Queen of the Puck Mailbag 1.0: Under-the-Radar Centermen, Staal Line Mystery, and More!
I opened a Q&A, and you showed up! Going over the top Carolina Hurricanes questions that YOU want to know about!
This week, I opened a mailbag for everyone to leave their questions. Today, I get to answer those questions! It may be hard to see via written word, but I am VERY excited! So without further ado, let’s dive in!
Erich_K8’s Question
Along the same vein of the Miller trade, what are some under the radar 2C options Tulsky may look at?
I am about to throw a novel at you, Erich.
There are a few options for a second centerman that I believe are an option, and I am honestly surprised they have not been discussed more. So let’s fix that!
Evgeni Malkin
Okay, hear me out, this would be wild and very unlikely, but it could still be a possibility. If anything, it is interesting to think about.
Last month, The Athletic’s Josh Yohe reported that the Pittsburgh Penguins have no intention of extending Evgeni Malkin. While he has a no-movement clause (any trades would require his approval), I wouldn’t be surprised if we see him wind up with the Carolina Hurricanes or a similar team.
Another shot at winning the Stanley Cup as the Penguins continue trudging through their rebuild.
Realistically speaking, he will be 39 next season. I’m not sure how Carolina would feel about moving any heavy assets for maybe three years of Malkin. All things considered, he is still a 50+ point performer with a lot of size and experience to back him up. I would kind of love to see him as a Hurricane, and I think his playstyle would fit well.
Pavel Zacha
Pavel Zacha has already spent some time on the unofficial trade board. He has drawn sizable interest from a lot of teams. To say he is an ‘under-the-radar’ choice may be a bit of an exaggeration, but I feel it is worth the mention, anyway.
Currently, he is a top-six player for the Boston Bruins–a versatile forward who can easily slide between center and wing. He is signed until 2027, and his contract comes with a $4.75M cap hit, which is the cheapest on this list. Overall, I wouldn’t say he is the top choice, but he could satisfy Carolina’s needs in a quality second centerman.
Jared McCann
This guy. This is the one I would go for. Jared McCann is the Seattle Kraken’s franchise leader in both goals and points. He is someone who gets the job done, and someone the Kraken have already flirted with the idea of moving.
Seattle has been hoarding centermen like Pokémon cards, and McCann has been playing on the left wing because of it. I think it would be less costly for the Hurricanes to strike a deal for him, and I think it would be significantly easier than trading within the same conference, or heaven forbid, the same division.
In McCann’s past four seasons with the Kraken, he averaged 0.77 points per game. For reference, in Carolina’s past four seasons, Sebastian Aho put up 1.00 PPG and Jordan Staal has managed 0.43 PPG. I know stats can be a headache, but this is a very good number for a 2C.
I will say that there is a point of concern, which has been how many times he’s moved around the league. At just 28 years old, he has been on four different teams. Of course, this may not say anything about what he brings to the culture of the locker room, and it may just be a matter of circumstance. Still, something I thought should be mentioned.
The beautiful yearly cap hit of just $5M over two more seasons is the icing on the cake. And if the Hurricanes aren’t on his 10-team no-trade clause? That would be the cherry on top.
AvsCanesFan’s Question
Which winger do you predict will play the most minutes with Staal and Martinook 5v5? Why?
This is honestly such a good question. There are two that really ring as the answer for me, and those are Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake.
To be honest, I think that Stankoven did really well on that line. If I’m not mistaken, that is where he stayed for the majority of his games, and it just seemed to click. He is definitely good enough to crack into the top six, and I would love to see him there. But in terms of chemistry and balance, this is what I thought worked best. I think we’ll see him spend a lot of time here.
As for Blake, I feel like he will deploy higher on the roster. I thought he did very well in the top six and made a big impact on a lot of crucial plays from his lines. Perhaps we could see him on the ‘Dads Line’, but I think it would be less likely than Stankoven.
A bit of a side note, but something related to this I have to mention.
William Carrier was the original third man on this line before his injury, but was later bumped down to the fourth line after returning. With Nikolaj Ehlers likely to take the top line left wing, the rest will be pushed down the lines. My prediction on this is that Carrier may not have a permanent spot on the nightly lineup. Instead, I think that he will be a healthy scratch, maybe swapping in here and there to get ice time if they don’t deal him.
Alternatively, they may elect to shock us all and test him as the second-line centerman. I doubt it would happen, but who knows! It would be interesting to see.
JingleShellSal’s Question
Do you think we may see Josiah Slavin moved up to help fill any holes?
Alrighty, I am going to say this all hypothetically since we don’t want players to be unhealthy. For the sake of this discussion, we’ll just say a few of them got stuck in an elevator and missed nap time or something.
Speaking honestly, I would enjoy seeing Josiah Slavin on Raleigh ice. I don’t think it is common practice to bring up an AHL player donning the captain’s patch, but I think it has happened.
As for the likelihood of a recall based on his play, this past season was his second-best in terms of points production. He ranked fifth in goals for the Chicago Wolves, tied with Ryan Suzuki and Juha Jääskä. But both of them beat him out in assists. In overall points, he sat 11th on the team. I would honestly love to see him play a few games with the Hurricanes aside from just the preseason, but realistically, I don’t think we’ll see it unless he can turn on the mojo. I really loved this question; the older depth forwards in the AHL get so little recognition. It was cool getting to write on this, awesome for you to ask!
That does it for this mailbag! I want to give a special thanks to Erich, Katie, and Sally for reaching out with their questions. They were all very thoughtful queries!
This was my first time doing a mailbag, and it was honestly a blast. I’m already looking forward to the next one! Thanks for reading, y’all! See you in the next article!