All Entries in the "OffSeason News" Category
Canes Back To Flying Under The Radar
The expectations are low. Just look around the Web at the major sports sites or read the top publications and you’ll get an idea of how the Hurricanes are perceived heading into the season:
• The Hockey News: 8th in the East
• TSN.ca Preseason Power Ranking — 21st in the NHL
• Sportsnet.ca: 3rd in the Southeast
• [...]
Canes Make Minor Move
The Hurricanes signed left winger Matt Murley to a one-year, two-way deal today, adding more depth to their forward corps. The 28-year-old was with Phoenix last year, splitting time between the Coyotes and their AHL affiliate, the San Antonio Rampage.
In three games at the NHL level, Murley had one assist, but with the Rampage he [...]
Hamilton Lands In The AHL
Jeff Hamilton, bought out by Carolina this offseason, has found a home with the Chicago Wolves of the AHL. Before getting his break with the Blackhawks and then signing with the Canes, Hamilton was among the AHL’s most profilic scorers, leading the league in goals with 43 in just 67 games with Bridgeport in 2003-04.
Hamilton’s [...]
Best And Worst Moves Of The Offseason
With all the vacant coaching positions filled, the draft over and the free agent market pretty well dried up — except for a few big names like Sakic, Shanahan and the Swede (I’m so sick of seeing his name, I can’t even bear to write it), it seems like a good time to look around [...]
Information Wars
Sports coverage in the area is about to get very interesting. While 850 the Buzz and 620 the Bull have had virtual strangleholds for quite some time in the local radio sports talk market, a new contender is about to enter into the fray. According to a recent story in the News [...]
Are You Ready?
Are you ready Caniacs? The RBC Center is getting there. Late last week I mentioned to keep an eye out for the repainting of the surface as they prepared the ice. As you can see on the live RBC webcam, the new artwork is done and it looks pretty snappy. They [...]
She is Rising
A couple of weeks ago I posted news about the Storm Squad tryouts, (Clap your Hands), and that quite a few girls would be needed to replace some of the long time regulars who are leaving. One of those “retirees” is Holly Wilver, who also doubled as the Hurricanes primary singer of the “National [...]
Won’t Get Fooled Again
Well, it’s been a week and Bret Hedican hasn’t announced his retirement yet! I’m glad I took that comment last week by the “fanofhockey” with a grain of salt about Hedican’s impending retirement due to health concerns. (Once Bitten Twice Shy) Bret pretty much put an end to that rumor all by himself [...]
Gimme Shelter
There are still a few good hockey players out there without a home. With NHL training camps opening next week, one might think that it’s getting a bit late in the game to still be out there posturing and negotiating. Maybe these guys are at the point where they should be looking at [...]
It Only Hurts When I’m Breathing
There has been a lot of speculation about Bret Hedican’s health this summer. Not only did he miss 32 games last year, but many of the games that he was able to play in, he was playing injured. He failed to score a single goal all year long and finished with [...]
Too Old to Rock and Roll, Too Young to Die
Yesterday I was skimming over several blogs to see what was new and came across something interesting over at James Mirtle’s place. James posted a listing which included the average age of each NHL team along with the where the team stood in the league concerning this year’s salary commitments. While it didn’t [...]
Together Again
Caniacs have been asking for it and they finally got it. The local news actually reported something about the Hurricanes! Granted, it’s nothing really new or exciting, but it is something. Some of the Canes have been practicing at voluntary ice sessions which started Monday at the RecZone. The [...]
Clap Your Hands
Are you good at clapping your hands and getting others to clap as well? You may want to consider being a member of the Carolina Hurricanes Storm Squad! Seriousy, there’s a lot more to being a Storm Squad member than that, but now is the time to apply if you think you have what it [...]
Surfin’ USA
How many hockey players do you know, who when given the opportunity go right from the rink to the beach? Now we all know one! Noah Babin, the Hurricanes’ prospect from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, used to go surfing right after hockey practice back in his younger days. The ex-Notre Dame [...]
All Us Boys - (part one)
This is a very exciting week for a young group of hockey players. The “boys†of the organization have been invited to Raleigh to learn about physical training techniques, motivational tools, nutritional information, and other tips to help them be successful professional athletes. Some of these prospects will make it to the NHL, some will [...]
All Us Boys - (part two)
Nick Dodge…
Dodge was drafted by the Canes in 2006 in the 6th round. The Oakville, Ontario native is now the team captain for Clarkson University, the same school that Erik Cole attended! He’s scored 40 goals in 111 career college games and also chipped in with 58 assists. Dodge is listed at [...]
Thanks For Reading My Mind
Early yesterday morning I posted information and questions about the Canes’ prospect camp, and viola! Later in the afternoon both Luke DeCock and the Hurricanes main site posted information as well! Thanks for reading my mind and for answering my questions! First of all, the actual dates of the camp are [...]
Zero
There’s a whole lot of nothing going on with the Hurricanes right now. There’s been zero Hurricanes’ news in the local paper for days, nothing new in the popular Lord Stanley’s Blog, and no updates on the team site. So what’s a fan to do other than read unsubstantiated trade rumors? Well, [...]
Back in Black
The Hurricanes went over budget yesterday when they brought Matt Cullen back into the family, but they’re hoping the move will end up helping them get back into the playoffs and “back in black” eventually with their bottom line. According to the CanesCountry Salary Chart, the out of pocket annual salary cost for the [...]
On The Road Again
Last week the new schedule was released for the coming season and once again the NHL scheduling gurus were unkind to both the Hurricanes and their Caniacs. As section 328 would proclaim, “nuts and bolts, nuts and bolts, we.. got.. screwed!” Remember last year fans complained about the high number of back to back [...]
The Better Life
Quite a few players signed up for “The Better Life” during the past couple of weeks. With all the recent talk about Matt Cullen’s contract being too high, I thought we would compare his contract with some of the others that hit the books starting July 1st. We’ll start with my previous listing of [...]
Come Back
Ever since I put up the latest poll inquiring about which ex-Cane should come back into the fold, things have been a buzz about Matt Cullen possibly returning. Most of the buzz is coming from News and Observer reporter, Luke DeCock. Does he have an inside track on something, or is he just [...]
Kiss Your Past Goodbye
While Carolina hasn’t been in the news much recently, many of the franchise’s past players sure have been. Let’s take a quick look around the league and see what’s up with some of them. You’ll find that in most cases, their fortunes have changed for the worse since leaving Raleigh. Maybe current [...]
Wild ‘n Free
There’s nothing better than a wild hockey game, right? Well wait a second, how about a wild hockey game that’s for free? The Carolina Hurricanes made a great announcement for their fans earlier today. The first exhibition game this year scheduled on Sunday, September 16th against the Washington Capitals, will be free! [...]
Head Games
I apologize if this blog has seemed more Sabres orientated lately than Canes, but Buffalo is imploding and it’s fascinating to watch! Today, Oiler’s general manager Kevin Lowe began a game of chess with the other general managers of the league when he offered Thomas Vanek a 50 million dollar, 7 year contract which [...]
Too Much, Too Little, Too Late
This is the time of year that Jim Rutherford can “do no right”. Some fans want to shake up the whole Carolina line up. Some just want a few key additions. Some want a few key changes. One thing for certain, no one is totally happy with the way the [...]
Beginnings
Today was day one of the free agent feeding frenzy, and what a day it was! All the big money guys are officially gone already. The Buffalo co-captains have both moved on. Ryan Smyth went back west and Scott Gomez is now a Ranger. There was also a major trade between [...]
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. [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Crystal Ball
The season starts in one day and I haven’t even made my predictions yet. Shame on me! It’s too bad I didn’t think of this earlier, I could have challenged my fellow Canes bloggers and we could all compare picks! I don’t think there is enough time now though, maybe next year. I’m going to make this [...]
River of Dreams
Here was something in my wildest dreams I wasn’t sure if I would ever see. The “Carolina Hurricanes”, etched right there on the Cup!! This picture was taken by Hyena at the Caniac Carnival on Saturday. At times the wait was reportedly in excess of 3-4 hours to see the Cup and it was easily the highlight for many. But there [...]
Wish You Were Here
In a perfect world for Caniacs, Jack Johnson would have reported to camp this year and would be smashing the Blue Jackets tonight. That never happened. Somewhere along the line, Jim Rutherford gave up on signing Jack and made a decision to trade him. The rumors have been ongoing for months ever since last year’s [...]
Better Life
Two ex-Canes will retire soon, one was very popular and one not so much. Darren Langdon came into town from NY back in 2000 to ride shotgun for newly acquired superstar Ron Francis. Darren never scored many points, but it’s hard to think of another enforcer who understood his role and followed it better than [...]
I’m gonna go fishin’…..
Here is a cool Cup Journal type story that probably won’t make it to the official Cup Journal. Hurricanes video coordinator Chris Huffine chose to take the Cup bass fishing with him on Falls Lake. ESPN was supposed to tag along and film the story, but cancelled the trip.
“The Stanley Cup, [...]
