Sweet Tea, Barbecue, and Bodychecks

What, me apathetic? I wish I cared!

Since I’m sure some of you came here from my good buddy Jes Gölbez’s hockey blog, I might as well take the time to expound upon a few things noted in his entry about the Hurricanes:

1) Chairman Mo Teh Coach and his reign over the team:

I’m sure Toronto fans will disagree with me, since Chairman Mo is now in the Center Of The Universe (and is therefore infallible and the next coach who will lead the Leafs to the Promised Land of another 39 years without a Cup)–but the man has a LOT to learn about coaching in the NHL. 2002 was a wonderful time for Hurricanes fans. It was a magical and miraculous time when, for one shining moment, the Hurricanes played like world-beaters and the Caniac Nation (est. 1997) really believed with all its heart and soul that their boys would win it all. But in the final analysis, it was an anomaly when looked at in comparison with the other seven years and change of Paul Maurice’s tenure behind the bench.

It’s been said many times that the Carolina Hurricanes are the best self-coached team in the NHL–and that’s largely true. Now, Paul Maurice is a nice bloke who is possessed of a great deal of charm and is fairly smart. But as a coach, his sins were many and they were great. This is a guy who rarely if ever talked to his players and communicated his expectations of them–and I’m not talking about running the board in practice, either. Interpersonal conflicts on the team were left to fester to the point where Rutherford’s hand was forced into a trade or (in the case of a certain Latvian goaltender) a banishment to the minors. Player development was stifled under Paul Maurice–Shane Willis, David Tanabe, Jeff Heerema, and even Nikos bloody Tselios all had the chance to be more than they were. But under Paul Maurice, that didn’t happen–especially in the case of 2001 playoff martyr Shane Willis, who fans loved but Chairman Mo never really liked. It always angers me to see my fellow Hurricanes fans bashing Sandis Ozolinsh left right and center, when he was grossly misused by a coach whose sole philosophy on the game is “play not to lose”. HELLO PEOPLE, WHAT THE HELLS DID YOU EXPECT FROM AN OFFENSIVE DEFENSEMAN IN A NO-OFFENSE-ALLOWED SYSTEM!? Sheesh!

And let’s spend a moment talking one Emmanuel Legace. Ah yes, good ol’ Manny, who had the unmitigated gall to outperform franchise anointed goaltenders Jason “The Fighting Scorpion” Muzzatti and Sean Burke in the first NC training camp–and found out through comments in the press that he’d be banished to the minors and probably never have a shot at the bigtime with this team. Manny bitched in the press (and can you blame him?), and for his trouble found himself traded to the Kings for a draft pick (and then acquired on the waiver wire by those classless (except for Steve Yzerman) motherfuckers in Detroit). Forget Giguere–he didn’t get good until he met Francois Allaire. Legace, OTOH–he could have been our franchise guy and he’s the one draftee of ours that we should forever regret letting go (don’t bring up Ron Francis, kids–he’s on a whole other level).

The 8 years of Chairman Mo’s regime were a bizarre triptych of mediocrity, mismanagement, and melodrama painted with excuses and Omerta where anyone not named Jeff O’Neill who dared voice any criticisms of management or coaching was summarily banished never to be seen again, and it’ll take more than half a season to finally bring to fruition the badly-needed reforms of Peter Laviolette. Which brings me to….

2) Peter Laviolette and his one big flaw.

Lavy has a great deal of enthusiasm for hockey, a strong desire to win, and brings a very aggressive puck-pursuit game to the Hurricanes. He talks to his players and makes his expectations clear–and he refuses to make or accept excuses, which is very refreshing. He’s like NCSU football coach Chuck Amato in that regard, except he doesn’t have a Norm Chow-type offensive coordinator and never came to us from the Felony State Criminoles. (Oh lord, here come the State fans with the pitchforks and torches now)

HOWEVER:

He doesn’t have the high degree of personal charm that Paul Maurice has, which can be a problem come crunch time. What he needs (and didn’t have on the Island) is a Warchief, somebody who will keep the troops in line and lead them in his name–enter Rod Brind’amour. Rod is not a guy to fuck around, and he’s the kind of Feldmarschall that the ‘Canes will need when the going gets rough and the team threatens to crack.

3) Jimmy Rutherford and his deal-making skills (or lack thereof).

See, I have my issues with JimR. Well, one issue really–which I discussed down here. Sometimes I’m forced to wonder WTF he’s doing, really. Why do we need to draft eleventy billion goaltenders? Why make all these head-scratching trades? And let’s not get started on the Wesley signing, back in the high and far-off times when this team wore green and played in Hartford–I love Glen Wesley, I really do. But any Caniac that claims that the original RFA signing was worth the long-term systemic damage it did to this team is, in my opinion, a clueless fucking moron with oatmeal for brains. The guy needs somebody to give him a poke and say “is this trade really necessary? Don’t you think we can do better than this?”

4) Guys I have pegged for Lowell:

Why Jes plugged some of these blokes into the roster, I’ll never know–perhaps he had some BC Bud or something, or somebody slipped some acid into his protein powder.

Anyway, these are the Lowell-bound guys:

Krispy Kreme (unless he manages to avoid the corner of Peace and Person Streets*, in which case he may stay with the big club)
Danny Richmond
Colin Forbes
Gordie Dwyer
Kevin Nastiuk

Guys on the bubble are Andrew Hutchinson and Brrrrruno St. Jacques.

And, on that note, I am going to work. Go ‘Canes.

ESPN.com – NHL – Japanese goalie looking to catch on in NHL

This is damn cool.

My friends, this is your next hockey area right here–Asia.

What? Stop laughing and listen to me for a moment. Russia is out of the picture now–or at least they soon will be, what with all the mobster-run Superleague teams and the Russian hockey federation refusing to sign the IIHF/NHL transfer agreement–and the NHL is going to need a new place to look for talent.

Enter the most populous region on the planet: Asia. Hockey’s taking root there, kids. They play it in China (which has a professional league). They play it in Japan and Mongolia and even in Thailand (with the help of some North American expats). Yutaka Fukufuji is the first Asian-born AND raised player to be given a shot at the NHL. I’m willing to bet that in 10-15 years we may see more.

SHUT! THE HELL! UP!

“Wah wah wah, boo hoo hoo, Josef Vasicek only made $385,000 the last time he played in the NHL! We’re cheating him, boo hoo hoo! Rutherford’s lowballing him, boo hoo hoo!”

“WTF are you talking about?” I say. “That’s his rookie contract you’re whining about.”

“He deserves a million dollars a year! We’re rogering him! Rutherford’s going to be cheap and let him walk rather than pay him!”

Let me say again:

THAT’S HIS ROOKIE CONTRACT, DIPSHIT!

HellFREAKINGlo, people! Josef Vasicek is NOT getting freaking lowballed! That 385K/year IS HIS ROOKIE CONTRACT. After the year he had pre-lockout and the year he had in the Czech Extraliga/IHWC? I would say that he’s earned a significant raise.

Good lord, people–that’s like all the doofi that are whining and pissing and moaning because Hockey Jack (Hurricanes prospect Jack Johnson–as opposed to the singer of the same name (who I shall refer to in this space as Guitar Jack)) has decided to go to UMich for at least one year. As the Defenseman’s Advocate, I feel I should respond to this.

In a nutshell, defensemen take longer to mature into their positions (on average) than forwards do. We’re talking several years–the only position that takes longer is goaltender. The people that are thinking that Hockey Jack will be Scott Stevens, Jr. as an 18-year old are pretty sorely mistaken. The best thing for him right now is to go to UMich this season and continue to develop as a player–and the final decision about whether or not Hockey Jack is ready to take the next step belongs to Hockey Jack and not some clownboat n00b from Nash County that thinks he knows more about hockey than everyone else because he took an Adult Learn To Play class at the Icehouse in Cary one weekend.

Sheesh.

Well well well, Joe Thornton’s re-signed with the Bruins and Eric Lindros is finally playing for the team his dad he always wanted to play for. Hilarity will ensue this season as the Flyers find out that maybe they’re not getting back what they gave up in 1991 (when Bobby the Brainless traded half the Flyers–including a young Peter Forsberg) to the Quebec Nordiques for Captain Melonhead) and the Bruins announcers have apoplectic fits whenever Sean Hill looks crosseyed at their golden boy.

As for the ‘Canes? Who knows. I think they’ll re-sign Josef Vasicek and Erik Cole (after Lavy has a little chat with the both of ‘em), I think we’ll do decently (but not spectacularly), and who knows? We might REALLY surprise some peeps.

http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/hurricanes/story/2699655p-9136779c.html

Before I start, a word for those who don’t know me:

Overall, I like N&O Hurricanes correspondent Luke DeCock (sometimes, I’m his sole defender round these parts). He doesn’t pull his punches, and (to me anyway) he makes it clear that he likes the team–No, he’s not all sunshine and happiness in his coverage. Personally, I don’t mind that–sometimes he makes me wince, but mostly he says what needs to be said no matter how painful it might be.

This time around, however, I think he didn’t do a very good job of seasoning the proverbial sacred cow before tossing it on the barbie.

(and I apologize in advance, but I am going to go off on a tangent that is somewhat related to my previous rant)

The one thing in the article that bugged me was the intimation that we didn’t try to sign Kariya–I don’t buy that. I’m willing to bet good damn money that JR was greenlighted to go over budget to sign a Kariya (or even a Selanne), but Nashville just looked to him like the better place to go.

I mean, think about it. Using the Kariya signing as an example:

Nashville has been carefully building their team since Day 1, Ottawa-style. Through careful drafts, strategic signings, and just flat good trading, the Predators have made themselves an up-and-coming team that players will want to go to–especially when you throw in the fact that Nashville’s just a happenin’ little burg.

The ‘Canes? I love them more deeply than I have loved any team in any sport ever–but let’s be honest: this team is in a hurtin’ way right now. We’re on yet ANOTHER five-year rebuilding plan, this time to build a team that suits the aggresive puck-pursuit game that Coach Lavy’s got going on. It’s an exciting style of play, yes. It’ll be great, yes–but don’ nobody wan’ sign with us because this team, at this point in time, doesn’t have a direction. I have absolute faith in Lavy, I really do–but right now, I’m wondering WTF manglement is thinking.

We have the smallest scouting staff in the NHL–we have a damn good scout in Marshall Johnston (and you have to think that he had some input into our recent FA signings), but we have NO Euro scout (and probably won’t have one again until sometime around the Big Crunch), we don’t even have part-time scouts, and the full-time guys that we do have are stretched hella thin. How the hells are you going to do a decent job finding prospects to stock our system with if you can’t devote the time necessary to do that decent job?

We have a GM who sometimes can’t seem to decide what the hell he wants to do with the team–very nice to have solid character guys on the team and all, but he makes these solid signings and good draftings, and then turns around and makes trades that get us very little in return for what we give up. He hangs on to guys like Sami Kapanen and (forgive me, Mona) Jeff O’Neill until their stock is worth mere pennies on the dollar, and then trades them for what amounts to a pittance. I love Brrrrrrruno to pieces, but I think we could have gotten more (or better) than him and an injured Krispy Kreme for little Sami. I also think that, had we traded O sooner than we did, we could have gotten more than a draft pick for him. Hells, had we done our homework we may have found out that Brendl was hurt before the trade, rather than simply taking him sight unseen and watching dejected while Bobby Clarke laughed all the way to the bank.

Do I blame ownership for this? Yes–insofar as that ownership has stood steadfastly by a GM whose GMing skills are pretty lacking. As I said years ago on a now-defunct message board, loyalty is an admirable quality to have–but there are times when such steadfast loyalty is a hindrance rather than a help.

Soanyway–about Luke’s Op-Ed piece:

He was, I think, trying to show that management is doing a slack job of trying to win back the casual fans and the new fans that discovered the team right before Armageddon hit. HOWEVER, I think he went too far the other way by only talking to people that had zero clue about how rock-solid our latest signings actually are. Where I think that Luke failed, in this piece, is in NOT talking about how solid those signings really are amd how hard management actually worked to try to land guys like Bryan Berard and Adrian Aucoin (among others–I heard an ugly rumor that we did go after McCarty, but then Mac heard I was married and…oh, sorry, forgot this thing was on). Where he also failed was in not talking to more people–people like quite a few of us on this board (and scout.com) that are genuinely pleased about having these new guys on our team. He also failed to mention the big steps back that teams like the Leafs and the Avalanche (and even the hated Red Wings) made. What could have been a golden opportunity to really capture the attention of the casual fan (and give a big F**K YOU to the idiots that wrote in to the N&O pissin’ and whinin’ and moanin’ about the fact that they had “too much coverage of that yankee team”) falls flat on its virtual face.

It’s very rare that I say this, but this time I think it’s pretty well warranted: Luke, son, you didn’t do your homework very well. Go to the back of the class and put on the pointy hat.

It’s sad, but true–nobody wants to come here. Stillman? I think we were the only team that made him any kind of an offer–and Gary Roberts helped us out by telling him how nice a place it is for a guy with a family. Tverdovsky? We were the only team that would even talk to him. I mean, shit. Bryan fucking Berard was offered the exact same money and length of contract by us that C-bus offered, from all accounts–and he went to C-bus instead. I’m willing to bet that Roman Hamrlik saw Rutherford’s number on his caller ID and about killed himself laughing–the only way we sign him is if we offer him stupid money. Kariya? Word around the campfire is that we offered him MORE money than Nashville did, and he signed with the Predators–which makes me happy for a dear friend of mine who’s a Preds fan, but it’s still crushing. Allison? Same thing. Offered more money by us, turned around and signed with the Leafs. The only attempted signing that I’m not complaining about is Aucoin, and that’s only cos he got stupid money from the Blackhawks. I mean, he’s a good defenseman and all–but not to the tune of 4 bills per. Shit, not even Marty freaking Gelinas–who is STILL loved and worshipped by the fans here–would sign with us.

NOBODY WANTS TO COME HERE, PEOPLE–and here is why (complete with my rebuttal–yay, bet you’re excited):

1) We have a reputation for uninspired, uncreative, Minnesota Wild-style boring hockey.

WAS true.

This is a relic from the days of the Great Helmsman, Chairman Mo Teh Coach, and his “play not to lose, defense-defense-defense” system. Offensive creativity was stifled in favor of simply hoping to put the other team to sleep, and players who showed any kind of offensive flair at the expense of defense had a short life expectancy here. People’s Exhibit A: Sandis freaking Ozolinsh–an offensive defenseman who was expected to play nothing but defense, and penalized when he did anything even remotely offensive. The man was a combined -29 when he was here, in glaring contrast to everywhere else he played (where the worst +/- he had was -6 in 02-03 with Florida/Anaheim, and a -12 in 97-98 with Colorado). And did the coaching staff try talking to him about it? NO! All Chairman Mo ever did was give him funny looks on the bench–hell, Sandis even commented on that in the N&O. And the fans complained loudly about him (and yes, I will touch on the subject of our fans), the poor sod. Anyway–we have a new coach, a new system, and (for once) a desire to win that actually extends past the players. But they have a long way to go to dispel the myth that we’re still playing boring hockey here.

2) We have a reputation for not having any nightlife–or, as that fuckhead who I am ashamed to say was a UND alum former NHLer Dixon Ward once put it, “there’s nothing to do in Raleigh”.

Not exactly true. There ARE things to do in the Triangle, and there is nightlife–the problem is that it’s spread out, so you have to drive to get to it. We don’t have an “entertainment district” like Nashville or Philly or Atlanta, but we do have nightlife. We have clubs and restaurants and concerts and stuff, like all those other towns. You just have to know where it is, is all. Shit, I’ll friggin’ DRIVE PEOPLE AROUND–FOR FREE NO LESS–to show them where it is.

3) We have a reputation for being nothing but ignorant assy rednecks that don’t know shit about shit and don’t bother coming to games because they don’t even know there’s a team here.

Partly true.

First–the ign’ant fans bit. We do have a lot of people here that are noobs to the sport, people that expect a fight every shift and get pissed if there isn’t one, people that think that what’s OK at a college football or basketball game is acceptable even though it’s not–but they learn, and learn quickly. I and a LOT of people at the RBC are more than happy to answer questions from newbies. Personally? I love it. I love explaining plays and why the coach has the guys on the ice that he does, and everything else. I love telling people about the history of the team, from all the Hartford-era stories that I gleaned from RonnieFranchise and the other old-timers on fanhome (and ncpen.net) to all the Carolina-era stuff that I was personally there for (like Marty Gelinas’ game-winner on the second-to-last night of the regular season that gave us the tiebreaker over Boston for the 8th spot in the East and set the stage for that epic playoff stand against the Devils and 2002). Yes, I freely admit that some of our fans can be assy–but we’re a pretty self-policing lot and tend to deal with the idiots quickly (and if all else fails, we have Raleigh’s Finest ready to deal with them–as long as they’re not octopus-hurling knuckle-chucking firemen from Detroit).

Second–the attendance gripes. It bugs the fuck out of me to hear people saying that nobody cares about the team because there aren’t 2938784724 fans in the seats and standing-room only every night at the RBC, while they excuse fans not showing up at the United Center or the Fleet Center because the Blackhawks and Bruins are O6 teams. Uhh…wha? Right. I’ll remember, when I see all the Hurricanes bumper stickers and front-plates (NC only has rear license plates) and t-shirts and stuff, that nobody cares. Bah. The “bandwagon” attendance thing is kind of a fact of life here…for now. This is still a college town with a college mindset–for example, there are UNC and Duke fans that refuse to pull for the ‘Canes because they play in the same building as NCSU. If they played at the Dean Dome or a building that had been made for the Blue Devils, there are State fans that would be pulling the same damn shit. Why? College mentality–which is why people tend to not show when the Hurricanes are struggling (except 02-03–that was nice). They, like Bruins fans and Blackhawks fans, don’t want to be seen as endorsing mediocrity. It happened to Duke when they hit the skids (though really it wasn’t that big a skid), it happened to UNC when they hit the skids, it happened to NCSU when they hit the bigtime skids and couldn’t even get into the NIfriggin’T. For all the transplants, this is still a bandwagon town, and the bandwagonery isn’t helped much by ticket prices that are out of the reach of Joe Sixpack and broke-ass convenience store clerks like me. I think it’ll be better this season though, because they’re bringing back things like the College Rush program (which gives any college student $10 off upstairs and $20 off in the lower bowl). So hope springs eternal, especially when I see all the kids that are excited because their favorite team is going to be back on the ice. There’s your future right there, folks.

Third–not knowing there’s even a team here. This is partly the fault of the Hurricanes and their refusal to spend anything above the barest minimum on marketing, and partly the fault of the News and Observer (who, despite having two very good hockey-loving writers in Luke DeCock and J.P. Giglio, still give the Hurricanes short shrift because 1) they’re STILL mad that the RBC isn’t downtown and 2) the editorial staff are mostly Carolina homers who are irate that the ‘Canes play in “NC State’s barn”–hell, the Durham Herald-Sun gives better coverage) and local TV stations whose attitude (aside from News14) is one of “who cares about hockey anyway”? Now, you want to talk about somebody who doesn’t know shit about shit, let me introduce you to Tom Suiter (WRAL’s sports guy) sometime.

So what’s the point of this rant? It’s partly a vent, and partly a shot at the people in our own fanbase that keep screaming and whining because Jimmy Rutherford isn’t signing eleventy billion UFAs for $texas a pop. I’m sick and tired of blind homers that think that everyone and his uncle wants to play for Carolina, WHEN THEY DON’T.

Just because you’re a fan of a team, that doesn’t mean you have to believe that they can do no wrong.