SouthernHockeyChick
08-28-2003, 08:39 PM
If you've already read this at another fourm I apologize. I wanted to spread the wealth!
I had the opportunity to attend a Booster Club meeting and a Hurricanes Insider luncheon this week. John Forslund spoke at both functions, and I thought I would share what he had to say. I know there are other folks on this board who attended, so please feel free to add anything you want and correct me wherever I am wrong.
I’m going to do my absolute best to share almost everything I can remember about his talks and try not to share only what coincides with my own opinion, but I must say he seems to be saying a lot of the same things I’ve been saying about this team. Honestly, though, I’ll share what I disagree with as well.
These next three paragraphs were there for another forum where they tend to do stuff like this....you guys shouldn't have the problem.
OK, first of all, let’s get something straight right now. John Forslund has been in professional hockey for 20 years. He has more insider information on this team and on the league than anyone on this board, unless I am very much mistaken. Let’s not waste our time arguing over whether or not he is an expert. He is more of an expert than anyone on this forum, that’s for sure.
In addition, let’s not waste time arguing about whether or not he is only saying what the fans want to hear. If you know anything about the man you know that if he doesn’t believe it he doesn’t say it. He was completely honest at these two gatherings giving his opinion on this team, whether it was encouraging or discouraging.
All I’m saying here is let’s talk about the hockey. If you disagree with his opinion, cool. But your argument against it isn’t very valid if it’s only, “Well, what does John Forslund know anyway,” because the answer is a crapload more than any of us.
Here we go.
He says he has 3 ways by which he assesses a team. The first is its “central positioning.” He talked about how in every sport there is a position that is the most important for the team: in football it’s quarterback, in basketball it’s that big, game-turning center and in hockey it’s goaltending. He believes our goaltending situation is iffy at best. He says that we have an unproven player in the #1 position and an even more unproven player as back-up. He says that he has addressed this issue with Jim Rutherford and that JR assures him that he has a back-up plan if this does not work out. However, Forslund believes that it probably will work out. He says that Weekes has the drive, and the desire and is willing to do whatever it takes to prove that he is everything he has not yet been. He believes that we are sitting on a top goalie in the league just waiting to break out. He says there is always the possibility that it won’t happen, but he is very positive about it.
The second thing he looks at is the defense. He says he looks at the D and asks do they have a Norris trophy winner? In our case, probably not. Markov….maybe one day. Do they have a great offensive defenseman? In our case, probably not. Do they have a Scott Stevens type (Stevens is my example, not his) who strikes fear into the hearts of the other team, the guy who will make that open ice hit that sends a message? Maybe….Boughner is pretty close to that. Markov could be. He pointed out that the Devils obviously had all three of these guys plus the big goalie. That doesn’t sound so good….but he thinks our D is still great. Reason being we don’t need those 3 guys when we have a top 6 like we’re gonna see on the ice this year. We’ve got guys who are gonna take turns being those 3 he looks for. They are going to defend by committee because any one of them can bring it on any night. He thinks our D is very strong and that the D will help the situation in goal immensely.
The third thing, and least important to him it seems, is the offense. And this is where it gets extremely interesting to me. He says that acquiring that one marquee player this off-season would have done us no good whatsoever. He points out that if you look at the teams out there with one or two marquee players they are not the teams getting it done. That marquee player can be shut down during the playoffs. The teams getting it done are those with balance. Look at Detroit. Sure, they have (had) Fedorov, Yzerman and Shanahan. But they also had Bret Hull on the 3rd line! The top line marquee guys can be taken out of the equation and you have to have some guys lower on the totem-pole who can get it done….you have to have balance. And he thinks we do.
He admits we have a slightly anemic offense, but we’ve always been low scoring. He points out that two years ago (the year we went to the finals), we scored 217 goals. Fairly low on the totem-pole (obviously not as low as last season). Then he asked: Name a power-house Western conference team from that year besides Detroit. Most people think of the Avs next. Guess what? Same year….they scored 212. WE SCORED MORE GOALS THAN THE AVS! We have the pieces we need.
THN yearbook projects us to be 12th in the conference this season. He sees this as a good thing because he believes this team plays best with a chip on its shoulder, and boy do we have one now.
He is very excited about Markov, Boughner, and Vrbata. He thinks Bayda will make the team. He’d like to see Staal make the team and get some time with Ronnie and Rod. He thinks we did not fill the hole Gelinas left last season, mainly in terms of team chemistry but he seems to think Boughner will fill that locker-room role pretty quickly. He says that both sides are to blame in the Irbe situation with a lot of things going on behind the scenes that we never heard about. But he says both sides have showed tremendous character because there has not been a mud-slinging contest like you’d see in other clubs. He says that the only goalie he has ever seen affect a locker-room, good or bad, was Sean Burke and that the Irbe situation didn’t have any effect on the team as a whole.
He likens the hockey market in Raleigh to a Green Bay Packers kind of thing….the little hockey team that could. He says he believes this is a good fan base and is only getting better and he does not believe the team is in any danger of leaving. He pointed out that for Game 5 of the SCF last season (Ducks vs Devils….not ours) Raleigh was the 4TH LOCAL MARKET in Nielsen ratings….only Anaheim, NJ/NY and maybe Detroit beat us. We beat Original 6 markets for hockey viewership when our team wasn’t even in it!!! It’s a hockey town now, folks!
He mentioned this past season’s Valentine’s Day game. They had just come back from that horrible west coast road trip and the bag skate and everything. He said Ronnie came back and sat with him on the plane and said, “They are going to boo us out of the building!” He said that the players were amazed when they skated onto the ice to a standing ovation and that they still talk about that.
Overall, he was very positive. He says the division is not out of reach and he does believe we will make the playoffs. But Ottawa is his choice for Stanley Cup winner.
I had the opportunity to attend a Booster Club meeting and a Hurricanes Insider luncheon this week. John Forslund spoke at both functions, and I thought I would share what he had to say. I know there are other folks on this board who attended, so please feel free to add anything you want and correct me wherever I am wrong.
I’m going to do my absolute best to share almost everything I can remember about his talks and try not to share only what coincides with my own opinion, but I must say he seems to be saying a lot of the same things I’ve been saying about this team. Honestly, though, I’ll share what I disagree with as well.
These next three paragraphs were there for another forum where they tend to do stuff like this....you guys shouldn't have the problem.
OK, first of all, let’s get something straight right now. John Forslund has been in professional hockey for 20 years. He has more insider information on this team and on the league than anyone on this board, unless I am very much mistaken. Let’s not waste our time arguing over whether or not he is an expert. He is more of an expert than anyone on this forum, that’s for sure.
In addition, let’s not waste time arguing about whether or not he is only saying what the fans want to hear. If you know anything about the man you know that if he doesn’t believe it he doesn’t say it. He was completely honest at these two gatherings giving his opinion on this team, whether it was encouraging or discouraging.
All I’m saying here is let’s talk about the hockey. If you disagree with his opinion, cool. But your argument against it isn’t very valid if it’s only, “Well, what does John Forslund know anyway,” because the answer is a crapload more than any of us.
Here we go.
He says he has 3 ways by which he assesses a team. The first is its “central positioning.” He talked about how in every sport there is a position that is the most important for the team: in football it’s quarterback, in basketball it’s that big, game-turning center and in hockey it’s goaltending. He believes our goaltending situation is iffy at best. He says that we have an unproven player in the #1 position and an even more unproven player as back-up. He says that he has addressed this issue with Jim Rutherford and that JR assures him that he has a back-up plan if this does not work out. However, Forslund believes that it probably will work out. He says that Weekes has the drive, and the desire and is willing to do whatever it takes to prove that he is everything he has not yet been. He believes that we are sitting on a top goalie in the league just waiting to break out. He says there is always the possibility that it won’t happen, but he is very positive about it.
The second thing he looks at is the defense. He says he looks at the D and asks do they have a Norris trophy winner? In our case, probably not. Markov….maybe one day. Do they have a great offensive defenseman? In our case, probably not. Do they have a Scott Stevens type (Stevens is my example, not his) who strikes fear into the hearts of the other team, the guy who will make that open ice hit that sends a message? Maybe….Boughner is pretty close to that. Markov could be. He pointed out that the Devils obviously had all three of these guys plus the big goalie. That doesn’t sound so good….but he thinks our D is still great. Reason being we don’t need those 3 guys when we have a top 6 like we’re gonna see on the ice this year. We’ve got guys who are gonna take turns being those 3 he looks for. They are going to defend by committee because any one of them can bring it on any night. He thinks our D is very strong and that the D will help the situation in goal immensely.
The third thing, and least important to him it seems, is the offense. And this is where it gets extremely interesting to me. He says that acquiring that one marquee player this off-season would have done us no good whatsoever. He points out that if you look at the teams out there with one or two marquee players they are not the teams getting it done. That marquee player can be shut down during the playoffs. The teams getting it done are those with balance. Look at Detroit. Sure, they have (had) Fedorov, Yzerman and Shanahan. But they also had Bret Hull on the 3rd line! The top line marquee guys can be taken out of the equation and you have to have some guys lower on the totem-pole who can get it done….you have to have balance. And he thinks we do.
He admits we have a slightly anemic offense, but we’ve always been low scoring. He points out that two years ago (the year we went to the finals), we scored 217 goals. Fairly low on the totem-pole (obviously not as low as last season). Then he asked: Name a power-house Western conference team from that year besides Detroit. Most people think of the Avs next. Guess what? Same year….they scored 212. WE SCORED MORE GOALS THAN THE AVS! We have the pieces we need.
THN yearbook projects us to be 12th in the conference this season. He sees this as a good thing because he believes this team plays best with a chip on its shoulder, and boy do we have one now.
He is very excited about Markov, Boughner, and Vrbata. He thinks Bayda will make the team. He’d like to see Staal make the team and get some time with Ronnie and Rod. He thinks we did not fill the hole Gelinas left last season, mainly in terms of team chemistry but he seems to think Boughner will fill that locker-room role pretty quickly. He says that both sides are to blame in the Irbe situation with a lot of things going on behind the scenes that we never heard about. But he says both sides have showed tremendous character because there has not been a mud-slinging contest like you’d see in other clubs. He says that the only goalie he has ever seen affect a locker-room, good or bad, was Sean Burke and that the Irbe situation didn’t have any effect on the team as a whole.
He likens the hockey market in Raleigh to a Green Bay Packers kind of thing….the little hockey team that could. He says he believes this is a good fan base and is only getting better and he does not believe the team is in any danger of leaving. He pointed out that for Game 5 of the SCF last season (Ducks vs Devils….not ours) Raleigh was the 4TH LOCAL MARKET in Nielsen ratings….only Anaheim, NJ/NY and maybe Detroit beat us. We beat Original 6 markets for hockey viewership when our team wasn’t even in it!!! It’s a hockey town now, folks!
He mentioned this past season’s Valentine’s Day game. They had just come back from that horrible west coast road trip and the bag skate and everything. He said Ronnie came back and sat with him on the plane and said, “They are going to boo us out of the building!” He said that the players were amazed when they skated onto the ice to a standing ovation and that they still talk about that.
Overall, he was very positive. He says the division is not out of reach and he does believe we will make the playoffs. But Ottawa is his choice for Stanley Cup winner.