Storm Tracking: Only Light Trade Winds in Raleigh

NHL hockey returned from the Olympic break, but the Carolina Hurricanes didn't seem to get the message. They hit the road and also hit the skids with 4 consecutive losses. The Canes finally break the streak Tuesday night with a win in San Jose, but is it too little, too late? Goaltending and team defense on the road trip was questionable, but scoring was also a big disappointment. With the trade deadline occuring, no Hurricane really increased their value and the organization only made one move. But it was a significant move as fan favorite Tuomo Ruutu heads to the Devils. The Canes did acquire a good, young player in Andrei Loktionov and a conditional 3rd Round Pick in 2017. While the team did get smaller and less physical, they did gain some assets and around $3+ million in cap space the next 2 years (depending on resigning Loktionov). Carolina also made another vital move by extended Anton Khudobin for 2 additional years. So now the Canes return home to face the New York Rangers and try to build off their overtime win against the Sharks. Here are the stats for the week of 2/25/14 through 3/4/14.

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 - The man that's probably been the team's MVP this season continued to show his importance. Sekera led the team in points, assists, +/- and tied for a team high in goals. But stats don't tell the whole story. With Justin Faulk going down, Sekera had to step up his play even more and he delivered. He was a workhorse for the Canes and he played at a very high level. One of the highlights of the week was Sekera skating around the offensive zone against the Ducks, never giving up the puck before finding some space to get the Canes on the board. Even though down 5-0, he never gave up and tried to put the team on his back. His overall possession numbers were average to above average, but he definitely played the hardest minutes of any Canes during the road trip. Sekera has really been a bright spot all season and it appears that will continue.
• Alexander Semin - Semin got hurt, missed 1 game and most of another, but he still produced for Carolina. He tied for the team lead in goals with 2, tied for 2nd in points and tied for 2nd in +/-. The first part of the trip had him with his typical partner Eric Staal, but when he returned, he lined up with Jordan Staal & Jiri Tlusty. Either way, his line created scoring chances and dominated possession. He led in every possession stat for the week with his lowest number coming in at 63.4%. While Semin had a pretty solid week, the team needs their most talented player to continue doing what he is doing. Alex has 10 goals and 4 assists in his last 15 games and that is what Carolina paid to get!
• Eric Staal - If Eric isn't scoring a point per game, many fans are disappointed in him. Well, he didn't score a point per game this week, but he had a very solid week. He had a team high 5 takeaways, tied for the team lead in goals & shots and was tied for 2nd in points & +/-. Eric was also top 5 in every possession category and the team was significantly better with him on the ice rather than off. Eric also dished out 6 hits this week and was pretty good in the faceoff circle. But not all was good as he did end up with 12 penalty minutes. Eric in the box not only puts the Canes on the PK, but it also doesn't give them their most dangerous shorthanded offensive player. One of the most interesting things this week with Eric was the developing chemistry with Elias Lindholm. These two appears to be connecting and Eric was even playing some wing, which could be an interesting option for the future.

Who's Not

• Jordan Staal - It has been a rough transition for Jordan from Pittsburgh to Carolina, but he has been pretty solid this season in his own zone. This week though was pretty sad all-around. Jordan was pointless and was also a team worse -7. His possession numbers were average to below average, particularly poor were his 5 on 5 Close numbers. But his numbers did improve quite a bit when playing with Semin & Tlusty. Not everything was bad though. He did lead the team in hits and faceoffs and did end up with 11 shots. It will be interesting to see if the lines continue to see what exactly Jordan can do with some better linemates. Maybe if things work out, maybe Rutherford will try to find him a legit winger to play with next season.
• Cam Ward - Many, many things have been said about Cam Ward this week and IMO, he deserves some of the flak he is getting. Ward is suppose to be the Canes #1 goalie, but he hasn't been playing like it. He has struggled this season and the 2 games he played this week only made his numbers worse. A 0.846 save percentage and 4.02 goals against average is just not acceptable levels in the NHL. And when you're making over $6 million a season, fans are going to complain. Ward didn't get traded at the deadline, but the Khudobin extension lets him know where he stands in the organization. He's going to get some playing time, it would really be nice for him to figure out what is going on and fix what ails him. It will make it a lot easier for himself and the Hurricanes.
• Jeff Skinner - Skinner's streaky production continues and he's hit a cold streak at a bad time. In late December/early January, Jeff had 14 points in 8 games. Then went pointless in 5 games. Then recovered slightly with 5 points in 7 games. And now has gone 6 games without a point and is a -7 in those games. While he did tied for a team high 24 shots on goal, this team needs him to capitalize on some of those chances. He has struggled to find prolonged chemistry with any line mate and his defensive play has continued to struggle. For the week, Skinner had 3 giveaways and no takeaways and was the Canes worst possession forward in 5 on 5 Close situations with numbers in the 30s. At some point, Jeff is going to need to figure out how to help the team when he goes through these scoring slumps.

Notable Weekly Team Stats

• As I mentioned earlier, scoring for & against was a problem this week. The Canes averaged 2.00 goals per game, which was tied for 24th in the league. They gave up 3.40 goals against per game, which was 21st in the NHL. Both of these numbers have to improve to win some games.
• The PK was actually pretty solid this week at 90.0%, good for a tied for 8th. The issue is they gave up the second most PP opportunities in the league with 20, which is really unlike the Hurricanes.
• Carolina was 3rd in the NHL in shots of goal for the week with 36.0 shots per game. They ended up tied for 18th in shots against giving up 30.8 shots against per game.
• The Canes finished top 10 for the week in hits with 100 (7th), blocked shots with 61 (5th) and turnover margin at -5 (tied 10th). In giveaways, they finished with 26 (tied 17th) and in takeaways, they finished with 21 (tied 11th)
• Faceoffs continue to be a strong suit, ending up 6th in the league at 54.5%. Jordan was the leader at 64.9%, followed by Elias at 56.3%, then Eric at 56.0%, then Manny at 53.4% and pulling up the rear was Riley at 38.9%.
• While the results didn't show it, the Canes were pretty solid in possession stats this week. Their 5 on 5 Corsi For percentage was 51.9% and their 5 on 5 Fenwick For percentage was 53.0%. Both numbers are extremely similar to where the team was entering the Olympic break. But the bottom line is getting wins and that didn't happen.
• Team Stat of the Week - PP - 0% - The Hurricanes were 1 of 4 teams that did not score a PP goal this week. And they had 21 opportunities to do so, while the 3 other teams combined for 23 opportunities. This is not a new issue, but one of the most critical to this team's playoff chances. If the team could capitalize on 20%, they at minimum tied Buffalo and get a point. They probably don't give up to shorthanded goals to Dallas and maybe score 1, getting at least a point out of that game. They score 1 more against the Ducks and who knows what happens only down by 1. It's a problem that MUST be correct! Bring in a PP coach, find a specialist, do something, because it is killing this team. A 20% PP mean 16 more goals this season, who differently does that effect games and the playoff race?

Former Canes Weekly Stats