The idea is to go through the entire roster (including the traded players) and provide a quick stream of consciousness thought or 2 on each player. This is part 1 (10 players) with part 2 due sometime this week.
Cam Ward. He was much improved in 2014-15 is and always has been a class act as a person, but I still think best for the Canes is if someone would take his big contract now that it is only a single year. He just is not enough, if any, better than average at this point and average costs more like $1.8-2.5M on the open market.
Anton Khudobin. After showing signs that he could rise up and take the nets in Raleigh for years to come in 2013-14, he took a step backward in 2014-15. I still like him as part of a 1A and 1B tandem with 2 relatively inexpensive but relatively experienced goalies.
Victor Rask. I wrote somewhere previously that his development reminds me of Josef Vasicek's early development. Both rose from off the radar screen to making the team because they were ahead of their age/experience level defensively. Right now, he is a decent checking line NHL center. That is a great start. The keys for him are to get a step quicker/faster and reach a higher level offensively. If he can do both of those things, he starts to look like a top 6 forward.
Ryan Murphy. He is not there yet defensively, but I like his upside...actually more than I did before he stepped into the NHL. In today's skating NHL, a 3rd pairing needs to be able to move the puck. With combinations of Harrison, Bellemore and Gleason paired together, Canes fans have seen the challenges of putting 2 big, physical defenseman who are limited in their ability to skate and move the puck. Even if he does not grow into a top 4 defenseman (not saying he won't just going 1st steps 1st), I think Murphy could be a valuable half of a good 3rd pairing that holds 1 defense-first penalty-killing defenseman and also 1 offense-oriented defenseman. The benefit is that you can ramp Murphy's minutes late when you need minutes or maybe dial them down a bit when you are trying to protect a lead.
Tim Gleason. Before being traded, he was having a very good season in his role. He might just become the next Glen Wesley who as a veteran played year to year on 1-year, reasonable price deals in a lesser role than during his prime. I would not sign Gleason with the intent of having him be a regular top 4, but I would be happy to have him back at the same $1.2M to fill a bottom pairing role with a dose of character and penalty killing.
Justin Faulk. I honestly did not see his 2014-15 coming at all. I always figured he would gradually add a bit stats-wise as he matured, but the step he took offensively in 2014-15 exceeded my wildest expectations and probably what I would have guessed as his ceiling when he maxed out in his prime. The next step for him is 82-game (or very close) consistency. He had a rough stretch to start the season and a couple others that got lost behind the offensive step up.
Jay McClement. He is an example of a player who excelled in his role at the right price for this role (which is important in the salary cap NHL). He was a key part of the penalty kill that was ranked 1st in the league at the trade deadline, and 7 goals is enough for a 4th-liner who played only 13 minutes per game with a heavy helping of PK and no PP minutes.
Eric Staal. I wrote an entire blog on his situation which you can find HERE. Shorter version is that I think Canes GM Ron Francis needs to have a meeting of the minds with Eric Staal and his agent over the next 4-6 weeks and determine if he wants to be a long-term part of the Canes at a lower price or if it is time for him to move on.
Alexander Semin. He represents the single greatest potential for the Canes to improve from 2014-15 to 2015-16. Per an earlier blog, I think it is unlikely that he is tradable right now, and I don't see the Canes eating 2/3 of the salary to buy him out. So while Francis will definitely try to shop him, odds are that he will be back in October. The gap between his 2014-15 struggles and 19 points and his potential ceiling is absolutely huge.
Elias Lindholm. I was really pleased with his progress in 2014-15. To be honest, his 2013-14 scared me a bit. In the middle of small flashes of goodness, he just looked like he was in over his head too often physically and just overall in his rookie season. His stats were better in 2014-15, but the bigger thing for me is that he looked like he belonged in the NHL which was good step in the right direction.
Twitter=@CarolinaMatt63
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