Without further adieu, why you too should love Skinner:

1. Leading his team in the playoffs.  During the 2010 OHL playoffs, Taylor Hall and the Windsor Spitfires steamrolled the majority of the league.  They steamrolled the Erie Otters in a 4-0 first round sweep and then did the same thing in the second round to second overall pick Tyler Seguin and the Plymouth Whalers.  Then along came the Kitchener Rangers led by the 20 goals scored by Skinner in just as many games.   The Rangers would eventually fall to the Spitfires 4-3 in the series but they literally were the only team to challenge them.
2. 70.  Despite his draft ranking, Skinner entered with the most goals of any draft eligible player.  There was no doubt the kid could finish as Chip Alexander of The News Observer points out so eloquently.
3. Draft climber. Nobody climbed higher in the draft.  Coming in ranked 34th amongst North American skaters by Central Scouting the Carolina Hurricanes took him seventh overall.  Although this seemed a reach at the time, his stock has only raised as he becomes a strong contender to represent Team Canada at the World Juniors.
4. The media hype. From Jeff Marek to everyone who cares about hockey in Carolina this kid has hype.  I remember listening to Marek just rave about this kid on RLD Radio leading up to the draft as Marek simply gushed about how special this kid could be and how he could rise.  While we saw Ryan Johanssen rise from a mid-first to a top five selection, the shock of Skinner at seven created a massive buzz for the better.
5. The moves.  Those last four weren’t enough?  This “razzle dazzle” could be the shootout goal of the year!

In an offseason where the Canes worked with their own salary cap and consider Joe Corvo their big free agent signing, the Skinner hype seems like all we really can chatter about.  A plethora of kids will get a shot to make the team and Skinner may very well be one of them.

They pitched their newly acquired collegiate forward Riley Nash a spot on the team even though he made it very clear he would like to graduate.  Soon enough the cousin of Columbus Blue Jackets winger Rick Nash signed with the team, citing an opportunity to play for the big club.

But the pipeline does not stop with Nash.

Former Ohio State center Zac Dalpe exploded last season after signing his first professional contract.  Not only was Dalpe named a finalist for the CCHA Player of the Year but he also established himself as a scoring threat almost immediately–  scoring his first goal in his debut and then his first career hat-trick a few days later.

Aside from those two, the Canes top prospect (per Hockey’s Future) would be left wing Zach Boychuk.  The former first round pick played 33 games over the last two seasons and should be a front runner for a top six forward position.  In 52 games with the now-defunct Albany River Rats he registered 15 goals and 21 assists, showing the team’s brass he can produce at the professional level.

The best producer at the AHL level would be 24-year-old Jerome Samson.  Signed as an undrafted UFA before the 2007-2008 season, Samson showed the team he could carry their minor league production by posting 78 points in 74 games last season.  After three seasons with the River Rats, he probably will need to make a bigger impact with the big club to stay in the system.  He only posted two assists in seven games last season, playing mostly on the bottom two lines.

Once again, the pipeline does not stop there.

The Canes just drafted a highly-skilled forward in Jeff Skinner who may be a few years out but displayed great goal-scoring instincts by notching 70 markers over the OHL Regular Season and Playoffs.  He will be a long shot to make the team however as he needs to add size and strength to his repertoire.

Jiri Tlusty has very little to prove at the AHL level after coming over from Toronto for forward Philippe Paradis.  Tlusty formerly played for head coach Paul Maurice with the Maple Leafs which was partly why the team traded for him in the first place and should make the NHL roster.

Drayson Bowman also earned a cup of coffee with the club while the team was depleted by injuries.  In his nine games, he posted two goals and failed to look out of place playing mostly on the third line.  Hockey’s Future ranks him as their third highest prospect (second amongst forwards) and he was regarded as just a step behind Boychuk and current second liner Brandon Sutter.

According to the team, nine forwards currently fill out their roster. Now that we know the players, let’s look at how the lines look with everyone healthy:

Jussi Jokinen – Eric Staal – Chad LaRose

Tuomo Ruutu – Brandon Sutter – Eric Cole

Sergei Samsonov – Open – Open

Open – Patrick Dwyer – Tom Kostopoulous

Looking at those combinations fails to strike fear in most defensive corps.  The top line should do well but LaRose would be hard-pressed to replace Ray Whitney.  My best guess would be giving that spot over to Boychuk and slotting either Cole or LaRose down a line or two.

In addition, putting too many kids on the lower lines together would definitely allow for top lines to run around them.   Most of these young forwards have been relied upon to score and will need to improve their two-way games in order to succeed at this level.

If I were to make a stab at what the opening lines would look like, it would be something like this:

Jussi Jokinen – Eric Staal – Zach Boychuk

Tuomo Ruutu – Brandon Sutter – Eric Cole

Sergei Samsonov – Chad LaRose - Jiri Tlusty

Drayson Bowman/Jerome Samson – Patrick Dwyer/Riley Nash/Zac Dalpe – Tom Kostopoulous

That current lineup would allow for two veterans easing in a youngster during every shift.  Maurice and Jim Rutherford also hinted at rotating the kids between their new AHL Affiliate Charlotte Checkers and the Hurricanes in order to keep their confidence level up and the team fresh.

Let me know what you think in the comments.  Do you agree or disagree?  If you are ever bored be sure to check out my Canes-based site at rockmelikeahurricanes.com which will keep you current on all the team’s surroundings as well as hold all my feature articles like this one!

]]> http://hockeyindependent.com/blog/amonaghan/20365/feed/ 2 http://hockeyindependent.com/blog/amonaghan/19751/ http://hockeyindependent.com/blog/amonaghan/19751/#comments Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:00:37 +0000 Alexander Monaghan http://hockeyindependent.com/blog/?p=19751 It should come as no surprise that GM Jim Rutherford needed to rework his defense.

After an excellent year in 2008-2009 where the Carolina Hurricanes advanced to the Eastern Conference finals, the team regressed mainly due to injuries, inconsistent goaltending and depth issues.

Even though the Canes finished the season in 11th in the Southeast Conference, the team let in the fifth highest goal total in the league– after Toronto, Edmonton, Tampa Bay and the Islanders.  In short, something needed to change before the season started.

Rutherford knows what worked in the past and employing Joni Pitkanen for a league leading 27:22 of ice time simply did not.  Not a knock on Joni, but he may not even play top-pairing minutes come next season let alone more than Duncan Keith.

What worked in the previous season was all 6’5″ of Russian defenseman Anton Babchuk.  The Kiev native scored 16 goals as the trigger man on the powerplay during the 2008-2009 season before leaving the team for the KHL for the second time.  If he can match that production with his 1.4 million cap hit, the 26-year-old should be an excellent bargain.

Continuing with the same trend, Rutherford also brought back offensive defenseman Joe Corvo after dealing him a few months before.  This move adds stability to the blue line at a modest 2.5 cap hit while allowing young gun Jamie McBain to get a bit more NHL seasoning.  Paul Branecky of the Canes Official Website noted Corvo will be a lock to play with bruising defenseman Tim Gleason.

Safe to say they won that trade.

If the blue line did not looked stacked enough with Corvo-Gleason and Pitkanen-Babchuk manning the top four, the Canes traded for blue chip defenseman Bobby Sanguinetti.  If you watch the AHL, you will remember Sanguinetti as the fastest skater ever to skate in their skills competition.

Much like the deal to acquire Jiri Tlusty, the Canes went after a player who is young and has success at the professional level.  Both seasons that Sanguinetti played with the Hartford Wolfpack he made the All-Star team.  If not for the emergence of Michael Del Zotto, Matt Gilroy and now Ryan McDonagh, he would probably be wearing Ranger blue this coming season.

If Sanguinetti or AHL defender Bryan Rodney fail to make the roster, journeyman enforcer Jay Harrison will keep their spot warm.  In 38 games last season, Harrison stood up for teammates with 50 PIM and even chipped in seven points.  At 28-years-old he still has plenty of gas left which made him one of the first signings by the team this offseason.

Things should look up for the Canes defensive woes.  Part of the problem was the injury to Cam Ward and then the inconsistency of his predecessors.  With Ward fully healthy, the team should be ready for another strong season.

During the 2008-2009 season the team finished with the eighth fewest goals allowed, which seems to be more along the lines of the playoff team they are expected to be.  Of course time will tell with this new(ish) group but things certainly look up.