Carolina Hurricanes: 5 reasons missing the playoffs this season was unacceptable
There’s really nothing the Carolina Hurricanes can do at this point to repair the damage of a late season collapse, leading to a rough result for the fans.
For yet another disappointing season in Raleigh, NC, the Carolina Hurricanes missed the playoffs while seriously contending for some significant amount of time. In recent years, it was the lack of contention during the bulk of the season that cost the Canes, because they got hot way too late. However, this season presented the opposite problem under head coach Bill Peters. Since the Canes had the roster, and a wildcard spot halfway through the year, the playoffs should be a reality this time around.
While Carolina is not mathematically eliminated from playoff contention just yet, it’s coming once the New Jersey Devils compile some more wins. The Canes sit seven points outside of a playoff spot at this moment, with a March 22 home victory over the Arizona Coyotes, by the final score of 6-5. While that win over the Yotes was a thrilling matchup to watch, it does not mean much for the bigger picture of the organization.
Now, the Canes need to focus on building up the younger talent to make a significant contribution to the team’s success through the 2018-19 campaign. Due to some recent season-ending injuries to key players like Victor Rask, Brett Pesce, and Noah Hanifin, Carolina had to move up some of the more promising Charlotte Checkers.
Those injuries do create opportunities for some younger guys to make an impact with Peters and the front office. Considering the disappointment this season’s result for the Canes, hopefully something good comes from it.
Here’s five reasons missing the playoffs for the ninth consecutive year is unacceptable for the Carolina Hurricanes.
5. Testing the patience of the fan base
The atmosphere for the matchup with Arizona on March 22 was surprisingly good. At this point in the season, you would expect most of the fans to give up on the team, but that’s not what happened while facing an opponent among the league’s worst in the standings.
Especially after such a lackluster finish the game previous to defeating Arizona, which came on March 20. In that March 20 affair, the Canes fell short by a drastic four-goal margin against superstar forward Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers. The Canes faithful were not phased by that outcome to show up strong on a Thursday night contest.
Yet, that is not looking at the bigger picture for the Canes situation. Once again, Carolina is destined to finish last in the league in home attendance this season. This will be the third year in a row in which the Canes reel in such a negative headline.
Although this face got forced into the mind of the Canes fan base, the fact that the team missed the playoffs for the ninth straight season is too hard to accept. That playoff drought is the longest active streak in the NHL of its kind. Not the type of attention any franchise wants to draw to itself.
4. Lack of caring from the head coach
This bullet point could be an entire discussion in and of itself. Peters is under a lot of heat with the way the Canes finished out the regular season, especially when it mattered most. There’s a lot that was left to be desired with Carolina’s on ice product in 2018.
Adding on to the frustration felt from the lack of effort seemingly given by Peters throughout the final third of the season, this is around the same record the Canes posted the last two years. Improvement would be nice to see from the lead of the coaching staff, but nothing of the sort is ringing true.
At times, we’ve seen a Canes squad that seems like a well-coached group and makes things happen each shift. However, as soon as it looks like Peters finds the right guidance for his team, things really start to fall apart.
Buying into the system that the head coach is trying to put into place is a major factor in any successful team. The disconnect between Peters and the locker room grows as time moves along, and this is also an area where something needs to change before next season.
3. Second failed experiment with newly acquired goalie
Going all the way back to when the Canes brought former goalie Eddie Lack to Raleigh from the Vancouver Canucks, the goaltending situation went pretty far downhill. This time around, the Canes went for Scott Darling, from the Chicago Blackhawks.
Saying that Darling was up and down this season does not begin to describe the tough journey he went through. Darling posted a save percentage of .885 up to this point, well below a league average hovering around .915. Even Cam Ward is not near that mark.
Ward’s standout performances at times this season were overshadowed by the struggles of Darling between the pipes. Ward was the only of the two that notched a shutout this year, and also the only one to stay consistently above the .900 save percentage mark.
You could say that Lack was just a failed experiment before the puck dropped on the 2017-18 season, but the fact that Darling did not work out so far either signals a bigger problem. Is this a system issue with Peters and the Canes? Or, is the goalie scouting just not up to par.
2. Prevalent young talent on offense
The first few reasons on this list in terms of why missing the playoffs is unacceptable for the Canes focused on a few negative aspects. However, all the young talent on offense is a reason why the Canes, and their fans, should be optimistic as to the outlook of next season.
However, that also sheds light on the problem as to why the Canes were not able to take advantage of all the offensive firepower this season. Any team that has the likes of Sebastian Aho, Teuvo Teravainen, Jeff Skinner, Jordan Staal, Elias Lindholm, Victor Rask, etc. on the roster, should be in better position than the Canes are in right now.
Aho and Teravainen came through with career seasons this year, but it was all for naught as they spearheaded a team that will miss the playoffs once again. Their emergence does give the Canes some hope as to the offensive potential come next season.
As we look at it now, all the youth among the forwards, and the high ceiling, is more of a problem than a signal of a bright future considering the Canes current situation. Something is wrong with the offense, with the lowest shooting percentage in the league at this moment.
1. Stagnant franchise/threat of leaving Raleigh
This area might be looking more to the extreme, but the Canes could be considered on a list of candidates likely to move here soon. The new owner Tom Dundon looks to be doing everything he can to restore the excitement with the franchise, and its fan base.
However, nothing will help the Canes if they continue to miss the playoffs year after year. Few things can draw fans to an NHL arena more than winning and a strong sense of tradition. Building tradition will take time for the Canes, longer than the time they’ve been in Raleigh.
Once the NHL finishes its round of expansion, to 32 teams, the quest to find the best ideas for relocation will begin. Since Seattle, WA, seems to be the best candidate for the 32nd NHL team, other cities will look to pry teams like the Canes and Arizona Coyotes away from their current locations.
Next: 5 MVP's of the 2017-18 season for the Carolina Hurricanes
Something has to give for the Canes, to finally get some playoff excitement and atmosphere back to North Carolina. It’s been a long while since the fans could really get pumped for a set of home games of that magnitude. We’ll have to wait at least another 12 months for that to happen for the first time since 2009.