Carolina Hurricanes or Ottawa Senators - and why

Head to head, which team do you see coming out with more points in the 2012/2013 season:

Carolina Hurricanes:


E.Staal - J.Staal - Semin
Jokinen - Ruutu - Skinner
Tlusty - Welch - Larose
Stewart - Brent - Dwyer
Nodl

Pitkanen - McBain
Gleason - Corvo
Harrison - Faulk

Ward
Boucher

Vs.

Ottawa Senators:

Michalek - Spezza - Latendresse
Silfverberg/Zibanejad/Stone - Turris - Alfredsson
Greening - Z.Smith - Neil
Regin - O'Brien - Condra
Daugavins

Methot - Karlsson
Cowen - Gonchar
Phillips - Lundin
Boroweicki

Anderson
Bishop

Who? Carolina. Why? Too good.

Staals = winners and Ward = double winner (SC and Conn Smythe). They've got a pretty good top 4 (?) defence - Pitkanen, Corvo, Gleason and McBain. Semin is a legit scoring threat, and A senator killer. Skinner's going to keep getting better and better. And they have Double J - nothing else to say. Outside of 60mins he can be sure to improve the 'Canes chances of collecting 2 points.

The head to head points are going to be tough for Sens.

Oh and I don't necessarily think that Carolina will collectively have more points than the Sens, but it doesn't matter, because they just need more points than the rest of their division. Between the two I like the Canes odds better.

Carolina is a mashup of players now, Semin is a huge question mark, their defence leaves a lot to be desired, and I am not sold on the Staal brothers leading a team.

Oh and I forgot to add Ruutu.

Riprock wrote:Who? Carolina. Why? Too good.

Staals = winners and Ward = double winner (SC and Conn Smythe). They've got a pretty good top 4 (?) defence - Pitkanen, Corvo, Gleason and McBain. Semin is a legit scoring threat, and A senator killer. Skinner's going to keep getting better and better. And they have Double J - nothing else to say. Outside of 60mins he can be sure to improve the 'Canes chances of collecting 2 points.

The head to head points are going to be tough for Sens.

Oh and I don't necessarily think that Carolina will collectively have more points than the Sens, but it doesn't matter, because they just need more points than the rest of their division. Between the two I like the Canes odds better.

They're certainly stacked in 3/4/5 guys. I think they're pretty weak down the middle too. I like JStaal, but I don't think he's a #1. He sure looks out of place on that top line.

this poll would be in favour of Ottawa even if it was Ottawa vs New York

Big Ev wrote:this poll would be in favour of Ottawa even if it was Ottawa vs New York

Isles?

Everyone says how Staal was too good to be a 3rd line center. We are about to find out by how much. He was not better than Crosby or Malkin, so it still remains to be seen if he is a true #1. Personally, I don't think so. Could be a big adjustment for him because playing behind those two you seriously do not see anywhere near the best checking.

Their defense is "pretty good" is not good enough. Is Skinner doesn't light it up they could very well become a one-line team.

Not only do I think the Sens get more points, but they'll beat them in head-to-head competition as well.

wprager wrote:Everyone says how Staal was too good to be a 3rd line center. We are about to find out by how much. He was not better than Crosby or Malkin, so it still remains to be seen if he is a true #1. Personally, I don't think so. Could be a big adjustment for him because playing behind those two you seriously do not see anywhere near the best checking.

Their defense is "pretty good" is not good enough. Is Skinner doesn't light it up they could very well become a one-line team.

Not only do I think the Sens get more points, but they'll beat them in head-to-head competition as well.

Staal won't be the #1 centre on the Hurricanes

Big Ev wrote:

wprager wrote:Everyone says how Staal was too good to be a 3rd line center. We are about to find out by how much. He was not better than Crosby or Malkin, so it still remains to be seen if he is a true #1. Personally, I don't think so. Could be a big adjustment for him because playing behind those two you seriously do not see anywhere near the best checking.

Their defense is "pretty good" is not good enough. Is Skinner doesn't light it up they could very well become a one-line team.

Not only do I think the Sens get more points, but they'll beat them in head-to-head competition as well.

Staal won't be the #1 centre on the Hurricanes

I reckon he will.

SpezDispenser wrote:

Big Ev wrote:

wprager wrote:Everyone says how Staal was too good to be a 3rd line center. We are about to find out by how much. He was not better than Crosby or Malkin, so it still remains to be seen if he is a true #1. Personally, I don't think so. Could be a big adjustment for him because playing behind those two you seriously do not see anywhere near the best checking.

Their defense is "pretty good" is not good enough. Is Skinner doesn't light it up they could very well become a one-line team.

Not only do I think the Sens get more points, but they'll beat them in head-to-head competition as well.

Staal won't be the #1 centre on the Hurricanes

I reckon he will.

Eric has never played wing in his life. He'll be the #1 centre

So where did this come from -- Eric moving to left wing and Jordan being the 1LC? I saw it in the first post, I also just saw it on a CBSSports depth chart (not terribly reliable). Was there talk from the coach or GM? Wouldn't it make more sense to convert Jordan to wing?

Big Ev wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:

Big Ev wrote:

wprager wrote:Everyone says how Staal was too good to be a 3rd line center. We are about to find out by how much. He was not better than Crosby or Malkin, so it still remains to be seen if he is a true #1. Personally, I don't think so. Could be a big adjustment for him because playing behind those two you seriously do not see anywhere near the best checking.

Their defense is "pretty good" is not good enough. Is Skinner doesn't light it up they could very well become a one-line team.

Not only do I think the Sens get more points, but they'll beat them in head-to-head competition as well.

Staal won't be the #1 centre on the Hurricanes

I reckon he will.

Eric has never played wing in his life. He'll be the #1 centre

Maybe Spez is just being difficult because Prager said "Staal won't be the #1 centre on the Hurricanes" and there's a good chance one or two of the three centers will be a Staal.

NEELY wrote:Carolina is a mashup of players now, Semin is a huge question mark, their defence leaves a lot to be desired, and I am not sold on the Staal brothers leading a team.

Both the Staal brothers have won a cup, I reckon they know more about winning in the NHL than anyone on the Sens.

Big Ev wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:

Big Ev wrote:

wprager wrote:Everyone says how Staal was too good to be a 3rd line center. We are about to find out by how much. He was not better than Crosby or Malkin, so it still remains to be seen if he is a true #1. Personally, I don't think so. Could be a big adjustment for him because playing behind those two you seriously do not see anywhere near the best checking.

Their defense is "pretty good" is not good enough. Is Skinner doesn't light it up they could very well become a one-line team.

Not only do I think the Sens get more points, but they'll beat them in head-to-head competition as well.

Staal won't be the #1 centre on the Hurricanes

I reckon he will.

Eric has never played wing in his life. He'll be the #1 centre

I didn't know what you meant...not sure they'll move Eric, so by default you're right, I guess he's 2C. Nice 1-2 punch 5 on 5 with a nice PP1. I'm curious to see Murphy this year. If he can make the jump to the pros - which is fairly rare to do from the OHL, they might be seriously dangerous. The flip side is Murphy could easily come up and need time to adapt, not a great D, interesting team to watch. I'll agree they seem like a mash up. Team chemistry and skill on the backend might be tested.