Here is a random collection of Canes thoughts that never (at least that I can remember) made it into any of the game recap or other blogs.
1) Pound for pound on the boards. I challenge any other team to come up with 3 guys weighing in at 550 pounds or less who are better on the boards than Larose, Whitney and Williams. The more I watch Williams, the more impressed I am with his ability to win/keep pucks on the boards. He is one of those jack-of-all trades types who just seems to come away with the puck much more than his fair share in 1-on-1 battles on the boards. For all 3 of them and smaller/average size guys in general, I think 1 of the keys is balance/balance recovery after contact. When Williams bangs, gets banged or goes shoulder to shoulder with another guy he seems to always be the one who rights his feet first and starts playing the puck rather than trying to get himself back on top of his skates. He also throws in Ron Francis-like mixed bag of tricks using his feet, tying up the opponent's stick, trapping the puck until he can get his stick free/where it needs to be, etc. Larose is prone to occasionally get shouldered off the puck by a bigger player but more often than not he uses his quickness to his advantage to win or move the puck. And for a guy who is correctly labeled as a "skill" player, Whitney also does very well on the boards. Like Williams, he is a master at absorbing contact and recovering more quickly than whoever banged him to play the puck. Anyone else notice this, or am I just a biased Canes homer? (chuckle at asking that mostly to other Canes homers)
2) Andrew Ladd development program. Injuries combined with the injury-induced KAdams trade have put Rutherford/Laviolette in a situation where Ladd has to be 1 of the forwards on the NHL bench. Unfortunately, until the last game (and a very good one) against Tampa, the bench is mostly where Ladd stayed. It pained me every time I checked ice time at NHL.com or the N&O the next day to see Ladd regularly with 2, 5, 6, etc. minutes of ice time. With Coach Laviolette soon having enough healthy defensemen to skate 7 like he likes to do anyway, I think we are at the point where Ladd either needs to get 12-14 minutes of ice time at the NHL level or 18-20 minutes at the AHL level. Too many more games of 5-6 minutes will only add rust and lack of confidence in case we need him in April/May. I like the idea of giving him a top 3 line spot and 12-14 minutes/night to see if he can build on the Tampa game. But if not that, he should hop the same plane to Albany that Babchuk does when we suddenly have too many healthy bodies to fit in the 20 spots on the bench and 3 in the press box.
3) Player that can offer the most upside to the team as a whole right now. So obviously hockey is a team game and it goes without saying (quoting John Forslund/Tripp Tracy who say this occasionally) "your best players need to be your best players" and the far to regular problems with effort runs 20 players deep and cannot be solved by 1 guy, but I think Eric Belanger is arguably the single player with the potential to make this team better. Any Rutherford trade for a center or other forward will change the equation, but as the team stands now, Belanger is the guy that needs to get a 3rd line scoring going. Last season, Cullen and Whitney (mostly with Larose) created nightmares for opposing teams when they tried to sneak mediocre/slow 3rd pairing blueliners onto to the ice with no offensive event. And they were both a big part of the powerplay too which just freed up a few more even strength minutes for our best 2-way players. The early returns for Belanger and his 3rd line were very good. When the rest of the team was struggling mightily in early October, Belanger and Walker were the scoring part of our best scoring line. But along the way Walker moved up leaving Belanger more with grinders on his wing. Be it his linemates or be it whatever, Belanger is now on target for about 32 points. Part of this is a reflection of his role and his limited powerplay minutes, but it still is not enough.
So where are we now? With the key forwards all healthy, Belanger should get at least 1 very scoring capable wing on his line. He may also get someone like Ladd who is willing to park himself in the crease which makes him 'scoring-capable' if his linemates can get pucks/shots in there for him. It is subject to change immediately upon Rutherford adding a higher caliber forward at any time, but as of right now Belanger is a player on the spot and a player that can provide huge upside to the Canes offense.
Go Canes!
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