Carolina Hurricanes quarterly report card
Are they are we sitting like right on the quarter mark of of of the We just passed it. So we just passed again like quarterly report card. We’re just about a quarter of the way through the Carolina hurricane season. Just passed it. So it took us a couple days to to grade uh and and you know now we’re going to give out some of those grades. The way we’re going to do this is Dennis is going to throw uh the the student in my direction, the the group project, whatever it is, and I will give a grade based on their first quarter of the season. And uh sometimes I’ll tag in uh in this metaphor I guess like my TA or something Dennis to to help me out with the grading. All right, next one. Let’s up next one. First one I should say. Let’s go with the new guy or one of the new guys. Nikolai Eers. Nikolai Eers. I I actually, you know, to to stick with the sport or the school metaphor. I think he went right along the path of what I uh you know, I I moved around a lot as a kid, right? So I was the new kid in school a lot. Uh I think that’s exactly what happened. first couple of weeks you’re a little cautious. Maybe you’re not raising your hand as much. You’re you’re you’re slow into it. And then you make a friend group, right? Maybe we sit you at a different table in English class or in math class. You make a new friends. You join a team of some kind and you you flourish, right? As soon as he started hanging out with Stankovven and and and Blake, right? Found his click that he could eat lunch with, he his his joy rose and his production went through the roof and he started acing all of his tests. So, you know, I I’ll go B+ based on a slow start, but with all expectations that he’s going to be fine by midterms and definitely by the end of the the, you know, the the semester, he’ll be he’ll be a-ok. Okay. Just took him a while to kind of find the uh you know, the group that he could he could thrive with. So, over the last 15 games, cuz the first five games didn’t register a point, but over the last 15 I’m sorry, 17 games, he has four goals, 10 assists over 17 games. It’s a good point. good point points average. 14 points in 17 games. That’s solid. No, he’s I’m with you on that. A B+ and and you know, you’re seeing he understands it and he gets it and you expect those test scores to go up a little bit, but he’s uh yeah, he’s he’s doing solid and improving. We’re not worried. No reason to call home and get the parents involved. Yeah, I think solid B+ is good. Let’s actually go to another one of the new guys. Let’s go with Keandre Miller, the defenseman they traded for from the New York Rangers. Obviously, it was it was unfortunate that he’s taken a couple vacations through the first quarter. you know, his family took him to Disney World. Missed those couple of weeks. Uh, you know, so so we had to send some work home with him and uh, you know, came back. Okay. Um, I’m I’m I’m still expecting bigger things from him. Uh, he is definitely a student that I see potential in. Uh, you know, maybe we have to work on certain uh certain classes more than others, right? Need need to when he has the chance on the power play, I’d like to see a little bit more. Uh we need to get him working in in offense class a little bit more. Uh but I mean the potential is through the roof. U I’ll go just generic B like a straight 85. Um with flashes of brilliance, right? It’s it’s you know I don’t even know what the the the appropriate like um uh school metaphor would be. He has those weird moments like Will Hunting where uh he just looks at us like a complicated equation on the the the chalkboard and just goes like answer nine and you’re like how did you what did the you did that in your head? Yeah. Right. It’s it’s like it’s a twoonone. Miller’s back. He’s got the puck and we’re going the other direction. How what the you just you did Yeah. I have long arms, good stick skills. It’s it’s like all right, cool. You did that one all on your own. Awesome. Uh, but then there’s other moments where he struggles a bit. So, I’m going just solid 85% B as B as B as can get. I think B is fair just for the simple fact again just missing games. That’s really it. Otherwise, he’s he’s played well. Mhm. All right. Next one here. Let’s actually go with the guy that was brought back this off season. Eric Robinson. Oh, I threw a little curveball at you. That for some reason that wasn’t who I was thinking. Eric Robinson again. Missed some time. Uh, see this is you got to judge it on what expectations were for him. Um, I’m I I’m trying to think back. There are certain games that you you remember very well, very positively. There’s a lot of games where you don’t remember much. Uh, which isn’t necessarily bad for a fourth liner. Um, I’ll go I’ll go I feel like I’m I’m a broken record here, but I’ll go B to B minus. Something like, you know, B minus. Oh, B to B minus just because the mist time and uh you know the like it just it’s hard for a fourth liner. Maybe B minus is a little little aggressive. Um I just I I want to see more and also you know the physicality of skating and everything like you know some some others are helping him there when in other moments he’s been uh kind of so responsible for that. So others are are taking your your participation points. I’m going A minus grade. A minus. All right. a minus grade on Eric Robinson because the like you mentioned the speed the physicality that he brings and he’s a threat to score and he’s a matchup nightmare for a lot of other teams fourth line. So yeah, I’m going to give him a minus grade. I think he’s been really really good this season. I’m I’m not necessarily hating on that. It’s just uh it’s tough because he’s you know he’s asked to do so much, you know, he’s not on the ice as much and all those other things. It’s tough. All right, let’s go with Taylor Hall. Taylor Hall. This is one if he didn’t have the run he had like I I really like the way he sees the ice. He’s had moments of brilliance. Um but he also has had some uncharacteristic questionable decisions. Uh he’s been up on the first line a little bit which which was a weird moment in time. Um pro I’m I’m very with the players you’re throwing out there. I promise there are others that have been above and below. I’m very like I’m getting B’s. I’m getting, you know, there’s still part of me wants to motivate him go a little bit more. Um, so I’ll go solid B, just a normal B for for Taylor Hall. I was gonna say B+ for the simple fact that he’s been able to move up and down the lineup in any different spot wherever Rod needs him and he’s helped. He he’s almost a teaching aid at this point. Like that’s his his role. Like he he can’t be graded the same as we’re grading some of these young guys. He’s a 34 year old former MVP. Uh it’s like uh I’ll I’ll tell you what it feels like. Um when I transferred high schools between my sophomore and junior year and my first high school did uh algebra 2 and trigonometry as one class for a full year. They called it alge 2 trig. Okay. And when I transferred to my next school, they couldn’t accept it as both an algebra 2 credit and a trigonometry credit. I had to pick. So I counted it as a trig credit as like I I’ve done my trigonometry class. And then I had to retake algebra 2, which was a class I had just taken, right? Just literally finished it like a month before, and took it again. And I was in there. I just had all the answers. I was back there like, “Hit me with another one, teach.” Cuz I had just like passed the class at quite frankly a more difficult school uh not that long ago. I feel like that’s Taylor Hall to an extent. Like certain times you ask a question, he’s just like, “Nailed it, done this. I was MVP at my last school uh or at four schools ago. Um so yeah be but I I’ve you know and by the way the teacher who the uh the teacher who taught me algebra 2 at my next school her son is a football player at Duke. Uh at times she would like slide me more difficult problems and stuff and I’m like that’s not cool. Uh but you know good teachers what are you going to do? Um so yeah I’m giving him a B but I have high expectations. All right group project one. Let’s grade this one. Penalty kill. group project with with some guys just throwing their names on that thing and are not actually a real part of it, right? Like Jacob Slavven, uh he was supposed to do the first six slides of the project and and he hasn’t been in class for the last two months. That’s not cool, right? He was he doesn’t even respond to the group anymore. Um that’s going to that’s going to hurt right now. Part of me wants to as a teacher look at him and say that’s life, right? If you’re if you’re in a project at work and somebody isn’t pulling their weight, you just got to pick it up, right? Your boss isn’t going to be okay with just excuses and whining. Um, with that being said, they haven’t been great. I’ll go C++. Uh, they’ve underperformed in my eyes. I would give them a C minus. See, but but you know, you know which teachers are tough, right? The things that the blue line does, the thing that the penalty kill does is always going to be judged a bit more difficult when you’re a Carolina Hurricane. So yeah, maybe I maybe I’ll even go a little bit a little bit further down along with you. Final group project, the power play. I’m see these are some of my I I had such high high expectations. These are some of my smartest students, right? These these are some of my honors kids and uh and and they struggle in this particular subject. So it’s going to hurt when I when I go I’m going to go C minus with it. I’m gonna go C minus and I’m going to expect some calls from their parents because these are the high achievers. These are the these are the kids, you know, they’re going for for validictorian. They’re trying to get into Ivy League schools and I’m sitting here giving them a low grade, but I got to calls them like I sees them. They haven’t been doing well enough on the power play. So, in the last 14 games for the Canes power play, seven of 34, that’s 20.6%. That’s still below league average.
Tim Donnelly & Dennis Cox give out grades to Carolina Hurricanes players as the team has played just over one quarter of the 2025-2026 NHL season.
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2 comments
Why would Miller need to work on his offense?!
The PP is an F- and we all know it. They stink worse than they ever have and something needs to change.