Part 1 of 2 today looked backward at the Canes series win over the New Jersey Devils. You can find that article HERE. Part 2 looks forward to the series against the Florida Panthers.   Florida Panthers Entering the last week of the regular season, my strong preference was to play either the New York Islanders or the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round and steer clear of a Panthers team that seemed to be rounding into form just in time for the playoffs. Through two rounds including an upset of the regular season juggernaut Bruins, my preference to avoid the Panthers has proven justifie ..read more

This is article is part 1 of 2. Part 2 which you can find HERE looks forward to the upcoming Eastern Conference Finals series against the Florida Panthers. Heading into the series against the New Jersey Devils, I was concerned about the Canes ability to score enough and the need to clean up intermittent puck management issues from the Islanders series that could have been much more problematic against a skilled Devils’ forward group. I felt good about the Canes skating ability and mobility on the blue line being a good match up for a team with speed. The Canes fared well on all three accounts ..read more

On Monday, I posted an article that looked back at the Carolina Hurricanes series win over the New York Islanders. That article which you can find HERE leads into this article which looks forward to the Hurricanes round 2 match up against the New Jersey Devils. In short, I thought that the Islanders series went about as I expected. The Islanders play a style that leads to a low volume of scoring chances for both teams and a grinding style. That played into the Canes’ hands in that the Isles’ low-scoring ceiling is a match for a Canes team that similarly is a bit light on sources of offense. S ..read more

This article will be 1 of 2 first looking backward at what can be gleaned from the Islanders series and later 2 of 2 looking forward to the second round match up with the New Jersey Devils. Entering late March, the Islanders were my preferred choice for a first-round match up for the Hurricanes. My reasoning is that the Islanders style of play and personnel offered a low ceiling offensively compared to other possible first-round match ups. I did not really want any part of the Florida Panthers who had suddenly figured it out and would enter the playoffs as one of the hottest teams in the NHL ..read more

Hello old friends. I have had good intentions of dusting off the Canes keyboard for about a month now, but a bit belated am finally getting around to jotting some Canes thoughts for the first time in awhile. For those curious, nothing horrible happened; life just got busy on a few different levels and maybe to some degree my ability to write after midnight (probably 2/3 of my writing historically was 11pm or later when my house quieted, kids were in bed and other stuff was finished) is dwindling as I get older. But just like for everyone else, playoff hockey boosts energy, so here I am… Below ..read more

With only the home opener sitting in front of a five-game North Carolina State Fair road trip, the Canes gave the home crowd a small taste of hockey goodness with a 4-1 win. The first period was a bit sloppy with some disjointed play trying to advance the puck and at least three icings, but the Hurricanes played better as the game wore on and eventually pulled away. What follows are quick hitter impressions from the Canes first game of the 2022-23 NHL season.   Calvin de Haan / Jalen Chatfield Calvin de Haan did pick up an interference penalty, but in general I liked the play of the thir ..read more

Quick heads up that the site will be taken down sometime Monday or Tuesday and might be down for a day or two for maintenance and updates. We should be back within a couple days at most. So you can thank me now for news now certain to break early next week on a surprise trade or something else newsworthy in the dog days of hockey summer.   The initial math from re-signing Ethan Bear This week the team announced that it had re-signed Ethan Bear to a one-year contract for $2.2 million and in the process avoided arbitration. There are a few upshots to the bigger picture from this transactio ..read more

The Carolina Hurricanes made a couple big splashes on the opening day of free agency. In doing so, they mostly finished at least a tentative roster and also mostly used up the salary cap available for the 2022-23 season. But there are still a couple final pieces hanging out there to be completed and even the potential for another surprise addition. That is the subject of today’s Daily Cup of Joe.   The current status of the 2022-23 Carolina Hurricanes roster Line combinations are subject to change, but this is roughly how I would slot the current lineup counting only the players already ..read more

Last we covered the primary additions of Brent Burns and Max Pacioretty. If you missed them, the article on Brent Burns is HERE. And the article on Max Pacioretty is HERE. Today’s Daily Cup of Joe covers the other players acquired in those deals and takes a look at building the lineup based on players currently under contract.   Ondrej Kase Kase adds another middle of the roster wing and indirectly replaces Nino Niederreiter. His $1.5 million salary helps fill the top 9 forward slots while also being part of the equation to be able to add a player like Pacioretty and still squeeze under ..read more

Yesterday, I offered my thoughts on the acquisition of Brent Burns. If you missed that you can find that article HERE. I will separately cover Dylan Coghlan, Lane Pederson and Ondrej Case (hopefully tomorrow). Today’s Daily Cup of Joe looks first bigger picture at the Canes big first day of free agency and then looks specially at Max Pacioretty.   Bigger picture I am on record as saying that the Carolina Hurricanes first Stanley Cup window goes through the 2023-24 NHL season. They spent what could be considered the first of a three-year window that started in 2021-22 with a decent season ..read more