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Faulk Selected for All Star Game, Nestrasil Clears Waivers & Lindolm off IR |
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Waivers, IR and All-Star Selection:
The Canes placed Nestrasil on waivers yesterday and he officially cleared and will be assigned to Charlotte now. Overall, he is a young and solid forward—I was a bit surprised that he cleared and that no one took a chance on him. I imagine that he will be back up with the Canes again this season, however, in the meantime he will definitely help an offensively struggling Checkers team.
Secondly, the NHL All-Star team rosters were announced today and Justin Faulk will be representing the Canes. While Faulk is definitely a solid selection for the All-Star game, I must say I was actually disappointed in this selection. The sole reason is that I think the “all-star” for Canes and making more of a positive contribution this season is Jaccob Slavin.
This isn’t meant as a slight to Faulk at all because I do truly believe he is a top NHL defender, however, this season the “lock-down D” on the Canes appears to be Slavin. I believe the main reason that he was selected over Slavin is because of his known offensive skills (and this is the All-Star game after-all.) They both average almost the exact same TOI and shifts per game, however, Faulk is utilized as an offensive D-man much more.
Looking at the stats, Slavin (1g, 15a) and Faulk (7g, 9a) both have statistically been similar in production. Obviously, Faulk appears to be more lethal with his shooting abilities, however, let’s not forget that sick breakaway goal Slavin had on Anderson. For those who have followed the Canes this season, many will remember that Slavin also has some serious moves in the shootout too.
Beyond that, the one glaring item that I think should have tilted the selection in favor of Slavin is the plus/minus differential. Slavin is a plus 11, while Faulk is a minus 11—to me a 20-goal disparity signals that Slavin should have gotten the selection. Regardless, congrats to Faulk on being honored as an All-Star this season and he is a great selection that will represent the Canes well at the All-Star game.
The final item is that Elias Lindholm has been confirmed to play tonight and has been activated off of the IR. It shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise given the Nestrasil move—the Canes needed to move someone down to make room for the 23-player roster. Given the recent move, one could logically assume that Lindholm was very close to returning, if not already ready. He will be joining McGinn and Staal on the second line tonight.
Taking on the Blue Jackets:
Tonight will be a very good test for the Canes with the Blue Jackets coming to Raleigh. The Canes will become very familiar, very fast with the Blue Jackets as they see them three times in the next six games. Coach Peters noted that this will be a great benchmark to see where the team is at as they head into the All-Star Weekend soon.
The Canes come into tonight fresh off an exciting overtime win over the Bruins on Sunday evening—this extends their home record to 11-1-1 in the past 13 home games. It was very positive to see them be able to pull the win out, especially given the fact they were severely out-played in the third and surrendered a one-goal lead twice.
The Canes draw a fortunate goalie match-up again tonight and will be facing off against Anton Forsberg. While he has played very well in the AHL, his career NHL stats are 1-7-0 with a 4.01 GAA and .882 SV%. I was actually very surprised to see them call Forsberg up instead of Joonas Korpisalo who is younger and has played more NHL games with significantly better stats.
Either way, the Canes should put everything including the kitchen sink on net the entire game. I’d even be a fan of sending a lot of hard dump-ins on net to challenge his control and confidence with playing the puck. Given that he was just called up today, the team is not very familiar with him, so it would be smart to challenge their communication and chemistry.
I really can’t stress enough how significant it is for the Canes to not see Bobrovsky tonight—he leads the NHL in wins with 26 (five more than the next goalie). He is tied for second in the NHL with SV% and is fourth for GAA for goalies with 20+ starts. He has a .931 SV% with a 2.00 GAA and is one of the main reasons the Blue Jackets are the best team in the NHL.
One concern is that Ward left the pre-game skate early today—Coach Peters stated that he wasn’t concerned though. Despite that, it still has yet to be confirmed that Ward is starting tonight. Hopefully, there was nothing going on and he will make his 17th consecutive start tonight. He has played very well at home and is 10-3-1 with a 1.99 GAA and .928 SV%.
He looked strong against the Bruins after a few games that saw a little decline in how well he played in November and most of December. It was great to see him come up with some huge saves. The Canes only made it to OT because of his saves in the third and were out-shot 12-5 throughout the final frame.
The one area that I see the Canes dominating the Blue Jackets in tonight is with face-offs. The Blue Jackets aren’t too impressive in the circle and only have one player with a winning percentage over .500% that has taken more than 100 draws. The Canes won 61% against the Bruins and have consistently been one the best in the NHL all season long.
Looking at the Blue Jackets other apparent weakness, one will note their third D pair. Similarly to the Canes, they have a very young third pairing and have appeared to be inconsistent. I would look for Coach Peters to do his best to get the Skinner-Rask-Ryan line against them as many times as possible tonight.
They aren’t just a team that’s benefited from Bobrovsky though, rather they also have a stacked and potent offense. Comparing them to the Canes, the Blue Jackets have five players with more points than any Canes’ player with between 30 to 39 points. Skinner leads the Canes with 29 points this season so far. The Canes only have four players total that have between 20 to 29 points.
Obviously, the Blue Jackets have a more potent offense and it isn’t just the first line either. They have production from all four of their lines and are a threat to score the entire game. Looking at who is consistently in the Blue Jacket’s line-up, only three players (2 D and 1 F) haven’t eclipsed ten points yet this season. Overall, the Blue Jackets have some exceptional skaters and offensively skilled player. The most notable names are Atkinson, Foligno, Wennberg, and D-men Werenski and Jones.
Looking at their lines, they also all appear to have good size which should challenge the Canes defensively. Players like Saad, Dubinsky and Hartnell provide the top lines a great balance of speed, hands and finishing capabilities. If you look at the second goal scored by the Bruins, it was a direct result of Faulk not being able to keep his man to the “outside,” as David Backes spun off him to the middle and slammed home a juicy rebound.
Ultimately, tonight will be a great challenge for the Canes and an opportunity to build more confidence as a team. Puck drop is at 7:00 EST and will be on FSCR and FSOH. Go Canes!
Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • 
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