Writers Roundtable: Four Months In

RALEIGH, NC. - Four months ago today the Carolina Hurricanes opened their 2021-22 regular season with a 6-3 defeat of the New York Islanders at PNC Arena.
For some it probably feels like it was not that long ago and for others it feels like it was longer. Whichever way you look at it, the reality is that two months from today we'll be two weeks from the end of the regular season.

As we like to rehash at the beginning of each of these, if someone had told you four months ago that the team would be 32-11-3 at this point, you'd take it, right?
Team editorial contributors Scott Burnside and Walt Ruff take a look back at the most recent month and what's set to come.
Scott Burnside: Walt, the second half is going to be like a freight train as the NHL gets some 105 postponed games back onto the docket. I thought the Hurricanes trio of Frederik Andersen, Sebastian Aho and Rod Brind'Amour did Vegas up right with
the Metropolitan Division winning it all
,
Aho winning the accuracy competition
and Andersen proving that goalies can have fun at All-Star, even if it's the ultimate shooting gallery. The one thing I thought was interesting in talking to Brind'Amour at the event is that he feels there is great benefit in having a young player like Aho at these kinds of events to soak in the vibe from the rest of the game's elite players. He's not a kid anymore, but Aho agreed that spending time in that environment is about learning all you can. You'd have to be stupid not to, he told me. Won't be long until the new kids on the NHL All-Star block will be watching closely how Aho conducts himself at those kinds of events. And good for Andersen and Aho to mix in some nice family time during the break. Was there an All-Star weekend or break highlight for you Walt?
Walt Ruff:Aho taking the Accuracy Shooting was the highlight for me. It was a long two-plus hours of watching the Skills Competition waiting for him to do his thing, but it all became worth it very quickly. Not only was it cool for the organization to go back-to-back in the event, but also for him to do it in four-for-four fashion was awesome. I'm still debating on petitioning the league to change his time to 9.5 seconds, or something close to that, but the confusion over him hitting the third target definitely cost him at least a full second. I think the team now has to have a representative in it now next year to go for a three-peat, right?

Burnside: Sometimes I think you learn the most about a team or a player when you are forced to make do without a critical piece for a period of time. Those few moments when Teuvo Teravainen has been out of the Hurricanes' lineup in recent weeks have clearly illuminated just how critical the skilled Finn is to the machinery. For a guy who may not be the speediest player around and may not have the signature shot that other higher profile players have, Teravainen absolutely does it all for the Hurricanes. His 17:57 in average ice time per night is second behind Aho among Carolina forwards. He is a critical piece of the top power play unit and helps kill penalties. He distributes pucks at high level and there just seems to be, I don't know, calmness perhaps best describes it, when Teravainen is on the ice. And the proof is in the point totals Walt, thanks to the amazing Michael Brown, "Mr. Do It All" for the Hurricanes, this season the team is 30-9-2 with Teravainen in the lineup and 2-2-1 without him. The last two seasons combined the team is 44-14-4 with Teravainen in uniform and 24-9-7 without him. Thoughts on Mr. Turbo, Walt? Are there things about his game or presence that have surprised you?
Ruff:I don't think surprised is the right word but I think you're correct in saying that he's certainly a huge piece to this lineup, whether it feels that way from the outside or not. Perhaps it's an illusion, maybe it's factual, but there's a perception that a team's top line wingers have to be their dominant scorers. Teravainen's vision and passing are perhaps his two best qualities, which says a lot given that he plays with Aho on a nightly basis. His pass on Svechnikov's second tally in Minnesota the other night? Stunning.

Burnside: I touched on this in one of our earlier roundtables, Walt, but if there was one area that continues to give me pause about the Hurricanes as we hit the backstretch of this regular season is the team's maddening propensity to first, taking too many penalties and secondly, not earning a corresponding number of power plays. As of this writing the Hurricanes rank 31st in the NHL in penalty differential, the difference between penalties drawn and penalties taken. I recall a recent closeup of Brind'Amour during the exciting overtime loss to Toronto saying more or less, we don't get any power plays. Every night it's the same. (I'm paraphrasing as there may have been some superlatives thrown in by Brind'Amour for emphasis.) He's not wrong. For a team that possesses the puck and pursues the puck at the level Carolina does to be tied for 24th in penalties drawn seems counterintuitive. But, and this is not related to drawing penalties, the problematic issues for me is that the team continues to take too many unnecessary penalties. They rank 25th in penalties taken per 60 minutes. We know how good the Hurricanes' penalty kill is - first in the league is always good - but we also know what the competition is going to be like down the stretch with the concentration of power in the Eastern Conference and how in a tight playoff series discipline will be key. Just saying better to get in good discipline habits now than in late April. Do you think I'm off base here?
Ruff:Well, the numbers don't lie. So the differential is what it is. I'll agree, and they'll tell you, the team has taken too many unnecessary penalties this year. Outside of those, what can you do? The calls are the calls, I suppose. The refs are asked to make their best decisions on the ice but it's incredibly tough at full speed. What still amazes me is that no league has followed what the XFL did during their brief stint in 2020. Add an official upstairs who is monitoring the game live. They have the authority to confirm or overturn a call. They have 60 seconds to do it or the call on the play stands. If the XFL, with all due respect, not one of North America's four major sports leagues, can do it with relative ease, I would think that that would be something that could be implimented here. I mean, why not?
Burnside: So, trade deadline is five weeks away. We know that GM Don Waddell (and owner Tom Dundon while we're at it) are all in, all the time. We also know the Hurricanes are a cap team so that any kind of move would more or less be dollar in, dollar out (barring some sort of injury of course). So, not necessarily looking at specific players that might be on Waddell's watch list, but in general what does your gut tell you about a potential big move at the deadline? To me the big issue when you're an elite team is making sure you aren't making a move just to make a move. Tampa added depth pieces the past two years in a couple of ways that helped pave the way to back-to-back Cup wins. There were players that required little in the way of assets moving out but who were highly motivated like Kevin Shattenkirk and Zach Bogosian while others who fit specific roles at a high cost like Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow. In general I'm guessing Waddell would like to add some depth to the blue line and there are lots of high profile defensemen who could be on the block whether it's John Klingberg, Mark Giordano or Ben Chiarot (now injured). So, it's going to be a fascinating month not just in Carolina but around the NHL vis a vis the trade marketplace. What do you make of all this, Walt?
Ruff:Depth is an important word to keep in mind as we move forward. Waddell spoke candidly about the subject of the trade deadline last week prior to Tuesday night's meeting with Ottawa on Bally Sports, noting that as an area of which the team may look at. However, he certainly has a point when seeing that as is something they're going to look at. In a world of COVID and injuries, you can never have the cupboards too stocked. We've seen how certain players being out of the lineup (Teravainen) impacts the whole landscape of things. Recently, it's been Jordan Martinook taking that spot on the top line when he is out. Would that suffice if #86 would go down in the playoffs? In regards to making a big move, I'm not sure which way to lean, however, as part of that interview Waddell also suggested that the team is more likely to move a prospect than a first round draft pick due to the amount of players (23) they've selected in the last two years.

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