Jump to content

  • Welcome!

    Register and log in easily with Twitter or Google accounts!

    Or simply create a new Huddle account. 

    Members receive fewer ads , access our dark theme, and the ability to join the discussion!

     

A Tale Of Two Hockey Teams

Stumpy

By Stumpy,
in Carolina Hurricanes

 Share

Recommended Posts

Stumpy Grand Master

Stumpy

Posted
Posted

Which one are we...?

ARE THE HURRICANES A BETTER STANLEY CUP CONTENDER THAN THE BRUINS?

Adam Proteau makes the case for the Carolina Hurricanes as a stronger Stanley Cup contender than the dominant Boston Bruins.

FcJGXEyE_400x400.jpeg

It’s time for our yearly 'Don’t buy Carolina Hurricanes stock' column

The Hurricanes are on fire, as they always are this time of year, and it’ll get them the same handful of themselves it always does

spector_deadspin.jpg

Where We Stand

Proteau:

Quote

The Hurricanes currently have the league’s second-best record (34-9-8), but there are very good reasons to believe they’re the team with the best chance of knocking off Boston in the post-season.

Fels:

Quote

And here they go again. Since the turn of the year, they’re 11-4-2. They didn’t lose in regulation in all of December. They’ve got within touching distance of the Boston Bruins for top seed overall, and the Bruins are going “Rampage!” over the rest of the league. We’ve seen this all before, and it’s certainly alluring if you didn’t know better. It’s a fugin siren song.

Who We Were

Proteau:

Quote

We can, of course, point to the 2022 playoffs, in which Carolina eliminated the Bruins in an extremely competitive, seven-game first-round series. Boston is a better team than they were last year, but you can say the same thing about the Hurricanes. 

Fels:

Quote

That’s the Canes. Last season, they went 17-5-3 between Dec. 1 and this point in the calendar. Credit needs to go to Brind’amour, who keeps his charges rolling through the dregs of the season. But it doesn’t make the Canes special at the time when they need to be.

The Future That Awaits...

Proteau:

Quote

Waddell has the assets to outbid other teams at the deadline – the Hurricanes have all three of their first-round draft picks in the next three years, and their prospect pool, while not the very best in the game, still has sufficient depth to tap into in a trade or two. They don’t need to deal away NHL-level talent to make moves fit under the cap. They can simply add to the group they have right now.

Fels:

Quote

The Canes make it easy for themselves to get goalie’d in the playoffs, because so many shots come from the point. And good goalies all the way tuned in during the playoffs suck those up and don’t leave the rebounds the Canes thrive on. Last year, when they ate it to the Rangers without winning a road game in either the first or second round, Igor Shesterkin had a .949 save percentage over the seven games. They scored 13 goals in total. The previous year, when the Lightning kicked their ass pillar to post, Andrei Vasilevskiy had a .956 save percentage over five games. In 2019, Tuukka Rask managed the same number in a four-game sweep.

So, which team are we?

The one that has methodically built themselves into one of the best in the league, while maintaining a deep prospect pool to allow the types of moves that can push a team over the top?

Or, the try hards who blow their load in the regular season when the wins don't matter quite as much?

  • Pie 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • PMH4OWPW7JD2TDGWZKTOYL2T3E.jpg

  • Topics

  • Posts

    • panthers55
      The Bryce Young "Game Winning Drive" narrative needs to end

      By panthers55 · Posted

      I see progress and improvements. We aren't the same team we were even at the beginning of this year. You want to harp on the past while I am all about the present and future. Do I know thinks are going to be great moving forward? Actually I don't but I prefer to look at the good instead of the bad. Since he is surely going to be the QB the rest of this year barring injury, I am going to root for him to succeed instead of fail. I always said if we are going to finish at 500 for the year I prefer we win at home since I will be there and want to see wins and crying opposing fans like the cowboys. So far mission accomplished. Now we have to show we can win on the road.
    • strato
      Hey You, You Don't Know Quarterbacking

      By strato · Posted

      Yeah and I am doubtful he can offer that consistently. I don’t have many years left at my age and in my view we have wasted two and this whole exercise with him was always a three year minimum.  I am out on that with a guy I don’t believe in, and never believed in, it has sucked. To me it is a costly detour off the right track. Years.    But I am not so rigid that I can’t see excellence. He needs to display it though, consistently before I change my outlook.  
    • fieryprophet
      Hey You, You Don't Know Quarterbacking

      By fieryprophet · Posted

      No, when I said rage, I meant rage, which only applies to certain fans on this board. Your timeline of trying to assess whether he is the future or not is really tied to the discussions surrounding his second contract. If this team is going to commit to some monster contract while he has shown nothing but glimpses of brilliance would be deservedly worrisome, so the clock is genuinely ticking for him to settle into something resembling his final form. Perhaps a best case scenario is that he plays well, the team succeeds, but he does so with a more limited role that makes the rest of the league view him as a game manager, and his second contract value reflects that. Then he continues to improve and becomes a bargain comparatively while not handicapping the team around him, and we enter an era of consistent championship competitiveness that the fanbase has craved for decades and has never really experienced before. But that requires many, many things to go right and for Bryce himself to facilitate that if he ends up being the quarterback of the future.
×
×
  • Create New...