Canes vs Sabres at home and Freddie is out

Uh, and right now it's because the Canes play the Buffalo Sabres tonight.

Great time to catch up with our friend Corey Lavelette, North State Journal and the Athletic. All right, Corey, my friend, uh, assess Carolina's goaltending situation now with Frederick Anderson, uh, sidelined for medical reason, probably for several months. I think that's a safe assumption at this point. Well, it's interesting.

I think we can agree on that. Um, you know, it still starts with the two guys who were here at the start of the year, which is, you know, obviously empty Ranta and Piotr Kaczakoff. And, um, you know, I think first and foremost, they want those two guys to, to be the ones that can take this over. Um, you know, you'd love to see Kaczakoff kind of grab the reins of this and run with it. Um, at the same time, you, you wouldn't mind seeing him get more seasoning in the AHL either. Um, which is where, you know, Yara slots, a lot comes in and if they determine he's, uh, still have what it takes, I guess, to be an NHL goalie at 38 years old, then, uh, they have the option now to, to find him and, uh, whether that's find him and keep him in the NHL or, or find him and put him in the AHL or, uh, even sign him and, and carry three goalies, I guess we'll, um, we'll see which direction they go, but they've got name plates hanging up in every place they play, they practice and play, uh, which just leads me to believe that, um, you know, something might be eminent, but you never know.

You never know until it actually happens. I was looking, uh, as I was writing the storm watch today, I was looking at the goaltending numbers and among rated goaltenders in the NHL, and there are 64 who have, who would qualify for any award or anything like that, leaders, Carolina, it has number 42, 56 and 59 out of 64. Frederick Anderson was number 42. So this is about save percentage, about goals saved above average, above average is not a pretty picture. Um, I, I don't recall that many bad goals.

I mean, Aunty Ron is a lot of few. Um, it's really about just not making enough big saves as much as anything else. Is that fair? Yeah. I mean, I think to some extent also what happened at the start of this season was such a weird thing with the defensive breakdowns and the odd man rushes and breakaways. And, you know, I was looking at the checkoffs numbers earlier and notice, I think he's given up 11 goals in three games. Five of those were special teams goals. You know, I think four on the power play and then a short handed goal against Colorado. So it's, you know, the penalty kill was not good to start.

And I know that those numbers don't, don't dive into special teams play. So, um, yeah, they need to be better at five on five, but I think we've seen over, you know, the last four or five starts from the goalies, uh, both Anderson and Ranta that they've been better. Ranta obviously made big save last game, um, and over time.

So I think you're, you're headed in the right direction there. Um, you know, I I've heard a couple of national people point out, you know, this was inevitable. The hurricanes always have injuries and goal, blah, blah, blah, with these two guys. But you know, this is a unique situation with Anderson and I don't think you can put this in the column of injury thrown situation. Um, so I mean, Ranta needs to stay healthy, obviously, um, could check off needs to prove he can stay healthy too.

I mean, that has been a little bit of an issue. Um, I talked to him a bit today and then, um, a lock, if he's going to be signed and needs to show he's, um, I'm the right side of 38, I guess you and I are, you and I are on the wrong side of 38. I'm on the wrong side of 48 Corey. So, uh, we'll just leave it right there. Uh, Corey level at North state journal and the athletic is joining us here.

All right. What's the best thing you saw from four, three in overtime over the Islanders? I think just the, the getting back to the hurricanes that we know, um, the dominant for checking the, the puck possession, the flurry of shots, um, traffic, you know, really good net front traffic. Um, all of those things are everything we've come to expect, uh, from this team over the past five seasons, really the, in particular the past three seasons. Um, I thought that, you know, you can see things coming, coming into focus a little bit more and you can see guys who, um, who are new to the team fitting in a little better Dimitri or law starting to find his footing.

Obviously Michael Bunting didn't play. Um, but I think he's played all right. Um, in trying to figure this all out. Um, so there's a lot, I mean, I think there's a lot for life. There's still another level to get to, but they've been fortunate. I mean, we, we, I think we've harped plenty about how bad the power play is over the last, I don't know, 15 years.

Um, but it's been good this year. And, uh, so that's, that's a, that's a huge thing to save you when maybe you're not playing your best hockey. And if you can keep being, um, I think we've always talked about this. If you can keep being a top 10, top 12 power play team, you're never going to be the Edmonton Oilers or the, you know, some of the, you know, the Rangers who are going to constantly be in the top five in the league.

I don't think, but as long as you can be top 10, top 12, then you're not hurting yourself. Right? Yeah. Well, by the way, right now, the best power play in the sport belongs to the New Jersey devils at nearly 43%, 43%. I realized we're so early.

Uh, that is a cartoon number. And Edmonton has been ravaged with injuries is actually not as good on the power play as the hurricanes. Speaking of the power play, a lot of that is Tony D'Angelo.

Uh, I don't know if a lot of it is certainly a factor. My opinion has been the, from Carolina's perspective, I think the forwards have been more of a problem on the power play than who was at the point. Although two years ago, the power play for most of the regular season was really good. And then, uh, then it kind of went away late.

Um, and now it looks pretty good again. So maybe it is about Tony D'Angelo, but Elliot Friedman on a sports net in Canada this Saturday night floated the notion that when Brett Pesci comes back or while Brett Pesci is on his way back, the hurricanes are contemplating a trade of a defenseman. And he mentioned Tony D'Angelo.

Do you think anything like that is likely to happen? I mean, we know that they've, they've, you know, the plan was, it seemed like all off season was to, to cut ties with somebody so that you don't have an asset just sitting in the press box. And I think a lot of us thought that would be Brett Pesci. Um, so at this point, I mean, I don't think they've seen a deal for Pesci that makes sense for them. They probably feel it's better to, you know, run out the season with him for what's, what's being offered, uh, and moving D'Angelo with just, I think, clear, clear the glut a little bit though. It would leave them, you know, kind of thin on defense too.

Um, if there were injuries, uh, I, I don't know. I mean, I guess we'll see what happens. Uh, Tony hasn't been as good this year as he was two years ago. Um, it's also, you know, we're not, you know, we're, we're a dozen games into the season, so let's not overreact with anything.

Um, but you know, we'll see what, what happens with all that. I'm curious to see who was suitor for Tony D'Angelo would be because you look around the league and, uh, I don't know, there's anybody who's really looking for a, a power play quarterback right now that he makes sense with. So obviously there's teams that have defensive issues. I know Toronto wants to add, um, you know, add defense or, you know, get better there, but I don't know that D'Angelo really is much different than John Klingberg in that role.

So, um, you know, it'll be interesting. I don't, I, like I said, I don't know where, where he would fit somewhere else right now, but, um, like the Pesci situation earlier, it's not a, you have to do it now because they're in such good cap space, uh, cap situation. I would not, they, somebody would have to blow me away to get one of my defensemen if I were the hurricanes, just to absolutely blow me out of the water.

We know how difficult it is. I mean, unless we're all comfortable with Dylan Coughlin playing like extended minutes, uh, if there is another injury, I wouldn't trade a defensemen. I just think it's up to Rod Brenda more to manage, uh, the playing time of some guys. So it, you know, to keep Tony, uh, and or Jalen Chatfield fresh, give guys nights off when it would benefit them if there are bumps and bruises.

I mean, I think they have an advantage by having all of these defensemen. Uh, like personally, I think Dimitri Orloff, I think his best partner on the back end is Jalen Chatfield, not Tony. I think Orloff will be better playing with Chatfield than he is with Tony. And I love Tony. You, you know how I feel about the Angelo, not only as a player, but just as somebody who's just a good dude. I, I enjoy, I enjoy talking with him.

I think he's really smart, but I think he's the seventh best Carolina defenseman, albeit with a tremendous offensive skill. I wouldn't make a move. Yeah. I mean, like I said, I think they're holding all the cards right now. They're not in a position of weakness. It's the same thing they, the situation they had with Ethan bear a couple of seasons ago, you know, they entered the season with him on the roster and sat back and waited until they got what they thought was a fair offer for him. And they, you know, they weren't in such cap hell that they had to do something and they're in the same situation now.

Um, you know, the fact that they can potentially, you know, bring in another goalie, uh, on another contract and not have to go into LTR, uh, with Anderson tells you, you know, they're there at least dealing from a position of strengths, I would say if they did want to make a move. All right. Let me ask you one final thing, and this can be a quick answer.

Corey level at North state journal. I'll see you on the fifth floor in just a little bit. Um, fast forward me to February, are the hurricanes in the goaltender market? I don't think so. I think, um, I think this is could check off time to be honest with you. I think this is the moment where, uh, he has to seize control of this job. Uh, to me, I think, you know, you, I do worry a little about the number of reps he's had in North America. He hasn't played a ton of games, but I think his size, uh, the, the ability to give him a little bit of breathing room with auntie Ronta, uh, even, uh, even a straight platoon with those two, um, I think gives you a chance to sort of really see what you have with this kid. And we know that just about any goalie can play well behind this team when this team is doing what it wants to do. Um, so to me, I think you have to give this kid that you committed, you know, you committed a, I wouldn't say a big contract, but certainly a long contract to him. I think it's time to really give him a shot to see if he's, if he's your goaltender of the future or not. I don't know if he is yet. Um, but it's better than shuffling him back to a team in the AHL that maybe, I don't want to say they don't have his best interest in mind, but he's hired gun for Syracuse right now. They don't care what his development curve is.

Uh, they care about winning games. Uh, it turns out the Chicago wolves could probably use somebody who knows how to win games right about now, given their record. But, um, yeah, I think, I think you have to give the kid a shot, um, from veterans day last year until December 20th, Piotr could check off, looked every bit like the goaltender of the future.

Uh, so if they could get that Piotr could check off, they don't even need that one, that one was pretty spectacular, but if they got that Piotr could check off Carolina would be in pretty good shape. Corey, I appreciate your time. I'll see you on the fifth floor coming up in a few hours. Anytime buddy.