share.triangle.com - What happened to the Canes? - Comments

KEEP THE COACH!!

Visitor — Mon, 12 May 2008 11:27:18 -0400

KEEP THE COACH....HE IS THE BEST FOR THIS TEAM HERE AND NOW!!
The team needs to getter better defensively to be a true top tier team. Joe Corvo is a stud and will help quarterback that group. Cam Ward has to pull it together night after night and he needs a dependable backup so he stays fresh and sharp.

The injuries took their toll and the hole dug was too deep last season. The talent on offense is there. If the team can get healthy coupled with the GREAT additions via trades and the call ups from Albany late last year the team will be deeper and stronger for next season. Let get our players healthy....and mold this group back into a contender for the cup. The Canes are at the doorstep.

Eric Staal has to be the true leader of the team and later in the season he really stepped up. Rod Brind'Amour needs to step back get healthy. He can shore up a solid third line and provide that awesome face off prowess and defensive ability and be the veteran leader that he is, but let Staal be the man.

agree w/ comments ; what to look for now...

Visitor — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:47:20 -0400

I agree with most of the comments on what went wrong this season. So what does JR do in the offseason, here's my checklist.

1. Re-sign Samsonov, he fits well into our offense and was great on the power play. DONE! (resigned to 3 yr deal)

2. On Defense...Do not re-sign Wesley or Hedican. They are too old and are showing their age. Let them retire or sign somewhere else. You can't move Wallin or Kaberle due to no trade clauses, or I would say to do so. Consider assigning Kaberle to Albany, then let him clear waivers and go somewhere else if he doesn't perform early. I don't think we can afford Redden, he will probably cost 5 -6 mil/yr, but JR should go after John Michael Liles or Mark Streit. With Corvo, that would give us two solid power play D-men. We'll also need another solid D man. JR could go after Brad Stuart, Dmitri Kalinin, Paul Mara, Marek Malik (he has gotten better since we had him before) etc., or he could resign Commodore. Bringing a D man up from the River Rats is a last option. Also resign Gleason and give him a raise.

3. I don't think you trade Cole unless an offer comes in that is too good to refuse. The other guy who commented on Cole was right. It's not easy to find a 20 - 30 goal scorer who averages over 200 hits a year.

4. In terms of goalie, Cam was inconsistent this year. He's a good goalie, but nowhere close to a great one. I would SILENTLY make an offer to Cristobal Huet in the offseason, and listen to some trade offers to bring in a stronger #1 goalie. If the offers aren't there, then go with Cam. He may be ready for a break out year, but then again he may be inconsistent again.

....The offense should be solid with 1.Staal, Cole, Samsonov; 2.Brind'Amour, Williams, Whitney; 3.Cullen, Walker, Ruutu; and LaRose, Eaves, Aucoin, Bayda, and Brookbank battling it out for the 4th line. LaRose and Eaves should move up to the top 3 lines when the injuries start (and they will). The veterans better improve their work ethic next year, if they don't and the team doesn't make the playoffs again, Laviolette will get fired for not motivating them.

Cullen?, Bayda? I don't

Visitor — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:21:35 -0400

Cullen?, Bayda? I don't think you can leave those out..IMHO

Detroit where size exists?

Visitor — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 12:35:01 -0400

Do a player comparison and you will find the Wings are slightly smaller than the Canes. What do you base you assessment on, conjecture?

The Albany River Rats don't play a dump and chase style. The fit in well with the newer style the Canes were using in the last half of the season. It is true that when the older Canes get pressed, they tend to fall back into the older dump and run style they are accustomed to.

I agree with the comment

Visitor — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 20:59:23 -0400

I agree with the comment made by another visitor, "As for the offense, they wasted too much time all season long looking for the extra pass or the pretty play when all they had to do was shoot the puck". I noticed how other teams just kept shooting the puck, creating activity around the net and often scored with that approach. The Canes too often set up a 3-way zone of passing back & forth giving the opponents ample time to figure that the puck would come at their net from one of the 3 players trying to set up a pretty pass. Just shoot, shoot, shoot; many goals were scored that way rather than trying to make it so pretty.

I also can't help but wonder if the lines that were doing so well up until the injured returned the last few games had stayed in, those necessary wins may have come our way. Sorta of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" situation. They were playing outstandingly well before the last couple that they had to win.

Don't take "our coach" away........ or our team as we know it. They're "OUR TEAM" and I think they will be ready next fall for an outstanding season and another Stanley Cup Win. They now know well how important intensity is from the beginning of the season and I think they'll be ready.

I do feel we need an outstanding back-up goalie. Cam is good when he's "on", but he's been inconsistent and needs to have quality back-up on a night when he's really "off". That, coupled with a team that takes more shots, pretty or not, will bring us success.

Raleigh is "home" to the Canes..........we've all grown to think of them as "ours".............. hopefully, we can begin next fall with the team remaining mostly as it is. Peter loves Raleigh and coaching the Canes - to others it may simply be JUST a job. His heart is in it! Jim Rutherford needs to stay here too!!!

Retain Laviiolette

Visitor — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 17:57:00 -0400

Keeping Lav depends on a few things: 1. Why was team lethargic Nov/Dec. Brindamour looked/acted hurt - or was there a team problem. His effort looked contagious. Odd that team resurged after Brind. went out. 2. Who made the decisions on Williams, Whitney, & Cullen. None were near 100% and Cullen clearly had vision/coordinatin problems. Easy pickings for Wash/Tampa/Fla. 3. Conboy/Brookbank provided physical game in offensive zone which opened things up for the small skill fwds. And, they provided "protection" - a big deal for small fwds.. Ask Detroits Datsyuk and Zetterberg - or Williams & Cullen. If any 2 of the above 3 fall to Laviolette he should go. Bad judgement, poor leadership, and risking key players careers is not acceptable.

karmonis & rutherford guilty !!!

a spillane — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 20:28:08 -0400

canes could hae had a top defenseman,center & backup goalie,had as my husband tom says not for his cheapness & gm they had 11 million left to spend,they brought in jeff hamilton for a mill. toms group didnt buy season tickets because of this error. do u think ny fans would have put up with this crap? no they wold have run them out of town.my tom has been going to hockey games for over 50 yrs and he is not happy. enyoy playoffs!!!

Four reasons the Canes are yelling "fore"!

greenearth — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:43:53 -0400

The reason the Canes didn't make the playoffs...

1) Everyone thought they had already made it with 5 games left...beware mass-conscious mindsets...

2) Caps were red hot...they wanted it more...and the Canes didn't want it as much...which is what sometimes happens when you have already won a championship. By the way...there is not an NHL coach anywhere that would use a 3rd or 4th line rookie over a proven veteran...injuried or not...sorry!

3) Panthers wanted to destroy the Canes season like the Canes did to them the last two seasons. They probably tanked the Caps game just to drive in the final nail...if not intentionally then by "accident" The Hockey Gods said "the streak shall be broken tonight" and it was...read #4...

4) The Canes were inconsistent for 2/3's of the season...remember they lost by 2 points...it should have never ever came down the final period of the final game...Ward was as inconsistent as the rest of his teammates...ie really bad penalty killing and mediocre power play for most of the year.

By the way...this sure hurts a lot less knowing they have already won a Cup!

well...

greenearth — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:33:58 -0400

Gotta agree with your assessment of the early season inconsistency being the main reason for having it come down to the last game of the season. As far as Hedican...uh he lead the team in plus/minus and was relatively healthy all season and I thought Wesley was fine all year. Jack Johnson decided he wanted to drink cheap beer with his friends at Michigan rather than winning a Stanley Cup with the Canes. Rutherford had no choice but to try to get something for him since you couldn't tell what he was going to do...maybe he would have re-entered the draft if not signed by the draft team. The Canes can pick up a Jack Johnson via free agency. Ward is ready for the Brodeur schedule cuz he just did it...I didn't find any fault with Ward in the final game...odd man rushes, breakaways and a solid effort by the Panthers doomed them that game.

What?

greenearth — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:26:28 -0400

He did shoulder a Brodeur style schedule and was one of the hottest goalies down the stretch. I didn't think any of the 4 goals the last game were his fault. He certainly was as inconsistent during the year as were the rest of the Canes so try again with the finger pointing...

No NHL coach...

greenearth — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:21:39 -0400

No coach in the NHL would ever use a a 3rd/4th line rookie instead of a seasoned veteran...injuried or not...so it may be fantasy to think otherwise...look at the Toronto Maple Leafs when they played the Canes in their first Cup run...returning veterans destroyed their chemistry.

Rutherford on the hot seat

Chris Nilan — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:51:01 -0400

I don’t like Laviolette. Think he is an average coach, but the season was not his fault. Not once did we have a healthy lineup from beginning to end. The injuries were not to minor-impact players, they were to quality performers. Other than Ward, Staal and Cole, our stars were all hurt for long stretches.
I think that the team needs to look at Rutherford as much as they might be looking at Laviolette. What is Rutherford’s plan? What happened to the star draft picks of the last few years – Ladd, Johnson? Young stars with tremendous potential need time to develop, in fact years.
Montreal GM Bob Gainey had a 5 year plan. Even under the most intense scrutiny, he stayed with the plan. His young corps of players are now doing very, very well.
Rutherford’s moves have seemed entirely reactionary. I don’t see a master plan of development to ensure that we will be contenders for years to come. When you have Staal, and a Ward, that is the necessity.

How can we forget about the Hedican debacle from last summer? Rutherford had no clue that Hedican had exercised his option year - the previous season during the Stanley Cup playoffs! This question mark dragged on for weeks. If that had happened in cities where the media covet hockey, and not treat it as a marginal sport, he would have been fired the same day. How about his attempted trade of Wallin? What GM on earth gives Wallin a no-trade clause? This eventually provoked a trade for the only young defenseman with a no-trade clause, Commodore. The only good thing that happened was when Ottawa called asking about Stillman. Corvo fell into Rutherford’s lap. Now, we have Corvo, a disgruntled Kaberle, and a geriatric or no-name defensive group.

As for anyone suggesting we trade Cole, I suggest you spend a little more time following hockey. You don’t find a Cole very often, and trading someone away because he has value is not how you build championship teams. Trade Cole and in 2 years you say goodbye to Staal. Whitney should go. I have never seen a player avoid as many hits or cough the puck up as much. His pre-game mugging for the camera was funny the first time, but I am surprised that an alternate captain would continue to act like a clown. Says everything you need to know about his focus and intensity.
As for Ward, well, it took the great Patrick Roy several years before he adjusted to a long NHL season. He and Ward both won the Cup and Conn Smythe in their first year, but Roy struggled with focus, intensity and strength for several seasons. He was paired with Brian Hayward, and Roy played mainly at the Forum with Hayward on the road.

With Leighton playing so well, and with NHL experience, what happened to that option?

Rutherford, what is your plan?

If you want to blame a single player...

Visitor — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:46:13 -0400

Blame Frank Kaberle, he was absolutely terrible all year long. (At least he was consistent...) For a guy who's well known to be terrible on defense but supposedly has an offensive upside to end the season without a single goal...How many games were lost b\c Frank was on the ice for every single goal against? Heck, For 2.2 million a year I can wave a stick at a guy as he skates past, never go into the corners, and miss the net everytime I shoot.

Coach Laviolette

Daniel Gagne — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:57:14 -0400

I hope Rutherford decides to keep Coach Laviolette for at least another year. I like him, and I think he's a great face and voice for the team. I don't know how to explain the collapse before Christmas, except to speculate that it was lack of focus and lack of faith that we could keep winning with all the key injuries we were incurring. Perhaps if Laviolette could have invisioned the way the young guys would respond and the key acquisitions, he would have found a way to inspire the guys on to better play. Despair is a powerful destructive force. Next year, Laviolette will have learned from the experience. With his experience, along with Brind'amour back and a few defensive acquisitions, I believe that coach Laviolette and the Canes will be in a position to battle Washington for the division title all year long.

We should not be so quick to dump our only Stanley Cup winning coach when the going gets tough. We just need to get tougher.

Too many injuries..but...

Rob — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 07:35:02 -0400

...if we had made the playoffs, Peter Laviolette would have been the coach of the year because of what he was able to do with NEW players throughout the year considering we lost a lot of our key players throughout the year. To get rid of Laviolette would be a mistake. I'd hate to see us start from scratch again on team building with a new coach.

Yes we choked and should not have put our destiny into the hands of others to determine if we got a playooff spot.

What happened to the Canes?

M_Dubb — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 09:20:04 -0400

What went wrong with the Canes down the stretch? They looked like a lock for the playoffs. Why didn't they make it?