Three Changes the Carolina Hurricanes Should Make If Play Resumes
While the return of NHL action remains unclear, the Carolina Hurricanes should prepare accordingly with some new strategies to implement.
It has been over two months now since the Carolina Hurricanes have seen the ice. As it stands the team is in the first wildcard. We have no idea if the season will return or not, but if it does the team needs to make a few tweaks to ensure their success moving forward.
Now, I know what you are thinking; we have all our hurt players back (with the exception of Dougie Hamilton) we should be golden. While we have already mentioned how the break is incredible for the injured players and having Rod Brind’Amour as the Head Coach will give this team an advantage upon return, these few changes won’t hurt.
We still have no idea what the playoffs will look like. Will they be expanded if they shorten the regular season? There is even a possibility to shrink the playoff field in efforts to shorten the playoff run and try to get next season prepared.
What we do know is that the NHL wants to do something to try and take some lessons learned and apply it to next season where they will try and play a full season properly. We will just have to wait and see what it will look like.
But for the sake of this article, let’s pretend that the season is planning on being continued regularly with a regular playoff field. What can the Carolina Hurricanes do to assure that they don’t lose their playoff spot and perhaps move up the standings?
1. Revamp the Power-Play
The Carolina Hurricanes power-play has improved drastically from last season. They went from a 17.8% conversion rate to a 22.3% conversion rate thanks to the addition of guys like Jake Gardiner and a stellar season from Dougie Hamilton.
But there is still room for improvement.
Luckily the Carolina Hurricanes have everything they need to revamp their power-play and turn it into a force to be reckoned with. They also have a secret weapon.
That weapon is Morgan Geekie, who came onto the NHL scene all guns firing. While he technically didn’t get any powerplay points, he was placed on the powerplay against the Detroit Red Wings that saw him play the role of net-front presence incredibly. There is no doubt about it, Geekie deserved to be a part of the new powerplay lines.
With Dougie Hamilton back, he and Gardiner will make an excellent 1-2 punch on the two powerplay lines that will give any opponent nightmares.
This revamp has to build around net-front attackers like Geekie and Vincent Trocheck and finished off with Hamilton and Gardiner as the QBs. That is all this team needs to force the opponents to play clean hockey or face the dire consequences of a penalty each time.
2. Redo the Defensive Pairings
The defense is about to get some serious help with Dougie Hamilton and Sami Vatanen healthy again. That means its time to completely re-do the defense and see where the healthy eight defenders fall. Let’s forget about the cap space conundrum that getting everyone back and healthy is causing and focus on the pairings.
The first pairing is like Mac and Cheese. Simple, classic, never goes wrong, and always hits the spot. I’m talking about Dougie Hamilton and Jaccob Slavin. The perfect mix of offensive-defense and defensive-defense that creates another forward and make the opponents feel like they are on a penalty kill.
You simply don’t mess with that. Unless you want to add bacon.
What about the second pairing? The truth is that Haydn Fleury has improved enough that he
should be playing second-pairing minutes with Brady Skjei. I have already given this a full article, So I shouldn’t waste much space or time here rehashing what I already said, but there is your second line and I will not be taking any questions at this time.
That leaves Trevor Van Riemsdyk, Jake Gardiner, Joel Edmundson, and Sami Vatanen for the final lines. Gardiner is the only one that has really earned a spot on the roster, mistakes and all. Vatanen is still unproven and may never play a single game to avoid the clause on his trade agreement from kicking in. That leaves TVR and Edmundson, which I can easily rotate until something clicks.
3. Rotate the Extra Forwards
One of the biggest reasons that the Carolina Hurricanes went on a deep run in the playoffs last year was because they were healthy. The reason they didn’t make their third Stanley Cup appearance? They got less healthy quickly.
The sweep of the Islanders cost them dearly as both TVR and Mrazek went down. Mrazek did get back in time to play against Boston, but at that point, it was already too late.
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But how did they keep so healthy? Well, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach Bill Burniston is probably the biggest reason for it. He turned the team into a very strong and very resilient roster of hockey players.
But carrying an extra forward or two also helped them on that deep run.
The rotation of the players helped keep them fresh and ensured that everyone was on the same page of the game compared to random call ups from the AHL. Now granted, guys like Geekie can come up and tear a new hole through the league, but others like Julien Gauthier can end up with less stellar performances.
The solution is to keep the guys like Geekie on the roster and rotate them in to give other a break on a game by game basis. Guys like Jordan Martinook, Ryan Dzingel, and even Nino Niederreiter can always use the break and get back to 100%.
With the AHL season done, it wouldn’t hurt to bring up another prospect to carry as needed as well. Let them train and practice with the team, so the moment they are actually needed, they fit in like a glove.
All goes well, this team could be well on its way to becoming a threat to the entire Eastern Conference once again.
Question for CC Readers: What other adjustments can this team make?
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