Carolina Hurricanes Links: There Might be a Morale Problem
It’s Sunday which means it’s time for more Carolina Hurricanes’ links!
It’s a sad state of affairs when what is happening off the ice is more exciting than what is happening on the ice. That’s the situation the Carolina Hurricanes find themselves in this weekend after the rant Bill Peters gave the press when asked about his goaltenders. We discussed Peters’ statements in more detail here, and we weren’t the only ones talking about this. Peters’ words echoed throughout the national hockey media: TSN and Sportsnet both jumped on coverage of the incident.
Oh, the life of a Hurricanes fan. It seems like anytime the franchise is getting national coverage things are always going poorly for the Carolina Hurricanes. Will Francis ever be able to get this franchise to turn the corner? I’ve always thought so, but this season has left many people doubting the direction of the Hurricanes myself included. Well, enough wallowing in our misery let’s move on to the links.
A Double Standard
The folks over at the Calm Before the Storm blog wrote a nice piece about Bill Peters comments on Eddie Lack. Most notably how nobody in the front office ever seems to hold Cam Ward to these high standards of goaltending. The author argues neither goalie deserves praise for their play this year, but by singling Lack out for the blame, it sets up an unfair evaluation. After hearing the excuses for why the Carolina Hurricanes resigned Ward in the offseason, this article some strong arguments.
Hurricanes Goaltending History
Bill Peters hasn’t had a lot to work with in terms of goaltending ability. Canes and Coffee writes a history of the goaltenders under the Ron Francis/Bill Peters era in Raleigh. In short, things haven’t been pretty. Especially for goaltenders slotted to play backup for the team. Both Anton Khudobin and Eddie Lack had much better numbers before moving to the team. It seems that maybe goaltending coach David Marcoux may be more of the problem here than any of the actual goalies.
Moving Eddie Lack
As you can see there is something of a theme here with the links this Sunday. This time Sportsnet reports that Eddie Lack may be on the move this offseason. Elliot Friedman said in the article:
"No. 1, he plays a style that the Hurricanes don’t really like in terms of the way they like their goalies to play,” Friedman said Saturday on the Headlines segment on Hockey Night in Canada. “No. 2, Eddie Lack is a happy-go-lucky kind of guy and Bill Peters is a very serious guy. I think that was a problem as they continued to fall out of the playoff picture."
Maybe a move will be the best for both parties involved. It will be interesting to see if Francis thinks so in the off season.
The Ghost of Trade Deadline Pasts
The NHL trade deadline came and went this past Wednesday with nothing really happening once again. Sure there were some trades, but when players like Steve Ott are one of the most interesting trades on deadline day GMs aren’t doing things right. At least according to Sean McIndoe they aren’t. Keeping with the Hurricanes theme here, this article mentions the blockbuster deal that sent Ron Francis to the Penguins from the Hartford Whalers.