Canes Fizzling

When the Leaf Nation was up in arms last week after a marquee player wasn't acquired at the trade deadline and the team had lost back-to-back games to Montreal and Buffalo, some scoffed at my suggestion that there was no reason to panic.

It wasn't that I had spectacular confidence in the Leafs to nail down a playoff berth.

It was just that looking around at the teams they were competing against, it was clear there were no powerhouses among them, no squads similar to the '79 Habs or '02 Detroit Red Wings.

Well, here we are a few days later, and the Leafs have only won a single game yet are still in a promising position.

Why? Well, mostly because the Carolina Hurricanes are in serious danger of becoming only the third Stanley Cup champion to miss the post-season entirely after winning it all the year before.

Moreover, with Edmonton already out of it, it would be the first time in league history that both Cup finalists failed to qualify for the playoffs the next season if the Canes can't get their act together, and soon.

A 3-1 loss to Atlanta on Sunday left the Canes two points ahead of the Leafs, but with the Leafs holding two games in hand.

Montreal, struggling mightily these days, is right there, and so too rather suddenly are the Boston Bruins.

The Thrashers and Islanders appear to be on the verge of separating themselves from the pack a little bit, which may mean the final weeks of the season may come down to whether the Leafs, Habs, Bruins or even New York Rangers can catch the Canes.

And really, why not the Leafs? They're not great, but they're as good as those other clubs.

Carolina has stumbled largely because of goaltending - playoff hero Cam Ward has sat and watched John Grahame play four of the last five games - injuries to players like Cory Stillman and Frantisek Kaberle and surprisingly moderate production from third-year man Eric Staal. Staal does have 26 goals, but he's not been the force he was a year ago.

Then again, a year ago the Canes had Doug Weight and Mark Recchi around to help the kids, Matt Cullen up front for some speed and Aaron Ward to anchor the defence.

It's a very different team in many ways. The power play has been awful, the Canes are in the bottom half of the league both for goals-against and goals scored and Rod Brind'Amour has taken more serious hits this season possibly than in any previous year of his career.

The Canes don't play until Friday, which means the Leafs will make up their games-in-hand against Washington and Ottawa by then.

Which means they could be two points ahead of Carolina. At the worst, they must be tied, you'd have to think, or Paul Maurice's squad is going to be running out of time.

It also makes a Leafs-Canes clash three weeks tomorrow at the ACC look like a potentially tasty piece of business.

Comments

[Mike Johann]

Carolina stumbling because of goaltending.. I think not..

The offense is awful! All ares 5 on 5, powerplay, etc.

Watch a canes game, and look at the offensive positioning. It is killing them. They need to implement a new scheme, the other teams have the current one beat.

[barry bell]

Damien are you giving Tampa a free ride to the playoffs?/ I wouldn't.

[pete]

It always seems like the opposite of the position that we're in this year...well not always, because we aren't always scrambling for a playoff spot. I keep glancing at the standings every morning expecting to see the Leafs fall further and further out of it with their uninspiring play of late, but regardless of that we're still only a point or two behind 8th with two games in hand, which really become a huge factor towards the end of the season.
Without really needing to do a whole lot, just put a couple of wins together, I believe we've got a better than average shot of getting ahead of the teams that we need to. Aside from NYI, who after adding #94 look like they mean business, all the other teams in the bottom half of the conference don't look all that tough. This team (the players, not the organization) knows how disappointed the fans are so far, and will be if we miss the playoffs for the second straight year. Maurice knows that too, and I doubt he'll let this team continue to coast into the end of the season.
Sleep easy Toronto fans, for we are far from out of it; there will be playoff hockey for Leafs fans this spring, methinks.

[jake campeau]

It's a sad state of affairs as a Leaf fan to be at this point in the season and hope for other teams around us to lose. That speaks volumes about this years edition of the buds, and seems to echo the message given to us by the folks at MLSE given the non movement at the deadline. But this is a feeling that we should get used to, and we should realize that MLSE will never be motivated to try and win a Stanley Cup, because it simply doesn't make business sense. Why spend money when you are guaranteed a profit, year in and year out?? Only in the highly unlikely scenario that Leafs Nation revolts and refuses to fill the ACC will management even be willing to consider an alternative course of action.

Lets face it. This years Leafs are not great. They are mediocre at best. And they will continue to be for another forty years until the fans stop supporting them, or they do away with the salary cap entirely, so that the so called "hockey guys" can start spending money again to cover up poor management skills...

[PJ]

Obviously, in the Land of the Leafs, it's too difficult to pay attention to other teams. How original. The previous posters, Barry & Mike hit it on the head, our goaltending is not the reason for the Canes' woes, if you're paying attention, the tandem of Ward & Grahame as his back up, have done more for their teammates who have hung either goalie out to dry than any of the 29 other teams combined. That coupled with injuries and surgeries in the very short off season (Hedican/Kaberle/Stillman) and then more injuries, and now we've hit a scoring drought.

To assert that our goaltending is our 'problem' would be completely wrong, and if you wanna believe Tampa is skating off in the Southeast, well, everyone thought ATL had that all wrapped up for half the year.....

And if one more member of the so-called hockey media tells the world one more time that Mark Recchi & Doug Weight were our saviors when they were acquired. Stop and pay attention to the facts:

Canes' record BEFORE obtaining Doug Weight on 1/30/06 was.........37-11-4 (52 games) 123 point pace for 82 games
Record the rest of the way including the Recchi trade on 3/9/06...........15-11-4 (30 games) 93 point pace for 82 games

Regular Season Stats:
Recchi 20 games played............4G's, 3 A's for 7 points and a minus (-8)................a 29 point season pace
Weight 23 games played...........4G's, 9 A's for 13 points and a minus (-6)...............a 46 point season pace

Playoff Stats:
Recchi 25 games, 7 G's, 9 A's for 16 points
Weight 23 games, 3 G's, 13 A's for 16 points

They obviously were huge for us when it mattered most; and acclimated to the team in time to make it count. All that said, Doug Weight & Mark Recchi will always be Carolina Hurricanes. They touched this community, their teammates, and have a place in Canes history forever. We know they went back to where they came from, and everyone here accepts the tough part of the business of hockey. But anytime they ever come back to the Triangle, they will be hailed as the heroes they are, along with Cullen, Ward, and Gerber and now Kevyn Adams. That's how it works when you win it all.

Mr. Cox, I enjoy your columns, I really do- I just wish the hockey media would at least pay attention before they comment on the Canes.