Storm Tracking: North Carolina Weather

Another week down and the Carolina Hurricanes are inching closer to some April tee times.  The week started out pretty good as the Canes came from behind in the 3rd period to beat the Sabres in Raleigh.  But then things headed south as Carolina headed north.  The Canes got outplayed and embarrassed by a hot Boston team, looking completely overmatched in every aspect of the game.  They then returned to Raleigh the next day to take on the lowly Oilers.  Carolina started out pretty flat and let Edmonton score first by basically knocking the puck in their own net.  They later tied it, but let Edmonton hang around and the Oilers finally capitalized late on the PP for the win.  The Hurricanes then traveled to Columbus, looking to break a streak and accomplished that goal thanks to the 3rd line.  But a game in which they controlled the scoreboard from start to finish, was anything but a solid game.  The Blue Jackets dominated everything, but didn't get any bounces and had a difficult time solving Anton Khudobin.  2 and 2 isn't bad, but not good enough for a team that is on life support.  Here are the stats for the week of 3/12/14 through 3/18/14.

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

• Jordan Staal - For the second week in a row, Jordan leads the list of who's hot.  Jordan led the team in a number of categories this week.  He was 1st in points, assists, hits, faceoff percentage and tied for 1st in +/-.  The most impressive traditional stat for Jordan was hits, where he doubled 2nd place.  He also finished in the top 3 in every possession category, while having over 40% defensive zone starts.  These past couple of weeks have really been eye opening for Jordan.  He is performing the way all of us thought we would perform when the Canes acquired him.  Management and the coaches now see what type of player this guy can be when he has top 6 talent on his wings.
• Nathan Gerbe - Gerbe started the season in the top 6 and did quite well there, but he went through some lulls and was downgraded to the 3rd line.  While the 3rd line is probably where he should be, his recent performance has seen a slight uptick.  Gerbe tied for the team lead with 2 goals this week, tied for 2nd in hits and was 3rd with a +2 rating.  He also finished in the top 5 in 5 of the 6 possession categories, with his lowest number being 53.5%.  While this team needs to add some size and physicality for next season, I think Gerbe has earned a place in the lineup.  He might be the smallest guy in the NHL, but he doesn't play like it and his effort level is second to none.  I don't say this often, but excellent signing by Jim Rutherford here.
• Ron Hainsey - It might be odd to add a guy to the hot list that had 0 points and was in the bottom half of most possession stats.  But Hainsey was solid this week, as he has been most of the season and again stood up for his teammate when a questionable hit was delivered.  Hainsey did tie for a team high +3 rating and finished 3rd in blocked shots.  But the thing that matters most is that he was on the ice for 5 Carolina goals and only 2 against.  Hainsey and Komisarek were the only Canes defensemen that were on the ice for more goals for than against and Komisarek only played in the games the Canes won this week.  And while Ron's possession numbers are generally poor, he'a actually a lot better at 5 on 5 Close situations.  This guy has been one of the bright spots in this gloomy season, I just hope JR can convince him to stay.

Who's Not

• Drayson Bowman/Manny Malhotra/Radek Dvorak - The Canes 4th line has gradually seen there TOI decrease and for pretty good reason.  These 3 have a combined 3 points since January 27th and are the 3 worst possession players 5 on 5 for the Canes this season.  Things certainly did get better this week as they were the only Canes (along with Chris Terry) to not be on the ice for any Carolina goals.  And their possession numbers got worse as they were generally in the low to mid 30s this week.  Malhotra did even get above 22.2% in any category.  While Manny is a great faceoff man, what else are these guys providing?  I think Dvorak is definitely gone at season's end, the question is whether Bowman and/or Malhotra are retained.  Bowman is a RFA that might not be qualified and Malhotra could end up elsewhere as he is a free agent.  Let's just hope these guys can pick things back up as the season draws to a close.
• Eric Staal - What a disappointing week and season for Eric?  He just does not seem like the same player from previous seasons and while still leading the team in points, they are far below where he typically is.  He did have 2 assists and finished Even this week.  But he was 50% or below in every possession category and just looked tired this week.  If this team has any postseason aspirations, whenever they are, they either need Eric to step up his game or need to move on from him.  Whether this season is due to a knee that never truly healed or just a down year, Eric has some work to do this summer.  He needs to work on getting his skating and shooting back.  An Eric Staal that is dangerous to score goals is the Eric Staal the Hurricanes need to be successful.
• Ryan Murphy - Murphy was a team worse -4, was on the ice for 5 goals against and only 1 for.  While he did have pretty good possession numbers, leading the team in all 3 All Situations categories, he was held pointless and had a team worse 6 giveaways.  I know he is a rookie and is still learning his way in the NHL, but I'm really concerned about this kid.  While Murphy is an amazing skater, he doesn't really have a great shot, his puck skills aren't where I think they should be and his vision is only average.  And these things were not the weaknesses in his game.  He seems to excel at lower levels and again he is just a rookie, but I'm just not seeing much progression at the NHL level.  At this point I question his ability to be a PP quarterback, let alone a top 4 NHL defenseman.  Maybe things will change, but I don't think management should depend too much on him developing into more for next season.

Notable Weekly Team Stats

• Carolina's goal scoring struggles continued this week, ranking 22nd in the NHL at 2.25 goals per game.  They were decent in the goals against department, but they gave up more than they got.  They tied for 14th in the league at 2.50 goals against per game.
• The Canes were tied for 2nd most in the NHL with 16 PP opportunities, but were only successful on twice.  Still twice is better than what they've been, but 12.5% is still below the league average.  Kirk Muller doesn't appear to have any idea how to fix it, so where does that leave this team?
• The Hurricanes shot totals were pretty good, coming in at 33.8 shots per game, 11th this week.  But that number is a little skewed by the season high 55 shots against Buffalo.  They gave up 36.0 shots against per game, which came in tied for 24th in the league.  If not for some good to very good goaltending this week, things could have been much worse.
• Carolina finished in the top 10 in takeaways with 25 (tied 9th) and turnover margin at -1 (tied 6th).  They were pretty league average in the other categories.  They were tied 12th in giveaways (26), 15th in blocked shots (52) and 17th in hits (81).
• Faceoffs again are one positive, despite a rather poor performance against Columbus.  The Canes finished 6th in the NHL at 53.4% for the week.  Jordan was the overwhelming leader at 66.0%, Manny was second at 50%, next was Riley at 45.7%, then Elias at 44.0%, then Eric at 42.4% and last was Andrei at 36.8%.
• The Hurricanes weekly possession number were below 50% again.  Their 5 on 5 Corsi was 47.9% and their 5 on 5 Fenwick was 45.8%.  They actually were on the positive side until getting thoroughly stomped by the Blue Jackets.
• Team Stat of the Week - PK - 90.9% - Not a whole lot went right for the Canes this week, but they were very solid on the penalty kill.  They successfully killed 10 of 11 opponent PPs, but the 1 they gave up was a game winner.  Carolina's PK is currently 17th on the season and is at it's best point since Muller arrived in Raleigh.  They did fall to 2nd in the NHL in shorthanded goals as the Flames scored 3 "shortie" this week.

Former Canes Weekly Stats