Whos to blame/What should Rutherford have done?

by GoCanes77 on Nov 12, 2009 2:59 AM EST

What caused this 13 game slide? Was it the signing of veterans? Was it the release of steady players that were used to the flow of the team? Or is it the "Hockey Gods" plaguing the Canes?

Personally I dont believe that bringing in Yelle and Ward have solved anything. I really didn't see where Rutherford was going with them in the first place. Tommy K, unlike the other two, was a good pickup I think, as he brings a much needed energy onto the ice.

I think the demise of the Hurricanes was the release of Dennis Seidenberg and Anton Babchuk. If im not mistaken, the whole reason to bring Ward was for his solid D. Seidenberg, the last time I checked was right up there in the league in blocked shots, and hes not far behind in hits. He can also score, something that Ward has never thought about doing in his life. Babchuk currently has 9 points in 15 KHL games, including 2 PP goals.

http://en.khl.ru/players/3950/&lang=en

I think the biggest mistake Riutherford made was letting him go. I realize that he had issues, and he was a brat, but the kid could shoot, and what everyone said he gave up on defense cant be far from what Aaron Ward is doing. We could really use his big shot right about now. So the question is what is the leading mistake, and what should J Rutherford have done instead?

Poll

What should Rutherford have done at the end of last season?

he did the right thing, leave him alone

10 votes

should have resigned seidenberg and babchuk, they were important

20 votes

Seidenberg was a great player that new the team, he should have resigned

36 votes

babchuk was worth the money, he should have signed him

12 votes

Rutherford shouldnt have signed or traded anyone, and let Rodney, Carson, and McBain fight for it

25 votes

103 votes | Poll has closed

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Who is to Blame?

The Culprits:

(1) Brind’Amour ~~- the slowest player in the NHL, with increasingly hands of bricks, and bad judgment. He has the the worst +/~~ in the NHL at ~~13; but -13 is only a glimpse into the problem. He is averagihg 25.6 shifts and 19:01 minutes of ice time per game -~~ so he bogs down the other Hurricanes for almost a third of the game.

(2) Aaron Ward — for a veteran who has always been an intelligent, position-aware defenseman with an edge, he is a skating disaster. It is almost inexplicable. Is he hurt? Is he miscast in the Maurice/Francis system? Has time finally caught up with him? Whatever the reason, his play is sinking the Hurricanes on a regular basis.

(3) Nic Wallin — in a race with Brind’Amour for the “turtle on the ice” award. He is painfully slow and has amazingly poor judgment for a seasoned veteran in terms passing and puck handling.

(4) Chad LaRose — he is bogged down in a horrible slump. He can’t score to save his life. He is not driving the puck and his puck handling is poor. The contrast between Sutter and LaRose is remarkable in terms of passing, decision-making, checking. LaRose is a fine young man;but his play this year is atrocious.

(5) Injuries: The team never got out of the gate as a seasoned unit. Pitkanen, Cam Ward, Staal, etc.

(6) The lack of a net presence. It was obvious to me as an untrained novice that other teams are following the Penguins blueprint for defeating the Hurricanes — crash the net, screen the goalie, attack the puck in the Hurricanes’ defensive end, and flash through the slot — because nobody will hit them as they come across the crease. In short, camp out and wait for rebounds. By contrast, the Hurricanes have nobody who thrives on playing with his back to the goalie and who battles in the crease with a huge physical presence.

(7) The complete absence of a power play. With Brind’Amour getting numerous minutes of ice time on the power play, without anybody to substitute for Babchuk’s 100 mph shot, and without the big, “truck on wheels” power forward, the power play is predictably in the pits. For this team, the power play is crucial and as the power play goes, so goes the Hurricanes.

(8) lack of buy-in to the Maurice/Francis system by some of the veterans. The lack of fore-checking, back-checking, crisp passing, and odd-man rushes says it all. The Maurice/Francis system works when the entire team is pushing the pace and is skating downhill the entire game. It requires full commitment by the entire team for the entire game because it is built on team effort rather than the flashy play of one or two superstars. It is clear, some of the veterans are disbelievers. One way to tell, is that suddenly the pace picks up with Sutter, Boychuk, an Rodney and the entire team’s play improves.

(9) overall lack of team speed. This team has quickness, but other than Cole, Sutter, and Boychuk lacks blazing speed. Once Rodney was added, the entire defense looked faster because he was helping move the puck with confidence and authority.

I predict there will be trades. I predict Wallin will sit. Brind’Amour will go to the fourth line. Aaron Ward will be traded, if we can trade him. LaRose is likely to be traded. Corvo is likely to be traded. Whitney is less likely as a player being traded due to his no trade clause but also his leadership role (which is real leadership and not being the king of fitness training) on the team.

The future is bright, even though this season has been a nightmare thus far. I am convinced if we see the problems, then Rutherford and Francis understand the problems at a remarkable level of detail and nuance far, far beyond my meager understanding of hockey.

by abramsdoug on Nov 12, 2009 8:36 AM EST reply actions

Sorry, but I did not vote in the poll, because there was no “none of the above”.

Hard for me to believe that if ONLY we had Seidenberg and Babchuk that all would be well.

Instead, abramsdoug’s more comprehensive list better addresses the question “who/what is to blame?”.

by Elsker on Nov 12, 2009 12:30 PM EST up reply actions

+1. You saved me a lot of typing with that one.

But I will add a few things:

1.) JR giving away “no-trade” clauses like candy after the cup run. Seriously, Nic Wallin and Frank Kaberle having NTC’s have hurt us for the last 3 years.

2.) After getting swept in the playoffs, JR tried to build a team that could beat the 08/09 Penguins. Unfortunately, it is now 09/10. Also, what got us to the ECF last year was speed and tenacity (and luck). Big and slow was not what got us there. We’ve lost speed and gained, well… nothing. This = disaster.

3.) Brind’amour is done. But apparently, nobody in the organization has the balls to scratch him or give him 4th line minutes. He is an absolute menace to our team right now. I love the guy and I appreciate the effort he puts into the game and the contributions to our team over the years. But… He’s killing us, and as the Captain/leader, he needs to recognize this and take appropriate action. See: Dave Andreychuk.

4.) Ron Francis. Dear Ronnie… I appreciate that you are a hall of famer and your jersey is hanging up in our attic, but you couldn’t coach a powerplay if your life depended on it. Yes, I know you were hell on the powerplay in the old days, but writing “1.) Skate puck into zone. 2.) Pass puck to Jagr or Lemieux. 3.) Bump gloves with Jagr/Lemieux after goal. 4.) Record assist in diary…” on the dry erase board doesn’t seem to work as well here as it did for you in Pittsburgh. Jagr and Lemieux aren’t out there anymore. And they never played for us anyway…

5.) The guy that sits behind me. I can’t explain it, but somehow, he is involved in this slump. I just know it. He’s loud and he smells funny.

6.) The music selection on the Jumbotron. Seriously, it sucks. And it has to be demoralizing to our team when you play British Girl Pop ditties during the games. Why not some punk. Or deathmetal. Or even just kinda sick, but should probably pull through metal. Something with some testosterone in it. I swear to god, It’s just a matter of time before those idiots start playing “It’s Raining Men” or the theme song from “Cats”.

I’m sure I am missing a few other things, but it’s a start…

by East of Here on Nov 12, 2009 10:39 PM EST up reply actions

Maybe its Mo's style

I didn’t vote, but let me say I was probably wrong. I was not a big fan of Babs and said we should have traded his rights this summer. His shot on the PP or 5 on 5 would be nice to have instead of Aaron “gave up another goal” Ward.
Also, I’m just throwing this out there. Last season we went from the run and gun style of Lavi to the “defensive responsible” Mo. It ended up balancing out well. With Mo having a full off-season to work on his style, our offense is dead. The players that have shown some offensive/energy life have been the kids called up (having not been with Mo the whole time). Its just a thought.

by PackPride17 on Nov 12, 2009 5:56 PM EST via mobile reply actions

Seidenberg a great player ?

Okay so we are out of it, at-least we gain a point tonight. Still we have not one a regulation game in over a month and still haven’t won a road game. As far as where the season went wrong it is as follows:

1.) Staal and Ward, & Joni – Injuried and out after both have received big contracts in the past two seasons; huge pieces gone until the end of this month at least and Joni is still banged up and really a guy we cannot move given his contract unless somebody wants a defender that has always under-performed and never lived up to his draft status.

2..) A. Ward, LaRose, E. Cole, and Yelle- old worn out vet’s that offer nothing anymore and really never offered a whole lot to begin with except COLE. Cole has not been the same without his favorite line mate. LaRose needs to be traded asap as does Ward and maybe even Cullen. Release Yelle outright and try and trade Walker as well. If we want to lose we can do it for a whole lot less money.

3.) Manny Legace & M. Leighton over Peters & Murphy – So JR is once again overprotecting our young goalies and for some reason went out and signed Legace whom is as old and tired as the above vet’s posted and he was forced to do that I guess b/c Leighton cannot handle a full time NHL Goaltender gig.

4.) Paul Maurice- Crap Crap Crap; this guy is the real reason we are sucking wind right now and with his style we are never going to come out of this thing period. Fire him asap I mean what is it know 14 game losing streak WTF is it going to take for JR to fire his favorite head coach.

Corrrections-

Simple dump or trade whomever we can; we need to inject this team with youth juice asap. Boychuk, Bowman, Rodney, M. Murphy, Peters, Carson, McBain, and more need to be called up and just let them play and gain experience. This season is a throw away and we need to let our young guns get the experience so that we can come back next year and be better than ever.

On the bubble: Wallin, Walker, Leighton LaRose, Samsanov, Whitney, A. Ward

Untradeable – Brindy, Cole, and maybe Cullen (nobody on this list has any value outside of Carolina)

Players to Keep- Ruutu, Staal, Jussi, C. Ward, Gleason, Kostopoulos ( a younger Walker) and Sutter, Boychuk, Bowman, etc…

Hurricanes are a shinking ship and it has already cap sized into the ocean and is bobbing up and down against the tides.

JR WAKE THE HELL UP ALREADY and DUMP THIS WASTED CAP SPACE b/c we can suck A$@%! for a whole lot less money then what we are spending now.

That is just my two cents as I see it.

Canes fan till I die ~

by Holty_Panthers_Fan on Nov 13, 2009 11:30 PM EST reply actions

an overreaction/misreading of the past season caused this problem

My take on last year is that for four months the canes were faster than and outlasted the opponents. It seemed like we always had an expectation of winning if we were within two goals at the end of two periods. At that point our smaller quicker team would have considerably more bounce left in their stride than the other team. Until we got to the ECF. At that point the one game than two days off, riding C Ward to death, along with a different interpretation of the rule book combined to allow the Penguins to easily walk right past us.
To back up the scheduling, the Canes had been running on fumes for over a month, having one extra day in between games did nothing to get gas back in our tank. But the Penguins hadn’t been as pressed as us, their playoff spot being assured earlier in the season. Also, the penguins can use the washington system occasionally-let crosby and Malkin score and dont do too much stupid, and you can still win. So to my eyes when we had an extra day between games it allowed the penguins to nearly fully recover, while our tank only got back to half full. If the games had been one day apart or back to back, I think they would have been closer.
Cam did not play well in the ECF. Not compared to normal. Malkin had his number. Leighton should have started at least one of those games, giving ward a rest. I did not realize that he was hurt during the series, but it sure is obvious in retrospect. If you can’t sit a goaltender when he is playing that badly, when can you?
One of the oddities of the NHL is the way teams with a certain reputation can have a completely different interpretation of the rulebook from the competition. Boston/Philly are always rough and tumble, and the refs call a very loose game for them. Pittsburgh plays a prettier faster game, and the refs are more likely to make calls on penalties that interfere with that style of play. Like 70% of the league, the Canes do not get their own referreeing style, and have to adapt quickly to the system being played. It never seemed like we did.

The way the off season was handled it seemed like the team was saying that we were clearly a playoff team the whole season, and a slight rebalancing of the weight to speed ration would surely get us farther next year. Sadly it is beginning to look like the reality is that we squeaked into the playoffs last year, and that to become a better team we needed to go more towards our identity (small, fast, and able to skate for sixty minutes). We did get to the eastern conference finals, but to say that we did so based on overall skill, not on desire and a little luck seems to be heartily disproven this season.

by EricinSC on Nov 16, 2009 12:26 PM EST reply actions