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Canes 2013 Eval Part 11: Grading the defensemen for 2013

June 18, 2013, 2:18 PM ET [14 Comments]
Matt Karash
Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
I am more than ready to move past the disappointing 2013 season, so I apologize for the realllllyyy long blog that grades out all of the Canes blue liners in 1 swipe. The short version is that aside from Justin Faulk's continued rapid ascension the group just was not very good and was a major contributor to the disappointing results.

I think a stark contrast for the 2013 season is comparing the Ottawa Senators and Carolina Hurricanes. The Canes won early with a dynamic offense and a defense that was pulled along by a team that could score 4 or 5 goals if it needed to. Ottawa’s early success was built upon great goaltending and solid team defense that gave the team’s goalie a chance. When Ottawa was debilitated by injuries including its Norris candidate defenseman (Karlsson), its Vezina candidate goalie (Anderson) and most of its top scorers (Spezza and Michalek) it just kept trucking. At one point, Ottawa was minus 2 defenseman, a bunch of forwards and was playing its 3rd string goalie. During this stretch they held the fort defensively and kept grinding out points of the 2-1 OTL variety or 2-1 win or whatever. When the Canes hit similar injury woes with Pitkanen and Faulk being down for stretches and losing Ward for the season on top of struggles to find secondary scoring, the season crumbled. Hidden behind the early season scoring surge was a team defense that had too many holes and lacked a system/foundation that could insert lesser players and still be competitive. I think much of it has to do with the forwards and system not being nearly as air-tight as the top teams in the NHL. But I also think a significant portion of the Canes 2013 defensive struggles were the result of the type of personnel and individual play.

As I noted in another blog awhile back, I think the makeup of the Canes defense was flawed in basic design from the outset. When you take a defense that was mediocre to begin with in terms of grit and basic defense and then swap out Bryan Allen (a pretty good physical, stay-home defenseman who helps the PK) and add Joe Corvo, it just seemed unreasonable to think that the blue would be as good or better than the previous team that was not good enough. And when your top 6 already leans a little too heavily toward offense-oriented defenseman (McBain, Pitkanen, Corvo), it seems like a recipe for disaster if you have injuries and have only offense-oriented defenseman (Sanguinetti) for fill ins. As soon as one of the top defenders went down, which they did of course, you suddenly had a small army of offense-first defenseman.

The problem with the makeup of the blue line was compounded by injuries to the most important components (Faulk and Pitkanen) and simply by the fact that many of the players did not have good seasons. I rate the defense as a C- overall. Its mediocrity was masked by a scoring surge early in the season and then uncovered when the Canes needed to tighten things up to give backup goalies a chance later in the season.

Grading the D goes like this:

Justin Faulk. A. Where would the team have been if he had not taken another huge step forward in his development? Faulk was sound defensively all season and over time rose up to be one of the leaders on the team and the key situation player. Out of necessity he became an every night top 4, and despite a rotation of mostly underperforming partners and a team that was not very good, he looked very comfortable and capable in this role.

Joni Pitkanen. B-. The biggest thing with Pitkanen was lack of availability again due to 2 separate injuries. He seemed to spend the entire season trying to play his way into form first after then lockout and then after an injury before having to shut it down with the heel injury. In the time he did play, he never really hit a rhythm and stride where he just skated like he can and ate up ice time. I would not say that he was horrible, but he just was not great either.

The Canes were 9-11-2 when Pitkanen played which is not great obviously but is better than without him. I think that sums up Joni Pitkanen in terms of fit with the Canes. Canes fans love to debate Pitkanen and whether he is good, sometimes good, horrible or whatever. But in a league with a shortage of top 4 capable defensemen and on a team that does not have much, if any, blue line help in the system, the team is better (much better I would argue) with Joni Pitkanen than without. He is in the top tier in the league in terms of raw skating and athletic ability which even on bad nights is enough to make him a serviceable top 4 defenseman and on good nights (reference the 2009 playoffs) much better.

Tim Gleason. C. If I ignore salary, situation, role and all the other context, Tim Gleason in 2013 looked very much like Jay Harrison. He brought size and physicality. Though none of the Canes units never clicked, he filled a PK slot. And theoretically he could be a good stay-home complement to a puck-moving defenseman. But the difference is that Tim Gleason is paid and slotted to be a top 4 and key cog in the team’s defense. In my opinion, he just did not live up to that bigger role in 2013. When the Gleason/Corvo magic from 2008-09 just could not be rekindled, Gleason regressed into a mediocre year where he just looked like more of a #5 than a #3 or #4 defenseman. If Canes GM Jim Rutherford gets his way, the Canes will add 1 top 4 blue liner this summer. That still leaves Gleason in the top 4 with Pitkanen, Faulk and the new addition. For the Canes to be better in 2013, Gleason needs to boost the caliber of his play to match the ___ NHL season and Olympic year, find a comfort level with a complementary defense partner and help boost the level of the team’s penalty kill.

Joe Corvo. C-. When you look back on it, I think Joe Coro’s return could be labeled as one of the most defining short-term moves of Jim Rutherford’s 2012 off-season. At the time, the Jordan Staal trade and then long-term contract signing seemed significantly bigger. And the Alexander Semin 1-year deal was not much less. But the less obvious result of these 2 big deals was that Rutherford had spent all (plus some probably) of his budget at the forward position. Rutherford had been very successful a couple times in the past filling out defensive corps on the cheap and making it well enough to win in the regular season and more importantly in the playoffs. So with the departure of Bryan Allen from a middling defense the previous season and no significant help on the way from the system, Joe Corvo had to be capable of holding down a top 4 position. Though risky a couple years older and coming off a rough time of it in Boston, it did not seem impossible. Gleason/Corvo had been very good only a couple years back in the regular season and for a deep playoff run in 2009. But this time it just did not work and left the Canes overstocked on players who might be a decent offensive half of a bottom pairing but just were not solid top 4 defensemen. Corvo’s season started horribly. He did find a stretch thereafter where he was very good for a few weeks, but it eventually faded into a rough year where he looked like his time playing a 20-22 every situation role on an NHL blue line had passed him by. The volume of miscues that plagued his style sporadically even during good times seemed to increase, and he just did not provide the defensive soundness and decision-making that you need from a defenseman who you are going to put on the ice regularly against the NHL’s best. I actually think there could be a role for Corvo going forward if he wants to stay in Raleigh and play on a year-by-year basis in a reduced role at a reduced salary. Depending on what happens with McBain and Sanguinetti (and I guess Bergeron) this summer and also what happens with Murphy in camp, I think Corvo could be okay in a bit of a 3rd pairing/#7 defenseman /power play helper role if he is willing to play for a 1-year contract in the neighborhood of $1M. But if he creeps back into the top 4 and starts seeing 20+ minutes of ice time, I fear that it would be a sign that there is again trouble defensively.

Jay Harrison. B-. For me, Harrison’s grade is largely a function of what role you want to grade him in. If you grade him as a #5/#6 defenseman, I think he is exactly what you want. He is reasonably safe and sound. He brings size and physicality and will drop the gloves when needed. He can play PK. And his $1.5M/year salary is about right for the 3rd pairing role. I think he has to take his share of the heat for the weak Canes PK this year, but otherwise I think he lived up to his job as a 3rd pairing defenseman. But whenever pressed to play regular minutes in the top 4, I think he is slotted a little bit above where he belongs on an NHL team that is playoff bound. In an ideal world, he would make a great complement and clean up partner for a puck-moving offense-oriented defenseman, but the options the Canes offered in this category were mostly train wrecks in 2013. Jamie McBain hit a major confidence slump somewhere along the way and struggled mightily. For as good as Ryan Murphy looked the few times he got the puck on his stick with room to carry it, it was painfully clear that he just was not ready physically to play defense without the puck in his own end. Joe Corvo , like McBain, had a very up and down year with more down. I think Harrison is a solid 3rd pairing defenseman for the right price going forward. Key step forward for him would be to become part of a PK unit that is at least middle of the league in 2013-14.

Jamie McBain. D+. 2013 was just rough for McBain. In the past couple years, McBain has had his share of ups and downs, but there were ups especially later in the season as he hit stride. In 2013, McBain seemingly had a crisis of confidence when he hit a stretch where he was just horrible for a stretch of a couple weeks producing 1-3 ‘big oopses’ per game over that stretch. And unlike seasons past, he never seemed to hit much of an up cycle to go with the downs. McBain is only 25, has accumulated a good amount of NHL experience and does have seemingly NHL-level skating/physical ability. He would likely have some trade value for a team looking to add a puck-moving defenseman to a 3rd pairing and could probably benefit from a change of scenery at this point. You can bet that he is 1 of the assets available to Rutherford to try to add a top 4 defenseman or more grit at forward during the summer.

Bobby Sanguinetti. C-. Sanguinetti looked like he was in over his head when pressed into service to start the season. After playing well in the AHL during the lockout, one would have hoped that he could hit the ground running and at least provide a boost until the NHL regulars got up to speed. But he struggled mightily out of the gate. He did get better as the season went on, but I think an interesting measure of his long-term potential is a comparison with Ryan Murphy. In a straight up comparison, Murphy was worse than the older more experienced Sanguinetti last season. But a look at translation of skills to the NHL is striking. As much as Murphy was overmatched physically when he got the puck on his stick with a little room to skate, you could see that he had the tools of an elite puck carrier even at this early juncture of his career. Meanwhile, Sanguinetti who is also labeled as a puck-carrying offensive defenseman looked very uncomfortable in this role versus NHL competition and pressure. Players who are unable to transfer what they do well to the next level have very limited ceilings. While it is possible that it is just taking time, he is now 25 years old and needs to get there soon. The positive on Sanguinetti is that he now has 45 games of NHL experience (including his 37 last season), so he has climbed his way to being “system depth with some NHL experience.” But he is an unrestricted free agent this summer. His agent will ask the Canes for and/or push the open market for a 1-way contract. I would be happy to have Sanguinetti back on a 2-way contract given his experience in general and in the Canes system, but if someone else is willing to commit to a 1-way NHL contract, I think I would pass and look instead to bringing back someone like Corvo on the cheap for not that much more money and a bunch more experience.

Ryan Murphy. (Incomplete) During his short stint in Raleigh, it was fun to watch Murphy the few times he got the puck on his stick and a little room to get started rushing the puck up the ice. The reason he was drafted highly was apparent and does look like with a little time will translate to the NHL level. But it was also painfully apparent that he was in way over his head physically trying to defend without the puck in his own end. It did not take long for forwards to realize that if they protected the puck behind the net, they could easily and regularly skate right through Murphy and take a beeline to the crease area without much concern of if/where Murphy was. Because of his size, these physical situations will not likely ever be a strength of Murphy’s game, but he does need to improve significantly in this regard to become anything more than a limited minutes, power play specialist at the NHL level. He does need to get a little bit stronger which will help a tiny bit, but more importantly is becoming incredibly sound defensively in terms of stick and body position to limit what a player with a strength advantage can do and where he can go. My read after his handful of games in 2013 is that Murphy still has a fairly long way to go to become more than a spot player in the NHL and that he will be better served with most of a 2013 season at the AHL level. Depending on what happens with the rest of the roster and injuries, I think the spot where he could fit sooner rather than later is as a #5/#6 defenseman who sees limited minutes and selective matchups at even strength but gets to log more minutes on the power play and also late in games where you are down and need to take some risks to generate offense. As of right now, the list of guys who look too similar in terms of skill set and could compete for this role are McBain, Corvo, Bergeron and to some degree Sanguinetti. The latter 3 are UFAs and could all be gone, and McBain because of his struggles could very well also be gone via trade. My leaning is to keep 1 of that crew (Corvo preferred if he will take a 1-year deal and #6 type salary) and also Sanguinetti if he cannot get a 1-way deal elsewhere and wants to stay. This enables Murphy to play a bunch of minutes at the AHL level to round out his game and puts him in a spot to be 1 of the first callus in the event of injury or if it appears he is closer to ready sooner rather than later.

Brett Bellemore. (B-) Coming in as maybe the most unheralded youth fill ins from Charlotte, Bellemore came arguably the closest to matching what you would hope to get from such a player. He was not eye-popping spectacular by any means, but he did a decent job of not being noticeable. He mostly avoided big mistakes and had a good natural tendency to make simple plays and get the puck on and off his stick. This is exactly what you want when your team/system’s 8th or 9th best defenseman gets pressed into service. His task is not to win games. It is to not lose games. Bellemore’s Bish rating is also a point to reemphasize role. To say that Bellemore gets a B in a #7 or #8 kind of role is not to say that he should swap places with Gleason or someone else who I rated lower but in a very different/more significant role. With a taste of NHL action and even reasonable success at it, it will be interesting to see if he can take another step forward next season and become one of those late blooming defensemen and make a claim to a #6 or #7 spot in camp. Even if that does not happen, with Bellemore the Canes made a small step forward in building organizational depth with some NHL experience in case they need it again in the future.

Marc-Andre Bergeron. (C+ in VERY limited role). Bergeron was labeled as a bit of a power play specialist upon arrival to the team. In watching him play, I think that is the limit to what he brings at this point in his career. He was signed for $1M and available in trade for next to nothing because of his inability to play even 3rd pairing minutes without being a defensive liability. For a team that lacks youth ready to step in, I guess he could fill a specialty role where you skated him as a 7th defenseman solely to man the power play, but again for the right price I think Corvo is only slightly less offensively but with much greater ability to play more real shifts if needed. I would be surprised to see him back simply because of how limited his potential role is.

We can split hairs over whether players deserve higher or lower Cs or even Ds in some cases, but the basic point stands. Faulk was the only blue liner who lived up to expectations in 2013. I think many will argue that Pitkanen should be lumped into the same pile as the rest and will disagree with my slightly higher ranking at B-. I think I lean a tiny bit more positive simply because on a defense that seemed to have no answers as the season wore on, the team looked better with him than without him. Regardless, the path into 2013-14 is the same. Canes GM Jim Rutherford has noted that the top priority this summer is to add a top 4 defenseman, and I do not see how anyone could disagree.

With this blog, I have managed to finish slogging my way through evaluating all of the Canes players and coaches for 2013. Next up is the part of writing that I enjoy most – playing pretend Canes GM. In my next few blogs, I will spell out the options and preferences for what I would do to improve the defense and fill out the rest of the team on a limited budget.

For a quick heads up when I post a blog follow me on Twitter at CarolinaMatt63.

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