2-on-1: Turning Around the Hurricanes

Every Monday during the season two of our hockey writers will debate one topic. It's the 2-on-1. This week, Bruce Ciskie and Christopher Botta talk about the sudden struggles of last year's playoff darlings, the Carolina Hurricanes.

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Bruce Ciskie: We know it's early. Yes, the Hurricanes have 66 games left. However, to say they're struggling is simply a gross understatement. Carolina is in trouble here, and it's not that much like last year, when a mediocre team changed coaches and caught fire.

This isn't a mediocre team in any way right now. They're bad. Last in the East in goals scored, last in the NHL in goals allowed. They've won precisely zero of their last 12 games.

I'm struggling, Chris, to find any reason to think Carolina can turn this one around. It's not that they've dug themselves too deep of a hole. It's that they have looked so bad in doing it.

"One thing to look out for: GM Jim Rutherford will not quit on the season. He will make a trade, maybe even the first semi-big trade in the league before American Thanksgiving. Contrary to the cliche, sometimes you do have to make a trade for the sake of making a trade."
--Christopher Botta Christopher Botta: I hear ya, Bruce. The only reason I can't count them out is because there are more than 60 games left in the regular season and chances are just about every team in the East may still be able to sniff the seventh and eighth seeds in the East at the start of the Olympic break.

Three weeks ago, well before the 'Canes became a 2-11 embarrassment, our FanHouse editor assigned me to Newark for the Carolina-New Jersey rematch. On the train, I called one of my hockey gurus -- big-time Canadian influencer with a finger on the pulse of the NHL. This guy is right far more often than he is wrong.

I ran my take by him, that Carolina was just a half-step below the the perceived cream of the East -- Pittsburgh, Washington, maybe Philadelphia. I was looking at writing a column about how they're one of the league's unheralded very good teams. My guy stopped me in my tracks. "They have no secondary scoring," he said. "I'm not talking about a little secondary scoring. I mean zilch. They're in big trouble." Okay ...

Sure enough, the Hurricanes had nothing against New Jersey. Lost 2-1. I focused on Cam Ward instead. Says a lot about how bad this team is that they have this record and it's with getting quality goaltending almost every night from Ward.

Do you figure there's no way they'll get back to .500, Bruce? How about if they shake it up and give the head coaching reins to Ron Francis?

Ciskie: In today's NHL, it's really hard to make up for a lack of secondary scoring. As I type, Eric Staal has five points in 13 games. He could have gotten five points in half that time last year without even trying. Now, everyone knows he's the only threat.

Jussi Jokinen is not a consistent 30-goal threat. Erik Cole certainly isn't. Guys like Rod Brind'Amour and Ray Whitney are on their last legs, and shouldn't be expected to contribute any notable scoring totals. Matt Cullen and Tuomo Ruutu are nice players, but they're grinders.

There are pieces in place on defense with guys like Joe Corvo and Joni Pitkanen, but neither has done anything so far.

You might be right that a coaching shakeup could work. It's worked for this franchise in the past. However it leads me to wonder how many more times a team can tune out coaches during a season before the obstacles to a recovery become too great.

The bottom line is that you can blame Paul Maurice all you want (generally speaking, Chris, not saying you're blaming the coach), but this team's major offseason acquisitions were Aaron Ward and Tom Kostopoulos. That's asking for trouble.

Botta: No, you won't hear me blame Paul Maurice. I'm a fan. Maurice, like Tom Renney, falls into that category of good teachers, good coaches and good men who look bad when their GMs fail and their players bail. And it's all because they don't put on a big show behind the bench. The only good thing is Maurice was given a three-year contract, so when the inevitable happens he'll be well taken care of. I suspect he'll stay with Carolina this time in player personnel.

One thing to look out for: GM Jim Rutherford will not quit on the season. He will make a trade, maybe even the first semi-big trade in the league before American Thanksgiving. Contrary to the cliche, sometimes you do have to make a trade for the sake of making a trade. I doubt Rutherford will mortgage a first round draft pick, but he'll make a two-for-two trade that might not seem like much. Sometimes getting rid of two players and bringing in fresh faces shakes up the room and leads to winning streaks.

Any theories on what's up with Eric Staal? Is this about the lack of much of a supporting cast, or is a big part of this on him?

Ciskie: Honestly, I haven't seen enough of the Hurricanes to break down Staal's game, but I will say this:

This team played a lot of extra hockey last season. I'm not about excuses, but Carolina had to win emotional seven-game series just for the right to get a mudhole stomped in them by Pittsburgh. Along the way, Staal played insane minutes, was out there for virtually every high-pressure situation, and played at an extremely high level. Throw in there the pressure of trying to cement a spot on the Canadian team for the Olympics, and you're putting a lot on the plate of a player who is still pretty young (25).

Oh, and he's not really getting any help. So, yeah.

I agree that Rutherford will do something. He signed Jokinen off the scrap heap last year, and that worked pretty well. The theory about shaking up the room is a strong one, and it's about time for Rutherford to follow through on something if it's at all possible for him to do so.

Botta: Rutherford will. Start the rumor mill!

So in summary, we believe the Hurricanes need a trade and will make a trade, Paul Maurice could also pay the price (but get paid) and Carolina needs to put two or three wins together soon to be in the playoff conversation in March.

Do we even want to get into what a freefall could do for attendance in Raleigh? Nah.

Let's end on a happy note. Favorite Hurricane/Whaler of all time? I'm going with Ray Neufeld. Do you know what 27 goals and 40 assists would get you today? Four mill a year.

Ciskie: Kevin Dineen, no question. I don't even have to think about that one.

As for the Hurricanes, we agree on pretty much everything. I respect Rutherford's work a lot, so I have faith he'll figure out a way to turn this thing around. I'm just not sure it can be done in a way that gets this team into serious playoff contention.