Into the offseason the Canes go.

Welsh had a hell of a game, huh?

By “a hell of a game”, I mean “calm down, son, and quit taking penalties”. But aside from his less than fortuitous start, I think Welsh had a good, promising game. The Hurricanes definitely wanted him; they sent Brind’Amour AND Francis to recruit him. Also, he was 31% in the faceoff circle, which for his first NHL game ain’t half bad.

As for the game…well. No +/- for this one.

The upshot of it all is, this game was pretty representative of the season. Plenty of jump, but a slow start and a lot of defeat on everyone’s faces.

The Canes were mentally screwed up at the beginning of the season. Muller fixed them up well – and fixed Eric Staal particularly – but it was too little, too late, and the wear and tear of a losing season showed on everyone’s faces tonight.

But you know what? I can’t be that broken up about it. For starters, I’ve been drinking, so I’m feeling pretty good. But on a serious level: two kids from Carolina got drafted in the OHL today. The Canes are deep as all get-out in the minors. Justin Faulk turned in a beautiful season. And the Canes played their last game against a team that’s going to the playoffs for the first time since 2000, and winning the division for the first time.

There’s hope in the Southeast, despite this absolute toilet of a season.

I’ll talk plenty in the long offseason about what the Canes need to do to have a good season next year, especially the value of a strong start. But right now I think it’s important to focus on two things. One, the odds of Boucher playing in the NHL next year are pretty slim, and it shouldn’t be hard to bury his contract. And two, Carolina hockey will be back next year, with an elite coach and a rejuvenated team.

So I’ll keep my head up. Hey, we could be doing a lot worse.

Welcome back!

Wow. I wasn’t expecting a whole lot from that game – the Panthers and the Hurricanes are both teams with middling skill levels who play defensive-zone-clogging games. But this game was fast, chippy, and, fortunately for Canes fans, full of scoring opportunities for the Hurricanes.

+ If Jose Theodore hadn’t brought his A game, this game would have been a slaughter by the Canes. Many, many scoring chances that Theodore just stoned people on, including robbing Ruutu. He should be a star of the night. He was incredibly good. The reason this is a plus, though, is because the Canes kept generating offense and didn’t let themselves get shut down by a good goalie.

+ How amazing is Eric Staal looking lately? World-class talent for sure.

- Jeff Skinner. STOP TAKING STUPID PENALTIES. YOU ARE NOT TEN FEET TALL AND NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR RAGE ISSUES. TONE IT DOWN, BOY.

+ Anthony Stewart had some hustle to him.

+ Pitkanen’s first night back was a great one.

- The Canes, once again, let themselves be mesmerized by the puck and let the Panthers dance around in their zone a little too much.

There’s not a lot to say about this game. I’ll stick my head in a blender if people keep talking playoffs push, because it’s NOT happening and they’re still 5 points out of the playoffs with just a little more than a handful of games to play. But it’s nice to see the Canes win 4 straight. It’s very promising for next year.

Here comes the sun...

Well, the Hurricanes’ power play might still be somewhat impotent, but you can’t say they weren’t a pretty different team out on the ice tonight.

+ It helps that Cam Ward had a pretty stellar night. He wasn’t tested nearly as often as he’s been in recent games, but when he was tested – Versteeg a few times, and Skille’s penalty shot – he stood tall.

+ Eric Staal. I’ve said before and I’ll say again, the problem with Staal wasn’t that he wasn’t generating scoring opportunities; it’s that he had no finish. His scoring opportunities were generated through sheer desperation and it showed in how impossible it was to finish.

+ The Hurricanes cleaned up play in the neutral zone considerably. The Panthers’ single even strength goal was due to a small error by Kaberle in the defensive zone, not massive, massive collapses by the Canes in the neutral zone.

- Special teams still need work, but since Muller had all of a day to work with the team, that’s not at all surprising. It’s worth noticing, though, that the Panthers’ power play goal came off a faceoff loss by the Canes, no a screwed-up penalty kill.

- Puck possession wasn’t fantastic. That near-goal saved by Staal in the third was ugly, and the Panthers had the edge in SOG and scoring chances in the second and third periods.

- The Canes have got to hit the damn net. They just have to. There’s no excuse for piling up the missed shots.

- Dwyer had a bit of a desperate game. Not surprising, considering the sheer number of scouts at the game (Blachawks, Stars, Avs, Canucks, Leafs, Kings), but he should’ve heeded Muller’s advice and relaxed.

- I think banging away about how terrible Kaberle is is a losing battle, but he could’ve been better in the sequence that lead to the second Panthers goal.

All in all, this was a carefully played game with a lot of glimmers of good in it. The Hurricanes aren’t going to turn around overnight, but given time, it looks like Muller will be able to craft a decent team out of the Hurricanes. At the very least, I think he’s got a lot of promise in terms of stopping the absolute tailspin the Canes have been in. They shouldn’t be completely satisfied without a win, but this is a decent starting point. The only way now is up.

Muller's tie is committed to sparkle motion, at least.

Well, gang, here we go. The first game of Muller’s career as the Carolina Hurricanes head coach.

A lot has been said about Muller taking over in Carolina, most notably about him trying to figure out what’s going on in Eric Staal’s head; Puck Daddy has more on that here. Muller’s first game probably won’t be much of a litmus test about how he’ll be as a coach in the longterm, because players tend to bust their asses to impress new coaches. But it is a good test of just how much the personnel shakeup has energized the Canes.

Muller’s known for being a charismatic, likable coach. Maurice wasn’t exactly hated by players, but it was also glaringly obvious that the communication and willingness to play for each other just wasn’t there in the last few weeks of Maurice’s time in Carolina. It’s important that Muller jumpstart the team by getting them to care again. It’s worth noting that Carolina claimed Nodl off waivers today, sending the lesser Sutter back down to Charlotte; I’d look for Dalpe and Boychuk to be called up any day now. Muller’s going to shake things up, he’s said, with Rutherford’s support.
As for Florida, they’re on top of the Southeast Division largely because the rest of the division is such a hot mess. They’re a good team for Carolina to try to beat, because they’re newly staffed with a lot of solidly mediocre players and backstopped by a goalie having a surprisingly good year.

I don’t have a whole lot to say except we’ll have to wait and see how things shake out. Go Canes.