Archive for June, 2007
Wish List
Every team has a free agent wishlist. Some have more money to spend than others do and some seemingly have unlimited budgets. The Canes of course need a 3rd line center and have about 2 million to spend, give or take a few dollars. While I have seen lists here and there [...]
Fame
Congratulations to Ron Francis for being selected to the Hall of Fame earlier today! As we said with our post from yesterday, it couldn’t have happened to a more deserving candidate. I listened to the announcement and conference call on XM radio and Ron was as gracious as always. He thanked his [...]
You Wanted the Best
The best of the best will be selected for the Hockey Hall of Fame on Thursday! The selection committee will also make the public announcement of their selections in Toronto later that day. For a complete listing of first year eligible players and other information, check out this site. The induction ceremony itself [...]
I Choose You
According to the News and Observer this morning, Niclas Wallin has a decision to make. He’s been asked to waive his “no trade clause” so that the Canes can trade him (supposedly) to Philadelphia for Joni Pitkanen. Decisions decisions….who will Nic choose, the Broad Street Bullies or the Cardiac Canes? Some [...]
Back in the U.S.S.R
“Anton Babchuk is dead to me!” Okay, Jim Rutherford didn’t use those exact words, but he meant them. The Canes’ general manager made it clear to everyone before the draft that the disgruntled defenseman was on the trading block. Since the draft has come and gone and there weren’t any deals, one [...]
Long Day
It was a long day for most hockey people yesterday as the NHL finished up rounds 2 through 7 of this year’s draft. Somewhat surprisingly, the Canes only drafted one defenseman with their remaining 5 picks, Brett Bellemore of the Plymouth Whalers. To Bellemore’s credit, he led the entire OHL with a plus [...]
Family Affair
It’s hard to argue about the Canes pick last night. They could have selected a potential French-Canadian superstar who has a questionable attitude. They could have selected a potential Russian superstar with a questionable work ethic. Instead they chose the closest thing to a sure bet that they could, Brandon Sutter. [...]
All the Young Dudes
All the young hockey dudes will be in Columbus, Ohio tonight, hoping that at some point during the infancy of their careers they caught the eye of an NHL scout. They will have their families and friends with them in the stands, and they’ll be waiting to hear their names called. Some will [...]
Money
Now that Scott Walker is back in the fold, the Hurricanes can focus on filling out their 3rd line with a dependable center. Money of course, is an issue! I have updated the Canes Salary Chart always to be found now on the left sidebar and the Canes currently have 21 players [...]
Bloody Well Right
This just off the Cane’s presser….Scott Walker re-upped for 3 years at 2.5 million per year! It looks like JR blinked first during these negotiations, but after those recent Flyer’s signings who can blame him? I told you Scottie would be smiling after that Hartnell deal! Originally, I thought 2.5 for [...]
Dirty Laundry
Remember the old Don Henley song about professional journalism? “Kick em when they’re up…kick em when they’re down“, yadda, yadda, yadda. Negativity sells papers, everyone knows that. The same is true for sports journalism, I guess. Yesterday during my typical lunch hour of skimming through a number of various hockey [...]
Movin’ On
There’s lots of moving going on in the NHL right now. Let’s talk about the coaches first. Of course Mike Keenan was hired over in Calgary while Dave Lewis was fired in Boston. Remember a few days ago I predicted that Claude Julien might get that job? Well, it’s being reported [...]
One Bourbon, One Scotch, and One Beer
It’s time to party Caniacs! June 19th is a very special day and will always be special in the hearts of most Caniacs. Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of the night the Canes won the Cup! The date isn’t lost on the Hurricane’s franchise either as they are sponsoring a big party tomorrow [...]
Day Job
Yesterday, I was one upset blogger. I wanted heads to roll, I wanted someone to get fired! Looks like I got my wish. Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs must have really found out who was behind the Versus/NHL Award show fiasco and immediately fired Bruins head coach Dave Lewis when he [...]
Jokerman
Here is Gary Bettman indicating the size of something. It must be the size of his pea-brain because his manhood couldn’t possibly be that big! Someone, please, please, please put the NHL out of it’s misery. Fire Versus! Fire Gary Bettman! Fire the dimwit executives who couldn’t figure out that they should [...]
Roundabout
While it’s been quiet this week here concerning the Canes, the rest of the NHL world has been a buzz. Let’s take a quick look at what’s going on roundabout. First of all the new “Nashville” Predators owner, Jim Balsillie has dropped the facade about keeping the Preds in Nashville. The target [...]
Wish You Were Here
Anyone who has followed the Hurricanes recently knows that the team is in the market for a 3rd line center. There happen to be quite a few good, reasonably priced players to look at that will be available July 1st. I’m going to make a “CanesCountry Wishlist”, a listing of centers who I [...]
Anyway You Want It
Anyway you want it, that’s the way you need it. That’s the way David Chase feels anyway. Instead of giving Soprano’s fans some closure, he left it up to each and every one of us to write our own endings with his “blank screen” ending last night. “That’s genius!” some people are [...]
Wait
The highly anticipated news about Bret Hedican’s condition was reported in the News and Observer this morning. Apparently, the report about his health and possibility of playing next fall was “not totally positive or totally negative”, whatever that means. Jim Rutherford was quoted as saying “I don’t want Bret to be pressured into [...]
Simply The Best
Congratulations to the Anaheim Ducks and their fans! The best team in the league won the Stanley Cup again this year, I don’t think anyone would try to argue about that. They finished the year the same way they started it, in dominating fashion. I’m not sure what happened to the [...]
Can’t Buy Me Love
Will Captain Canada soon turn into Captain America? In news of the day so far, the New York Islanders bought their way out of Alexei Yashin’s highly inflated contract, releasing them from the last 4 years of his original 87.5 million dollar, 10 year deal. TSN has the details here. Of [...]
Ironic
The NHL general managers held their meeting in Ottawa yesterday. Isn’t it ironic that most of the meeting was spent discussing illegal hits to the head and how to stop them? One idea discussed is to make a rule that will assess an automatic minor penalty for any hit to the head. [...]
The Best of What’s Around
Carolina management is meeting this week to discuss various team needs, the draft, and to see if they can agree on who they should target during next month’s free agent feeding frenzy which starts on July 1st. They obviously will be looking at the “best of what’s around” out there, especially concerning their dire [...]
Dirty White Boy
I looked up the definition of a dirty hockey player in the dictionary. Look whose name appeared! Watch for Chrissy Pronger to get his 2nd suspension of this year’s playoffs after tonight’s elbow to the head to Dean McAmmond. Sure, his apologists will come out of the woodwork and say how it was [...]
Happy
Everyone is happy today! Cam Ward, the Carolina Hurricanes first and only Conn Smythe award winner, was rewarded yesterday with a 3 year, 8 million dollar contract. Of course everyone knew that the Canes would eventually be signing the restricted free agent, the only question was for how much. The answer is that [...]
