December is just a day away and the Carolina Hurricanes have played 21 games. 21 games has been enough time to see the team’s good and bad so far. We have seen 21 games of new faces like Michael Bunting and Dmitry Orlov. The latter has taken some heat for the defensive lapses but seems to have righted the ship.
It is hard to condemn or praise a player or team after just 21 games but it can give a bit of a forecast of what is ahead in the coming months. Normally, the start of the new year is a good point to gauge if a player or team can turn things around or continue to succeed.
The case of Bunting is interesting as many things are to be considered in the performance of the first-year Canes forward. The effect the person has on and off the ice, combined with salary and production are just some ways to judge the overall picture.
Personally, I think Bunting is the type of player that can pay off most in a tough playoff series. Does that mean he is worth $4.5 million a season for the next 3 years? Not in my opinion but every professional hockey player gets more than we believe they deserve.
My only issue with the signing of Bunting in the summer was that this team clearly needed to add scoring depth up front and Bunting is not exactly the answer. The team did need toughness and physicality but as we saw with the Brendan Lemieux signing, you do not need to pay a lot for that attribute.
Either way, it would be interesting to see what the former Toronto player would add to the top forward lines. The 28-year-old had proven he could play with top talent on his lines and contribute.
So far this season, we have seen the fight and fire in the 6-foot winger. Scoring 5 goals is good but less than I would have hoped for when seeing his contract. The point pace seems to be where he had been with Toronto, although it does not feel like it.
The Ontario native has found himself playing on the fourth line at times this season, which does not make a whole lot of sense. This is a top-six forward brought to Carolina to add a missing dynamic to the other talented forwards on the top line. A fourth-line center with grit did not have to take up so much money towards the salary cap. This is a team that is facing some important expiring contracts this summer.
I like a lot about Bunting’s game and he very well could go on and have a solid career with the Canes, but it will always seem like an unnecessary signing unless a Stanley Cup is won during his contract time.
Similar to the Orlov signing, it did not seem necessary to already have a top defense from a final-four team.
The Hurricanes played well in many areas and suffered some untimely injuries to important players last season. Still, the team played in the Conference Finals and played pretty damn well. However, the Cinderella story that was the Florida Panthers happened to fall on that year. The Canes have done it to teams in the postseason that were far better talent-wise. It is part of sports.
The point is this team was knocked out of the playoffs because of a lack of scoring. This could be said of recent playoff appearances with nearly the same group of players. The need was obvious for the summer.
Good, solid signings were made by Don Waddell but not necessarily the right ones. A natural, talented finisher would have made this team nearly unstoppable. Management felt depth was the direction needed.