Grading the 2015-16 Canes: Defense First

Here we are again. The seventh summer where, for many, interests may veer off from hockey, or where others root and adopt other teams with a safe, short term commitment. Unlike many of the previous playoff-less Canes summers this one is different: our Hurricanes were actually fun to watch this year. They were above .500 with numerous memorable wins and had a revolving door of young, exciting talent that wasn’t the questionable, perhaps AHL-level talent that call-ups may have had in the past. Oh yeah, this team also had Noah Freakin’™ Hanifin. AND Jaccob Slavin AND Brett Pesce.

All photos within credited to Jamie Kellner, unless otherwise noted. Thanks!

This year was the foundation year. Things are starting to be built here, and built well. The core of that foundation comes from a trio of first year pro defensemen, an Olympian, and their weird Uncle Ron. It’s hard to believe that in just a year’s time we’ve moved on from the well-liked Tim Gleason, Jay Harrison, and Brett Bellemore, who were a touch too slow for this speed-driven era of the NHL. Remarkably, looking to the future the solid defensemen options keep on coming and possibilities abound. Stud juniors defensemen Haydn Fleury and Roland McKeown are close, and there’s an AHL all-star down in Charlotte with Trevor Carrick, and, although he may not have the same level of pedigree, we can’t forget about Danny Biega, injured for most of the year in Charlotte, but who was solid in post-Sekera trade relief last season. It’s certainly an unusual and new feeling to have so many defensive chips on the table as a Hurricanes fan, but at least we can be assured we won’t be pulling Joe Corvo out of retirement anytime soon.

So let’s look at this past team’s defensive group and see how the young core did in their formative NHL year, but first let’s look at the guy who logged more minutes than anyone.

Note: All data comes from Corsica.hockey. I used a minimum of 500 minutes played at 5v5 and 100 minutes on special teams when comparing the entire NHL field. Score-adjusted.

The Ronster

The Canes sure put some miles on Ron Hainsey this season. He logged the 14th most minutes in the NHL at 5v5 with 1451.26 minutes. The next highest Cane after Hainsey–not counting the traded Liles–is Noah Hanifin at 100th. On the penalty kill, Hainsey again played the most (218 minutes) and had nearly 83 minutes more than the next highest Canes defensemen, Jaccob Slavin. From those numbers alone the Hurricanes got significant value from Ron especially when you factor in that Hainsey played against the opponent’s top six forwards for greater than 60% of his shifts.

Numbers for Next Year

This season was much needed. From the seemingly never-ending string of talented young hockey players who have made an immediate impact on this season, to the stellar seasons many of our newly drafted prospects have enjoyed, this season has been a breath of fresh air for many Carolina hockey fans. As we all know, and all have probably said at least once, the future is bright. And that feels damn good.

So we look forward to next year’s Carolina Hurricanes with anticipation, a glimmer of playoff hope, and, maybe for the first time in a while, a strong sense of pride in our boys. There’s still work to be done, sophomore slumps to be avoided, and I’d expect some Draft Day / Free Agency Day deals to be made.

But as it stands now, what should we look at within this group? Where can things improve to get this team into playoff hockey? Here are 5 fancy stats from this season that I believe are important in this team’s identity and to their success going forward.

-6.21

Justin Faulk’s 5v5 Goals For % Relative to Team

This statistic describes the effect Justin Faulk has on the Canes Goals For %. When Faulk is on the ice the Canes score 44.19% of the goals that occur, dropping from 50.4% when he is not out there.

Cheaters Never Win Podcast- Hani-Freaking-Awesome Edition

On this Hani-Awesome edition of #CheatersNeverWin, we revel in the joy that is beating Boston in OT, and have some amazing guests. Patrick from NHLTies kicks us off on the right foot (insert fanfare here) and tells us whats wrong w/ Tripp. Then, ESPN Insider and stats guru Rob Vollman joins the pod to opine on Eric Tulsky, the Canes future, and share info on his new book. Us, we just keep rolling along and having fun talking stick, puck, and beer. Thanks for listening, and please, share with friends.

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Future Hurricanes Sandwich Promotion Ideas

Hummus. This all started with hummus.

As both a food snob and an instant ramen aficionado, it can be a mixed bag as to whether or not my taste in food can be fully trusted.

But as has been mentioned in the podcast that carries this blog, the “Terry Italiano” is an abomination. Hummus as a sandwich spread I can look past – if creamy enough, it can be a decent enough replacement spread for something like mayonnaise, while being a hell of a lot healthier. That doesn’t mean it belongs on an “Italian” sandwich.

You know what also doesn’t belong on an “Italian” sandwich? Cheddar cheese. I’ve gone though the trouble of ranking all the cheeses that you can put on an Italian sandwich:

1. Provolone

You’re welcome.

I get it. It’s hard for Harris Teeter to come up with these sandwich ideas, especially when pretty much every hockey player is going to tell you that their “favorite sandwich” is grilled chicken on whole wheat bread and no toppings except for maybe a protein shake to dip it in. So, I’ve gone though the trouble of making some recommendations (not that I’d eat all of them, as you’ll see) for future Canes/sandwich cross-promotions.

Justin Faulk: Cheese-stuffed fried hamburgers on a white sub roll, lettuce, tomato.

Whenever you watch one of those shows on the Travel Channel about “road eats” or whatever, they talk about the “Juicy Lucy”, where cheese is surrounded and sealed in by two beef patties and fried. The cheese melts inside and, well, it sounds damn wonderful. But then again, so is Justin Faulk. As much as Justin has his Minnesota pride, I’m sure he’d get behind this one. This one isn’t funny because when I looked it up I saw it and couldn’t get it out of my head and I kind of want this to happen no matter how unrealistic it is.

Brett Pesce: Roast turkey on a whole wheat sub roll, lettuce, tomato, and wasabi horseradish spread.

Much like Brett’s evil twin Randy Orton, this sandwich seems plain and flavorless, then the wasabi sneaks up and knocks you on your butt FROM OUT OF NOWHERE.

John-Michael Liles: Sliced Kobe beef on a white sub roll.

Ordered on its own, it’s a little plain and didn’t live up to the hype, especially for something SO expensive. But you take it home anyway, throw some toppings on it, maybe heat it up, add some cheese, and hey – this is actually a pretty good sandwich. If it were more reasonably priced, I might order that one again.

Noah FREAKIN’ Hanifin: Any Subway sandwich made in the presence of @WWESubway

It’s very easy to get excited when you watch Noah Hanifin play.

when the subway sandwich artist comes out and starts making your $5 Footlong pic.twitter.com/VQ0YB4YnCV

— Subway WWExperience (@WWESubway) January 12, 2016

Brad Malone: Carolina-style (chili, onions, mustard, cole slaw) hot dogs on a three-cheese sub roll.

You know that feeling. You go to Cook Out, and you see “Cook Out Style”, and you’re like “damn, I haven’t had one of those in a while”, and you eat it and you’re like “DAMN I forgot how good that was”, but then you decide to get it the next day, and it’s still tasty but your stomach is starting to question your decisions. Three days in a row? You will pay dearly, as will everyone else around you.

Michal Jordan: Homer’s Sandwich from The Simpsons (“Selma’s Choice” – Season 4, Episode 13)

Sits in the corner, untouched, for says – weeks even – but no one has the heart to throw it away, and when someone does eat it, they get violently sick.

Sadly, This Feels Familiar

Greetings, Canes fans. It’s me, your ol’ pal Derek. You may be wondering if I’ve stopped writing for this fine blog. While I’ve put game recaps to bed, at least #ForNow, until recently, I haven’t felt all that inspired to put fingers to keys.  But that’s changed with the rollercoaster of the last 10 or so days.

Cane-alytics’ Canes Holiday Report Card: The Defense

Since the short NHL Christmas break is fast approaching I thought it would be fun to check out the Canes roster and dole out grades based on how our guys are doing in terms of hockey’s analytical metrics. Grades are weighted more on the analytical side of things, but not entirely so, and the data used come from war-on-ice.com and puckalytics.com.

First we’ll look at the defense and then we’ll hit up the goalies and forwards after Christmas. For confusion about acronyms check out glossaries here and here.

The Defense – (All data at Even Strength)

#5 – Noah Hanifin

Noah’s intelligence, poise with the puck, and hockey sense show more and more as the season goes on. The Power Play just flat out looks better since he was put on it, and now he’s pretty much quarterbacking it.

Notable Stats:

• 53.7% CF  – 9th on Canes
• 5.23 Corsi For Relative to Teammates / 60 mins (CF60 RelTM) – 4th on Canes

When Noah is on the ice we tend to generate more than when he isn’t.

• 2.56 Goals For / 60 (GF/60) – 2nd on Canes
• 2.69 Goal Against / 60 (GA/60) – 6th on Canes
• 59.48 Corsi For / 60 (CF/60) – 6th on Canes
• 51.27 Corsi Against / 60 (CA/60) – 14th on Canes

Noah is high event. Goals and Corsis happen when he’s on the ice.

• 13.21 High Danger Scoring Chances For / 60 (HSCF/60) – First on the Canes
• +15 High Danger Scoring Chances +/-  | 6th on Canes

The first one is pretty spiffy and a good signal that his time on the Power Play is well spent. He helps his team generate up close chances at a faster rate than any other Cane.

He’s also only 18.

Cane-alytics Grade: A-

The Silver Lining of 2015 for Carolina Hurricanes Fans

Ed. note: The following is a guest post from Canes fan (and man who enjoys quality beverages) Will Luper.

The Carolina Hurricanes haven’t seen hockey go past the beginning of April since 2009. While advanced stats point to the fact that the Hurricanes should be pretty decent, there they sit near the bottom of the standings year in and year out. Eric Staal still somehow not only wears the “C”, but still is on the roster of the Hurricanes and not on some playoff-bound team while Ron Francis holds a third first-round pick in this coming year’s draft. But I digress.

Let’s turn those frowns upside down Canes fans. There are some good things to come out of 2015, and while the Jim Rutherford-led Penguins beginning to choke despite an embarrassment of riches is a pretty wonderful thing to watch, let’s focus on the goodness happening down on Edwards Mill in Raleigh.

1. Noah FREAKIN’ Hanifin

So while everyone watched the Edmonton Oilers jump up and draft Connor Mc-Hockey-Savior (which basically proved that the NHL draft lottery isn’t rigged), Caniacs started arguing over whether Mitch Marner or Dylan Strome, because lawdy lawdy, Boston College prospect Noah Hanifin was going to go third and there was no way we’d get to have a prospective franchise defenseman fall all the way to number five. But lo and behold, the Coyotes took Strome, Marner became a Leaf, and when GMRF got up to the podium, there was #5 available for the taking. (Sidenote, does anyone know if that’s why Hanifin’s number is number five? Because he was the fifth pick? More to come.)

Does Our Corsi Matter?

As many of you know, I frequently tweet updates on the Canes’ possession stats, and all season long it’s led it some pretty other-worldly numbers. The Canes possess the puck VERY well, but they’re not winning the outrageous possession games either. Or, when they do win, they’ve actually been out-attempted (LA & MTL wins).

So does it matter? My focus is fancy stats and I tend to feel like I’m trolling the community I love every time I mention that one of our amazing young d-men are +15 even strength Corsi when the team is down 1-3 in the game.

Should I just start blogging articles of Noah Hanifin photoshopped with cute puppies and kittens instead of mentioning he didn’t give up a shot attempt against for more than half a game against Buffalo?  Should I just change my name to plus/minus-alytics and throw in the towel?  Does our spectacular Corsi matter? I think the answer depends on when you’re looking. Now? Nope. Tomorrow? Hopefully.

Admit it. You’d happily read a Hanifin/puppy blog.