So any possibility of Carolina Hurricanes playoff games becomes more remote with each passing game and the loss that comes with it. The team is now 8 points out of 1st in the Southeast Division and also 8 points behind the Rangers for 8th in the East.
So what now?
Despite witnessing a handful of similarly rough seasons, I cannot remember being more perplexed with general direction of the franchise.
On the one hand this team is flat out bad right now, but minus Cam Ward and also missing key players in Pitkanen (twice), Faulk, Skinner and Ruutu for huge chunks of the season it is not so clear to what degree it is just injury-induced torture. The team was good, very good for a short stretch from a few weeks into the season until about when Ward was injured.
And I'm torn on what to make of the Muller's comments of late. He seems increasingly okay with the effort level and is preaching a lot about staying the course and sticking with the system. I generally like his even keel attitude. I also much prefer his style of not just chucking players under the bus publicly to try to get a rise. And I generally agree with the idea of focusing more of quality of play and effort versus overreacting to down swings. But then again the system is very consistently losing hockey games by 3-4 goals. I get the injury story, but reference Ottawa, Detroit and a handful of other teams that incurred similar injury pile ups and just kept colleting points. Is this "system" so fragile that it requires a full roster of healthy players to work? If so, it isn't designed for the reality of a long NHL season. And isn't special teams (where the Canes rank in the last couple teams for both PK and PP) supposed to be the one thing that the coach can impact? Even with the injuries, there seem to be enough weapons to build a serviceable power play and enough options to make a respectable penalty kill unit or 2.
I unfortunately wrote off the season a couple of games ago (see my Bayda/Aucoin/Walker reference) and have resigned myself to watching losing hockey in April. And losing a little more versus a little less has the potential to get another "ready soon" draft pick this summer which is important for an understocked system and the need to fill a few roster spots on the cheap.
But I think the next 3 weeks are HUGE for how this organization moves forward. Incredibly difficult times like these tend to either pull teams and people together or completely rip them apart in a way that can never be repaired.
If I were GM Jim Rutherford, I am watching very very closely and talking to everyone involved come early May to figure out where the group stands:
--Do the team's leaders still have faith in Muller and his system? No way can you win in the NHL if you don't believe you can win. The team is definitely struggling for confidence right now, but is a matter of tightening things up, getting over the hump and then at the same time getting a few players back?
--Are the rank and file players beneath the captains still engaged or are they resigned to the fact that this is just a bad situation?
--Does he believe that Muller's system is capable of winning across an 82-game season with something less than a full roster and with something less than perfect execution? ANY system can win when things are clicking player-wise, but there must be some margin for error. It is possible that despite his pedigree and promise that Muller just is not ready to be an NHL head coach and that we are seeing growing pains of a young coach who has not had to tinker, adjust and maneuver through a full (though shortened) NHL season.
--And what about the relationship between Muller and the assistants and staff? The small family business setup of the Canes coaching staff might not be ideal for making adjustments. Francis, Brind'Amour and Wesley all have their jerseys in the rafters, so there is no easy firing to part ways if you want to try someone else in one of their roles. Rather, there needs to be a figuring out of where else they go, and how it gets communicated, etc. I mean, realistically Lewis is the only guy you could really just can. Might a different assistant or 2 help? Who knows...
--Is this roster really the right one? On the one hand, the Canes have their best top line in years and some other key pieces in place long-term. It seems like you just need to build depth around it. But is it really so simple if you don't have much money to do it and don't seem to have much immediate help in the system? Rutherford has about half of his salary locked up long-term in 5 core players (EStaal, Semin, JStaal, Skinner, Ward). Better hope that he has it right, or it could take 4-5 years to undo.
The questions are many right now, but I guess if I am Canes GM Jim Rutherford, my simple prioritized list of questions I need to answer in the next 3 weeks goes like this:
1) Is Muller the right guy? He is pedigreed but unproven, and Lindy Ruff is still available.
2) Even if you think Muller is the right guy coaching talent-wise, are the players still on board? How smart a coach is is irrelevant if the players quit on him.
3) Are there any player rifts that need to be nipped? Just like playing for the coach, the players need to be capable of playing for each other.
Not so much the record but what happens people-wise over the next 3 weeks has the potential to be either something that becomes a point of unification and a spring board forward or an energy-sapping, rift-creating debacle that sets the organization back years while it tries to recover.
This week the Canes see a gauntlet of 4 games against good hockey teams (Bos, Pit, Was, Pit). Maybe high-end competition will help, but it also has the potential to be downright ugly. It all starts again tomorrow, so fix a safety strap to your couch and hunt down a pirate patch for "1 eye open" viewing.
For a quick heads up when I post a Canes blog follow me on Twitter at CarolinaMatt63.
Go Canes!
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