Where Is The Offense?

The Carolina Hurricanes are only ahead the Edmonton Oilers by one point when it comes to having the worst record in the National Hockey League. The Hurricanes are 9-19-3 for 21 points and have a solid hold on last place in the Metropolitan Division.

The Hurricanes are only averaging 2.1 Goals Per Game, good for 28th place in the NHL. Injuries have hit the Hurricanes hard as they lost Jordan Staal before the regular season and Eric Staal, Jeff Skinner, and Jiri Tlusty have all missed extended time and the offense has had a hard time jelling under new Head Coach Bill Peters.

Defenseman Justin Faulk leads the team in scoring with 19 points in 31 games and Jiri Tlusty leads the team in Goals with 10. Only three players that have played in games for the Hurricanes have a + rating and that is Andrej Nestrasil with a +3 in 8 games played.

I do not know if an element of toughness would help the Hurricanes or not but they traded away team tough guy, Defenseman Jay Harrison, to the Winnipeg Jets yesterday for a 6th round draft choice. Harrison had two of the Hurricanes five fighting majors this season. The Hurricanes last fighting major the Hurricanes logged was a month ago when Brad Malone went against Brayden McNabb of the Los Angeles Kings. The Hurricanes need someone to protect the top scorers.

The big question is how do the Hurricanes open up their scoring? I would love to see the Hurricanes develop "Fast Break" hockey like the NHL had in the 1980's with almost every team having a scorer that topped 100 points. I don't see that happening anytime soon especially with the Hurricanes.

Taking Care Of The Leafs

The Carolina Hurricanes easily handled the Toronto Maple Leafs at home last night 4-1 to break a six game losing streak. The stars were many for Carolina. Justin Faulk had a Short Handed Goal and an Assist, Andrej Sekera had a Power Play Goal and an Assist, and Eric Staal and Nathan Gerbe had two assists a piece. Elias Lindholm finished off the scoring with his 8th Goal late in the Third Period. It was an impressive win and a badly needed win for the Hurricanes and came over a hot Toronto Maple Leafs team.

Eye Of The Hurricanes

I am a novice ice hockey fan. Growing up in the mountains of western North Carolina. I did not grow up with the sport. One of the first games I ever saw was the "Miracle On Ice" games in the 1980 Winter Olympics. I have never played the game and I have never even been on ice skates. The only experience I have ever had with hockey is what I have played in video games.

I really do not have a favorite hockey team. I have followed the Philadelphia Flyers and the San Jose Sharks over the years but I have no real passion for those teams. The Carolina Hurricanes came in the mid-1990's and a connection was made. I went to the Carolina Hurricanes very first game at the Greensboro Coliseum against the Pittsburgh Penguins on October 3, 1997. I drove 4 1/2 hours to see that game. A couple of friends from work met me down there. It was a fight filled contest featuring the likes of Stu "The Grim Reaper" Grimson. He fought Penguin tough guy Chris Tamer and I just watched the video of it on hockeyfights.com.

My goal with this blog is to present the Hurricanes from a casual fans perspective. I do not know the ins and outs of the game like the hardcore fans do. I know I do not like "dump and chase" hockey and I prefer a lot of offense like the Edmonton Oilers and Wayne Gretzky had in the 1980's. The era of the 100 point scorers has about ceased to exist. It has about gone the way of the 20 game winner in Major League baseball. My dog Molly just fell asleep on a Carolina Hurricanes t-shirt I was wearing today in honor of the beginning of the NHL season.

I get to see quite a few of the Hurricanes games on TV but western North Carolina is not exactly a hot bed of hockey. The Carolina Hurricanes top minor league team, the Charlotte Checkers, is much closer and accessible. I am looking forward to providing what insight I can and following the Hurricanes into the Stanley Cup playoffs.