Sweet Tea, Barbecue, and Bodychecks

Call me crazy on this one, but that deadline was more then I could have hoped for. After a bit of despair earlier about the way things were shaping up, especially say in the hour between 2:30 and 3:30 PM on the 3rd before the final 3 trades came through, it couldn’t ahve ended better. Whitney is still a Cane, but I’m OK with that. Corvo was unexpectedly traded, but Pothier in the past has been a good defenseman in his own right and could prove to be worth re-signing if his concussion issues are in the past.

But let’s look at the trades following the Wallin trade.

To Ottawa: Matt Cullen
To Carolina: 2010 2nd round pick, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, USS Enterprise.

Wait… not that Picard? This one’s a defenseman? An offensive defenseman that Ottawa fans maligned quite often this season at that? Yeah I think we’ve heard this one before, that one played out nicely. While I still need to give Alexandre his 10 games to see how I like where he fits in the system, early returns are promising. It definitely sucks to lose Cullen though and the 3rd line center position has been notoriously hard to fill for the Canes historically.

To Anaheim: Aaron Ward
To Carolina: Justin Pogge, 2010 4th round pick

Hey, we get a 4th round pick back! That might be the most important part of the deal. Pogge should help Albany out a good bit though since Peters seems to be here for the long haul until Ward is back. With the Rats apparently running into some injury issues with Murphy and now Mike Morrison out this couldn’t come at a better time for them. Considering the way Ward had been playing earlier this season, I would have said the 4th alone is worth significantly more.

To Washington: Scott Walker
To Carolina: 2010 7th round pick

Meh trade in my books. It sheds some salary and Walker is one of my favorite foot soldier types not just in Canes history but around the league. If there’s anyone I’m OK with moving for absolute scraps to give him another shot at the Cup it’s Scotty. Besides, the 7th has been quality for us of late with selections like Kyle Lawson, Samuel Morneau and Tommi Kivisto in recent years.

To Washington: Joe Corvo
To Carolina: Brian Pothier, Oskar Osala, 2011 2nd round pick

This is the one that came out of left field for me that may in fact prove to be the steal of deadline day. It hurts a bit since I was a big fan of Corvo but fact of the matter is that this isn’t a huge downgrade for us. Pothier was at one point a VERY highly regarded defenseman in his own right with good two-way play. Some injury issues have hurt him though so it may be a little while before I am comfortable with that aspect of this. But Osala, damn if this kid isn’t a stud. He scores, he’s fast as hell, and he hits like a freight train. Not too long ago he was drawing comparisons to a pre-injury Erik Cole. The only issue with him is his inconsistency, which is likely the biggest reason he was traded on both sides of this trade. Washington has plenty in the wings in the pipeline and can chance him never panning out whereas we have the time to give him to sort this out to help him pan out. The 2nd rounder is just icing on this deal.

To Colorado: Stephane Yelle, Harrison Reed
To Carolina: Cedric Lalonde-McNicoll, 2010 6th round pick

Another meh trade, sending Yelle back to the place that put him on the map. Reed was looking like a complete and total bust here. Lalonde-McNicoll I have absolutely no clue about… and neither did anyone from TSN. So take that as a pretty big indication to not expect anything to come of this trade except for whoever we draft with that 6th.

To Vancouver: Andrew Alberts
To Carolina: 2010 3rd round pick

The one trade we made on deadline day that I didn’t care for. Alberts, while his salary goes up to 1.3 mil next season, was a reliable 3rd pairing type for us. He did exactly what he was advertised to do, clear the crease, hit, and provide a decent defensive game. But his upside may be tapped so we shipped him off to Vancouver. I still don’t think we got a good return on this one though.

But here’s how the deadline works for me. Despite trading Cullen and Corvo, the rest of the core of the team that’s been on this insane hot streak is essentially the same. We cleared out some dead weight and made some roster spots open for some younger guys to provide a bit more of a spark.

Here’s our lineup from last night:
Whitney – Staal – Jokinen
LaRose – Sutter – Ruutu
Samsonov – Dwyer – Cole
Boychuk – Brindy – Nonstopoulos

Gleason – Pothier
Pitkanen – Picard
Carson – Harrison

Trading out Ward for Jay Harrison is a wash, both #6 guys. Only Jay is actually paid like a #6 and Ward is paid like a #3/4.

Yelle was the extra forward, and while he’s been good at times this year he wasn’t needed anymore.

Walker was replaced by Boychuk. Why it wasn’t Osala or Blanchard is beyond me but any chance to see Boychuk in the lineup is a positive for me. That kid can just create chances out of nothing. See his forechecking on the TKO goal from last night.

Just as importantly we saved about 2.5 million in remaining salary and will likely be able to make a splash in UFA to pick up a real top 4 defenseman or two this coming offseason.

Sorry I couldn’t do the live blogging at the WJCs as planned. Some asshole from Nigeria obviously had different thoughts and rather effectively ruined my chances of bringing the equipment I would need… Hey I barely escaped without it going full body cavity search on me.

Anyway, as we have seen over the past 2 months, this team isn’t looking quite as craptastic as we were looking earlier in the season. But the worst cast scenario has happened on the trade front. The dreaded NTC has struck, hard.

First Ray indicated that he wanted to talk extension with any team that could be interested in picking him up. Oh he talked extension alright. There was a deal on the table that would have had the Hurricanes picking up another very high quality prospect from the 08 draft in defenseman Colton Teubert, who went 1 slot before Boychuk, and the Kings second round pick this year. Not a Kings ransom (ok, my only horrible pun tonight, I promise) but definitely a significant enough return that would have immediately boosted our lineup heading into the 2010-11 season and given us a rather nice asset to use to either trade up for another first or to select a good prospect.

What happened you ask? Ray went nuts. Bob McKenzie, who I trust more then anyone else in the biz, says that Ray wanted a 3 year extension with the Kings. http://tsn.ca/columnists/bob_mckenzie/?id=308689 3 years, for a guy that is going to be 38 at the start of said new contract. Sure thing Ray, how about the keys to the Taj Mahal while we’re at it. Bob speculates that he was simply trying to call his shot, but for the love of god, why do it like this? Instead of just outright not waiving his NTC for the offer he sets off red lights all around the league and a few teams that were interested no longer are. That may change now that Kovy is off the market, but COME ON RAY.

Now Wallin, it’s more of the same. While the return for Wallin is speculated to be a pretty nice package in its own right, if not outright comparable to the Kings package (Dman Derek Josslin and a 2nd) the problem that Nic ran into was in negotiating an extension with Sharks GM Doug Wilson. They were close to reaching a compromise, real close, but it didn’t happen. But I don’t put as much blame on the guy to be perfectly honest. Does it hurt? Yes. Do I expect some backlash at Wallin? Absolutely. But it’s misguided. He didn’t kill any chance of being traded. His demands were far more in line with reality.

And oh yes, we should look at the NTCs too. This isn’t the first time Jimmy has been burnt by NTCs. I’m sure some people will remember Sean Hill in 2003. He rejected a trade to New Jersey at the deadline that would have seen the Canes getting a fairly nice package back there as well. There was also a little something about a trade that would have seen Nic going elsewhere two years back. It wasn’t Philly as speculated though, it was San Jose (sounds familiar) and the reported return at the time was Christian Ehrhoff. The same Ehrhoff that’s currently the #1 defenseman in Vancouver. What is that old saying? Ah yes, “Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me”. I wonder what they would say about being fooled four times? Maybe it’s time the fans give a nice little chant at the arena next game to give Jimmy the sense that we’re watching and that we most definitely want and deserve answers.

Edit: Looks like we don’t have to blame the NTC either, at least on this one. The trade was approved just this afternoon, Nic and our 5th this year for the Buffalo 2nd round pick from San Jose, which they had acquired in the Rivet trade a while back.

These are the picks we currently have now:

CAR 1st, CAR 2nd, BUF 2nd, CAR 3rd, NSH 5th, CAR 6th, CAR 7th

Two seemingly unrelated moves this week could have big implications for the Canes down the road.

Firstly, the Hurricanes moved this past drafts #27 overall pick, Philippe Paradis to Toronto for Jiri Tlusty, a top 15 pick from 2006. On the surface this is a real head scratcher. Well, so was the pick of Paradis to begin with. When a guy isn’t regarded as a possible first rounder by any publication or Bob McKenzie, who usually has a pretty good pulse for what scouts are thinking and has a good relationship with our GM, then odds are the guy simply isn’t first round matterial. Most places had him listed as likely mid to late 2nd… painful. One of the guys drafted only a few picks after Paradis, Klingberg, nearly made the NHL out of the Thrashers camp this year. You know, the same Thrashers that are scorching us in the standings this year. Another, O’Reilly, DID make his NHL team out of camp and is a big reason for the Avs huge turnaround this year.

That’s not to say that credit shouldn’t be given for getting rid of Paradis while he still had value. But I have to question the inner workings of this team at the draft table at times. Sometimes it works nicely (Sutter) but others… I don’t think I need to go over the career of one Igor Knyazev as a refresher on this one, do I?

But I’m getting a bad feeling about Tlusty. He’s a Czech born player that is regarded as being supremely talented but has yet to put it all together at the NHL level, meh it happens. He struggles with the defensive aspects of his game and is seen as more of a parimeter player, not good, but that’s not a career killer. His work ethic has been called into question more then a few times and he developed a reputation for partying it up rather then focusing on hockey in Toronto, wait this is starting to sound familiar but I can’t quite place it… He reported to Leafs camp overweight this past year when it was likely he would win a roster spot out of camp… this can’t be good. Tlusty has also threatened to head over to the KHL after this season if he was not given a full time roster spot in Toronto, DANGER WILL ROBINSON!

Yes, the dreaded Pavel Brendl comparison has been made. The scary thing is that the similarities of their stats in the NHL at the point in Brendl’s career that Tlusty is at now is outright frightening. Mind you?Tlusty made the threat and isn’t exactly what would be considered a “Burke Player”, whereas that was the only option for Brendl at this point?in his career. But?truly the biggest difference between the two is skating speed, where your average midget house league player would be able to give Brendl a run for his money. Tlusty has speed to burn and if there is anything that could turn his career around it will be if he learns to properly utilize this to his advantage.

On to the second item of the week:
The Philadelphia Flyers have hired Peter Laviolette and Kevin McCarthy to replace John Stevens and one of their other assistants. All I can say on this is “good, about time Lavi got another shot”. While he’s not the best fit for Philly, personally I was thinking Ted Nolan or even MacTavish, it was obvious to me that John Stevens was the worst coach in the league after Keenan was canned.

How does this effect us? Well, we now no longer have Lavi on the books and?are no longer?hamstrung by that contract should we decide to pursue another coach if we do make a change. Sad to say but personally I think this season is prettymuch a loss and would like to see a real coaching search done in the offseason. About the only short term solution I could live with is putting Tom Rowe in the drivers seat as he’s one of 4 I would really look at for the coaching position. The other three, Kevin Dineen, Willie Desjardins and Scott Arniel, are all under contract at the moment and almost certainly could not be brought in until the season is finished.

I will say I do have a tinge of disappointment looking at this years WJC lineups.

The US team, which should be a competitor for the medal if they get their coaching issues sorted out, doesn’t have any Canes prospects on their list of players for this tournament. But that was to be expected this year to be honest. Brian Dumoulin (2nd round 2009) was our best shot and he likely will not get the call until the 2011 tournament.

Canada, however, was far more disappointing for me in that they did not even tender an invite to Philippe Paradis. While Paradis wouldn’t have been counted on for his offense he likely could have played the 4th line grind it out role that Andrew Ladd did back on what was likely the strongest WJC team of all time in 2005.

But that doesn’t mean the Canes will be without representation, not by any means. 3 European defensemen should all be named to the teams of their respective counties for the upcoming tournament and we likely could have had a 4th in LW Mattias Lindstrom.

Michal Jordan, a now 3 time player for the Czech Republic in the tournament, has already been named captain for the Czech team.

Fins Tommi Kivisto and Rasmus Rissanen are also expected to be named to their WJC teams. Kivisto played for Finalnd last year registering 1 goal in 6 games and should be expected to play again this year despite not having the best of seasons so far split between the Jokerit SM-Liiga team and the Jokerit Jr A team.

Rissanen, on the other hand, has been a fast riser. Rissanen reminds me a lot of an Ulf Samuelsson type player, albeit a decent bit cleaner, and played a key role on the Finland U-18 team this past year. Unlike most defensemen from Finland he’s not afraid to get dirty and will drop the glove from time to time. He’s not without some offensive upside either with 3 goals and 4 assists in 25 games with Everett of the WHL. I fully expect him to be a 2 year player in the WJCs as Finland will need to add some grit to their team if they have any hopes of medaling this year with such strong teams put out by the Canada, Russia, Sweden and the United States.

Lindsrom, who was regarded as a virtual lock for the Swedish side this year heading into the season, suffered an injury and is not likely to return from surgery until after the trournament.

11 games. A franchise record since moving to NC. Sadly we’re not talking about wins in this one either. 11 straight without a win, and something significant has to change.

I’d say start making trades with the presence that Sutter and Boychuk have brought in their first few games here, but Samson is the only one left in the AHL that I believe is NHL ready forward wise. Bowman needs the rest of the season, or at least until the deadline. Terry probably a 2nd full season in the A. None of the others (Dodge, Chaput, Blanchard) would have an offensive impact with the team.

But one change I would like to see made, one that I honestly feel could help out, is a move to get a new coach in. The one I’m proposing for now? A familiar face to those around this franchse. A former captain, a Whaler legend, and one of the members of the team upon its move to North Carolina, the original #11 for the Canes: Kevin Dineen.

Before anyone says I’ve lost it, here’s what he’s done as a head coach in the AHL since retiring as a player.
Record: 174-107-16-23, a franchise record winning percentage for the Portland Pirates even over current NHL head coach Barry Trotz.
Two appearances in the AHLs Eastern Conference Finals.
2005-06 Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Trophy winner (AHL Coach of the year)

If Mo Must Go (and I think he must, whether right now or after the season) then could there be any better story then Dineen taking a franchise that he was a key component of for years back from being laughing stock of the league to that team nobody wants to face in the playoffs?

While a lot of things have changed since the lockout, the Washington Capitals team of 2003-04 may be the best example of what to do with a veteran filled roster that is proving to be far less then the sum of its parts.

On paper, the Capitals of 2003-04 should very well have been a playoff team. Names like Robert Lang, Sergei Gonchar, Jeff Halpern, Jaromir Jagr, Peter Bondra, Dainius Zubrus, Mike Grier, Brendan Witt and Olaf Kolzig were the backbone of a team that just the year before had finished 2nd in the division. But the year before they had narrowly missed the playoffs and the team was looking to be at a crossroads.

So what happened? Well, simply put, management decided to “blow it up”.

Peter Bondra: traded on February 18th 2004 to Ottawa for Brooks Laich and Ottawa’s 2nd in 2004.
Robert Lang: traded on February 27th 2004 to Detroit for Tomas Fleischman, Detroit’s 1st in 2004 and a 4th round pick in 2006.
Sergei Gonchar: traded on March 3rd 2004 to Boston for Shaonne Morrisonn, Boston’s 1st in 2004 and 2nd in 2004.
Mike Grier: traded on March 9th 2004 to Buffalo for Jakub Klepis
Brendan Witt: traded on March 9th 2006 to Nashville for Nashville’s 1st in 2006.

what the Caps got as a result of their trades and ineptitude over that 3 year stretch?

Alexander Ovechkin (#1OA in 2004)
Jeff Schultz (#27OA in 2004) via Boston’s 1st
Mike Green (#29OA in 2004) via Detroit’s 1st
Chris Bourque (#33OA in 2004)
Mikhail Yunkov (#62OA in 2004) via Boston’s 2nd
Sami Lepisto (#66OA in 2004)
Nicklas Backstrom (#4OA in 2006)
Semyon Varlamov (#23OA in 2006) via Nashville’s 1st
Michal Neuvirth (#34OA in 2006)

So for two actual seasons of ineptitude they essentially were able to draft the majority of their core that isn’t named Alexander Semin. Bourque has since been picked up on waivers and Yunkov has yet to sniff the NHL, but Ovechkin, Green, Backstrom, Schultz and Varlamov are among their core players. Lepisto and Neuvirth are also both highly touted players and will likely be contributors down the road.

Now why do I bring this up? Because right now we have a Carolina Hurricanes team that is FAR less then the sum of its parts. But we also have some impending UFAs that could bring in some serious return at the deadline over the next year or so. Ray Whitney, Matt Cullen, Scott Walker, Joe Corvo, Aaron Ward and Niclas Wallin are all coming off the books after this season. With the exceptions of Walker and Wallin all are players that could bring significant return at the trade deadline.

With the strength of this years draft, especially on the wings as that is one area the Canes need the most help, it would be stupidity not to take advantage of the situation. Names such as Taylor Hall, Cam Fowler, John McFarland, Vladimir Tarasenko and Kirill Kabanov are already well know around hockey circles. But there are other excellent prospects in the top 15 such as Tyler Seguin, Brandon Gormley, Mikael Granlund, Erik Gudbranson, John Merrill and Alex Burmistrov that I am very high on this season. That’s not to say that GMs will be willing to overpay to the same extent that they did for the Caps players in 2004. But they also might be willing to pay more then a lot of people think for our impending UFAs for a shot at the cup. Lest we forget the examples from the past of Adam Foote going back to Colorado, Tkachuk to Atlanta and our very own acquisition of Doug Weight. All veteran players with plenty of post season experience and performance history… although Tkachuk is still confusing on that one years later. Here’s how I think our guys could play out value wise:

Ray Whitney: Mid to late first. Possible late 2nd-mid 3rd round pick or prospect as well depending on the team trading for him and the prices at the deadline.
Matt Cullen: 2nd round pick, prospect
Aaron Ward: late 2nd round/early 3rd round pick
Scott Walker: 3rd round pick
Joe Corvo: the real wildcard of our bunch. He could be worth anywhere from a first plus to a 2nd rounder depending on the prices and need for an offensive defenseman at the deadline.

If we go through with this it could suck for a couple years to be a Caniac. Or we could outright do a Philly type turnaround and use the extra cap room this year to bring in a legit first line talent to go with what core we do have. The question is if JR wants to go through with it. But I think even JR realizes that the window for a championship with this core is over and that we have the perfect opportunity to go through an overhaul, due to impending UFAs, that we never have had shy of the post-lockout season. Personally I’d keep the following roster regulars: Eric Staal, Jussi Jokinen, Tuomo Ruutu, Joni Pitkanen, Tim Gleason, Cam Ward, Chad LaRose, Andrew Alberts

I’d be quite happy with a core that looks like this in 2-3 years, even if it does mean the pains of an actual rebuild:

Zac Boychuk-Eric Staal-Tyler Seguin
Drayson Bowman-Maxim Kitsyn-Tuomo Ruutu
Jussi Jokinen-Brandon Sutter-Chad LaRose
Nic Blanchard-Stefan Chaput-Nick Dodge

Joni Pitkanen-Tim Gleason
Jamie McBain-Jarred Tinordi
Brett Carson-Andrew Alberts

Cam Ward
Mike Murphy

ahhh to dream the impossible dream. Faster, younger and most definitely more exciting to watch then what we have out there right now. But of course knowing that, JR would never go for it. Of course, IMO he’s part of the problem, but we’re not getting rid of him until he decides to step down and we all know that.

But Mo Must Go next offseason, plain and simple. We need a REAL coach. Don’t get me wrong, Chairman Mo did a great job of getting a defensive system in place with a team where the forwards probably didn’t know the name of the backup goalie under Lavihockey. But frankly we need someone that actually knows what an offensive zone concept is, yet alone has one. Ted Nolan has crossed my mind, as have some people from the Dub such as Don Hay and Willie Desjardins. If you want a real blast from the past how about former Whalers great Kevin Dineen, who has won the AHLs coach of the year award. Just SOMEONE that knows what they’re doing offensively to go along with a new team.

But that’s probably too much to ask. And knowing my luck now that I’m outright advocating to blow it up they’ll turn it around just in time to get close enough to the playoff picture to keep us from going through with the rebuild just to miss out in the end. And that my friends would be the worst possible outcome for the season.

Yes, it is true, the Acid Queen herself is stepping down. But I will not let this blog die yet. I might not be posting nearly as often as she does but I should be adding some of my usual as we go throughout the season and will in fact be letting some of my opinions on other matters be more well known. I’ll also be live-blogging from the World Junior Championships in Saskatchewan this year, something that should add an interesting dynamic to this blog.

And I’ll go ahead an give a bit of a warning right now, my first blog post for this weekend is NOT going to be pretty. It will likely ruffle a few feathers of the eternal optimists out there. But it’s an opinion that I feel needs to be brought to the foray, which is frankly: this is worse then 2002-03 and it’s time, we’re going nowhere with this core.

You’ll see what I mean when I post it. And odds are if you’re a fan of this team with any hopes for this season, you’re not going to like it.

well the selections have been made (whether they were right or wrong is another matter), the exhibition games have been played and the biggest annual hockey tournament this side of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is about to begin on December 26th. I am speaking of the U-20 World Junior Championships, being held this year in Ottawa. Here are some story lines to watch and what to expect from our players, as well as some under the radar draft eligible players that I like.

Story Lines:

1) Did Canada make the right move in net?

This one will be questioned for years if it backfires, with Caniac Nation and OHL followers serving up a healthy dose of “I told you so” the entire time. The goaltending position could mean the difference between Gold and Bronze this year for Team Canada with so many of their best eligible players for this tournament currently in the NHL. So you would think they would go with the hot hand, right? Well they did with one of their goalies: Dustin Tokarski from Spokane, who is putting up solid numbers this season (16-9-0-2, 1.97GAA, 93.8%). However the omission of OHL standout Mike Murphy, our 6th round draft pick this past season, from even making the training camp roster is making people in the know shake their heads in disgust.  Murphy is putting up better numbers (20-4-2-2, 1.97GAA, 94.4%) in a more offensive league and looks like a lock to repeat as OHL goalie of the year, if not taking CHL goalie of the year outright, which would give the Canes their first CHL goalie of the year prospect since Cam Ward. While Chet Pickard, the player Canada took over Murphy, is defending CHL goalie of the year his numbers this year aren’t nearly as good as they were last year and this tournament is often won by the hot hand. Right now there is nobody hotter in net then Mike Murphy, and with this being the strongest American team in a long time this may come back to bite Canada hard. Along with other questionable moves, such as the inclusion of Angelo Esposito, Canada may be in trouble.

2) Is this US team for real?

We’ve heard it a couple times since the US victory in 04, that “this will be the year we take it again” from the US fans. And each year, with the exception of 2007, which was unfortunately decided in a shootout after an epic Semi-Final match with Canada, the US has disappointed. So what’s the difference with this years team? Well, two things: 1) they finally have a solid goalie in Thomas McCollum (2.13GAA, 92.8% in the OHL) that can go save for save with the best Canada or Sweden can offer. 2) They finally have secondary scoring and are built like a team. Combine the dominant 5-1 result against Russia in exhibition with a weakened team Canada squad; this may in fact be the year we take it again.

3) Tavares or Hedman?

Towering defenseman Victor Hedman, who is projected by many as the #1 pick at the moment, is expected to lead what is arguably the strongest U-20 Team Sweden since the Cold War era. However in the pre-tournament exhibition it was Tavares that looked like the one deserving of the #1 pick as Canada stomped Sweden severly outclassing the Swedish team. Still, it would be insane to say that Sweden isn’t a threat to take in the gold this year. But the best story line between which of the 3 favorites that look pretty equal on paper (USA, Canada, Sweden) will be which of the two highly touted draft eligibles makes the biggest move towards being the #1 overall pick in this tournament. One thing to note is that Hedman is coming off an injury, and may have in fact been re-injured in that game against Canada.

My projected finish:

Gold: USA

Silver: Canada

Bronze: Sweden

Our Players:

LW/C Drayson Bowman (United States) – While he was a foolish omission by a US team that was desparate for secondary scoring last year, he wasn’t snubbed a second time. Bowman is among the players that the US will be relying on the most to compliment their top line of JVR-Wilson-Schroeder, and with his Spokane linemate Wahl also on the team Bowman has some built in chemisty on a line already. He might not put up huge numbers but, at the very least, expect him to make a name for himself.

LW/C Zach Boychuk (Canada) – While Bowman is one of the secondary threats for the US team, Boychuk was outright dominant in exhibition play for Canada with 3 goals and 2 assists in 3 games playing on a line with Cody Hodgson and Jordan Eberle. If Canada is to have any chance they need players like Boychuk to really step up and put up numbers like this throughout the tournament. I expect him to do so and expect him to skyrocket up prospect rankings everywhere in the process.

D Michal Jordan (Czech Republic) – While the name itself is rather epic, the kid can play as well. He’s building off last season nicely as Plymouth’s top defenseman this year with 3 goals and 18 points in 29 games to go with a +3 rating. Good size and good mobility go with it for the Czech national. He was on last years Czech WJC team and played a rather solid game for a team that seems to be on the decline in the past few years. Look for him to build off that performance and potentially for the Czechs to make a surprise run to the Semi-Finals.

Draft Eligibles to watch:

F Evander Kane (Canada), RW Jordan Schroeder (USA), LW Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson (Sweden), D Ryan Ellis (Canada), D Dmitry Kulikov (Russia), C Jacob Josefson (Sweden), C Tomas Knotek (Czech Republic), RW Tomas Vincour (Czech Republic), LW Marcus Johansson (Sweden), RW Andrej Nestrasil (Czech Republic), D Tomi Kovisto (Finland), G Danil Alistratov (Russia), F Yakov Vorobiev (Kazakhstan), D Evgeny Bolyakin (Kazakhstan), C Richard Panik (Czech Republic), D David Rundblad (Sweden), LW Toni Rajala (Finland), D Tim Erixson (Sweden).

In a tournament that is typically dominated by 19 year olds, if any of these players have a high impact for their teams they are likely worth paying close attention to throughout the rest of the season. Draft stock for players such as Patrick Kane have taken off after solid performances in this tournament in the recent past.

So with all that said, Merry Christmas everyone, and enjoy some of the best hockey of the year starting on the 26th. I’ll be there in person next year, so hopefully we can expect some in-person reports from the tournament.

The Canes came out with vengance on their mind after the season ending loss only months before. Instead they fell into a 2-0 hole to start the first thanks to an old friend. But the Canes were resiliant and kept at it. After a powerplay goal by Ruutu and a dazzling move by Whitney near the end of the first the Canes have all the momentum. Brindy would put them up 3-2 but would be answered a few minutes later by Dvorak. Joni was being Joni again tonight and put the home team up to stay with just over 5 to play in the 2nd. Despite a late comeback attempt and some, shall I say “questionable” calls, the Canes stood solid and emerged victorious 6 to 4.

So here’s some thoughts on the game. Defense:
Pitkanen – Gleason was solid, real solid. They compliment eachother extremely well and very well might be the best top pairing in the southeast. Dare I say it they could very well be among the top 2 or 3 #1 pairings in the east when all is said and done if they can carry this play over to future games. But they weren’t the only ones doing their part from the blueline. Frank Kaberle was back in fashion tonight and after doing the matador routine on the Panthers first goal had an otherwise solid night. Corvo didn’t produce but he didn’t look bad by any meens either despite his -2 so that’s a wash to me, he should put up the numbers this year regardless. Seidenberg impressed looking like he really wants to be a part of the Canes long-term plans and he deserved the 21+ minutes of ice time he got. Fantastic feed by him on the powerplay to Ruutu. Wallin was also a very pleasant surprise making the nicest play I’ve seen him make since the 05-06 playoffs to set up Lacouture for his first Hurricanes goal.

Up Front:
The Staal line was dominant despite Eric not ending up on the scoresheet. He was dangerous all night, Whitney is still the Wizzard and Eaves looks like he could easily have a breakout season alongside those two. The Brind’Amour line was not at its strongest even strength but they more then made up for that on the powerplay contributing both goals. Ruutu showed some glimpses of why he was considered the best prospect in hockey a few times tonight. The Cullen line was alright, shut down the Panthers forwards and pestered their D all night but didn’t produce until an empty netter at the end. The line that impressed me the most was actually Brookbank-Sutter-Lacouture. Generated a lot of action in front of Vokoun and the end result was a goal for Lacouture and Brandon’s first NHL point.

Special Teams:
This powerplay is lethal, period. The Pitkanen-Corvo setup on the point will generate more then it won’t and having the Brind’Amour setup with what looked like a resurgent Kaberle on the 2nd unit ensured that if the Panthers focused on stopping the 1st unit they would get burnt in the end. It happened, twice.
The PK… I’m still not sold on. It should improve over last season by simple law of averages, but there were only 3 players iced tonight that I would consider putting on a PK with Gleason, Wallin and Seidenberg. That said, the Canes new attacking attitude with the forwards will pay off and ensure that the PK improves. Sutter especially was impressive there, this kid has Selke written all over him, just such a cerebral defensive player at such a young age.

Dave’s 3 stars:
3 – Ray Whitney
2 – The Pitkanen-Gleason pairing… yeah I know it’s a copout, so sue me
1 – Brandon Sutter

The last time I wrote Zac Dalpe had moved from being a lock to play for Ohio State to being undecided. Well, the Canes 2^nd round pick has signed the dotted line with the Buckeyes. However, as reported by Alexander, the Canes offered the prospect a contract. If he had signed that would has killed all NCAA eligibility for Dalpe and ensured he would play one of three places: Plymouth (Major Junior), Albany or for the Canes. With Zac still developing, not to mention still growing, I’m pretty sure we all know what option it would have been. Yet another case of conflicting interests between the Plymouth Whalers and the Hurricanes.

This means that the best chance people would have had to see Zac in action was at the prospect camp as he’s most likely not going to pay his own way to training camp. Rutherford stated that the Canes plan to re-visit their talks with Dalpe next year and that they are still high on the prospect. Hopefully that doesn’t mean that they plan on re-visiting talks by calling in the middle of class shortly after the World Junior Championships. If that happens again I’m sure LA will be waiting with another package of a decent young defenseman and a third line center that will half-ass it after deciding he doesn’t like being stuck behind Staal and Brind’Amour on the depth chart.

One correction from my previous entry needs to be addressed though. PK is not the only owner of CHL and NHL franchises. Daryl Katz, the Edmonton Oilers owner, also the own of the Edmonton Oil Kings, which joined the WHL just last season. In fact the President and CEO of the Oilers, Patrick LaForge, also serves as the Governor of the Oil Kings. Whether they try to run the Oil Kings as the Junior Oilers, much as the same way PK treats the Whalers as the Junior Canes, remains to be seen.

Well it happened again, the Canes draft someone out of the “Plymouth Pipeline” that has churned out “great” players for us such as Jonas Fiedler, Jared Newman, Damian Surma and Kevin Holdridge. In fact since the Canes have moved to NC they have made Plymouth Whalers 14 of their 114 selections. Combined all these picks have a grand total of 45 NHL games played, a rate of just over 3 games per player. Yet the Canes keep coming back to the organization in the draft despite this, and this is mostly the doing of Karmanos. Why am I getting at this? Because they just used their 4th round pick on yet another Whaler, Michal Jordan, this past weekend in Ottawa. Now the name itself is an epic win and maybe I shouldn’t be too hard on the Plymouth Pipeline since we had not even tapped it since a round that doesn’t even exist anymore in 2004 until last year, taking both Chris Terry and Bret Bellemore, who both look pretty good as prospects right now. But I really do have to wonder if there’s another organization in the league that has used more then 10% of their draft picks on one junior team with such an incredible record of failure.

Now don’t get me wrong, they found a gem that passed through the draft a few times in Chad LaRose, who signed with the Canes after finishing his junior career in Plymouth. LaRose has played over twice as many games as the Canes 14 Plymouth picks put together and it’s likely he would have gone unsigned had he played for any other team. LaRose has become one of a few notable Whalers in the NHL right now, which include David Legwand, Bryan Berard, Justin Williams, Stephen Weiss and Paul Mara. But all of those players have one thing in common; they weren’t drafted by the Canes.

But the biggest reason for this rant has nothing to do with Jordan, who may yet prove to be a decent pickup if his performance at last years World Juniors is any indication. No, it has to do with something far more underhanded: the way PK does his business, specifically as it relates to the relationship between the Hurricanes, the Plymouth Whalers and our recently drafted RW/C prospect Zac Dalpe. Now, Dalpe falling to the Hurricanes at #45 was possibly one of the biggest surprises of the entire draft, really he probably should have gone in the first round and there’s absolutely no way he should have fallen to the middle of the second. Every single publication had him as a late first and the Hurricanes had him at #16 on their list, that’s the type of thing, like Paul Stastny falling in 05, that has the potential to make at least 20 other teams look like total idiots somewhere down the line.

If you’re asking yourself why this is a bad thing, for the Canes it’s not, but for Zac Dalpe it might as well be the kiss of death. You see, he was drafted by the Plymouth Whalers in the 2nd round of the OHL Priority Draft. The big deal with that is the OHL Priority Draft was for ‘92 born players this year, Dalpe is an ‘89, so when a team uses a 2nd rounder on a guy like that who has already committed to college you know they’re going to do absolutely everything in their power to get the guy to change his mind and go the Major Junior route. Now that he’s Hurricanes property he’s going to be getting the full court press from every direction, Stefan in Plymouth, JR, PK, I wouldn’t be shocked if even Ronnie himself were pushing for him to forget OSU and go to Plymouth. Still, nothing has changed for Dalpe, and he has even stated as much. That won’t stop the Canes from putting the pressure on Dalpe though. Plymouth should have a good team next year and Dalpe could be a key player for them, likely being their top center if he signs.

You have to give Dalpe credit for being a man of his word, and just as much you have to wonder about the conflict of interests that exist between the Plymouth Whalers and Carolina Hurricanes. Karmanos remains the only owner of an NHL team that also owns a Major Junior one, and while the Plymouth Whalers aren’t a farm team for the Canes as that is prohibited, it sure seems that the organization acts like they are one. And while Plymouth is by no means an NHL prospect factory, Ohio State isn’t exactly lighting up the NHL ranks either with their most notable alumni in the league being a tossup between Ryan Kesler and R.J. Umberger, not exactly a ringing endorsement of the program. I mean we’re not exactly talking about trying to snag a kid from Minnesota, Denver or even St. Cloud State here. But the fact of the matter is that the pressure is on from both parts of the Karmanos camp, despite the fact that Dalpe has stated that he has no intentions of playing for someone other then OSU next season.

I will say that OSU’s coach, John Markell, is doing himself no favors with some of the comments he’s been making to the press over the issue. According to him: “They’re the only team in the league that does that. Most NHL teams wouldn’t do that, but they’ve chosen to do it.” Well, unless he’s talking running a junior team simultaneously, odds are he’s off base with that. I mean, I guess there was absolutely no pressure from the Isles to get Okposo to leave Minnesota in the middle of the season right after the WJC’s. And I’m sure that none of the other players that jumped from the NCAAs to Major Juniors had any pressure from the team that drafted them to do so. Not to mention that when Ronnie met with McBain this past year Francis was one of the people encouraging McBain to go back for his junior year. I can respect where Markell is coming from, but when he says stuff like that it seems disingenuous at best.

Obviously both sides are concerned about what they feel is best for their player, but frankly that is the kind of thing that is up for Zac and Zac alone to decide.

So here’s the deal. We all know the off season sucks. For the most part it’s RFA signing this, depth signing that, which in itself isn’t a bad thing. It just usually happens at such a slow pace that it could drive a man to drink. I’d go golfing if it was not “holy hell I think I’m going to spontaneously combust” hot outside since the new champs were crowned. So what does a guy like me do in the meantime? Look forward to the draft of course, which is just a few days away now.

It will be in prime time starting on Friday and will be taking place in Ottawa this year. With gas prices requiring me to sell a kidney to be able to make this trip on short notice I’ll be following at home on Versus. Being a bit of a draft geek I already made a mock over on HF, but I’ll give our readers a look into my top 50 prospects for this year and my thoughts on some of my more controversial rankings. Here they are:

1 ) C – Steven Stamkos, Sarnia, OHL, 6′0/183, R
2 ) D – Drew Doughty, Guelph, OHL, 6′0/213, R
3 ) LW – Nikita Filatov, CSKA 2, Russia-3, 6′0/165, R
4 ) D – Luke Schenn, Kelowna, WHL, 6′2/212, R
5 ) D – Zach Bogosian, Peterborough, OHL, 6′2/199, R
6 ) D – Alex Pietrangelo, Niagara, OHL, 6′3/211 R
7 ) C – Colin Wilson, Boston Univeristy, Hockey East, 6′1/215, L
8 ) LW – Mikkel Boedker, Kitchener, OHL, 5′11/196, L
9 ) C – Cody Hodgson, Brampton, OHL, 6′0/185, R
10) W – Mattias Tedenby, HV 71 Jr, Swe Jr, 5′11/176, L
11) C – Tyler Ennis, Medicine Hat, WHL, 5′8/160, L
12) C – Zach Boychuk, Lethbridge, WHL, 5′9/184, L
13) C – Joshua Bailey, Windsor, OHL, 6′0/189, L
14) D – Colten Teubert, Regina, WHL, 6′3/188, R
15) G – Jakub Markstrom, Brynas Jr, Swe Jr, 6′3/176, L
16) D – Michael Del Zotto, Oshawa, OHL, 6′0/208, L
17) C – Jordan Eberle, Regina, WHL, 5′10/172, R
18) RW – Kirill Petrov, Kazan, RSL, 6′3/198,
19) D – Luca Sbisa, Lethbridge, WHL, 6′1/197, L
20) D – Jake Gardiner, Minnetonka, Minn-HS, 6′1/173, L
21) D – John Carlson, Indiana, USHL, 6′2/212, R
22) D – Tyler Myers, Kelowna, WHL, 6′7/200, R
23) C/RW – Zac Dalpe, Penticton, BCHL, 6′1/170, R
24) G – Thomas McCollum, Guelph, OHL, 6′2/208, L
25) C – Greg Nemisz, Windsor, OHL, 6′3/201, R
26) C – Nicolas Deschamps, Chicoutimi, QMJHL, 6′1/175, L
27) D – Colby Robak, Brandon, WHL, 6′3/202, L
28) C – Anton Gustafson, Frolunda JR, Swe Jr, 6′2/194, L
29) C – Joe Colborne, Camrose, AJHL, 6′5/190, L
30) C – Jamie Arniel, Sarnia, OHL, 6′0/195, R
31) C – Mitch Wahl, Spokane, WHL, 5′11/190, R (38)
32) C – Kyle Beach, Everett, WHL, 6′3/203, R
33) D – Aaron Ness, Rosseau, Minn-HS, 5′9/157, L
34) D – Vyacheslav Voinov, Chelyabinsk, RSL, 6′0/190, R (49)
35) D – Erik Karlsson, Frolunda Jr, Swe Jr, 5′11/165, R
36) C – Corey Trivino, Stouffville, OPJRA, 6′1/170, L
37) G – Chet Pickard, Tri-City, WHL, 6′2/206, L
38) D – Tyler Cuma, Ottawa, OHL, 6′1/185, L
39) C – David Toews, Shatucks St Mary’s, Minn-HS, 5′10/175, R
40) G – Dustin Tokarski, Spokane, WHL, 5′11/185, L
41) D – Cody Goloubef, Wisconsin, WCHA, 6′0/195, R
42) LW – AJ Jenks, Plymouth, OHL, 6′1/210, L
43) LW – Matt Calvert, Brandon, WHL, 5′9/172, L
44) D – Cory Fienhage, Eastview, Minn-HS, 6′2/190, R
45) RW – Jared Staal, Sudbury, OHL, 6′3/198, R
46) C – Mikhail Stefanovich, Quebec, QMJHL, 6′2/200, R
47) G – Harri Sateri, Tappara, Fin Jr, 6′1/190, L
48) D – Michael Stone, Calgary, WHL, 6′3/200, R
49) D – Justin Schultz, Westside, BCHL, 6′1/163, R
50) W – Viktor Tikhonov, Cherepovets, RSL, 6′2/187, R

Now a few questions you may be asking yourself: Tyler WHO? He’s undersized but the kid can flat out skate and score. There weren’t very many major junior players that broke the 40 goal mark this year, and Tyler was one of only two available for the draft (Eberle the other) from the defense oriented WHL to break that mark this year. His defensive game is good as well, leaving size the only question mark about this kid.

Why so low on Beach? He has a ton of talent and if anyone from this draft could break into the top 10, it’s him. Some think he has the talent to be the next Bertuzzi, or at worst the next Avery. But he has a history of concussions, disappeared in the WHL playoffs, and has a history of being a total hot head. Simply put I wouldn’t touch him with a 20 foot pole, out of both fear that I might knock him unconcious or that he might take the pole and beat me senseless with it. He’s my “bust of the year”, joining the likes of Angelo Esposito and Anthony Stewart.

Why so low on Myers? He’s a total project. The two biggest assets he has going for him are his size and his skating ability. That alone will give him a chance to make it to the NHL level, but when people talk about his untapped potential I’m just not seeing it. He could develop his offensive game and improve his defensive zone coverage but, with the way free agency is now and with how big defensemen usually take longer to develop, is he really worth using an early first rounder on only to have his game come around the year before he hits UFA status?

Who should the Canes draft? I really do get a laugh out of it every time I see it. People that think that because the Canes have a current need on defense that they should draft a defenseman. WRONG. That’s a current need, that’s what free agency and the trade market are for, this is the NHL not the NFL, you don’t draft for what you currently need. We have quite a few good defensive prospects like Borer, McBain, Lawson and Carson, the depth up front isn’t looking quite as good right now. Now, we could use a defenseman or two this year, yes, but unless one of the top end defensemen (Doughty, Bogosian, Schenn, Pietrangelo) drops to #14 somehow JR should be looking at picking a forward.