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For those of you who have read my articles over the course of the last week, I've been including a poll in each one. Every Saturday, I'll be going over the results and providing some thoughts on how they turned out, so to kick things off, here's the first Poll Review:
QUESTION: Brock McGinn has one year remaining on his contract. What's your early prediction on his future with the Hurricanes?
33 votes
Plays the year with Carolina, walks as UFA: 58%
Re-signed: 21%
Traded before end of the season: 21%
There’s a pretty solid consensus among voters that McGinn won’t be with the team past next season, with 79 per cent of voters saying he’ll either walk as a UFA at the end of his contract or be traded before the end of the season.
This isn’t shocking to see. McGinn likely won’t take any less on an extension than the $2.1 million per year that he’s making now, even though his role with the Hurricanes has been reduced and it looks like he’ll be on the fourth line again next season. I think McGinn is a solid fit with the fourth line but the Hurricanes won’t be able to allocate over $2 million a year to a fourth-line forward.
QUESTION: Do you have confidence in Petr Mrazek as Carolina’s starter going forward?
51 votes
No: 65%
Yes: 35%
I think these numbers capture the debate on Mrazek pretty well. Sometimes he plays like a capable starter but it just doesn’t happen often enough. You have to think Hurricanes’ management has similar feelings on whether Mrazek is fit to be a long-term starter and may be making some moves in the offseason to acquire a legitimate starter.
QUESTION: How many points do you expect from Martin Necas next season?
Votes: 87
50-60 points: 53%
40-50 points: 26%
60-70 points: 11%
More than 70 points: 8%
Less than 40 points: 1%
After a great rookie season, I’d agree that 50-60 points is a reasonable expectation for Necas next season. He’s likely to get a larger role and with experience comes development. Having said that, I can also see where the crowd who voted on the 40-50 points option is coming from, as his 18.2 per cent shooting percentage is unsustainable and inflated his numbers a bit this season.
QUESTION: Which is the best recent trade the Hurricanes have made?
Votes: 97
Niederreiter from MIN for Rask: 33%
Trocheck from CAR for Haula/Wallmark/Luostarinen/Priskie: 29%
Reimer from FLA for Darling/6th Round Pick: 19%
Edmundson/Bokk from STL for Faulk: 11%
Vatanen from NJD for Kuokkanen/Claesson/4th Round Pick: 6%
Skjei from NYR for 1st Round Pick: 2%
I think if Niederreiter performed like he did last year, this one would be a bit of a no-brainer. Rask has just 22 points in his last 92 games between this season and last while Niederreiter has been a good addition for the Hurricanes. Having said that, the Trocheck trade is likely to pay off in a big way next season as well and really, any of these can be considered at the very least, a solid trade.
QUESTION: In your opinion, where does Brett Pesce rank against all other NHL defensemen in terms of defensive zone reliability?
Votes: 61
Top-20: 51%
Top-10: 35%
Top-40: 8%
Top-30: 5%
Outside the Top-40: 0%
In the Pesce vote, 86% of voters agreed that he’s a top-20 defenseman in terms of defensive reliability and not one voted him outside top-40. I suppose it’s a bit difficult to vote on this without really writing down a list of names but I think it gives a general snapshot of Pesce’s defensive abilities. He remains one of the most underrated defensemen in the league and just because he’s not producing offense doesn’t mean he’s not making an impact.
Check back tomorrow for a player profile on James Reimer (polls will continue tomorrow)!
OTHER PROFILES FROM APRIL
Martin Necas
Nino Niederreiter
Brett Pesce
ALL PLAYER PROFILES
Sebastian Aho
Ryan Dzingel
Joel Edmundson
Haydn Fleury
Warren Foegele
Jake Gardiner
Dougie Hamilton
Jordan Martinook
Brock McGinn
Petr Mrazek
Martin Necas
Nino Niederreiter
Brett Pesce 
Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • 
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