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Less than a week until Opening Night!
I, for one, am really looking forward to the start of this season, if only because I'll actually be able to attend the Canes Opening Night game for the first time in two years.
Am I looking forward to this season's Canes? Eh... maybe. I've read a lot of team preview type things over the past month or so and they all seem to say the same thing - that the Canes didn't add much to their roster and defense still looks to be a weak point.
For example, a quote lifted from NHL.com's preview:
Kaberle was the only defenseman that Carolina picked up in the offseason and defense is not his strongest suit.
Yeah... that really doesn't invoke a lot of confidence in me. Especially considering how Kaberle didn't play the best in the playoffs for the Bruins.
But let's look at what we have so far this preseason. The roster was recently chopped to 24, with a surprise (at least for me) in Zach Boychuk being sent to Charlotte. Admittedly, I haven't been able to catch much of the Canes preseason games/practices (I mean, really, it is football season), but I would have hoped that Boychuk would have had enough to stay with the big team - I really have liked what I've seen from him.
As for the actual preseason games and whatnot... the Canes have the spectacular record of 1-4. Which doesn't look good, but it is the preseason, and there's a reason I favor football over preseason hockey. Namely, the preseason doesn't really matter when comes to playing in games that actually matter.
Although, an interesting thought I just had... if the Canes start out horribly, will they get rid of Paul Maurice? Maybe starting out poorly wouldn't be too bad... but, actually, please, for the love of everything good, let's not have another 14 game losing streak. That was horrendous.
Really, I just hope the Canes are consistent this year. If you're going to be bad, be horrible. Get a good draft pick. If you're going to be good, have a solid place in the top 6 of the Eastern Conference. I really do not want to have to deal with another year of mediocrity that ends with disappointment when the Canes let a playoff spot slip through their fingers. That has happened far too much and it's getting kind of annoying.
Regular season starts next Friday, so all the speculation will end then. Let's play some hockey!
Well, this is it. There's nowhere else for this team to go.
Last night the Canes lost to the Maple Leafs 3-2, cementing their spot as the worst team in the National Hockey League.
The game looked like it was going to swing Carolina's way after they knocked two goals in after one period. But apparently the Canes need a lot more than a two goal lead after the first to win a game nowadays. The Leafs scored three unanswered, and the Canes are left with a dismal losing streak.
The worst part? Looking at the highlights, those goals the Leafs scored were not good. At best they were mediocre, at worst they were pansy goals allowed by letting them skate all over us. Watching the first goal, I thought that the Maple Leafs were on a power play with the way they were directing the puck throughout our zone. Then I counted our players and realized, with some developing horror, that it was even-strength.
To pose a serious question, how long will this losing streak last? You must think that the Canes will snap out of it soon, they can't be that bad of a team, not with all of the good parts that they have.
But then you realize that this team just got beat by the Toronto Maple Leafs... the 29th team in the league. If the Canes can't manage to create a win against them...
And I say "good parts" slightly tongue-in-cheek, because obviously something has gone horribly rotten with this team. Zach Boychuk led the team in shots last night, and Brandon Sutter is the only player that has been consistently scoring. Where are the rest of our veterans? The people who, last year before the playoffs, if Eric Staal wasn't scoring, would step up and pull through for the team?
I am at a loss as to what to do about this team. There are two things that I can think of to begin to turn it around: either trade a well-liked player (which pains me to say, I know), or fire Paul Maurice. Maurice got a three-year contract this offseason, but I think that is looking more and more like a bad move after each game we lose. Something has got to wake up this hockey team - Rutherford has said that he's willing to make changes, hopefully for the sake of what's left of our season he'll pull something through.
The next game is tonight against Columbus. Hopefully the Canes will find a way to pull out of this streak.
Awesome news, guys: THE SEASON STARTS IN TWO DAYS!!!!
Crazy, isn't it? But before we roll into the regular season, let me recap the waning moments of the preseason.
The Canes finished their preseason on a 2-0 winning streak, winning 4-3 against Atlanta last Friday and then 5-2 against Nashville on Saturday. It's always good to see that the team is winning when the roster is pretty much set - hopefully that will be a sign of the regular season (I'm going to ignore the fact that the Atlanta win came against a team playing without Ilya Kovulchuk - a win is a win). The roster didn't turn out too different than expected - Brandon Sutter and Zach Boychuk were sent down to finalize the roster. Apparently Brandon Sutter played very well in the games he was in, so I wouldn't be surprised if he was one of the first call-ups once someone goes down (and someone will go down, unless the Canes have miraculously gotten rid of their injury tendencies over the offseason).
The BIG news today was that Cam Ward signed a gargantuan contract extension - 6 years for $6.3 mil per. I'm glad Cam is wrapped up - the last thing we need is for him to hit free agency and possibly lose our goaltender. Although I am slightly wary of the length, but I think I'll always be wary of long contracts after seeing how Rick DiPietro's contact went down like a lead zeppelin. As long as that doesn't bite the Canes, I think it's a good signing, as that's what top-notch goalies are going for these days.
And finally, I must cast a farewell to the Acid Queen, who is closing down her blog. Her blog was one of the first Canes ones that I read and was actually an inspiration to both turn my blog down the avenue of hockey and to have no qualms about saying what I truly think. So happy trails and good luck, AQ.
7pm Friday. Canes v. Philadelphia Flyers. Attend it, watch it, or listen to it. I don't care which, just do it and welcome in the new Canes season!
Erik Cole stats (Friday): 1 assist
The Canes dropped their first preseason game on Friday, losing 4-2 to the Nashville Predators.
First of all, it was completely awesome to hear Chuck K call a game. It's been sooo long without hockey, this preseason is a definitely welcome event.
Apparently the Canes didn't play too well in the first two periods, although my man Erik Cole opened up the scoring with a goal on the power play. Unfortunately, 58 seconds later, the Canes let Nashville knock one in.
Nashville scored two goals in the second, one coming off of a bad turnover by Zach Boychuk. Not good for one of the future stars of the team, but, hey, it's preseason - as long as it's not a habit, right?
In the third the Canes picked up the pace, but they were unable to rally enough to win.
After this game, the Canes have already trimmed their roster. The only person heading up to Albany that played in Friday's game was Nicholas Blanchard - who had a fight in the second period (This guy seems like my kind of hockey player - 132 PIM in 55 games in Albany last year).
The next game is tomorrow against Atlanta. Hockey season is back!
Erik Cole stats: 1 goal
Chad LaRose stats: 1 assist
So the Canes play Pittsburgh tomorrow. The liklihood of me actually sitting down and watching that game is slim to none, as I have two tests and an essay due on Friday.
Which is a bummer, because Pittsburgh games always prove to be a fast-paced affair with a good amount of goals and action.
Anyways, I'm getting my blogging out now, so tomorrow I have one last thing to procrastinate with...
Canes sent Zack Boychuk down to his junior team. Boychuk played well in the last two games, but I think it's for the better that he gets another year in the juniors and recovers from his wrist surgery.
And, hopefully, we might see him around come playoff time...
That's it for now. Hopefully the Canes will win and not get any injuries at Mellon Arena tomorrow...
Let's see here, what's happened in the past week?
Canes won twice against Nashville, finishing the preseason at a 3-3 record.
They also signed their first-round pick from this year's draft, Zach Boychuk, to an entry-level contract.
Scott Walker had surgery on his left hand, which was injured in his fight against Philly.
This opened up a roster spot for Dan LaCouture, who was signed to a two-way contract after a stellar training camp for the free agent tryout.
And the good news, we're already ahead in the Southeast Division, with the Lightning losing their both of their overseas openers to the Rangers!
Opening Night in less than four days!
The NHL Draft occurred this weekend, and the Canes picked five guys altogether.
The first rounder was a guy by the name of Zach Boychuk, who is fast and a whopping 5'10". Although, according to the N&O article, he seems to have Ron Francis' approval, and that makes it fine with me.
More interesting to me is that, in the second round with Jared Staal still on the board, the Canes chose Zac Dalpe. I would've thought they might have stayed along familial lines... but it sounds like Dalpe is a steal as a mid-second rounder.
Disturbingly, the Canes only picked one defenseman... but, sometimes you just have to go with the best player on the board, no matter what the position. I guess. I don't know actually, I'm not really good with analyzing drafts. Pretty much, if the prospects pan out, good, if not, bummer.
Anyways... something that might have an impact on the Canes immediate future is one of the trades that occured during the draft. The Florida Panthers traded Olli Jokinen for two defenseman from the Phoenix Coyotes. Which makes me happy because the Panthers just seem to trade away their best players (see: Roberto Luongo), and because Jokinen was always a thorn in the Canes side - but he's no longer in our division! Haha!
And the countdown to the beginning of free agency ticks away...
