I do not mean to candy coat the fact that 0-2-2 is a pace toward nothing but another long summer and more positively a good draft pick. But as I write this late Thursday night maybe too much influenced by a forecast for a beautiful fall weekend forecast for Raleigh, I am actually feeling half-full as far as the Canes start to the season.

When you consider that the Canes have been up against:
--Adjusting to a new system and coach.
--Trying to figure out how to fill the gaping hole left by Jordan Staal's long-term injury.
--And then more big holes at forward with all 4 games without Jeff Skinner and 2 games minus Eric Staal (to also go with no Patrick Dwyer and 1 game minus Andrej Sekera on defense).

I think the start has been okay. I will not try to call 0-2-2 great, but I honestly think it has been okay.

The positives to me are this:
--In any of the 3 games 1 more goal or even 1 more shootout (curse the thing) goal is good for at least 1 more point.
--Despite a lineup heavy on call-ups, the Canes have been in games.
--Goaltending was sub-par in the 1st 3 games which did not help, but there is hope for better going forward with Khudobin's solid game last night.
--The young players asked to fill big holes have generally been as good as you could hope or better.
--With surprising good news on Sekera's status, Skinner's expected availability next Tuesday and the fact that Eric Staal seems to be shorter-term not longer term, the team will get more of the top half of it's roster back soon.

So that is a long-winded way of saying that I actually like where the Canes are right now. They need to find a 2-0 or 3-1 type streak to claw back to even, but I can live with 0-2-2 right now.

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With that, a few random notes:

1-Riley Nash. There are others who deserve credit, but for me, he easily ranks #1 for any positive of where the Canes are right now. He has jumped from depth to 2nd line center to arguably 1st line center and just played very good hockey overall. I am on record from last year as liking his game overall, but saying that his ceiling is that of a 4th line center because of offensive limitations. He just keeps improving. Previously week in the faceoff circle, he is killing it right now and many of those draws are against top 2 centers. Light in terms of raw offensive tool set, he skates hard and goes to the net which is his path to 3rd-line offensive numbers (and it's obviously working so far). And he continues to use his wheels and defensive ability.

2-Bill Peters. I was hard on 1 specific decision (not to use Boychuk/Terry in OT vs. Buffalo), but otherwise am pleased with what I have seen so far. Past yapping words, he has backed up the "earn ice time" thing by sitting Hainsey in game 2 and by sitting Semin in OT last night. I was also incredibly impressed by the obvious game plan versus the Rangers. Light on top-end NHL talent at forward due to injuries, the Canes played a very simple and sound "play the puck forward" type of game Thursday and executed consistently throughout to the tune of a hard-earned point. To me, that looks incredibly different than the "we just need to do the same thing better" mantra from Muller.

3-Tim Gleason. I have been impressed with his game thus far. He still loses some races to pucks where he has the edge to start, and I am not sure his mobility will ever again be more than enough for a 3rd pairing role. But with his new contract, he is signed for a 3rd pairing price, and I think he has been very good in that role. I also love the return of the snarl.

4-Power play entries. The power play continues to look good. Even on nights when they do not score, the volume of offensive zone time is way up which is a starting point. The 2 things that jump out to me are the "shoot when possible" mentality and the number of unique wrinkles put in for zone entries with a crazy collection of back passes, defensemen pulling up and feeding the puck across, etc. Right now, the Canes are getting some benefit from all of this being new with limited scouting tape. Huge credit to Peters and Brind'Amour thus far. The key will be the ability to keep it diverse/unpredictable and stay a step ahead of the scouting.

5-Victor Rask. His game very much reminds me of version 1.0 of Josef Vasicek. In his 1st season, Vasicek came from completely off the radar to win trust and a C3 slot because of his defensive soundness. Paired with fellow rookie Svoboda (also sound) and line leader Martin Gelinas, Vasicek's 3rd line was key to the Canes 2000-01 success and playoff berth. Offense was light, but the line was safe, sound and trustworthy defensively. I think that is very much where Rask is right now. Without the puck he has been very good reading situations and rushes such that he is past his years defensively. Combined with his strong play in the faceoff circle, he is quickly becoming a center whose line you do not need to hide/protect too much which is key for the upcoming road trip where it is hard to do that. But with the puck on his stick, he is not doing much to create offense for his line mates (look where he and regular line mate Lindholm are in terms of offensive production). The game just still looks a bit too fast for him and the passing lanes too small. His style of play leans toward that of the puck possession European center (which is mostly a good thing) which right now is finding him too many times holding it to the point where there is not much to do versus making quick decisions to move the puck and then support it. I write this as a current assessment, NOT a projection for long-term. He is 4 games deep in NHL experience and only 21 years old. Again, the positive is that he gets it defensively and is not a liability in that regard. This is crucial to his development because it makes it possible to get him ice time to work on the rest of it.

6-Ward/Khudobin. The last 2 games of preseason might have set the Canes back about 1 week. I think Ward's start on opening night was another very clear stake in the sand and commitment to practice what he preaches by Bill Peters. Khudobin was far and away the better Canes goalie for the 2013-14 season. For me, I did not get all the talk during preseason about the battle for the Canes starting position in net. I had Khudobin unless he was hurt or just completely blew up in preseason. And if Peters had been around last year, that might have been the case. But with his "earn your ice time" mantra, I think he had to give both goalies a clean slate and let them play for the job. So when Ward was good in the last preseason game and Khudobin less so in his last preseason start, Peters stuck to his guns (which I agree with) and gave Ward the opening night start. But I continue to think that Khudobin is the better goalie with higher upside right now. It took 4 games of back and forth, but that is where the team enters the next week of the NHL season. Here is hoping that Khudobin can find a rhythm that looks like what we saw Thursday night in New York.

What say you Canes fans? Am I crazy to at least half-like where the Canes are right now despite the record? Does anyone else feel like the team has actually done a decent job fighting its way into the 2014-15 season despite a number of roster challenges and a slow start?

Twitter=@CarolinaMatt63

Go Canes!

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