Carolina's young defenseman Jamie McBain is probably one of my favorite players to analyze because the fanbase's opinion always on him always seems to be split. On one hand, people see a skilled player who is slowly, but surely, adjusting to the NHL and will be a great top-four defenseman in the next couple of years. Then you have the people who see him as a complete liability on defense and should be dealt for a team that needs a puck-mover. There are also individuals in the same crowd who think that he should be moved to make room for Ryan Murphy, the Hurricanes' first round pick from last year.

I have discussed McBain many times in the past and have determined a few things. The first of which is that he isn't quite ready to play tough minutes yet and was most effective when used in a third-pairing role with Jaroslav Spacek. In addition to that, I said McBain is good enough that he doesn't need to be completely protected and that his most recent season wasn't much different from how he performed in 2010-11. He just looked worse when he was being used in tough situations that he likely wasn't ready for.

McBain has his flaws and probably isn't going to be a top-pairing defenseman but it is my opinion that he hasn't been nearly as bad as a lot of fans have made him out to be. That being said, I think that he has his limits and I do question whether or not he has the ability to play tough minutes in the future. He doesn't need to play this kind of role, but it would make him a much more valuable player if he does. Justin Faulk playing a top-four role at only 19 years of age is another thing that probably made McBain look worse than he really is, since he is 24 and has struggled in similar situations.

There are a couple things to remember with that last point. 1) Defenseman in general take a long time to develop. Faulk is an exception to this rule. 2) At 24, McBain is still relatively young and this season was only his second full-year in the NHL. Saying that he will never be a good defenseman now when he has played a top-four role and posted decent to good possession metrics on a bad possession team is just silly.

Where is McBain in his development, though? It seems like the "peak age" for players is getting younger each year in the NHL so it would be good to know where McBain stands compared to other defensemen his age. We will explore this issue after the jump.

This series has been in the books for almost a week and there has been plenty of time for the pundits and bloggers to create their narratives about the Coyotes sending the Preds home in only five games. Last time I checked, the ongoing story is that that the Preds ran into the "hungrier team" and had their chemistry ruined by two lazy, misbehaving players. Some other explanations I've heard are saying that the Preds took Phoenix too lightly and were "believing the hype of their own team" after they knocked off Detroit.

People are entitled to believe what they want but most of the underlying numbers say that the Preds played much better than the results might indicate. They outplayed Phoenix at even strength, had a stronger powerplay and controlled possession but goaltending ended up being the difference maker. Coyotes goaltender Mike Smith has carried over his incredible play from the regular season into the playoffs and was the main reason why the Coyotes were able to make such short work of the Predators.

All but one of Phoenix's wins were decided by a goal and Nashville actually outchanced Phoenix in all but one game this series, so this series could have gone in a much different direction if the Preds got a few bounces. Pekka Rinne was good, but Mike Smith was just better and that ended up being the big difference maker. With that being said, there were a few other things that went awry for Nashville and they are not all centered around Alexander Radulov.

A closer look at this series is coming after the jump.

After re-upping with the Canes for three years at $4.5 mil. per year, Joni Pitkanen did not have the best season to start off his new contract. He battled injuries for most of the year, missed 52 games a concussion and knee surgery and wasn't exactly great when he was healthy. Pitkanen has always been more known for his offense but he's been a very good all-around type player for the last couple of seasons. This year, he delivered on the offensive front with 17 points in 30 games but his play in the defensive zone was spotty to say the least.

Pitkanen's underlying numbers are pretty interesting because going by shot/possession stats, he appeared to play decent at even strength but his scoring chance data tells a much different tale. Only Tim Gleason and Derek Joslin had a worse scoring chance ratio than him, and the former plays much tougher minutes than Pitkanen does. In my time tracking scoring chances, I have only seen this happen with a few players but it could possibly mean that Pitkanen was on ice for more high quality shots against than others. 

However, Pitkanen didn't get easy minutes at all this year either as he ranked third on the team in corsi relative to quality of competition, which means that he was used regularly against second and third lines. That sounds pretty normal for a guy who plays top four minutes but it's a little tougher than the workload that Pitkanen had the year before. At $4.5 mil. per year, I think Pitkanen should be able to handle these assignments but I also believe that a more stable defense partner could help him, as well. 

A look at Pitkanen's underlying numbers from the past season is coming after the jump.

Sometimes GMs will find hidden gems on the waiver wire and while Andreas Nod isn't exactly a diamond in the rough, he is a very useful player and the Hurricanes were able to get him for next to nothing at the end November. Nodl's career with the Hurricanes didn't have a great start as it took Kirk Muller a little over a month to find out Nodl's strengths and decide where he fits in the lineup. It was then that Nodl's play started to improve and he became a regular on the team's third line with Patrick Dwyer and Brandon Sutter.

Nodl has never been a great puck handler and needs top-nine minutes to succeed but his terrific defensive play is something that gets overlooked by a lot of people and makes him valuable to a team like the Hurricanes. Fortunately, this did not pass over Muller's head and he made Nodl one of the team's "heavy lifters" and Nodl performed fairly well in this role. Nodl's defensive skills keep him from being a replacement level player but you can find guys who have similar skills to him for close to the league minimum. Hence why the Canes were able to get him off waivers.

With that in mind, I think Nodl has a lot of potential and plays a big role on the third line but his offensive skills are something that needs a lot of work. That isn't his role but one of my complaints from this season was that the Hurricanes weren't getting enough offense from their third line and Nodl was a key reason for that. He did a lot of good things even when he wasn't scoring, though and that point is reinforced when you look at his underlying numbers from this year.

There were a lot of bloggers and pundits who predicted the Phoenix Coyotes taking a large step back this season because they lost an top-tier goaltender in Ilya Bryzgalov and replaced him with Mike Smith, a goalie who had a sub-.900 save percentage last season and was waived by the Tampa Bay Lightning. It is probably a safe bet to say that not many thought the Coyotes would make the Western Conference Finals and even fewer that predicted Mike Smith would be the reason why they would get that far. Fast forward to May and the Coyotes are one of the last two teams remaining in the Western Conference on the back of Mike Smith's .948 save percentage.

Going into this series, I gave the Predators the advantage because I thought they would be relying on goaltending less than the Coyotes and that was true for the most part. They outchanced Phoenix 19-11 in game 5 and 15-11 at even strength but Mike Smith, once again, played lights out and was a key role in Phoenix's 2-1 win over Nashville to eliminate them from the playoffs. Phoenix wasn't getting dominated at even strength, but the puck was in their end for most of the night and goaltending was the deciding factor in yet another game. You have to wonder how long this kind of strategy will keep up for the Coyotes but it's gotten them pretty deep in the playoffs now and they are only eight wins away from the Stanley Cup. It is pretty unbelievable when you look at their numbers over the series. We will look at those numbers later, but for now, we will look at how game 5 went.

After a solid rookie season, Jamie McBain began this year in the press box and had to earn his playing time with seven other defensemen also on the team. It didn't take long for him to be inserted back into the lineup and he had quite a wild year to say the least. With his usual defense partner, Joni Pitkanen, being on the IR for most of the season, the coaching staff had a tough time figuring out how to use McBain and his performance on ice either thrived or suffered as a result.

There were games when McBain was used against the toughs and that had mixed results. He managed to hold his own on some nights and got destroyed on others. The word "sophomore slump" came up a lot with McBain this year when he was playing tough minutes when in reality, he was playing a role that he wasn't fit for and probably shouldn't have been used in. Uncoincidentally, he started playing better in a protected third pairing role with Jaroslav Spacek and saw all of his numbers improve.

McBain's versatility is nice to have and he gained a lot of experience this season, but where does he fit on the team long-term? A look at his numbers from this year show that he is best as a third-pairing defenseman for now but might not be completely helpless in a top four role. A look at said numbers is coming after the jump.

Chad LaRose is one player who I've spent a lot of time defending this season because while he doesn't always make the best decisions and isn't an ideal top-line winger, he simply got the job done when it came to generating scoring chances and possession. He isn't a star player and will probably never score more than 35 points, but he can be used just about anywhere in the lineup and is at least passable in whatever role he plays. LaRose showed a lot of that this season as he was used on every line at least once and played a considerable amount of time on both special teams units. Something else that might be overlooked is that this season was LaRose's strongest in the NHL.

I know that 19 goals and 32 points doesn't look like much, but the latter is a career-high for LaRose and his strong possession numbers show that it wasn't a fluke. Spending a lot of time in the top-six and on the powerplay probably helped, though. The truth about LaRose is that he isn't a pure-goal scorer and probably isn't suited for a top-six role. However, he is an excellent third liner and was one of Carolina's better players this season.

After the jump, we will take a look at LaRose's underlying numbers from this year and how much he benefited the team. It might be a lot more than you think.

With only so much information from other hockey leagues available, it is very difficult to project how a prospect will perform in the NHL. To know exactly what kind of player he is going to be, you have to watch him on a somewhat regular basis, see what kind of roles he plays and the style of play he has. Unfortunately, doing that for every prospect is unfeasible so the best us fans can do is watch whatever games we can and go by their stats at other levels.

One method that I talk about on here is NHL scoring equivalencies developed by Gabe Desjardins at Behind The Net Hockey. I've mentioned this more than a few times but to refresh your memory I will explain how equivalencies work. Desjardins took the stats from players who jumped from one league to the NHL and noted how much of their scoring they kept. The general idea is that it is harder to score in the NHL than it is in other leagues and that is represented by an equivalency translation drawn from the performance of other players.

After the jump, we awill look at the most recent seasons for all of the Hurricanes' prospects and use their equvalency translation to get an idea of what their performance of the NHL will be like.

Nashville head coach Barry Trotz made a risky decision to keep forwards Alexander Radulov and Andrei Kostitsyn out of the lineup despite their suspensions being repealed. His reasoning was that he didn't want to mess with what worked in game 3 which Nashville won 2-0. This plan ended up blowing up in his face as the Preds were shutout 1-0 by Phoenix last night and now trail the series 3 games to 1.

The Predators did outchance the Coyotes in this game and Mike Smith had to do his part to keep the Coyotes ahead, but the problem throughout the game was that Nashville could not finish their chances. They had control of the game for the last two periods but too many of their opportunities either went off the post or were blocked by the Phoenix defense. Patric Hornqvist's shot data from this game sums things up perfectly. He had 12 shot attempts, four were blocked, five either hit the post or missed the net and only three actually made it on goal.

This was the type of game where the Preds could have used a player like Radulov or Kostitsyn because they had a lot of zone time and chances, but couldn't finish any of them. Radulov and Kostitsyn are two of Nashville's best offensive players and they were kept out of the lineup. I know that hindsight is 20/20 but the Preds haven't exactly been running over the Coyotes this series or scoring a ton. They won game 3 on the back of a strong defensive effort and a shutout from Pekka Rinne. Nashville got off to a horrible start in game 4 and were playing catch-up for the rest of the game and ended up losing because they make the most of their opportunities.

It's a tough loss for the Preds, but I still think that they are far from done. They have outchanced Phoenix in three of the four games this series and can turn things around. It will be very difficult for them to pull it off, though.

With the playoffs still being far from over, it might come as a surprise to some that the NHL Draft is only a little over a month away. This is about the time of year that scouts, team executives and bloggers scramble to find the best young talent from all over the world. One person who monitors this year-round is Corey Pronman of Hockey's Future and Hockey Prospectus, who recently released his list of the Top 100 Prospects.

I am going to be straight up with all of you on this. My knowledge of prospects is very, very limited. I watch college hockey semi-regularly but most of those players are already in the NHL and I don't have access to CHL or European games. Which means that I can only go by what I see in highlight clips and scoresheets with prospects, which are helpful but it is probably best if you listen to guys like Pronman before me when it comes to this stuff.

That being said, the Hurricanes are in an interesting situation with the #8 pick because judging from Pronman's list and other mock drafts I have seen, the best forwards in this class are likely to go in the top five while there are many good defensemen available in the top 15. While I am of the "taking the best player available" mindset, I do think that forward is a bigger need for the Hurricanes and they might need to trade up to get the forward they want in this draft.

Now, this isn't certain because there are always players who are taken lower than their projected position (see Jeff Skinner & Sean Couturier) and one of the top forwards being available at #8 isn't out of the realm of possibility. One reason for that is because some of the teams above the Hurricanes in the draft have a bigger need for a top-level defenseman in their prospect pool rather than a forward. The Canes have the opposite problem. They don't have the next Tyler Myers in their system, but they have more than enough defensemen prospects to get by while their strongest forward prospect is Zac Dalpe. Anyone who follows hockey can tell you that things could be a lot better there.

One of the teams that seriously needs a high-end defenseman in their system is the team picking at #4, the New York Islanders. Some Isles fans have expressed interest in trading down because they do not know if any of the defensemen in this draft class are worth taking in the top five. This should interest Hurricanes fans because a move into the top-five could give Carolina a better chance of taking one of the better forwards in this draft and they have some assets that they could move in the system. However, it is very possible that they might not have to deal one of their prospects if they try to move up four spots. Trades like this have happened before and very rarely have teams needed to move roster players to move up a few spots in the draft.

Let's go back to 2004 when the Canes traded up from #9 to take Andrew Ladd at #4. All they had to do was swap first round picks and give up a second rounder. For a more recent example, the Toronto Maple Leafs moved up from #7 to take Luke Schenn at #5 in the 2008 draft, which cost them a third round pick and a second rounder the next year. In that same draft, the Predators gave up their second round pick to move up two spots from #9 to #7 in the draft.

The Hurricanes have two picks in the second round this year and moving one of them to move up a few spots in the draft isn't completely otu of the qeustion. Although, I have to think that the Islanders, or any team in the top five for that matter, are going to want more than just a second round if another team wants to switch places with them in the draft. History has indicated the opposite, though.

Whether or not the Canes do trade up in the draft will depend on what the teams in front of them do and which players will be available at the time. If there is anything the last few drafts have shown us, it's that anyone can fall off the board and be picked much lower than their projected position. If that happens with someone like Filip Forsberg, Alex Galchenyuk, etc. then there is no need for the Canes to give up picks to move up a couple spots. General Managers usually have an idea of who they want beforehand and will go to lengths to acquire that player if he is good enough.

It is still way too early to determine who Rutherford and the scouting staff likes in this draft, so if there are any moves made, they are going to be at the last minute. A perfect situation for the Canes is for 2010 to repeat itself and have a high-talent forward fall to them and that could definitely happen.