It's obviously a bit late, but I figured I'd post my quick thoughts on the Boston game Monday. That was a measuring stick game. The Canes stunk in the 1st 2; it really didn't matter who they played. Then they got the best of Buffalo in the back-to-back. So then 4 games deep in the season, the Canes found themselves staring at a good Bruins team. The team is solid, deep, real similar to last year's team and playing pretty good hockey.

So how did the Canes do? I think the positive is that they were by far the better team for about 15 minutes in the 2nd period. But unlike Boston, the Canes were unable to string together a full 60 minutes. They came out horribly flat and were miserable moving the puck from stick to stick in the first period which means they spent the majority of the period unsuccessfully trying to survive. I take the positive that says if the Canes skate, push the pace and move the puck successfully they can create problems even for good defensive teams.

Through 5 games here are quick thoughts on most, if not all, of the Canes lineup in no particular order:

--Dan Ellis. Great first start. It should build confidence for both him and the team playing in front of him. He will be a bit different to play in front of with his aggressive approach to handle rebounds. Instead of absorbing rebounds he often shoots them out figuring they should mostly get past any net stalkers. Canes defenders need to make sure they pay attention to positioning when the other team shoots otherwise this can make for a rough night. It also should create an occasional chance to get a puck closer to the blue line and move it forward in a hurry almost like a breakout pass.

--Cam Ward. He is still fighting it but is getting better. Like the team in front of him, he looked slow to wake up on Monday getting beat by the Chara change up. He did make some solid saves on breakaways in the 2nd period. He is now 3 starts and 3 weeks (counting the shortened training camp) deep in the season. He needs to find regular season form pretty quick here.

--Tim Gleason. He can't continue to drop the gloves every game, but I love the idea that he has a green light and also that he has picked a couple great spots to do it. It should keep opponents more honest against guys like Skinner knowing that Gleason is on the ice 20 minutes a night and could make them pay for any shenanigans.

--Joni Pitkanen. He has been one of the Canes better players and his solid play especially on PK was a key reason for the 2 wins.

--Jiri Tlusty. He will be a bit of an unsung hero and continues to be underrated in terms of just making smart hockey plays especially defensively. EStaal and Semin lead the team respectively at +6 and +5. All of this has come since Tlusty joined the line. He makes the little plays that keep the other team from scoring, that keep the puck in the offensive zone, etc.

--Eric Staal. He has looked dominant the last couple games and maybe equally importantly looks very comfortable playing with Semin. On a team that is built a bit more for offense than defense, I think must put up 80+ points for the team to knock on the door to the playoffs. I think he will do it.

--Alexander Semin. He is adjusting well. I have been impressed with his playmaking ability (reference the EStaal goal Monday where he forechecked the puck loose and zipped it across to Staal for a pretty easy finish). I think he only gets better as he gets more comfortable, but his start is just fine.

--Jeff Skinner. His skill level is just out of this world as has been on display for all 3 of his goals. There is still room for improvement defensively and also making the occasional safe situational play instead of always going for broke trying to net a goal.

--Zac Dalpe. He gets enough of a passing mark to keep auditioning for the top 9, but I'm 50/50 on him right now.

--Jussi Jokinen. He is lost in the Canes need to make him the 3rd center and a bit less skilled linemates. I still like moving Skinner down to this line at some point, but regardless, he needs to become the leader of his line and make the team more than 2 lines deep scoring-wise.

--Jordan Staal. He seems like he is still adjusting to different linemates and a different role than Pittsburgh. He is contributing (5 assists in 5 games isn't shabby), but I think he has another gear once he settles in.

--Drayson Bowman. I think he is Tlusty lite. It is not clear that Bowman will ever develop the scoring touch once thought, but he is an accountable 2-way player that you can plug into a 3rd line or 4th line with confidence. He is ideally one of the guys that can benefit from having playing (Jokinen) on the 3rd line but it hasn't happened yet.

--Kevin Westgarth. On a Canes team that is not so much the instigator of the some of the crap that goes on in the NHL, his role is more than of an insurance policy. I actually give him credit for not being overanxious in his role on a new team and taking a handful of dumb penalties trying to find a partner.

-Bobby Sanguinetti. His struggles in the first couple games are well documented. He has looked a little better of late. But my biggest concern is that he still looks very uncomfortable and just trying to survive under pressure against a decent, aggressive forecheck. That is disconcerting for a guy labled as a puck-mover.

--Jay Harrison. As Corvo and Sanguinetti struggle, Harrison could find himself under the microscope. He actually played with Gleason on Monday and Muller mostly tried to hide Corvo and Sanguinetti, but 1 of those 2 guys has to be in the lineup and Harrison probably gets partnered with him once Faulk is back.

--Justin Faulk. Prior to missing Monday's game with an injury, he has been flat out solid. Amidst the wreckage of trouble on the blue line and forwards coughing pucks up in bad places for the first few games, it has been Faulk and Pitkanen who stood out as the pillars to build around.

--Jamie McBain. He has been incredibly good since entering the lineup. He is a decent match on the right side for any pair with more puck-moving skills than Gleason and Harrison and a lot of familiarity playing with Pitkanen. Is this the year he finally becomes a full-year top 4 defenseman. Combined with the encouraging sophomore start for Faulk, this would be the recipe for being much better defensively on the blue line than I anticipated regardless of Sanguinetti and Corvo (only 1 has to be in the lineup and Harrison should help some).

--Joe Corvo. He obviously got off to a horrendous start. It is early, but my gut tells me that at this stage of his career he is more likely to be a decent 3rd pairing defenseman with a role on the power play than a magical fit for Tim Gleason and surprising 1st or 2nd pair tandem. As long as McBain and Faulk keep it up, this could be an okay ending even if not the one originally planned.

--Patrick Dwyer. The key for him is scoring. He is a solid 2-way player and a decent option on the penalty kill. That makes him a solid 4th line player. He really needs to notch about 12-15 goals and 30-35 points to be a legitimate 3rd line player. Per my comments on Jokinen, the 3rd line has been a problem offensively thus far. Not sure how, but they need to kick in more offensively.

--Tim Brent. Key for him is to lead a 4th line that is not a liability in terms of giving up goals when they are on the ice. So far so good. Any offense is gravy.

--Zach Boychuk. He needs to go to the Ray Whitney school of how to use quickness and skill in small spaces to create offense in the NHL as an undersized forward. He gets knocked off the puck too easy and lacks the bag of tricks to outmaneuver players with size/strength advantages. It just still isn't working at the big club level.

--Chad Larose. He is another (with Dwyer, Jokinen, and Bowman) that are part of the 3rd line struggles with a deadly mix of inability to score combined with too many defensive breakdowns.

Who did I miss?

Going line by line...I really really like Tlusty/EStaal/Semin. The chemistry looks good for only being 3 games deep (5 for Semin/Staal but first 2 were minus Tlusty). I think there is potential for Dalpe to stick with JStaal and for now Skinner adds a lot of offense to this line. It probably sticks for at least another few games and has potential to work longer term. I like the 4th line. Brent is decent in his role. Westgarth is fine for his role. And whoever falls to the other slot should be fine for this role. The gaping hole right now is the 3rd line. Hope is that when you moved Jokinen down, he could pull more offense from whoever is playing next to him. Guys like Dwyer, Larose and Bowman contributed some last season and that was mostly with Sutter who is not as much of a playmaker as Jokinen.

Canes need to come out with MUCH more hop and be the aggressor on Friday. Ottawa will be playing its 3rd game in 4 nights and 6th in 9 nights. The Canes will be coming off a long 3 days off. I'm REAL disappointed if the Canes look sluggish to start Friday.

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Go Canes!

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