A good discussion about how players will perform next year with wallym in the thread about where the Canes will finish led me to create this thread. Granted there are a couple of unknowns for roster spots, but most of the roster is set.
For reference, last year, Carolina was 12th in the league in goals scored scoring 231 goals (along with 388 assists). On the flipside, they were 22nd in the league allowing 234 goals against and were a combined -39.
So predict how many goals and assists each player will have. My prediction (or should I say Wild Ass Guess) is a slight improvement over last year with 235 goals spread out as follows. Some guys will improve and some will go down (and some are gone). I realize that there will be some other players that fill in for injuries/4th line duty, but I just rolled that little bit of scoring into these numbers.
Staal: 37 G, 79 P
Skinner: 29 G, 60 P
Jokinen: 22 G, 50 P
Ruutu: 18 G, 43 P
Sutter: 24 G, 49 P
Dalpe: 17 G, 37 P
Poni: 18 G, 40 P
LaRose: 127 G, 375 P
Stewart: 18 G, 35 P
Boychuk: 6 G, 12 P
Tlusty: 8 G, 18 P
Dwyer: 7 G, 15 P
Brent: 10 G, 20 P
Bowman: 4 G, 7 P
Kaberle: 7 G, 50 P
Pitkanen: 4 G, 45 P
McBain: 11 G, 35 P
Joslin: 5 G, 20 P
Gleason: 3 G, 15 P
Harrison: 5 G, 18 P
Allen: 2 G, 15 P
Didn't bother to sort or anything, just put it in the order that SVT did...
I think Chad could hit 40 points if he played with the Sedins. Just sayin.
I thought we established in the other thread it was 35? If Vancouver found out about those extra 5 points they'd have to throw in their 1st with Kesler
This is always my favorite thread to look up after the season ends, I think this puts them at 239 goals, a bit more than last year, but I can't see Staal 'only' potting around 30 again, he needs to be hungry for blood.
Other than unpredictable events such as injuries affecting games played or how effective a player may be, I think there are a couple of things that could impact these numbers dramatically. First, what impact will Kaberle have on the powerplay and will that provide an addition 5-10 goals for the team? Secondly, will Dave Lewis employ a team defensive strategy that reduces the even strength goals scored for the team (at the expense of better team defense)?
I'd say that's more on the optimistic side for every single player... In total that's 291 goals, which is 33 more than the highest goal-scoring team last year...
I don't see how Joanna is going to outscore Kaberle. Pitkanen is a lock to miss 10+ games every year while Kaberle is extremely durable. Kaberle has outscored Pitkanen every year since Pitkanen has been in the league with the exception of 08-09 when Kaberle missed 25 games.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Joanna on the second PP unit this year. He plays a very similar style to Kaberle on the powerplay (pass-first), the main difference being that Kaberle has a long history of producing on the PP while Pitkanen has a long history of not producing. Since all four (!!!) of our proven top six forwards are LH, it doesn't make sense to top that off by having two LH shots on D. I think we'll see McBain there instead of Pitkanen.
I don't see how Joanna is going to outscore Kaberle. Pitkanen is a lock to miss 10+ games every year while Kaberle is extremely durable. Kaberle has outscored Pitkanen every year since Pitkanen has been in the league with the exception of 08-09 when Kaberle missed 25 games.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Joanna on the second PP unit this year. He plays a very similar style to Kaberle on the powerplay (pass-first), the main difference being that Kaberle has a long history of producing on the PP while Pitkanen has a long history of not producing. Since all four (!!!) of our proven top six forwards are LH, it doesn't make sense to top that off by having two LH shots on D. I think we'll see McBain there instead of Pitkanen.
Pitkänen-Kaberle on the first PP unit.. Seems like a classic head-scratcher by Paul Maurice.
I don't see how Joanna is going to outscore Kaberle. Pitkanen is a lock to miss 10+ games every year while Kaberle is extremely durable. Kaberle has outscored Pitkanen every year since Pitkanen has been in the league with the exception of 08-09 when Kaberle missed 25 games.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Joanna on the second PP unit this year. He plays a very similar style to Kaberle on the powerplay (pass-first), the main difference being that Kaberle has a long history of producing on the PP while Pitkanen has a long history of not producing. Since all four (!!!) of our proven top six forwards are LH, it doesn't make sense to top that off by having two LH shots on D. I think we'll see McBain there instead of Pitkanen.
You're confusing what should happen with what will happen
I'm most interested in seeing what happens with Skinner. Just went over all 31 of his goals last season. Early in the season, he scored a lot of goals because of body position in front of the net. Rebounds, tipped passes, etc. Late in the season, his goals still came off rebounds, but they were from farther out. He'd find the open ice in the blindspot behind the defense and put it in the empty net from below the circles. It showed a good adjustment on his part. Teams blocked him out from the crease so he backed up and punished them from farther out.
It'll be interesting to see what adjustments the opposing teams make and how Skinner reacts to them.
I'm most interested in seeing what happens with Skinner. Just went over all 31 of his goals last season. Early in the season, he scored a lot of goals because of body position in front of the net. Rebounds, tipped passes, etc. Late in the season, his goals still came off rebounds, but they were from farther out. He'd find the open ice in the blindspot behind the defense and put it in the empty net from below the circles. It showed a good adjustment on his part. Teams blocked him out from the crease so he backed up and punished them from farther out.
It'll be interesting to see what adjustments the opposing teams make and how Skinner reacts to them.
I agree. One of the things I was impressed (even when I went back and looked through that montage of goals at Kithener someone put together) was Skinner's ability to find open ice that was in good scoring spots. I remember some people who weren't high on Skinner saying he wouldn't be able to score in the NHL because he wouldn't have the time and space like he did in Jr's.
As you said, he seemed to adapt to that as the season went on, it is almost like it comes naturally to him so I think he'll continue to do well at this. Will be interesting to see what he has to adapt to.
I'd say that's more on the optimistic side for every single player... In total that's 291 goals, which is 33 more than the highest goal-scoring team last year...
Shoot for the moon, even if you miss, you'll land among the stars. And our team has plenty of stars =)
