Whats wrong with the Canes?

[IRONMAN]

I see from most of the game day threads that you guys have high hopes for the Canes this year and thought they'd be good. WHY?

I'm really surprised all you guys had such high expectations for this team and even more shocked you like the forwards. Who exactly is supposed to score on this team? You have 3 natural centermen on the first line in ruutu staal skinner and jokinen from time to time and only one of them is a first line caliber player in Staal.

Ponikarovsky has played better than I ever thought he would but what did we really think we were getting with an injury prone disinterested guy. As soon as the Canes start to tank so will he and stop checking and standing in front of the net.

Stewart is a 3rd line forward all day long and he doesn't even get the chance to play that high up. Maurice never plays his 4th line more than 7-8 minutes a night. Up until Dalpes injury you had him and Stewart on a 4th line in a checking role. You've got to be kidding me if thats where he thinks they should be used then they don't even need to be on the team.

So what do the hurricanes have? A top line with no wingers, nine 2nd and 3rd line forwards and no 4th line or grind line.

On defense you have 3 good defensive guys in Allen, Gleason, and Harrison. I couldn't be happier with Harrisons development and Gleason/Allen has been a good pairing this year.

Then you've got Tomas Kaberle who is absolutely terrible defensively but hey at least he can move the puck on the power player right right?

Jamie McBain has been okay. Hes young he has a long way to develop and I have no problem with him as a 5th or 6th d-man with some powerplay time, but no he plays top minutes for some unknown reason. No thats right because Joni Pitkanen needs a partner which brings me to.

Good lord Jim Rutherford do we really need anymore offensive defensemen? You know they're called defensemen for a reason. What if DeAngelo Williams can make some tackles or Steve Smith can intercept some passes with those hands? Do we just let them play defense cause they might have some ability there? Joni Pitkanen was enough, Jamie McBain made it plenty, we certainly did not need to sign the fragile scared to hit anyone Tomas Kaberle too.

As a result you have 2 nearly worthless d pairings because you have to stick poor Harrison with Kaberle and McBain with Pitkanen which is beyond where McBain should be.

So I don't know what you guys honestly expected from this island of misfits roster we have fielded here. Do they have the potential to be good?, absolutely if they all play at the top of their games and put it together. I think you're going to get mostly what you've already seen, nights of great where it comes together and 3-4 nights in a row of reality.

[KillerKat]

Paul Maurice

[The Other Colbert]

SMH at this team

Mo has got to go

[g5jamz]

Canes are a .500 team...last year and this year.

Joni will probably be traded for a new playmaking forward at some point.

[RedMage138]

We have the problem of too much young talent

[DudeNamedJeremy]

i don't wanna hear it..

i'm a blue jackets fan..be thankful!

[KillerKat]

I don't see how the young talent can be used as an excuse. Besides Skinner, Tlusty, and Boychuk every other forward are veterans with multiple years under their belt. And for defense, only McBain is the young guy.