For Canes fans holding to the West Coast schedule with the team and in need of 10pm+ Canes material for Wednesday's off day, here you go...
The constant shuffle of defensemen in and out of the Canes lineup over the past couple weeks has provided quite the opportunity to do A/B testing and evaluate players both individually and as pairings. Ideal is always to have a full lineup healthy, but the timing was pretty good for Canes GM Jim Rutherford to evaluate what he has and what he might need to add to solidify the group.
Quick hitters on the Canes defense:
1) I think the brief time without Sekera showed how vital the top 3 (Faulk, Sekera, Hainsey) are to making the defense work. The 1st 2 provide a solid 1st pairing, and Hainsey is the core of a decent 2nd pairing. Minus any 1 of those 3, I think the Canes become blue line-challenged.
2) On that note, I think Ron Hainsey is the most underrated/underappreciated reason for the Canes (reasonable) success.
3) Despite current limitations in his game/role, Ryan Murphy’s development so far has been impressive. He is ahead of schedule in my mind making the jump straight to the NHL from juniors and looking decent in a 3rd pairing role. The key is for him to continue to round out and improve his game not just get by with the things he already does pretty well.
4) But as much as I have been impressed by Murphy’s development this season, he has looked to be in over his head playing regular minutes as a top 4 recently.
5) I am still of the mind to trade Tim Gleason even if it is just for prospects. I like him as a player and person, but his skill set is redundant with Bellemore, Komisarek and Harrison and he is minimal if any upgrade over any of the others but with a much higher salary.
6) Per my in-game comments on Twitter during the Edmonton game, watching Bellemore in the lineup makes you appreciate his play this season. Watching the team try to get by without him makes you appreciate him even more.
7) This said, I think the biggest potential upgrade (key word being potential) is still Bellemore’s #4 slot. The Canes power play could benefit from an experienced power play quarterback to man the point and also from more offense generated from the back end by the 2nd pairing.
8) …BUT this could prove to be a risky proposition. Hainsey’s play the past few games with Murphy has been eye-opening. He has looked a bit out of sorts without a straightforward, textbook defenseman next to him. Would a veteran version of a more freelancing type look better? Or by trying to insert offense might the Canes do more harm than good by breaking the defensive core that has been pretty good?
9) The Andrej Sekera trade looks absolutely brilliant right now. Rutherford’s summer work on the blue line brings back memories of the magic he performed before both the 2002 and 2006 deep playoff runs building solid blue lines from a collection of seemingly ho-hum moves.
10) I realize that there are still a bunch of names in the mix to even make the team, but I am sticking by my dark horse prediction for a Suter/Faulk pairing more because it would be a decent call in October than because I am confident in my ability to predict the outcome of the Olympic roster.
11) So where do I come down on it all in terms of the Canes current blue line? I already mentioned the Gleason trade which is more about freeing up money (both this year and going forward). I also think that the Canes ceiling gets much higher if they add a defenseman with more offensive upside and power play skills who is defensively capable. Fortunately, I do not think Rutherford needs to act with desperation or urgency that leads to a bad deal, but I think he should be shopping.
What say you Canes fans? Would you stick with what is working fairly well? Or do you think that the addition of a veteran defensively capable top 4 with offensive skills could be a significant upgrade? Am I wrong not to show more patience with Gleason?
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