Get well soon, kid.

Per @MSmithCanes, Jeff Skinner has a concussion. This is both depressing and unsurprising. The Canes are losing a massive, important piece, and considering Skinner was out with a concussion last year as well, Skinner’s own career is pretty heavily negatively impacted by this.

Hopefully he’ll be back sooner rather than later, but I wouldn’t put money on it.

We might see this guy tomorrow. Maybe.

Pitkanen skated at practice today. Skinner and Gleason are still injured. Muller won’t crack on Skinner except to say he has an upper-body injury, so good luck speculating on what that upper body injury may be. Rutherford has said it’s not a concussion, but honestly, it’s not like front office folks don’t tell little lies about players’ injuries all the time.

And in more cheerful news, the Hurricanes have recalled defenseman Ryan Murphy from the OHL. What does this mean? Probably that another players is broken. It might be fun to see Murphy’s debut against Winnipeg tomorrow, if you can ignore just how miserable this marks the Hurricanes’ injury status as being.

Wow, I’m just a bag of sunshine today. Maybe tomorrow I will be optimistic about the Canes playing the Jets! Maybe.

Get well soon, kid.

Don’t get excited, or anything, but Pitaken and Gleason were both spotted off-ice, according to the usual Hurricanes suspects on Twitter. That’s good news for the Canes, who really are not nearly deep enough defensively to be missing not one, but two top defensemen. There’s still no news on Skinner, other than that he’s day-to-day.

Hopefully there will be more news tomorrow.

The best goalie in the world, to hear TSN talk.

Wow, what a garbage game.

I’m not going to bother with +/- stuff because pretty much everyone sucked. If you’re really curious, scoring was 0-0 through two periods with both teams playing like hot garbage, Prust cracked it open in the third, and Ward & the Canes’ “defense” let in two more softies. That was the game. Being a Hurricanes fan, I’ve watched a lot of mediocre hockey in the name of loving a team, but this ranks among some of the worst of it, because neither team was playing well. Montreal got the better of the Canes, sure, but don’t let that score fool you; bragging about beating the Hurricanes tonight is like bragging about killing your first zombie via shooting 4’1″ 91-year-old Granny in the forehead. Not impressive.

The Canes will pull it together once one of their three top dudes comes back from being injured (that’s Skinner, Gleason, and Pitkanen, for those of you playing along at home). Or maybe they won’t! But either way, this is the Canes’ first pointless game in over two weeks, so I’m going to be done crying about it pretty quickly.

Get well soon, kid.

Per ice_chip on Twitter, Jeff Skinner’s not going to make it to Montreal. He has an “upper-body injury”. Is that code for concussion? Does he have some other problem? WHO KNOWS. Y’all know how this nonsense goes.

With Gleason, Pitkanen, and Skinner out, tomorrow will be…interesting.

You don’t want to take your eyes off this guy.

As the season zooms on, it’s becoming obvious that some players are poised to really make a difference. Here are five players you’ll probably want to keep your eye on in the next few weeks.

1) Cam Ward

He had a bounceback game against the Leafs after being benched in favor of Dan Ellis, and since then, he’s been ridiculously solid in net. Carolina plays the Montreal Canadiens on Monday, a team whose goalie – Carey Price – just got a shutout, and who are tied with the Hurricanes in points. If both goalies stay as good as they’ve been, we could have a goaltender duel on our hands.

2) Alexander Semin

Semin’s been plagued by bad luck from a scoring perspective, but that hasn’t exactly stopped him from making his mark. He has 10 points and is a +11 right now, and while +/- isn’t exactly the most reliable metric by which to measure performance, in Semin’s case it’s backed up by excellent play and impressive playmaking. Semin’s growing increasingly dangerous on ice for the Canes, and could see his season trend sharply up as his shooting percentage returns to being less insanely low.

3) Joe Corvo

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Corvo has shown glimpses of being a genuinely competent defenseman. He’s being paid a million dollars this year, so really it’s in the Hurricanes’ best interests that he be good; but his general competence is far from the most interesting thing about him as a player. That honor goes to his offensive upside, which is starting to actually show in games. He has a decent ability to jump into plays where he’s needed and make things happen offensively. Consider this a grudging acknowledgement that he’s someone to be watched.

4) Jeff Skinner

Watching Skinner play can be both a pleasure and a pain, depending on how tightly he’s locked down his petulant child tendencies that night. Skinner has pulled even on points and assists, with seven each, and is currently presenting opposing teams with a frightening second line along with Jordan Staal. They’ve been used pretty defensively thus far, so look for Skinner and Jordan Staal both to open games wide up if Muller starts relying on the third line for defensive play more.

5) Jussi Jokinen

Jokinen has gone from sometimes centering the second line with Jeff Skinner to playing a more defensive role on the third line. This isn’t necessarily bad for his career. A shutdown forward line is necessary for teams in the modern NHL, and Jokinen is a skilled player who’s more than capable of adapting his game. The third line is slowly – very slowly – finding chemistry, so look for their stats to get more impressive as they get better at playing a shutdown game and, hopefully, start playing more cohesively in other team’s ends.

I like him better in Carolina red.

I didn’t know what to title this so I gave it the lamest title ever. You’re welcome.

It’s no secret that Semin is helping Eric Staal to having one of the best starts of his NHL career (if not the best – look, it’s midterms). Along with their linemate, Jiri Tlusty (not Jordan Staal), they have some pretty ridiculous stats. So has Eric Staal looked past the “enigmatic Russian” spin?

YUP.

“He has been nothing but great,” said Staal. “He’s been a great teammate for everyone in this room and the type of guy who competes in practice and in games and that’s all you can ask for.”

Read more [here]. Many Canes fans knew all along that Semin had the potential to be a ridiculously good forward, because his play against Carolina has been stellar. It’s nice to see him being so thoroughly embraced. I’m in that dude’s corner.

That’ll do, Old Shoe. That’ll do.

The Hurricanes had a good night. Count me surprised, considering both Gleason and Pitkanen were out, rendering the Hurricanes’ d-corps as laughable as most people say they are even on a good night.

Mind you, it helps that the Leafs had about as much life for over 2/3 of the game as the stew meat I ate tonight. But still.

+ The first period still, I think, counted as a shaky start – but not nearly as bad as it could’ve been. After the Leafs’ initial flurry, they were more or less silenced for the entire game. And that flurry itself was not as one-sided as previous games this season have been.

+ Joe Corvo was solid, even good. I still say he’s not that good at his position, generally, but he’s apparently getting extra coaching and it shows.

- This is a gripe that, depending on whether or not Skinner’s actually fine, may or may not be major, but: Skinner needs to quit playing like he’s invincible. He’s a solid guy, very good at hockey, and good at falling without injuring himself. But if he keeps getting in board battles with his head down, he’s going to be spending more time injured than healthy. He’s improved his game a lot from its kicking-while-lying-down low of last year, but there’s still room for him to work on it.

+ Jussi Jokinen making it work on the powerplay was really nice to see.

+ The Hurricanes had strong zone entry tonight. Part of that, again, was Toronto playing like 3-day-old cold Italian beef. But not all of it.

+ Dan Ellis continues to be a good choice for backup, for now. I haven’t forgotten that Philly game, but he stopped 20 of 21 shots tonight, and stayed calm and strong when it counted. (Also, his attempt at an empty-netter was pretty great.)

+ Semin wasn’t as noticeable as he’s been some games, but he continues to put offensive pressure on the other team and open up time and space for his linemates. This is exceptional because he’s playing with Eric Staal, who is himself a notable playmaker.

+ Eric Staal, Jordan Staal, and Jeff Skinner all had points. That’s good news. The better news is that E. Staal and Skinner got them (well, one of Skinner’s two) assisting Corvo and Jokinen. Secondary scoring kicking in where it counts is really important and really, really nice to see.

I’M DONE. What a good game that was. Now the Canes just need to hold onto that momentum until Monday.

We all want to see more of this, right?

With a quarter of the season gone, I think it’s pretty unlikely that Hurricanes fans are neutral on this season. Hopes were high for the 2012-2013 season, and they didn’t exactly die when it was settled that the season would be abbreviated. Of course, some people were cynics and assumed the Hurricanes would stumble out of the gate. I will admit to being one of the latter people.

The season, thus far, hasn’t been as good as some of the most hopeful thought; then again, it hasn’t been as bad as I worried it would be, either. It’s been a season marked by inconsistency and, in terms of coaching, a very short leash for players. It’s also been a season marked by the captain’s roaring comeback.

There are some things that don’t need improving. The top line is clicking like no one’s business. Goaltending is adequate (this was not true two weeks ago). The power play is starting to produce.

But oh boy, are there some things that could be better. For starters, the penalty kill has been godawful, these past few games. This is doubly disappointing because Muller is known for his special teams. And, again, the star power-loaded power play has started doing its job. But the penalty kill has, if anything, gotten worse.

Secondary scoring also needs to kick in. Jordan Staal and Jeff Skinner have had a lot of chemistry, but the third line is mediocre at best and the fourth line is laughably bad. Jay Harrison has struck twice to get game-winners, but Justin Faulk has seen production falter. The Canes’ scoring is fine, for now, because the star power is doing what it needs to do; but divisions, even ones like the Southeast, aren’t won with top-heavy scoring. The lower-tier guys need to be doing their jobs better.

And then there’s the problem of the Hurricanes’ slow starts. They’re struggling to score first, and it’s a miracle if they get out of the first period even, much less ahead. Part of this is, again, the abysmal penalty kill. But part of this is a kind of tentativeness that’s harder to pin down. The Hurricanes, simply put, play like a team that expects to get stomped. That’s not the most unreasonable assumption, if you know anything about the Hurricanes’ past, but it’s also not exactly a winning long-term strategy. They came out roaring against the Devils last night, and hopefully will be able to have that trend continue as the year wears on.

The Hurricanes are in playoff contention right now, but a competitive team just can’t depend on the other teams in their division being bad. In fact, that’s pretty much the definition of a non-competitive team. The Panthers and the Lightning, or even the Caps or Jets, could easily get their feet under them and overtake the Hurricanes; the Canes have a margin of two points above the Lightning right now. They need to start playing like a much more cohesive team if they want to make the playoffs.

As for post-regular season play, well. Why borrow trouble? I’ll bother thinking about that if it looks like the Hurricanes are actually going somewhere.

Back in the saddle.

- Lazy penalties. I’ve given up on hoping Eric Staal doesn’t take a dumb penalty, but seriously, the Canes need to either become angelic or get a better PK.

+ Having said that, the PK was slightly better than last night.

+ How about that Jiri Tlusty?

- Pitkanen being injured is not good news. Hopefully the Canes can plug the holes.

- The Devils shook the Canes but good in the third period. Them holding on an winning was looking iffy for awhile there.

+ The Devils, though, gave the Canes more than one nod for being a forchecking team. That’s what Muller wants to see, so that’s very good news.

+ How about that Staal point streak?

Overall, a strong performance for the second half of a back-to-back. And now I am collapsing in bed.