Are you excited for this seasons All Star Game?
You should be as it will be held in Raleigh, North Carolina with the hosts our favorite team — the Carolina Hurricanes. Notice how the logo resembles the wonderful red and black of the good guys as well as the spiral design.
The Carolina Hurricanes signed two players over the past two days. The first was recently acquired prospect Riley Nash, who will forgo his senior year of college to join the Canes. He likely will compete for a spot on the team as the team opens the year with several open spots.
The deal will be an entry-level contract. To read the full press release, click here.
GM Jim Rutherford also signed (or essentially re-signed) Brett Carson. The 24-year-old defenseman spent most of the past season with the big club with mixed results. Towards the end of the season the Canes certainly knew exactly what they had in Carson and chose to non-tender him making him an unrestricted free agent.
Carson signed a one-year, two-way deal. Click here for the full press release.
Tags: Brett Carson, hockey, Jim Rutherford, NHL, Riley Nash
It should come as no surprise that GM Jim Rutherford needed to rework his defense.
After an excellent year in 2008-2009 where the Carolina Hurricanes advanced to the Eastern Conference finals, the team regressed mainly due to injuries, inconsistent goaltending and depth issues.
Even though the Canes finished the season in 11th in the Southeast Conference, the team let in the fifth highest goal total in the league– after Toronto, Edmonton, Tampa Bay and the Islanders. In short, something needed to change before the season started.
Rutherford knows what worked in the past and employing Joni Pitkanen for a league leading 27:22 of ice time simply did not. Not a knock on Joni, but he may not even play top-pairing minutes come next season let alone more than Duncan Keith.
What worked in the previous season was all 6′5″ of Russian defenseman Anton Babchuk. The Kiev native scored 16 goals as the trigger man on the powerplay during the 2008-2009 season before leaving the team for the KHL for the second time. If he can match that production with his 1.4 million cap hit, the 26-year-old should be an excellent bargain.
Continuing with the same trend, Rutherford also brought back offensive defenseman Joe Corvo after dealing him a few months before. This move adds stability to the blue line at a modest 2.5 cap hit while allowing young gun Jamie McBain to get a bit more NHL seasoning. Paul Branecky of the Canes Official Website noted Corvo will be a lock to play with bruising defenseman Tim Gleason.
Safe to say they won that trade.
If the blue line did not looked stacked enough with Corvo-Gleason and Pitkanen-Babchuk manning the top four, the Canes traded for blue chip defenseman Bobby Sanguinetti. If you watch the AHL, you will remember Sanguinetti as the fastest skater ever to skate in their skills competition.
Much like the deal to acquire Jiri Tlusty, the Canes went after a player who is young and has success at the professional level. Both seasons that Sanguinetti played with the Hartford Wolfpack he made the All-Star team. If not for the emergence of Michael Del Zotto, Matt Gilroy and now Ryan McDonagh, he would probably be wearing Ranger blue this coming season.
If Sanguinetti or AHL defender Bryan Rodney fail to make the roster, journeyman enforcer Jay Harrison will keep their spot warm. In 38 games last season, Harrison stood up for teammates with 50 PIM and even chipped in seven points. At 28-years-old he still has plenty of gas left which made him one of the first signings by the team this offseason.
Things should look up for the Canes defensive woes. Part of the problem was the injury to Cam Ward and then the inconsistency of his predecessors. With Ward fully healthy, the team should be ready for another strong season.
During the 2008-2009 season the team finished with the eighth fewest goals allowed, which seems to be more along the lines of the playoff team they are expected to be. Of course time will tell with this new(ish) group but things certainly look up.
Tags: Anton Babchuk, Bobby Sanguinetti, Bryan Rodney, Carolina Hurricanes, hockey, Jamie McBain, Jay Harrison, Jim Rutherford, Joe Corvo, Joni Pitkanen, NHL, Tim Gleason
The Carolina Hurricanes signed AHL netminder Justin Pogge to a one-year, two-way contract worth exactly 500K. With Justin Peters signed to backup Cam Ward, Pogge will likely man the pipes for the new Hurricane AHL affiliate Charlotte Checkers.
Pogge came over to the Canes with a pick for veteran d-man Aaron Ward to bolster the AHL depth with Peters up with the big club. He more than adequately fills the role but the team will be in huge trouble if they promote him based on necessity.
Tags: Aaron Ward, Cam Ward, Carolina Hurricanes, Justin Peters, Justin Pogge
Just a small treat as you get to watch the youngest and probably most talented of the Carolina Hurricanes prospects work out in strength and conditioning classes. The 2010 Carolina Hurricanes’ Prospects learn conditioning techniques from Jason Davidson and Pete Friesen at Athletic Performance Center in Raleigh.
Too bad collegiate defenseman Mark Alt could not attend due to NCAA eligibility. He likely would have wowed the team’s brass as he did during conditioning drills during the draft combine.
Tags: Carolina Hurricanes, hockey, NHL
A few weeks ago we released a full list of the players the Canes either had in their plans or left out of their plans. Lets take a look at what they have done since using that same list…
Qualified
Casey Borer – Agreed to terms on 7/7/10, link here.
Bryan Rodney – RFA
Nicolas Blanchard – Agreed to terms on 7/7/10, link here.
Nick Dodge – Agreed to terms 7/12/10 according to Canes Country.
Justin Peters – Agreed to terms 7/5/10, link here.
Justin Pogge – RFA
Non-tendered (UFA)
Alexandre Picard – Still talking to Rutherford, link here
Brett Carson – Still talking to Rutherford, link here
UFA
Manny Legace
Brian Pothier
Ray Whitney – signed with the Phoenix Coyotes
Mike Angelidis
Steven Goertzen
Michael Ryan
In Negotiations
Tim Conboy – UFA
Zack Fitzgerald – Agreed to terms on 6/30/10, link here.
Buy-Out Candidates
Rob Brind’Amour – retired.
Sergei Samsonov – still on the team with a 2.533333 cap hit. He will make 2.8 million in his final year of his contract
Tags: Carolina Hurricanes
According to Paul Branecky of the Carolina Hurricanes official website, the prospect development camp was a success. How could it not be after the Canes re-stocked their farm with several can’t miss players as they continue to build a strong young core.
Jeff Skinner has plenty of reason to smile as he went seventh overall to the Canes less than a month ago. His scoring ability at the OHL level was enough for the Canes to take a gamble on him and select him high despite his diminutive stature. Still at 18-years-old he has room to grow, loves hockey and does not shy away from physical contact.
Skinner could be a Ray Whitney type winger, scoring consistently while flanking the big captain Eric Staal.
Other standouts included Riley Nash, Justin Shugg and Jared Staal– all of which were acquired this offseason. A few of these players will challenge for spots during training camp although college committed players like Nash and Danny Biega will not attend.
Look for more of the prospects at the Traverse City Tournament and click here to read the full take on prospect development.
Tags: Carolina Hurricanes, Danny Biega, Eric Staal, Jared Staal, Jeff Skinner, Justin Shugg, Riley Nash
Just a few months after trading away powerplay stalwart Joe Corvo to the Washington Capitals, the Carolina Hurricanes re-signed the veteran defenseman to a two-year deal worth 2.5 million dollars annually.
Essentially, GM Jim Rutherford made off like a bandit when he essentially shipped out Corvo and a 6th round pick for a rental Brian Pothier and promising prospects Oskar Osala and Bobby Sanguinetti. If you look back, we were bullish on Sanguinetti due to his incredibly fast skating ability and multiple AHL All Star appearances (two in two years to be exact).
With Corvo signed, the defensive depth looks pretty good.
Tim Gleason
Joni Pitkanen
Jamie McBain
Corvo
Anton Babchuk
Sanguinetti
Tags: Bobby Sanguinetti, Brian Pothier, Carolina Hurricanes, Joe Corvo, Oskar Osala
Only a few months after being stripped of his captaincy, Rod Brind’Amour will no longer lace up his skates. After 22 seasons and easily the worst season of his career, the veteran centerman stepped down and will allow the kids to take his spot.
Over the past few seasons we watched a Renaissance of sorts with Brind’Amour.
He came to the Hurricanes in exchange for fan favorite Keith Primeau, who fit the Flyers style to a T. His veteran savvy helped this kid named Eric Staal become the leader and big man this franchise absolutely needed.
Nobody will ever forget his 2005-2006 season where he showed the rest of the league he definitely could cut it at his age. That season he posted his best totals since 1998-1999– an era where posting over 70 points was common.
Over his storied career, Brind’Amour will be known as one of the good guys. A strong player on the ice and a strong leader in the locker room. Although he never really was the most talented player on his team, he was always considered most valuable.
Brind’Amour spent the majority of his career with the St. Louis Blues and Philadelphia Flyers before spending his last ten seasons with the Canes. Despite that fact, he retired a Canes, won a cup with the Canes and will always be loved by all Caniacs!
As he aged further his leadership and defensive specialties remained. As he
Below is a list of who the Canes qualified and who they did not…
Qualified
Casey Borer
Bryan Rodney
Nicolas Blanchard
Nick Dodge
Justin Peters
Justin Pogge
Non-tendered
Alexandre Picard
Brett Carson
Expected UFA
Manny Legace
Brian Pothier
Ray Whitney
Mike Angelidis
Steven Goertzen
Michael Ryan
In Negotiations
Tim Conboy
Zack Fitzgerald
Buy-Out Candidates
Rob Brind’Amour
Sergei Samsonov
Tags: Carolina Hurricanes
The happenings of the Carolina Hurricanes.
Alexander graduated from Baruch College with a major in Business Journalism. He prides himself in reporting unbiased news and discussing every team in the league objectively. In his spare time he watches NHL hockey, studies for web building certifications and works on his novel, planned to come out within the year. Alexander also resides as an Associate Editor for DailyFaceoff.com, a fantasy hockey website focused on up-to-the minute fantasy hockey advice and roster changes.
