Storm Tracking: Hurricane Subsides, but Many Injured

The Canes ended October on a 3 game losing streak and many players either injured or recovering from injuries. Last week ended pretty well, the Canes started their State Fair road trip with 2 wins over Eastern Conference opponents and got a nice 4 day break. This past week started out on a bad note with Patrick Dwyer getting injured in Wednesday's practice and things got worse from there. Cam Ward and Jeff Skinner were injured in the Minnesota game and had to leave early. Brett Bellemore also got injured in that game and has missed the past 2 games. Then Radek Dvorak suffered an injury in the Colorado game. On top of all of this, the Canes lost all 3 games this week and have looked pretty overmatched in every game. Now it's time for the guys to regroup and get back to gaining points in the standings. Here are the stats for the week of 10/23/13 through 10/29/2013.

Canes Weekly Stats

Weekly Advanced Stats

Some of you guys mentioned that you would like to see some advanced stats last week, so this is my attempt to answer your request. There are obviously numerous stats out there and I only have so much time to try and put these things together. This is what I thought would give everyone a general overview of individual possession numbers for the week. If anybody has any suggestions, I am more than glad to listen. I also want to note that the data for the following chart was collected from www.extraskater.com, feel free to visit the website if you are in need of more advanced statistics.

Here is a little key to some of my abbriviations. F - For, A - Against, CF% - Corsi For Percentage, FF% - Fenwick For Percentage, SF% - Shots For Percentage, OZst% - Offensive Zone Start Percentage, NZst% - Neutral Zone Start Percentage and DZst% - Defensive Zone Start Percentage.

Who's Hot

• Alexander Semin - While Alex can still be even better, he did have a solid week. He collected points in each game and extended his point streak to 4 games. He was second on the team with 10 shots on goal and tied for the team lead with 4 takeaways. And if you look at the advanced stats, he led the team in both 5 on 5 Corsi and Fenwick. While his playing partner Eric Staal had a rough week, Semin was noticeably one of the better Canes on the ice. Semin is probably the most talented player on the roster and if the Canes are going to do anything this season, they'll need Alex's skill and point production. He does need to work still on his puck possession, as he tied for the team worse withe 2 giveaways and has 10 in this first month of the season.
• Andrej Sekera - Sekera had a difficult, but productive week for the Canes. He tied for the team lead with 3 points in 3 games, scoring his first goal of the season against the Avalanche. But he also led the team in time on ice and had to go up against some very good lines. He faced off with lines built around Zach Parise, Matt Duchene and Sidney Crosby. If it wasn't for Monday night's -3, he would have been a plus or even player for the week. His possession numbers are not really that good for the week, but again, a lot of this has to do with the competition he was being matched up with. I was highly critical of the price Jim Rutherford paid to get this guy in the summer, but he is proving to be worth that price. You could even argue, by his ice time the past two week, that he is the defenseman that Kirk Muller trust most.
• Nathan Gerbe - Gerbe gets on this list more so for the "eye test" than just pure stats, but there are some good numbers in there as well. He only had 1 point for the week, but did lead the team in shots on goal and had a couple of more chances that didn't find there way to the back of the net. He also saw his ice time increase by a decent margin, averaging over 20 minutes a game. Gerbe is also near the top of all of the Canes possession numbers for the week and the season so far. His All Situations Fenwick and Shot For percentage lead the team this week and it shows. He might be the smallest guy in the NHL, but I'll take him on my team any day. This guy has heart, gives 100% effort all the time and he can simply play.

Who's Not

• Eric Staal - I know everyone is surprised here. Eric is looking bad and while +/- is sometimes not accurate, it is in this case. Eric only had 1 point on the week, ending his 5 game points streak and was a team worse -4. There is just something missing from his game right now. He isn't driving the net, is reluctant to shoot the puck and his skating is just off. While his possession numbers seem to be favorable, I'm just wondering when the real Eric Staal is going to show up? A lot of this team's offense is centered around him and with him struggling, the offense is sputtering.
• Tuomo Ruutu - As we all know, Ruutu is coming back from yet another injury and it would seem that he needs to knock some rust off. But his performance so far is making me wonder if he is still injured. Ruutu was held without a point this week and continues to take minor penalties. While he did have 4 hits in 3 games, this is not the Tuomo that has averaged almost 3 hits a game over the past 3 seasons. And all of his possession numbers are below 46%. This is a guy that typically helps create shots and he is just not doing that right now. Is Ruutu just knocking off the rust, is he still injured or have the years and style of play just regulated this guy to this player?
• Kevin Westgarth - It's really tough putting Westgarth on this list. He never really gets a whole all of opportunities, but I think we can see why he is normally a healthy scratch. Westgarth is just not providing anything to this team right now. He isn't fighting, he isn't hitting and he isn't clearing space for his linemates. His possession numbers are among the lowest on the team and his skating makes him a liability on the ice. I really feel bad, because he is one hell of a nice guy, but does this guy deserve a spot on the roster? It just seems that there are a number of other options for tough guys that can do a little bit more than Westgarth.

Notable Weekly Team Stats

• Carolina's PP and PK weren't not as sharp as they were the previous week. The PP was middle of the pack with a 15.4% conversion rate. The PK took a larger step back, it was at 72.7%, 25th in the NHL.
• The Canes put up their lowest weekly shots per game totals of the young season. They only registered 26.3 shots per game and allowed 30 per game.
• The Canes were also in the lower middle half of the league for the week in both hits (63) and blocks (35).
• The faceoff situation continues to get worse. Carolina was 44.5% for the week, 25th in the league. Eric Staal was 44.1%, Jordan Staal was 44.4% and Riley Nash was 37.5%. Ol' Coach Rod really needs to work with these guys to get them back to respectable levels.
• Two areas the Canes did pretty well at this week was the giveaway/takeaway stats. Carolina only had 10 giveaways, which was tied for the 3rd lowest in the league. They also had 25 takeaways, which put them in a tie for 7th.
• Team Stat of the Week - G/G - 1.33 per game - dead last in the entire NHL for the week. This simply will not get it done. A team with this much talent on the offensive side should not be struggling this much to score. The Hurricanes only scored 4 goals this week. There were 21 teams that matched or exceeded that total in 1 game this week! Chicago exceeded that total in 3 of their 4 games. The offense needs to come alive, especially with an AHL goalie in the net.

Former Canes Weekly Stats