Well, its August and that means there's not a whole much of anything going on. That said, I'm gonna try and nail out 30 team evaluations before the preseason is underway.
Now, the Carolina Hurricanes
Team M.O.: The Hurricanes have a nice blend of younger players to go along with a corps of savvy veterans and character players that for some reason just work out well in their system. They really don't get too involved in the rough stuff as they just have a compliment of players who're willing to deal with it. Overall, I'd say they like to play a game of balanced two-way hockey along that relies on offense to score goals and their intelligence to win games.
Last Season: You can call the St. Louis Blues the Cinderella story of last season, but I think these guys making it to the Eastern Conference Finals was more noteworthy. The team was looking to have another playoff-less season (or an early exit at best) when they made everything that was old new again by bringing back Coach Paul Maurice and power forward Erik Cole. They're hoping to keep that momentum swung in their favor.
Offense: Well, Eric Staal's the talent here and as long as Ray Whitney can keep producing at an NHL level and as long as Erik Cole can stay healthy, they will remain a surprisingly dominant first line option. But Rod Brind'Amour is the true hero of this team and is entering his 20th NHL season with as much passion as ever. Throw in Matt Cullen, Tuomo Ruutu, Sergei Samsonov, and Jussi Jokinen and you're having a nice bounty of forward depth. Cory LaRose and Scott Walker do well to add checking presence while Tim Conboy should have the agitating role down pat. I'd love to see these guys add an enforcer, but I'm not optimistic it will occur.
Defense: The defense is legit, though maybe more on the average side than the above average side. Joni Pitkanen and Joe Corvo could make a reasonable top pairing and the return of Aaron Ward is good for their squad. Tim Gleason, Andrew Alberts, and Niclas Wallin are stable in their system and serve the team well. Maybe the team can promote one of it's depth players to round it out but it probably wouldn't hurt if they gave a rover like Mathieu Dandenault a call.
Goaltending: Now I take a look at Carolina's goaltending and I really like it. Cam Ward is getting better as he matures and doesn't look like the kinda guy who's only satisfied with winning one Stanley Cup in his career. If anything, winning a Stanley Cup as a rookie has helped him figure out how to win and he's spent the past few years developing his craft to get back there as soon as possible. Michael Leighton's career, however, didn't start as well. He was playing with the Chicago Blackhawks on a semi-regular basis too early in his career and it hurt him. After spending the past several seasons battling injuries, in the minors, and riding the waiver wire, he looks like he can put up better numbers now he's got a home. I think Carolina should find a veteran minor league or European goaltender who will spend the season mentoring Justin Peters in the minors. If for some reason Leighton has a brutal camp though, the team might decide to have him assume that role while signing a proven NHL veteran to play with Ward at the NHL level; most likely a veteran former starter like Curtis Joseph or Olaf Kolzig if they're still physically capable of doing it.
Expectations: Was their near-Cup run a fluke? Not necessarily, but they'll need to keep it up. They seem to have good chemistry though, so if they can stay together, stay healthy, and act like a team, they could surprise people again and really grow with their fans to the point where Carolina (!) would become a full-fledged hockey town similar to Tampa Bay before the Koules/Barrie
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