changes should have an advantage relative to teams that made significant changes who would have benefited from more training camp time to sort things out.
Specifically from the Canes standpoint, it goes like this:
--Arguably the 3 most important players on the Canes (Eric Staal, Jordan Staal, Cam Ward) have not been playing competitive games. That concerns me. Can they get up to game speed in something less than 2 weeks? Or will it take them 2-3 weeks to get up to speed and catch up with the players who were playing elsewhere? In a short season, a rough start for 2-3 weeks would be a big hole given the 48-game schedule.
--As reported in the N&O last week, the Canes will be without Tuomo Ruutu until roughly the playoffs if not the whole season due to surgery to fix lingering hip problems. That is a big hit. Right wing is the lightest forward slot for the Canes. There are options amongst the NHL-expected roster, but it also creates an opening for guys like Zach Boychuk and Zac Dalpe who are playing well in Charlotte and could hit the ground running.
Last time we had a lockout, we hoisted the Cup next time around. There are obviously no guarantees, but this is definitely a week for hockey optimism.
For a quick heads up when I post a blog, please follow me on Twitter at CarolinaMatt63.
Go Canes!
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