The Carolina Hurrricanes saw their five-point Southeastern Division lead at the Christmas break evaporate in early January when they won just three of 11 games thanks in part to a rash of injuries and a bout with the flu bug.
Instead of continuing to set the pace in the division, after Christmas the ’Canes went 3-7-1 with the likes of American Hockey Leaguers Casey Borer, Keith Aucoin, Brandon Nolan, Tim Conboy and goalie Michael Leighton dotting their lineup.
In the process, they surrendered first place in the division to the Atlanta Thrashers and tumbled to 10the place in the Eastern Conference, two spots out of the Stanley Cup playoffs if they had begun in January. |
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“It’s pretty obvious what’s going on,” said captain Rod Brind’Amour. “We’re depleted, for sure, and we don’t have a margin for error. We don’t have room to make mistakes. At the end of the day you’ve got to come back tomorrow and put our hard hat on and go back to work. It’s a long year. It’s going to be a dogfight all year and we know that.”
The ’Canes have been hampered by injuries this season. Through Jan. 15, they had lost 148 man-games to injury. That puts them on pace to exceed last season's total of 250 man-games and approach the 2005-06 mark of 267. That was the second-highest total since the Hurricanes moved to North Carolina in 1997.
The flood of injuries wouldn’t have hurt as much if they had been spread evenly across the first half of the season. But 24 of them occurred during the Hurricanes’ three-game losing streak from Jan. 10 through the 15th.
The flu will probably work its way through every NHL locker room this season, but it was extremely rough on the Hurricanes. Even Pete Freisen, the Hurricanes’ trainer and arguably one of the healthiest men in Raleigh, took a day off with the virus.
“This is not your typical sniffles,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “These guys are tough guys; they can play through just about anything, and they have been down and out. Go ask Ray Whitney if he’s a hundred percent and he’ll probably look at you like you’ve got four eyes. It’s going to be a process here to get these guys back on track.
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Laviolette hasn’t used the loss of players as an excuse. Instead, he has questioned the play of the remaining veterans on the team. Following a 4-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Jan. 10, Laviolette made that perfectly clear.
“The injuries and the sicknesses had absolutely nothing to do with it,” Laviolette said. “We lost the game on the ice, not with guys home in bed. Every team goes through it. With that, comes opportunities for others to step up and we clearly did not.”
There were some positives to take from this stretch. First, the personnel setbacks occurred early in the season, when almost every team was struggling with its own issues.
Second, the rookies that were called up demonstrated that they can compete in the NHL. That will be a plus for Carolina when it doesn’t have to rely on them all at once.
Aucoin scored his first NHL goal and recorded his first two-point game as an NHL player on Jan. 12 in a 5-4 loss to the Colorado Avalanche. That same night, defenseman Conboy notched his first NHL assist and engaged in his first big league fight, against Scott Parker.
“I didn’t pick him,” Conboy said. “He was picking on me. After the fight I kind of settled down a little bit and just tried to play the game that got me here.”
The reassignment of goalie John Grahame to the Albany River Rats of the AHL on Jan. 4 left Leighton in the backup role to Cam Ward.
In addition to shuffling players to and from the AHL, Carolina general manager Jim Rutherford bolstered the lineup with the acquisition of Sergei Samsonov from the Chicago Blackhawks. In a separate deal, Rutherford traded Craig Adams to the Blackhawks for future considerations.
Samsonov Brings Experience
The Hurricanes will be responsible for half of Samsonov’s $3.5 million salary for the remainder of this season, the second of a two-year deal he signed with the Montreal Canadiens, for whom he played before being traded to Chicago. Through 23 games with the Blackhawks this season, Samsonov recorded only four assists.
“Sergei brings NHL experience to add depth to our forwards,” Rutherford said. Samsonov was the winner of the Calder Trophy in 1997-98.
Laviolette was an assistant coach with the Bruins in 2000-01 when Samsonov tied his career high of 29 goals, so he is aware of what the diminutive forward can do in the right system.
“That’s exciting,” Laviolette said, “because that really fits in with the style we play with, and I think just having a bit of past history with him from the Boston organization. you know the type of game he plays and you think it really might work in what we try to do here.”
Samsonov is looking forward to getting a second chance at making an impact in the NHL.
“Hopefully, I can bring some offense,” he said. “I have an opportunity here to get my career back on track and hopefully, we can all benefit from it.” In his first four games as a Hurricane Samsonov recorded a goal and three assists.
They Said It…
“I believe we will turn this around. It may take a move or two to do it . . . We’re at the point where I would be willing to make a move if it changes the makeup of our team.” – GM Jim Rutherford on whether he was looking at a trade in the near future.
“An hour after I arrived, I was told I’d start. I did pretty good – in the second and third periods.” – rookie goaltender Michael Leighton on giving up a goal less than one minute into his 2007-08 NHL debut.
“I haven’t been on a team when it’s been like this. It really is unbelievable. That makes things tougher. Hopefully the guys will get some vitamin C in them and get back to normal.” – Mike Commodore
“We were gross. I don’t know. It’s frustrating. When you step on to the ice it’s about competing in a lot of different areas. It’s about competing in skating, it’s about competing in the physical play, it’s about being mentally ready, and it’s about playing smart, playing hard, fighting for pucks. We did none of it, and if we did do it we lost in all areas. It’s completely unacceptable.” – coach Peter Laviolette on the team’s loss to New Jersey.
Hurricane Stat Leaders
Points
Ray Whitney 44
Eric Staal 42
Cory Stillman 42
Rod Brind’Amour 39
Assists
Matt Cullen 29
Ray Whitney 24
Rod Brind’Amour 23
Cory Stillman 22
Goals
Eric Staal 23
Ray Whitney 20
Cory Stillman 20
Rod Brind’Amour 16
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