Carolina Hurricanes: 5 Unanswered Questions after a Questionable November
After an up and down month of November the Carolina Hurricanes are sitting pretty with 33 points. However there are still several unanswered questions.
November was not as kind to us as October was. 15 Games were played and the Carolina Hurricanes only won eight of them. Sure that’s a bit over 0.500 for the month. Sure they took care of business in the two games that went to overtime. Sure they managed to open and close out the month with wins. But in this league and especially this division, that’s not good enough.
Especially considering that of the eight wins, three were one goal differences while they only lost by a goal once when their comeback against the New York Rangers was cut short. That said, we got a lot of answers from the questions we had from last month going in.
Brian Gibbons did an outstanding job holding the line until Jordan Martinook returned off his injury. Martinook has made the wait worth it as he has come back with the vengeance and helped the team immensely upon his return.
The Andrei Svechnikov to Sebastian Aho train line seems to be running at full speed with the Dougie Hamilton engine underneath to help fuel it like never before. These three might all be heading to the All-Star game late next month. Would be the first time since we hosted the All-Star game that Carolina sent more than one player.
The race between Brock McGinn and Warren Foegele to score first was a fun one. McGinn thought he had the first one, but it got recalled and Foegele ended up scoring first. But now both of them have goals on the season. I love happy endings.
Haydn Fleury has seen plenty of ice time this month. Including playing as part of seven defenders against the bolts last night as well as earlier this month against the Devils as forwards are getting hurt. That said I would like to see him get even more ice time and expand his role with the team over someone like Jake Gardiner perhaps.
That all said we still have questions from the last month that need answering. And perhaps one from the previous month that seems to have carried over.
When is Erik Haula ever going to get back and healthy?
Erik Haula got hurt halfway through the month and we have yet to hear any update on his situation. No return timeline, no evidence of any treatment, and no sighting of the player anywhere since. That scares me. While he isn’t the glass cannon that Micheal Ferland was, this seems all too familiar to the heavy checking forward’s situation from last year.
Both men came into Carolina and started making splashes early and scoring. Ferland brought a physicality that was more visible than anything Carolina had in the past but it came with a heavy price. Haula was a mastermind when it came to the powerplay and his absence is clearly missed.
Related Story. Haula Piling on the Injuries. light
Ferland had since moved on to Vancouver where he continues to move on and off the IR. Haula seems to be bugged by his knee and some reports indicate that when he aggravated it once again it began to swell and the only medicine for him was time off, rest, and perhaps some ice. The question becomes, will this become something of a regularity and can Carolina afford it?
Haula is an excellent hockey player with a high hockey IQ. There is no doubt about what he brings to the table. A healthy Haula is a dangerous player on the ice. An injured Haula is one that is eating up Cap space and possibly keeping the team from acquiring a forward to replace him without placing him on the LTIR.
The fact that he technically isn’t on the Injury Reserve is a reassuring one. Who knows, perhaps as you read this Haula is lacing up his skates to test out his knee and let us know for certain when he can be back.
Is Mrazek Starting to get Outplayed by James Reimer?
Now a month ago I would have laughed at this argument. Now I am making it. Honestly we wouldn’t even have to go that far, two weeks maybe. But there is now enough evidence to suggest that Carolina might have to go back to the style of goalie play they had last season; play the hot hand.
Let’s look at the stats of these two gentlemen over the last two outings for them each shall we?
Petr Mrazek in his last two games against the Predators and Rangers stopped 41 of 47 shots for a 3 GAA and 0.872 save percentage. That isn’t good. And perhaps there is more to these stats than just the numbers. These two games did come after news about a certain former coach. But more on that later.
James Reimer on the other hand in his last two games against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Detroit Red Wings stopped 55 of 57 shots for a 1 GAA and 0.965 save percentage. Now based on these stats alone Reimer is coming out on top recently. But like I said earlier there is more to this than simply numbers.
Mrazek didn’t seem to be getting the support he usually does those games and Reimer has been playing with a chip on his shoulders and perhaps now one in his skate blade. That all said, its an unanswered question that might take all of December to help us figure out who truly deserves to be the number one goalie when we take this into summer Hockey.
How did the Team Handle the Bill Peters News?
Bill Peters always got on my nerves. Now I know why. The news that hit the NHL wavelengths these past couple of weeks have seem to hit the Carolina Hurricanes locker room pretty hard. After all of the 21 players on the roster, at least 10 of them have been coached by Peters at some point.
Just how bad it was or wasn’t will probably never be told. The question becomes are the players haunted by flashbacks of what did happen? Are others haunted by bad memories of other coaches who may or may not have played into the toxic environment of the NHL? How has Rod Brind’amour responded to players who may have been affected by Peters?
Most importantly, how have they responded to him and his statement that he was proud that they took it to management together and, while it may not appear to be anything on the surface to us, he felt that management, read Ron Francis, did the right thing.
Remember, Peters was extended another two years after the incident and Peter Karmanos said had he known he would have fired him, even though Ron Francis claimed to have informed him. Are you keeping up? Because I am struggling to keep everything straight myself. Imagine how it is for the players who may or may not have felt that the right decision was made in the process.
But that is all behind the current Carolina Hurricanes team since virtually everyone in that process has been weeded out by Tom Dundon. Right?
Will this Team Trade for a Forward?
Now here is a possibly several million dollar question. Will the team add more offense? They absolutely need to. But can they? There are so many names starting to become available as the season continues as the tankers are becoming more and more obvious. Even big names like Taylor Hall are starting to be thrown around. The Hurricanes are absolutely interested but Don Waddell will have to do some magic.
The Carolina Hurricanes are sitting on about $1,126,643 of projected cap space with the possibility of getting more as contracts get moved back down to the minor leagues. So it becomes a game of moving cap space around to get another player. Unless they manage to coax a team to move a player on their ELC, which while ridiculous, is completely in Waddell’s wheelhouse.
So that leaves a few options. The most obvious is to move either Jake Gardiner or Trevor Van Riemsdyk . Gardiner would empty out about $4 million and TVR would add on $2.3 million in cap space. Both of those would help, but to get a guy like Hall, who has about $6 million in cap hit, they would need to make even MORE space, unless they convince other GMs to retain salary, which is absolutely possible for Waddell.
That all said, the Hurricanes have more than enough draft picks and prospects to make a move happen. It almost feels inevitable that there will be a new Hurricane by the end of February. Questions becomes when will the move happen, who will be involved and will Waddell once again get his burner number blocked by rest of the league?
Is Justin WIlliams Coming Back?
Justin Williams told us he was going out to grab a pack of smokes and maybe a lotto ticket and has yet to come back. Now granted he told us he was still considering a return and is only taking a break instead of retiring, but it still feels like we were all just abandoned by our dad. Speaking to the last question, would the Carolina Hurricanes need to add more offense if Williams comes back?
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And there lies the priceless question. Would you rather have Justin Williams return or pick up a dynamic forward? That depends on the answer to this question; is the team good enough that more inspiration and leadership can help them play at the level we all know them to be at, or is the team actually missing that top six forward who can come in and tear it up every night on the ice?
For those of you counting, that is three questions in about two paragraphs. That’s because everything surrounding Justin William’s return is a question mark. The man is going to eat up whatever remaining salary there is under the cap, no question about it. But is it worth it, is it worth being hard pressed against the cap ceiling with little room for error in order to add dad back in?
Make that four questions. We may never know, but we do know that the deadline for him to sign and be playoff eligible is fast approaching. Will he be on the roster by then or will he officially hang up the skates?
Question for CC Readers: What Questions do you have for the Carolina Hurricanes after November?
Next. Teach them How to Dougie. dark