Analyzing the 'Canes start

The Hurricanes are playing so-so hockey after the first month of their post-championship season. Here's a piece by the Rocky Mount Telegram that really gets to the heart of the matter - inconsistent defense.

To me, the 'Canes have classic Cup hangover symptoms. The majority of the team is back, but they're not yet 'hot.' The year after the NY Rangers won the Cup was the strike season when they didn't start playing til January. (Remember the 'Game On' marketing campaign?) That year, the Rangers, who still had a very good team with players in their peak seasons, floundered about, just making the playoffs in the shortened 48-game schedule. They began to peak in the final weeks and made it through the first two rounds of the playoffs before running into Flyers team in the conference finals that had played hard the whole half season. They got bounced.

Hopefully, 'Canes get it going a little quicker.

EDs: THIS VERSION CORRECTS SPELLING IN HED.
Inconsistency is Hurricanes' constant
By H. WILLIAMS KELLENBERGER
Cox News Service
ROCKY MOUNT, N. C. - Just about the only thing that has been consistent with the Carolina Hurricanes is their staggering inconsistency.
One month into the franchise's first Stanley Cup defense, the Hurricanes have, in order: lost four, won three, lost two, won one, lost one and finished off the month with a win.
Five games have been decided by one goal, with the Hurricanes losing three of them. They're 2-2 when the difference is four goals.
These aren't good stats.
Neither is the fact that 11 Hurricanes have played in all 12 games. Even more distressing is that only two of that 11 - Mike Commodore and Tim Gleason - are defenseman.
Andrew Hutchinson missed three games, as did Niclas Wallin. Anton Babchuk was a scratch twice, Glen Wesley has missed four games, Bret Hedican has missed three and David Tanabe has played in eight games.
Up front, there has been little surprise.
Eric Staal and Rod Brind'Amour share the team lead for points, 14. There should be little shock that Justin Williams and Scott Walker are the next two on the list.
Erik Cole hasn't seen the results (two goals, four assists) but coach Peter Laviolette insists that the 26-year-old winger is playing the game the right way and the points will come eventually. He's right.
And in net, no one doubts how well Cam Ward has played in his first season as Carolina's No. 1 netminder. But the stats don't match up. His 3.38 goals against average is 32nd in the NHL and his save percentage, 0.890, is 29th.
His athletic ability is superb and technically he seems to be improving, but you have to wonder how much the revolving door on the blue line has effected him.
The truth is, the breaks haven't always gone Carolina's way in the first 12 games. They often don't, especially after so many different things break in the exact right way just a season before (Montreal's Saku Koivu's injury, Buffalo losing four of its top six defenseman in the Eastern Conference Finals).
While, as Laviolette said, you would rather have the breaks fall your way in May rathern than October, you must first get to May.
At this point, that is far less than certain. The Southeast Division shakes out to be a fight to the bitter end.
Carolina ran away with the divisional crown in 2005-06, but (in order of improvement) Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Washington and Florida have all taken great strides since then.
But at some point, you make your own luck.
When the Hurricanes have played "their" game, essentially outworking their opponent and skating with a reckless abandonment not seen in the past decade of NHL hockey, Carolina is successful.
When the Hurricanes are a step slow into the corner and play with just the slighest tinge of hesitation, the results are rather ordinary.
The win-loss record is not false. The Hurricanes have been wildly inconsistent on the scoreboard because the on-ice product has been just as helter skelter.
Until the latter changes, the former will show very little movement.
H. Williams Kellenberger writes for the Rocky Mount, N.C., Telegram. E-mail: hwkellenberger

coxnc.com




ENDIT
Story Filed By Cox Newspapers
For Use By Clients of the New York Times News Service

Good team, bad team

On Saturday night, I had the chance to watch the Dallas Stars-Phoenix Coyotes game.

Quick impression: Dallas is a team to watch. Very good blend of veterans and youth, and if Turco can manage to translate his regular season success into the playoffs, I can see them going a long way.

Phoenix, on the other hand, might be the kind of team that makes any other team look good. This is a team going in the wrong direction. Too old, too slow. Their goalie is Curtis Joseph, who played well in a 4-0 loss. But I didn't even know Cujo was still in the league. Plus, their new uniforms are ugly.

Congrats, Patrick O'Sullivan

Winston-Salem's own gets his very first goal last night. I caught it in highlights. A shot through traffic deflected in. It's fascinating to know that someone from this fair Southern city, is doing it in the NHL.

And congrats to his mom, who we hope was watching.

Captaincy

So Scott and I were talking about the importance of captains in hockey, and we both believe that with the retirement of Steve Yzerman, there may not be a better captain than Hurricanes' own Rod Brind D'Amour.

The Rangers named Jaromir Jagr as captain this year, kind of a 'default-to-the-best-player-on-the-team' captain. Which is not a bad thing sometimes, in particular if the team doesn't have a true leader in the locker room who also has some degree of talent. It's hard for a fourth-line type of player to be captain of a team with a Jagr-like talent.

I have no doubt that before too many years go by, one of the Erics will be the captain of the Hurricanes; both seem to have leadership ability as well as hard-nosed talent.

One thing for sure: The wrong captain can wreak havoc with a club. I gave the example of Brendan Shanahan, who, when he was playing for the Hartford Whalers, announced that he wanted to be traded. While he was captain. It was a season killer, and the Whalers were soon moved to North Carolina.

Is the novelty gone?

For some reason, I have yet to 'get into' the fact that the NHL season has begun. I'm not sure why that is, but I'm scared. Because I've considered myself a hockey nut for so long that if I'm not into it, I wonder how the public feels.

I mean last year, coming back from the strike (and even mad at owners and players for having cost us fans a season) I was gung ho watching games from Day 1 on OLN.

This year I watch the highlights, have switched channels a few times to check out pieces of what games I can get, but haven't really watched a game, if you know what I mean. The baseball playoffs are under way (and one of the contenders is the N.Y. Mets, which is 'my team' in baseball) and football is going strong and I'm not getting into hockey. This from a guy who attended Game 7 of Hurricanes-Oilers.

Thoughts?

Watching hockey

Is pretty cool when you've got a new 50'' high-def TV.

OLN, or should I say VS now comes in on Channel like, 600-something, way up there. So unless you are already a hockey nut, it's not like you're going to discover it if you have DirecTV.

Now, the big question, is whether to splurge on the NHL package, which costs about $150 for the year. I passed on it last year (pre-big screen TV). Anybody out there get the package? Is it worth it?

I mean, I'm supposed to be a hockey nut, but $150 isn't chump change.

And though I like to watch hockey in general, I can probably live with 2 nights a week of VS and any Hurricanes (I still feel like calling them the Whalers, even after nearly five years here in N.C.) I can get off Fox.

It's Showtime!

Can the 'Canes repeat? The season is finally here. I'll throw down the gauntlet for anyone who cares to comment. Here's my division winners:

East:

Rangers (yes, I'm loyal to a fault to 'my' team. But I really think this is a good group with a great young goalie)
Hurricanes (again, I'm loyal, but I think Buffalo, their closest division competitor, got worse, and Lightning, the former champs, will be close but not quite overtake the reigning champs)
Ottawa (hey, they got 'Canes goalie Gerber, so wouldn't it be interesting to see them matched in playoffs against 'Canes?)


West:

L.A. Kings (Crawford as coach and brings a real goalie to L.A. in Cloutier)
Detroit (they always seem to find a way, as does Hasek when he's taking his Geritol)
Calgary (Iginla has a will to win)