Canes' Talent and Needs on D

by curiouscanesfan on Jun 26, 2011 12:22 PM EDT

OK, maybe this is one of those wild flights of optimism that happens in the offseason. This optimism isn't based on the new guys who are closest to playing in the NHL, Sanguinetti, Faulk and Murphy. I'm seriously wondering if, should the Canes re-sign Pitkanen, the Canes' situation on D is as dire as we've been thinking. Last year's statistics say it is, but was last year an accurate barometer of Canes' defensive talent?

Draft position isn't always a reliable barometer of talent either, but talent and draft position are not unrelated. When players perform below the expectations that got them drafted high, it's always interesting to speculate about whether the players were draft mistakes, whether injuries figured in, whether players lack drive, or whether coaches can't bring out talent that's still there. It's not that such questions can be answered with any certainty, but going into a new season, it's interesting to consider the possibilities player by player.

Draft Position of Canes' D

Murphy is really the only thing that's new, and yet it came as a shock to me that the Canes may go into next season with two defensemen taken 4th overall (Pitkanen and Allen), one taken 12th overall (Murphy) and one taken 23rd overall (Gleason). That's to say nothing of Sanguinetti, taken 21st overall, or Faulk, taken 37th overall. McBain is a 2nd rounder taken 63rd overall. Harrison is a 3rd rounder taken 82nd overall, one slot higher than Corvo in his draft year. The Canes won't but actually could go into next season with a defense with 5 1st rounders and a high 2nd rounder. There's a wealth of other young 2nd rounders coming along, but not this year. How many defenses in the NHL could play five 1st rounders, including two taken 4th overall and one taken 12th overall? I'm not saying the Canes' talent on D is at the top of the league, but I think it's a good deal better than 21st in the league, which is where the Canes' ranked in goals against per game. I've thought of the Canes as always trying to get by on 2nd round talent on D at best, but that may not be accurate.

After the jump, a few facts and questions about the Canes' poor performance on D last season.

There's no debating the poor performance of the Canes' D last season. Gleason, Corvo and Pitkanen have all had better seasons as Canes. Gleason played well for the US Olympic team and yet took a step down last season for the Canes. He had 16 pts in 82 games and was - 11. In 2009-2010 Gleason had 19 pts in 61 games and +/- of zero. Gleason was +3 in 2008-2009 and +5 the year before that. Last year, Pitkanen was - 2 with the Canes, not +11 as in 2008-2009. Joe Corvo had by far his worst +/- as a Cane last year at - 14 despite tying his career high for scoring with 40 pts. Jamie McBain also took a step backward, going from +6 in 14 games in 2009-2010 to - 8 last season. On the other hand, Jay Harrison was + 5 on the season last year whereas he was - 8 in 2009-2010. Derek Joslin was a rookie last season, playing 34 games with the Sharks and Canes. He was - 2 in 17 games with the Sharks and + 7 in 17 games with the Canes. Bryan Allen also got better after joining the Canes. He was - 5 with the Panthers in 53 games and +4 with the Canes in just 19 games.

Did Canes' coaching make half the Dmen better and the other half worse? It seems more likely that there were other things going on. Gleason and Pitkanen are the two top Dmen and both had injuries. Gleason never took a game off but looked as though he needed to. Pitkanen finally took some games off and played far better after coming back. Also notably, Gleason and Pitkanen both played on their countries' Olympic teams. It's just possible that the Olympics on top of the regular season and grueling early season travel took a toll.

What to Make of Allen and Joslin

Allen was taken 4th overall in 1998. He made the Canucks' roster as an 18-year-old but went back to junior after failing to agree on a contract. He was an OHL All-Star even though he only played 37 games because of injury. Allen missed almost all of 1999-2000 and a good part of the two seasons before that with knee problems. He got a regular job with the Canucks in 2003. According to the write-up on Wikipedia, he supplied physical play and stood out on the PK. Then came the lock-out and then a good season as a leading defender for the Canucks. Allen went to Florida in the trade for Roberto Luongo and had an excellent year in 2006-2007, then the knee problems struck again and he missed the 2008-2009 season except for two games. With Allen, it's possible that he'll never again be more than a role player and that his original draft position was way too high. On the other hand, he's only 30, so it's also at least remotely possible that he'll get his legs under him this year and return to his strong form of 2006-2007 when he scored 25 points, was + 7 and had 112 penalty minutes. He had a good +/- for four straight years up to 2009-2010.

Joslin was a 5th round draft choice despite scoring 48 and 49 points his last two years in junior. He scored 32 points in 55 games and was +14 in his last year with the AHL's Worcester Sharks. He looked good at the end of last season and in fact the Canes looked better with him in the line-up. Joslin really could be a JR coup, as Bret Hedican suggested.

Do the Canes' Need That Additional Shutdown Defenseman?

I thought so for certain, but I'm not so sure now. Pitkanen is not a shutdown defenseman, but when he's healthy, his skating is a safety net against breakaways. He can drive you crazy, but he can also make great clutch passes that win playoff games. Gleason, Allen and Harrison are shutdown defensemen and they bring plenty of size and toughness to the equation. I don't know what the Canes' medical staff thinks of Allen's knees, but what if he started looking like a second-pairing shutdown defenseman? What if McBain comes to camp in great shape and with 10 more pounds of muscle? Joslin is strong at 6'1" and 210 lbs. He has some shutdown qualities even though he may belong on the offensive D side of the ledger. Is the Canes' defense a disaster than needs fixing immediately, or did most of the Canes' best players have bad years? Was it a mirage that the D got better with Allen and Joslin on the ice? I think it's significant that JR has other options and he wants Pitkanen back.

If Murphy doesn't make the team, the biggest change to the Canes' D may be a return to form. The second biggest may be a solid backup plan because of greater depth in Charlotte. Gleason and Pitkanen won't be playing in the Olympics this year. There won't be a Babchuk experiment to start the season or a trip to Russia and Finland. There may not be multiple Dmen coming and going as with Babchuk, White and Joslin or periods with an undersized lineup.

What do you think we should expect of the Canes' D this coming season, with or without Ryan Murphy?

Poll

Which best describes the Canes' defense in 2011-2012?

Reckless but exciting with Ryan Murphy bursting on the scene

20 votes

Solid with Gleason, Allen and Harrison or Joslin as shutdown defensemen

18 votes

Without a new shutdown defenseman for the first pairing, a hopeless mess

17 votes

55 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

Olympics have nothing to do with it, they were played in 09-10 season not 10-11 season. We are deep in 4-6 dmen, not top 3 dmen. Again, I don’t think we have anyone that plays in the top 4 of any true cup contender. Pitkanen is hardly a safety net against breakaways, more often than not he causes them, his skating ability does allow him to get back sometimes if he feels like it. He is a maddening mess, and needs to go. Nobody is a bigger fan of Gleason than I am, but this Defense is a wreck. I tend to agree more with Bob Wage’s article from a week ago or so which argued we were the worst defensive team in the league. If Cam didn’t have the outstanding year he had, or was injured at any point and missed significant time, we would’ve drafted in the top 5.

by xlwino on Jun 26, 2011 2:52 PM EDT reply actions

can't agree...

As a season ticket-holder i miss very few games (if any), and Joni has had far less “bone-headed”
plays that cost us goals as some would like to imply! Many times he has turned over the puck or had the missfortune of someone else misshandle one of his lazer passes, and has still sped back to stop a breakaway! He’s a little high-risk/ reward, but is close to being irreplaceable!
(certainly at his modest salary)

by randycane on Jun 26, 2011 3:09 PM EDT up reply actions

Sorry, you’re right about the timing of the Olympics. The mind plays tricks. What the Olympics did do was to make for a very busy 2010 season since the Olympic hockey games came on top of the NHL schedule. However, you would expect the effects of that to be gone by training camp for 2010-2011. The point about Gleason’s and Jokinen’s injuries and subpar performance is correct even if I was wrong about one of the reasons.

I agree Bob made a power case about the lousy defensive performance. What I’m no longer sure about is whether that was because the defensive corps – and specifically the parts of the defensive corps that are returning for 2011-2012 – isn’t good enough. It looks as though we’ll never find out much about whatever caused the decline in Gleason’s play. We’ll just have to see if he moves and plays better this fall. My memory is obviously faulty but I’d swear Gleason used to move a lot better than he did last year. I see problems in Pitkanen’s play and understand the criticism but I also see strong positives. I see him beating other teams back to head off breakaways pretty often. I don’t think that’s faulty memory or imagination.

by curiouscanesfan on Jun 26, 2011 3:29 PM EDT up reply actions

I see I said Jokinen instead of Pitkanen in the first paragraph. Sorry about that too. Haven’t had much sleep.

by curiouscanesfan on Jun 26, 2011 3:30 PM EDT up reply actions

Tim Gleason

I think it’s fair to say that he was probably nursing some kind of injury that hindered his mobility through much of the season. No one has ever questioned his drive yet there were times where his step just wasn’t there. At least, I hope that’s the case.

by Sluv on Jun 26, 2011 5:25 PM EDT up reply actions

The Canes allowed a lot of shots on goal last year, but I think a large part of that is related to the team’s inability to win faceoffs. Plus, I think our defensive corps looked a lot better after the acquisitions of Bryan Allen and Derek Joslin.
I think our team defense would improve not by shaking up our D-corps, but by bringing in at least one, if not two, centermen who can faceoffs and maybe a forward or two who can win puck battles in the corners.
I’m ambivalent on Pitkanen. I don’t think he hurts us that much. I really don’t think he helped that much either last season.

by Sluv on Jun 26, 2011 5:13 PM EDT up reply actions

One think about Pitkanen

He takes way too many minor penalties. 60 PIM in 72 games, while an improvement over 72PIM in 71 games the year before, is still too many for a player who never fights. I know he plays a lot of minutes but a guy with his mobility should not be going to the box that often.

by Sluv on Jun 26, 2011 5:32 PM EDT up reply actions

Good point. I wonder if he played a little less he wouldn’t take as many penalties. I think of Pitkanen and Staal both as taking frustration penalties when they’re so tired they can barely move.

by curiouscanesfan on Jun 27, 2011 6:34 AM EDT up reply actions

“Gleason, Corvo and Pitkanen have all had better seasons as Canes.”

Exactly. Frankly, all three were crap last season. But we all know they are better than how they performed last season. Gleason and Pitkanen were injured, Corvo was off-and-on throughout the season. But when they are all on their game, they are pretty good.

Allen and Joslin were both solid at the end of the season. We only saw them as they were brought in near the end of the season and thrust onto a terrible defensive team. I think we can see them perform very well when they are given the opportunity to play from the start.

Many people here were praising Harrison’s turn for the better near the end of last season. If he keeps that up, he is fine too.

McBain, I am less unsure on. If he can put the weight on and work on his skating over the summer, he could very well turn back into that force that we had a glimpse of a couple of seasons ago.

So what do I say about the defense? It could be better, but it’s about as good as we can get it right now. We can get rid of Pitkanen and sign another top defenseman, but that will only change out one player. It won’t make a significant change. The key to having a good defense next year is having Gleason, Pitkanen, and Corvo at the top of their game from the start of the season to the end. We don’t have high-end depth, so we need them to play as well as they can do to well. But with that said, if they play as well as they can, our defense looks pretty good with Cam back there.

by hurricane9 on Jun 26, 2011 4:58 PM EDT reply actions

good points, but you cannot turn back the clock on gleason, pitkanen and corvo. they are one year older now, one more year with bumps and bruises, two years — TWO YEARS — out of the playoffs. Pitkanen takes too many penalties, makes too many bonehead passes, pinches at inopportune times, passes up shots for passes and, most importantly to me, plays small. I would not cry to see him go.

Corvo loves playing here and he works out a lot — great. He still gets beat and is nothing more than an above average third-pairing guy.

Gleason was hurt last season OR he phoned it in. In either case, he’s proven enough of himself with talent, drive, and decision making to warrant a make-good year this season. I still think he’s a strong second pairing guy or even a decent first pairing guy WHEN at the top of his game.

The rest of the D? help….

The new guys in the system show promise, that’s for sure, and I like the new Kitchner Rangers addition. The future looks bright, albeit not so soon, so let Pitkanen walk and use his spot to move people around the roster and rotate up some talent in a true rebuild year.

"We've got to look at this," Columbus general manager Scott Howson said Monday after exit interviews with the players. "Because whatever we have right now isn't working."

by Sergeant Stinky on Jun 26, 2011 8:44 PM EDT up reply actions

Any guess as to win the kids on D will start making a real difference? In particular, is the timing right when Gleason, Corvo and Allen become UFAs or is that too soon?

by curiouscanesfan on Jun 27, 2011 6:38 AM EDT up reply actions