Storm Tracking: Winter Wonderland

The Canes started the week 5 points out of the final playoff spot and had to play 5 games in 7 days. Not exactly a recipe for success. But Carolina won the postponed game against the Flyers and then traveled to Buffalo for a back-to-back against the Sabres. While the Canes found themselves down 3 times against the Sabres, they fought back each time and won 5-3. They then fly back to Raleigh for a rescheduled game against the Senators midday Saturday. They won at home and waited for a big contest against Columbus. The Staals came up huge in the 3rd and the Canes yet again found a way to win. They then traveled to Montreal to conclude the week. The rested Habs got up early and Carey Price & the goalpost prevented the Hurricanes from getting on the scoreboard. While it didn't necessarily end well, Carolina currently finds itself 9-4-0 for the month and residing in the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. There is still plenty of work to do, but a good final 4 games before the Olympic break should have Carolina in a good position. Here are the stats for the week of 1/22/14 through 1/28/14.

Canes Weekly Stats

Weekly Advanced Stats

Here is a little key to some of my abbreviations. 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. If you would like more advanced statistics, this information was collected from www.extraskater.com.

Who's Hot

• Andrej Sekera - Sekera was on the "Who's Not" list last week after a rather poor performance against the Lightning, but man did he respond. Sekera had a team high 5 assists and led the team with a +7 rating. He also tied for the team lead with 6 points, was 2nd with 11 blocks and tied for 3rd with 14 shots on goal. To top everything off, he was also named the NHL's 3rd Star of the Week. While the stats reflect his strong week, he really was even better. His skating ability really shined this week and there is nothing like getting the game winner against your former team. The only real negative for Andrej was his 5 on 5 Close possession numbers. Among the team, his 5 on 5 Close numbers were in the lower portion and his All Situations numbers were only above average. But again, overall Sekera's had a very good week and the team seems to do much better when his game is on. If he and his playing partner can continue playing at a high level, this team has a shot at playing beyond the end of the regular season.
• Alexander Semin - Semin continued his strong play from the week before by contributing 3 goals and 3 assists. He tied for the team lead in goals and points. Was tied for 2nd in assists, +/- and takeaways and was tied 3rd in shots on goal. It's really funny how different this team looks when Semin's first instinct is shooting compared to when he is overthinking everything. Semin's possession numbers were average to above average for the team, but they were below his typical numbers. But the biggest negative for him this week was his team high 6 PIM. While he isn't used a lot on the PK, he is always a threat shorthanded. The Montreal game wasn't Semin's strongest game, so it will be important for him to rediscover that magic from earlier in the week.
• The Staals - Eric and Jordan had very strong weeks, just like the team needs them to have. Eric tied for the team lead in goals, was tied for 2nd in assists, tied for 3rd in points and tied for 4th in +/-. But Eric also had average to below average possession numbers and also had a team worst 5 giveaways. He also saw a pretty drop off in the faceoff success, dropping almost 20% from the previous week. Jordan's primary stats don't really look that impressive, but he was a real beast with his play. He led the team in takeaways, tied for the team lead in shots and was tied for 3rd in hits. Jordan also finished 1st in 5 of the 6 possession categories (2nd in the other one). Both players really showed their worth to the team this week, in particular the Columbus game. If this is the Staals we see for the 2nd half of the season, this team has a real good shot at making the postseason for the first time since the 08/09 season.

Who's Not

• Jay Harrison - This really wasn't a week where anybody performed poorly, but some had a better week than others. One person that got some flak from fans was Jay. Some were wondering why he was playing and Brett Bellemore was not. While Harrison is a decent defenseman that can contribute some offensively, he doesn't provide the same things Bellemore does. He finished the week with no points, a -1 rating and 4 PIMs. But the thing that has really stood out to me was Jay's time on ice. The last 2 seasons, he averaged right around 20 minutes a game and was in the lineup in all but 11 games. This year, he has already missed 13 games and his average TOI is down to 15:29. This week, he only averaged 14:45 per game. Harrison hasn't gotten a point since December 6th. While he is on a very friendly contract, does this lack of scoring and reduced TOI mean that Jay Harrison might be expendable? With the trade deadline a month away, I guess we might find out.
• Radek Dvorak - Dvorak's situation is somewhat similar to Harrison's. It's not that he has been bad, but it's a question of if someone else could fill his position? He was brought in to be a veteran presence on the 4th line and penalty kill. And after the first 2 games, in which he scored 2 goals, the signing looked great. But in the past 23 games, he has only accounted for 2 points and a -3 rating. The team has also added Manny Malhotra, so another veteran playing in more significant situation has also been added. Dvorak's week did include an assist, 8 shots on goal and an Even rating, but he also had 4 PIM's and was near the bottom in possession numbers. For the year, he is one of the worst Canes in possession, around the 40% mark in both Corsi & Fenwick. Could someone within the organization or on the trade market be available for an upgrade to the 4th line RW? I guess we will find out.
• Jeff Skinner - If you look at the overall numbers, Skinner had a decent to good week. He had 17 shots, a goal, an assist and he possession numbers were near the top of the team. But his December, start of January pace has all but dried up. He only has 1 goal and 1 assist in his last 9 games and the team needs more out of him. Jeff's high expectations are a product of his own success, so like Eric and Alex, he is held to higher standards. His job is to produce points and more importantly, produce goals. Just look at the Canes PP in late December and early January. It was much improved over the rest of the season and that was mainly due to Skinner's shooting ability. Imagine how this week's games could have gone if the PP was even ok? It might have changed the outcome of the Montreal game and could have made the Columbus game much easier. He isn't solely responsible for the PP, but I think everyone can admit he is a vital piece. Again, I'm not saying Skinner was bad, but the team needs more results from him in these next couple of weeks.

Notable Weekly Team Stats

• The Hurricanes scoring was quite good this week. They averaged 3.40 goals per game, good for 8th in the NHL. Their 17 goals were the 2nd most in the league this week, 1 behind Boston. They also ranked in the top half of the league in goals against with 2.60 goals against per game. That had them 13th in the league.
• Carolina ranked 7th this week in both shots for and shots against. They averaged 33.6 shots for per game and 26.6 shots against per game.
• The PK was pretty successful this week, clocking in at 87.5%. They only gave up 8 PK opportunities, which was the 6th lowest for the week. That success rate would rank 2nd in the NHL on the season, so let's hope to keep that up.
• The Canes possession numbers dropped this week, but they still stayed on the positive side. Their 5 on 5 Corsi For was 52.4% and their 5 on 5 Fenwick For was 51.1%. The issue was that the games were very different, up one game, down the next.
• Carolina ranked in the top 10 in 3 other categories. They had 100 hits (7th), 60 blocked shots (5th) and 29 takeaways (tied 5th). They finished the week with 33 giveaways (21st) and a -4 in the turnover margin (14th).
• The faceoffs were average for the Hurricanes this week at 50.7%, 14th in the NHL. Of the guys with over 5 faceoffs; Elias topped the list at 57.1%, Manny was next at 56.9%, followed by Jordan at 55.6%, then Eric at 45.4% and last was Riley at 35.7%.
• Team Stat of the Week - PP - 7.1% - That's right, 1 conversion in 14 opportunities. If there was 1 thing the Canes could improve that would help them out the most, it's the PP. An average PP would have resulted in at least 1 more goal and who knows how that changes the complexion of a game. Carolina also has the 8th most PP opportunities on the season. If they were better, then maybe teams are more reluctant to commit penalties and allow better scoring chances at even strength. Whatever the case, Kirk Muller was known for his PP, so why can't he fix the Canes PP? Individually, most of the guys have proven to be effective PP guys, so I have to believe the issue is the system. Maybe another piece needs to be added or maybe they need to do something completely different, but something must change.

Former Canes Weekly Stats