Canes’ Erik Haula says, ‘I feel good. I feel confident. I’m ready to go.’
With 32 games left in the regular season, it figures to be a sprint to the finish line for the Carolina Hurricanes, with every point precious in the push for the playoffs.
“It seems like that,” Canes center Erik Haula said Thursday. “I think it should be like that every year and you should have the mentality that it will be. Ultimately that’s when you’re at your best.”
Haula is determined to be at his best. A healthy scratch in the Canes’ final game before the extended break for the NHL All-Star Weekend and bye week, he had considerable time to mull over the situation.
The return of former captain Justin Williams from semi-retirement has given Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour 13 available forwards — and a lineup decision to make. In Williams’ first game back, Jan. 19 against the New York Islanders, forward Jordan Martinook was the healthy scratch. Then Haula, two days later against the Winnipeg Jets.
Haula’s reaction? “It sucked. I was rattled for sure,” he said.
Haula, who had gone nine straight games without a goal, said he discussed it with Brind’Amour, noting, “Ultimately he makes the decision on who plays and who doesn’t play and he decided I wasn’t going to play.
“Obviously, nobody wants to sit. No one wants to sit and I wasn’t happy it was me but now we’re past that.”
The long break is over. The Vegas Golden Knights, Haula’s former team, were in town for a Friday game at PNC Arena as the Canes (29-18-3) resumed their season with a tenuous grip on the second wild-card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
“I know the level I can play at and that’s where I’m trying to get to,” Haula said. “Most of the season I’ve been on that level and I’m happy about that. It’s getting back to that and that’s the goal. Obviously I want to be one of the best players on this team, finishing the season.
“I feel good, I feel confident, I’m ready to go. “
Haula, 28, had a super start in his first season with the Canes, scoring seven goals in the first nine games, three on the power play. But he banged up a shoulder against the Anaheim Ducks in the Canes’ ninth game, later missed some games, returned, missed 15 more games and hasn’t been as consistent or productive as he was early in the season.
Haula said after the break he feels refreshed — no knee or shoulder issues. He was in the lineup Friday night, albeit in a 4-3 loss to the Golden Knights.
The Canes need No. 56 being a pest in front of goalies, a power-play threat, reliable in the defensive zone and dependable in the faceoff circle.
“He’s one of our top guys and we need him to be able to play at the level he expects to,” Brind’Amour said after Friday’s morning skate. “If we want to have a chance to get in (the playoffs), get on a run, we’re going to need him doing what he does.”
Haula is in the final year of his contract and will be a pending unrestricted free agent after the season. There’s a financial incentive for him but it’s also a matter of personal pride.
Playing the Golden Knights, he said, would be exciting. While he has a lot of close friends on the team, it was Vegas that traded him away after last season, after he wrecked his right knee and put in months of grueling rehab trying to return for the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Haula’s hockey life has been both pleasing and painful.. The Finnish forward played college hockey at Minnesota and began his NHL career with the Minnesota Wild. After four seasons, the Wild made him available in the 2017 NHL expansion draft and the Golden Knights took him.
“It was tough,” he said. “Minnesota was kind of like home for me,.”
But Haula became a part of a sensational feel-good story in Las Vegas. The Golden Knights captivated the city in their first season. It was as if the confetti never stopped falling as the Knights, with Haula scoring a career-high 29 goals, reached the 2018 Stanley Cup final before losing to the Washington Capitals in five games.
“There’s really no words for it,” Haula said. “It was the best year of my life, probably, until we came up a little bit short. I’ll never forget that and I don’t think anybody on that team will. They’re always going to carry that, the ‘Misfits’ and all that stuff.
“Good players, the right players, everything worked out. You hear sports stories all the time about how teams aren’t always the best or expected to win. When it clicks ... this team is a good example of it last year.”
Meaning the Hurricanes. Everything fell neatly into place as the Canes ended a nine-year playoff drought and surged to the Eastern Conference finals in Brind’Amour’s first year as head coach.
The Canes now must find a way to compensate for the loss of do-everything defenseman Dougie Hamilton, out with a broken fibula. And Brind’Amour must leave an extra forward out of the lineup, game to game.
“They’re making it tough on me and that’s what’s good. I don’t want it to be an easy decision,” Brind’Amour said. “Thirteen forwards that I want to play, can’t do it. You’ll see different guys going in and out all the time as long as we’re healthy.”
Haula said he probably would not catch up with any of his former teammates this week. Maybe in another week or so, he said, when the Canes play at Vegas.
“It’s always fun to play all your buddies and turn them into your enemies for a few hours,” he said, smiling.
This story was originally published January 31, 2020 at 11:54 AM.
