With Monday’s firing of head coach Kirk Muller, it confirmed the fact that change is desperately needed with the Carolina Hurricanes. In recent years, the Hurricanes have appeared to lose their way, as the team hasn’t made the playoffs since 2009 and its star players have disappointed.
Former general manager Jim Rutherford stepped down at the end of the season, making way for Ron Francis to take over the reigns and try to right the ship in Carolian. Francis inherits a team that is flush with underachieving veterans with big contracts, youngsters trying to find their way in the NHL and no distinct identity or true leadership.
Let’s start with the team’s captain and long time member of the Carolina Hurricanes, Eric Staal. Staal hasn’t reached 100 points since his sophomore year when the Canes won the Stanley Cup. However, he has settled in nicely as a player who usually scores between 70-80 points per year. However, this season Staal had only 61 points in 79 games with a -13 plus/minus rating. When you are hauling down $8.25 million per year, and you possess the combination of size and skill that Eric Staal does, that is nowhere near good enough. In addition, he hasn’t been the leader the Hurricanes need as a captain, and his frustrations throughout the season were apparent to all who followed the team.
Eric’s younger brother Jordan hasn’t exactly worked out as planned since the Hurricanes made the big trade at the 2012 NHL draft to acquire him for Pittsburgh. The effort is there but the production hasn’t been. Jordan wanted a bigger role when he was in Pittsburgh and it appeared a top six spot in Carolina would let him spread his wings and showcase his offensive potential. He is still used in a more shutdown role but 40 points in 82 games does not justify his $6 million dollar annual salary.
The other two big name veterans on the roster, Cam Ward and Alexander Semin, also haven’t lived up to the high expectations. Ward, a Stanley Cup Champion and Conn Smythe Trophy winner has been on the decline. Injuries have been an issue (Cam Ward Sports Injury Alert Profile) but his play a lot of nights is just not up to what is expected of him. He has not been the workhorse, number one goalie that the Hurricanes need. While the defence in front of him was porous, Ward still wasn’t good enough this season with an .898 save percentage and 3.06 GAA on the year. He was outplayed by backup Anton Khudobin and lost the number one job in the second half of the season.
As for Alexander Semin, I’m thinking that maybe the Hurricanes are seeing why Semin’s former team, the Washington Capitals, only gave him one-year deals for two straight seasons. Semin is no doubt a very talented player, but his production and effort don’t match that talent. He has another four years at $7 million per year left on his contract so hopefully for Carolina, Semin can look like the player who earned that contract with a big season in 2012-13, when he was on a one-year deal.
But things aren’t all bad in Carolina. Jeff Skinner scored a career high 33 goals . Defenceman Justin Faulk is young but already plays big minutes for the team. Rookie defenceman Ryan Murphy showed promise as an offensive defenceman and powerplay quarterback. Swedish rookie Elias Lindholm also showed off his potential as a two-way centre this season.
Carolina has the seventh overall pick in this year’s draft and they have the potential to add another good young player. The 2014 NHL draft isn’t exactly brimming with franchise players but rather players you can add to complement your main core. Big scoring wingers like Jake Virtanen and Nick Ritchie would be nice additions to a team that needs some more scoring. Carolina is also in need of some quality defencemen so perhaps taking Red Deer defenceman Haydn Fleury, a 6-2 two-way player would be a nice fit too.
The Carolina Hurricanes have some soul searching to do and hopefully Ron Francis and the rest of the management team can make the right decisions to help this team get back to the playoffs. Management has some tough decisions to make such as finding a new coach, figuring out what to do with the underachieving veterans and trying to give this team a new identity to revive this franchise back to contention.
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