As I have been watching the playoffs,  I realized I was watching something of a new era in the NHL.  Teams like Phoenix were giving establishment teams like Detroit a fight for their playoff lives.  It then occurred to me just how gigantic the forwards seemed to be for Phoeix.  In checking the Phoenix roster,  it was clear that Phoenix had a matrix for building its team around big, fast forwards who not only crashed the net,  the crushed it.

   I then compared the 2009-2010 Hurricanes to see how the speed, size, comparison would fare.  As it turned out, the Hurricanes seemed to be vastly under-sized by comparison.  As an eternal optimist,  I then deleted, off-loaded, jettisoned, some players in the digital realm and added players who were in the system.  The result was somewhat startling.  The Hurricanes forwards as remodeled via the wonders of word processing became a team that had the speed, size, and skill to compete net rush for net rush with any team in the NHL.  Of course,  if all it took to make a Stanley Cup winner was the power of Word,  life for a GM would be simple.  There is that thing called chemistry.  Even so,  there is no way Jim Rutherford, Jason Karmanos,  Paul Maurice, Ron Francis, and Tom Rowe haven't noticed that the new era NHL is bigger, faster, and much more physical these days.  New Jersey learned the hard way that in the playoffs,  pretty play loses out to big, fast teams that hit anything that moves.

   To save time in the comparison,  and without adding in this post the justification for the deletions or off-loading of players,  gone from the 2009-2010 roster are (1) Brind'Amour,  (2) Whitney, (3) Samsonov; and (4) Kostopoulos.  Added to the 2010-2011 roster is (1) Boychuk; (2) Bowman; (3) Daple; (4) Osala; and (5) Tlusty.  The end result had Erik Cole at age 31 as the oldest member of the forwards.  For purposes of this post, I have not added a #7 first round pick, such as Connolly, Johansen, Sheahan, Watson, or Bjugstad. 

   In reviewing that roster,  the issue of the first line wing to go with Staal, still seemed an issue.  It then occurred to me that perhaps there was tremendous logic in the fact that Staal was moved to wing for the Olympics.  After all,  Staal was paired with the best players in Canada; and the Team Canada coaches were no hockey novices.  The logic seemed inarguable in some ways.  The result are lines that look something like:

Jokinen/Sutter/Staal

Boychuk/Dalpe/Ruutu

LaRose/Tlusty/Cole

Bowman/Dwyer/Osala

   As I stared at that set of lines,  I started to think I may be looking at the Hurricanes of 2011-2012.  It is probably too much to ask Dalpe to take a second line center position at this point in his hockey career.  Even so,  for the Hurricanes to move into the next tier of teams,  every line will ultimately need to have:  (1) two blazingly fast forwards;  (2) at least one forward who is a hybrid power forward;  (3) a center with speed who can score and who can finish on the odd man rush;  and (4) a balanced line that will hunt down the  puck in all zones and who will use their body to separate the puck from the opponent.

    The lines get influenced by the selection of a forward as the #7 pick, assuming that player makes the team.  I happen to think that if Connolly is not available,  Johansen, Bjudstad, and Sheahan seem to make sense for the Hurricanes.  If that occurs,  the results of the lines might be influenced.

Jokinen/Sutter/Staal

Boychuk/Dalpe/Ruutu

LaRose/[Johansen/Bjugstad/Sheahan]/Tlusty

Bowman/Dwyer/Osala

Forwards

HURRICANES 2009

Forwards

HURRICANES 2010 -- BIGGER, FASTER VERSION OF HURRICANES

Forwards

11    Zach Boychuk             5' 10"              185     Oct 4, 1989    20        Airdrie, AB, CAN

21         Drayson Bowman      6' 1"             190     Mar 8, 1989  21Grand Rapids, MI, USA

37         Zac Dalpe                 6' 1"    195     Nov 1, 1989  20        Paris, ON, CAN

19         Jiri Tlusty                  6' 0"    209     Mar 16, 1988             22        Slany, CZE

32         Oskar Osala             6' 4"    219     Dec 26, 1987            22        Vaasa, FIN