Mailbag #14: Let The Second Half Begin

RALEIGH, NC. - Happy Sunday, Caniacs. What an eventful weekend we've had, huh?
Within the span of 24 hours
new details regarding the team's outdoor game were announced
, Sebastian Aho
matched some Skills Competition history
and the Metropolitan All-Stars each
brought home a share of one million dollars with their championship victory
.
While all of those are exciting, there's no time to kick back and enjoy them. The Canes get right back to business today, practicing this afternoon before flying to Toronto for their first of four road games in six days.
There's no shortage of items to discuss, so let's get to some of the questions asked via Twitter this morning.

I have a question about the Canes Stadium Series game at Carter-Finley next season, and I would like to know if the team is already planning to unveil a special jersey for the game? - @RiskyBusinessLM
You bet. As has become customary with NHL outdoor games, the Canes will indeed be wearing a new jersey for the event. The sweaters are being worked on as we speak, given that they require months to produce via the league's partnership with Adidas.
In my
conversation with General Manager Don Waddell
, he said that "the team had a pretty good idea of what they were going to do last time", but I'll leave that to you to speculate if that means the concept will remain the same, or if they're going to go a different direction, given how much else surrounding the situation has changed.
Do you think any Canes have a legitimate chance for an individual award? Freddie for Vezina? Any others? - @CaniacZach
The first half of the regular season is over so I suppose now is an appropriate time to start talking awards. I think Frederik Andersen is probably going to be the team's best bet, player-wise. His current standing among league qualified goalies?
As of now his biggest competition is Igor Shesterkin, who has been fantastic for the Rangers thus far this year. Andrei Vasilevskiy (TB) is of course right there in the mix too.
There's two other individuals who we need to talk about being up for awards though. Rod Brind'Amour and Don Waddell.
The man behind the bench will very much so be in the running for a second consecutive Jack Adams Award. Why wouldn't he be? Although Sebastian Aho's star status only continued to grow this weekend and Frederik Andersen is proving how strong of a goalie he is, you can't overlook that the team has spent the majority of the season with the fewest goals allowed and a good chunk of with the league's best penalty kill.
Perhaps an even stronger case can be built for Waddell winning Jim Gregory GM of the Year Award. You all remember September, right? It wasn't that long ago. A time when a lot of folks were both critical and skeptical of the changes that the team made in the goaltending department? When others weren't sure of what Tony DeAngelo would provide? Both are not only looking like okay decisions right now, but frankly big successes.
Who do you see kicking into another gear in the second half? - @CLEZach
Not to add any additional pressure, because he's put enough on himself, but it has to be Jordan Staal, right? I know the more obvious answers here are maybe Aho and Svech, but if you doubled their numbers based just on point totals right now, I don't think anybody is upset with a 90-point year from #20 and nobody scoffs at a 76-point campaign from the 21-year-old Svechnikov. Both of those would be career-highs.
Martin Necas? Maybe. I think he'd probably like to finish the year with more than 44 points. So I could give you that as an answer as well.
Alas, we all know though that the captain will want better from himself. Despite all of the team's winning in the first half, Staal wants to be producing better than two goals and 11 points in 40 games. I don't say those numbers to harp on him, rather just to illustrate the level of presumed frustration he feels.
Look at it on the other side of things though. If he does get it going and can add to the success that the team has already experienced this season? The whole team goes into another gear.
Any plans for the team to celebrate and honor black history month? - @missmulahh
Yes! The team's community outreach department is currently working on a few things. I know that the objective going in was to continue engaging, supporting and celebrating the Black community.
More info on what's going on will be shared soon.
Not a member of Twitter? We're always happy to take questions at [email protected] as well!
Canes Mailbags are powered by
Segra
.
Worth A Click:
Brind'Amour's Metropolitan Division All-Stars Win 2022 Tournament
Aho Matches History, Wins Accuracy Shooting Competition
Canes To Host Stadium Series Game At Carter-Finley In February 2023
Going Outside: Learning More About The Canes Outdoor Game
Hurricanes February Schedule