First, with Gleason nearing return 1 of the questions fluttering around is how the Canes will get the roster back down to 23 players upon his return.
I created a quick 1-question survey to poll how everyone else thinks the Canes should make room for Gleason.
Click here to take survey
The team has a few options:
1) Elias Lindholm. He is seemingly on a similar schedule to Gleason, but if his readiness backs up a bit, he could go on IR retroactively to buy a little bit of time. Maybe more interestingly, he could go to Charlotte for a short stint to collect a bunch of ice time and try to work his way up to speed after a very disjointed September and October.
2) If the Canes are forced to risk a fringe AHL/NHL player through waivers, I think the best bet is Brett Sutter. There is a chance that he would be claimed but also a reasonable chance he would make it to Charlotte.
3) Kevin Westgarth. The Canes get no $ relief by sending his 1-way contract to Charlotte, but if the team does not want to risk losing someone like Sutter, he could theoretically be sent down.
4) Numbers-wise one might think the Canes need to cut a defenseman to get down to the normal 7. Brett Bellemore by virtue of his 2-way contract and the fact that he is partially sitting in the slot Gleason could take would be the most likely cut, but I would be very surprised to see that happen. I wrote in my blog on Septemeber 26 (
SEE HERE)after preseason game #5 that he would not see waivers. I still feel the same. While fringe AHL/NHL forwards are plentiful, even depth NHL defenseman I difficult to find. By virtue of what he has accomplished so far in 2013-14, if he hit waivers, I think he would be claimed in a heartbeat by a team looking for an inexpensive option for #6 or #7 on their blue line depth chart.
Shorter version: I would be very surprised to see the Canes risk Bellemore. My best guess is that the team risks Sutter on waivers, but there are other options.
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The Carolina Hurricanes enter a nice 4-day layoff in 2nd place in the Metropolitan Division and playing a playoff-hockey like 100-point full season pace. Maybe even better, I would not say the team is firing on all cylinders. In my opinion, the single biggest reason for the early season success is the improved team defense and the newfound ability of the team to stay in games even on lesser nights and give itself a chance to collect points almost every night.
With the short layoff, I have a handful of blogs half-written and queued up for the next few days. First up is a look at a few questions driven by what we have seen through 9 games.
1) Who is the long-term answer to the #4 slot on the blue on the current roster? When you work through the Canes defense so far, I think it goes like this:
--#1-#2: The Sekera/Faulk pairing has been solid and has in no way looked to be overmatched against the NHL’s best.
--#5/#6: Ryan Murphy is becoming increasingly more comfortable with his rapid jump to the NHL level. Most encouraging for me has been his power play scoring contributions in the past 2 games. He continues to have an occasional coverage ‘oops’ here and there, but it is easily at a manageable level for a 3rd pairing role where you can pick and choose matchups and situations a bit for him. Jay Harrison continues to be unspectacularly solid in his own end and also has built chemistry with Murphy.
--#3: Ron Hainsey has been solid pretty much game in and game out in his 2nd pairing role.
That makes 5 out of 6 slots. The lone remaining slot at #4 has been primarily filled by Brett Bellemore who seized the opportunity to jump straight from the AHL to top 4 in the NHL when he had a great training camp and outplayed the veterans. His simple game has been a pretty good fit overall for Hainsey, though he has had a couple rough games along the way and might be in just a little bit over his head in this role over the course of a full 82-game season. But there is also the possibility that he just keeps improving as he settles into this role. Mike Komisarek has only seen the ice twice, but he looked fine in the #4 slot next to Hainsey in Saturday’s win versus the Isles. Finally, this slot was ultimately Tim Gleason’s to win heading into training camp before being derailed by a concussion. He is seemingly within a week of being ready and could reclaim this slot.
When you net out the Canes defense, I actually think the top 3 (Faulk, Hainsey, Sekera) could rank 1, 2 and 3 in terms of players that the Canes cannot afford to lose (assuming at least 1 of Ward or Khudobin is healthy). And with Bellemores emergence, the Canes are suddenly deep at the bottom of the blue line with 4 decent options to fill out a bottom pairing.
But I think key is going to be finding a solid #4 to play with Hainsey and eat up the 2nd chunk of minutes against the other team’s best.
By no means would I be looking to swing a trade right now. The team has not 1 but 3 decent options in Bellemore, Komisarek and Gleason. And though he has not been perfect, Bellemore has thus far proven good enough for the team to win. If Tim Gleason can find his form from a couple years past, then I think this team becomes solid top to bottom defensively. If not, it probably becomes a bit of a “play who is hot” revolving door where Muller tries to stay on top of his best option day-to-day between solid play and health.
2) Is there a path to a better power play? The power play has scored a goal in each of the past 2 games and climbed to #20 (percentage-wise) in the league in the process. After logging a bunch of power play ice time without much to show for it, Ryan Murphy was the driver for both goals scoring 1 with a big shot and neatly sliding a pass through the defense for the Jordan Staal goal. So right now, there seems to be more reason for optimism than at any other point this young season. But if you look across all 9 games, the power play has struggled.
For me, it is puzzling. Last season, the team had a nice stable of different types of skilled offensive players in EStaal, Semin, Skinner, etc. and even capable defensemen (Corvo, Pitkanen, McBain) but over a full 48-game season never seemed to hit any kind of groove. So this season, the team looked to mostly the same set of forwards to lead the power play but also swapped out most of the blue line fire power in the process of improving defensively. With decent well-rounded players like Faulk and Sekera and the upside of Ryan Murphy, just maybe there is enough there.
The pessimist in me is concerned that the team is a little bit light on point players who can create the occasional “there is definitely net to shoot at” opportunities that result in the occasional bang-bang play where the goalie just has no chance. But Murphy is starting to look like he might help here and there still seems to be enough fire power at forward.
With the defense improved and showing the ability to hold the opponent to 2 quite regularly even on lesser nights, a lone power play goal for or against can be the difference many nights. With the past 2 games looking better and a couple days off to work on systems, hopefully the power play can continue on its current trajectory.
3) Can Elias Lindholm provide 1 more upgrade offensively? Thus far the team’s secondary scoring has actually carried the day even more than the players the team was counting on coming into the season. And Riley Nash has provided solid 2-way play and enough speed to skate with Skinner to make his rushes usually +1 or +2 instead of “a man versus the world.” So it is not at all like anything is horribly broken or that an upgrade is a necessity, but I do think there is room to add a little more scoring depth in the center slot or possibly right wing on that line. I have really come to like Dvorak on that line with his combination of checking line defense-first acumen but also his ability to skate with the kids and even finish a bit.
It is real hard to get a read on exactly what Lindholm’s ceiling might be in his 1st season due to his injury disjointed season thus far. But heading into training camp, the hope was that he could be a decent 2-way center for the 3rd line. If he can get healthy, I still think Muller will want to give him a look in that role at some point.
4) Does this team have the potential to climb into the 1st or 2nd tier of teams and off the playoff bubble? By no means do I want to put the cart before the horse. After 4 consecutive playoff misses, I would be thrilled with any kind of playoff spot this season. But with a team that is 4-2-3 after playing primarily a batch of elite teams through 9 games, having its top line start real slowly and needing to integrate a bunch of new personnel, part of me thinks that there is still room for improvement from the current level. I think you can make a very good case that this team is in fact better than what we have seen so far once the Tlusty/EStaal/Semin line gets going, with Cam Ward just starting to round into form and with a few other key players slow out of the gate scoring-wise.
To be honest, I am still looking down not up in the standings. My focus is on continuing to build as much gap as possible in the division standings before a few teams ultimately start playing better and trying to move up in the standings. But it does not stop me from thinking a bit about the Canes strong early results despite having room for improvement.
What say you Canes fans?
--Is the past 2 games evidence that the power play is getting ready to crank up?
--Is Tim Gleason ultimately the #4 defenseman that solidifies the best 6 with depth behind them that the Canes have had in a few years?
--Can a healthy and NHL-acclimated Elias Lindholm provide another boost to a lineup that is pretty good already?
--Finally, what is the ceiling for this team? Are we just on the up part of the long NHL season roller coaster or does this team have another gear if they can get everything working together?
--What other questions do you have 9 games into the season?
Twitter=@CarolinaMatt63
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