After a decent number of scrimmages during the first week of training camp the “real hockey factor” dials up another notch with the first preseason game tonight at PNC Arena versus Columbus.
The team has published the lineup to be:
Bowman/EStaal/Semin
Skinner/Lindholm/Gerbe
Terry/Welsh/Dalpe
Blanchard/Brett Sutter/Westgarth
Gleason/Komisarek
Jordan/Bellemore/
Harrison/Murphy
Ward
Peters
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My “what I’m watching” comments are more for the total of the next 4 days of preseason games than just Wed’s game since different players will be swapping in and out of the lineup. It falls into 2 categories – roster spots and filling roles
For roster spots, I am watching:
1) Chemistry for the 2 forward pairs. Things could still change significantly depending on results from the preseason games, but so far Muller has been pretty consistently pairing JStaal/Ruutu and Skinner/Lindholm. If that holds the key auditions are for LW or RW on JStaal’s line (Ruutu can play either side) and RW on Lindholm’s line. Who looks best in these slots? Gerbe gets first try tonight.
2) “The Rising”. Do any of the forward candidates just rise up and become uncuttable? (Is that a word?) I think players who are reasonably safe and known quantities with some NHL experience are the defaults for many of the open roster spots especially on the 4th line. Dwyer has a spot somewhere for sure. Bowman is nearly a sure thing. And if no one looks great and Muller instead opts for safe, then a veteran like Dvorak or Gerbe would have the leg up. But there are a number of unproven players with upside who are in the mix. Boychuk has been 1 of the best players in the scrimmages so far. The coaching staff has also been impressed by relatively inexperienced Chris Terry who also has some offensive upside. Can 1 (or more) of these players blow the doors off in a preseason game or 2 and seize a spot?
For filling roles and jobs, I am watching:
3) Penalty kill – focus on forwards. I think JStaal and Dwyer are almost sure things. The team does have the option of leaning on any of the 3 top-liners to help kill penalties, but good teams usually have a couple of 3rd/4th-liners who can kill penalties just as well as their top players and therefore let the scorers play more minutes in scoring situations. I have said that I think Dvorak could win a roster spot on this skill alone, but can any of the youth also grow into this role?
4) Power play – focus on the point men. Neither Faulk nor Sekera are the pure version of a power play point man, but both are well-rounded hockey players with a decent mix of skating, passing and offensive ability. I think the hope is that they can play as a unit in all 3 phases of the game. The key is assessing whether they can find a rhythm with the man advantage. Beyond that pair, Hainsey is similarly a decent option. Unless Murphy sticks at the NHL level, it becomes thin after that. I continue to think that we will see some trials using a forward at the point, but there is not a lot of experience in this role to draw on. Are Sekera/Faulk good enough to be part of improving upon last year’s struggling power play? Who is the 4th point man? Which, if any, forwards look comfortable handling and distributing the puck under pressure up top?
5) Can Skinner/Lindholm find chemistry? I voted before last season to separate JStaal and Skinner to form 2A (defensive matchup) and 2B (opportunistic scoring) lines with different skill sets. In terms of early direction the team is now there. But it has to work. Lindholm comes to the NHL with a reputation as being a heady 2-way center with some playmaking ability. Skinner is a gifted scorer who likes to play with the puck on his stick and has a tendency to leave the textbook at times and create the need for line mates to adjust accordingly. Can Lindholm find the right mix of playing a safe puck possession game and getting the puck to Skinner in scoring situations? Can he be the heady read and react center that Jussi Jokinen was at times playing with Skinner’s sometimes unorthodox style? Over the next 4 days, we should begin to get an idea of if/how well these 2 fit together.
6) Can Jordan Staal get back to leading an NHL top-tier checking line (with offense to boot) that can line up against the other teams’ best all night and breakeven? A healthy Tuomo Ruutu should help. A shuffle that sees offense-oriented Jeff Skinner move out and a more balanced forward move in should help. But at the end of the day Jordan Staal needs to have much better 2nd season with the Carolina Hurricanes for his line to be positive and for the team to compete for the playoffs.
Who is tailgating already? FINALLY, we get real hockey again after another long playoff-less summer!
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Go Canes!
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