Carolina Hurricanes

Last thoughts before the season begins…

Training camp was brutal from an injury stand-point. Williams out for 4-6 months, Brind’amour’s maintenance surgery, Walker out for a few weeks. The Canes have some sort of problem, and it is good to see the GM addressing it. All we can hope for is that the season goes more smoothly.

A few interesting story lines remain… What will happen with the crowded defense? We still have 8 NHL-caliber defensemen on the roster. My guess is that we are hedging our bets due to injury fears. What will happen with Boychuk? Even recovering from injury, he made the final roster, and will play soon. My guess is that he will be sent back to juniors after 10 games, but maybe he will stick around. Finally, what will Dan Lacouture bring to the table after his successful try-out? I hope he brings some new energy, at times this team looked pretty moribund last year.

So predictions… I think Carolina will win the Southeast division. Washington is good, but I have no faith in Jose Theodore. Florida is getting better, but they aren’t there yet. I feel bad for Atlanta, and I chuckle at Tampa Bay.

Halfway through Camp

The biggest news today is that Jeff O’Neill and management made a “mutual decision” to end his try-out run. This was obviously coming, as he has been almost entirely ineffective in the Canes’ first four pre-season games. Then again, the Canes have gone an unfortunate 1-3, so no one has been particularly effective. Anyway, best of luck to Mr. O’Neill, he will always be fondly remembered for his earlier years in Raleigh.

The Canes injury situation seems to be stabilizing. The news that Cullen has been suffering from a “stiff neck” after rough contact does not bode well for his future health. Players who suffer serious concussions seem to always be in danger of another, as Eric Lindros so unfortunately demonstrated. Cullen is a great player, but if he gets another serious concussion, he really needs to retire right away. There is no sense in ending up with a life-altering brain injury. He has made some money, and a good name for himself in the NHL. If he finds himself in such a situation, I hope he has the sense to walk away.

Last note… Dan LaCouture. With O’Neill’s departure, our second try-out candidate has a good chance of making the team. He seems to be in better shape than #92, and seems to want it more. He may be a player worth watching this year, especially if he can develop some real chemistry on the third line. Rutherford/Laviolette have proven to be pretty apt at the whole reclamation project thing.

Williams Injury update

According to ESPN, the knee injury from last year was to Williams’ left leg. The new Achilles’ tendon injury is to his right leg. James Mirtle pointed out that these injuries tend to be related, and cited Selanne’s years of trouble. Perhaps in Justin Williams’ case, the two are unrelated, and this is not a sign of a career cut short.

Terrible!!!

This must be a joke. I am speechless. From the News and Observer:

Canes’ Williams to miss 4-6 months
Submitted by chipalexander on 09/17/2008 - 16:02
Tags: Lord Stanley’s Blog | Justin Williams

The Hurricanes suffered a big blow today when forward Justin Williams underwent surgery to repair a torn right Achilles tendon.

Williams, who suffered the injury in an off-ice workout this morning, is expected to be out four to six months. The seven-year veteran missed much of last season with a serious knee injury.

“It’s certainly a setback for us,” general manager Jim Rutherford said. “We were looking forward to Justin having a big year. This doesn’t mean he won’t be a part of it. He can come back for the most important part of it.

“We always talk of our depth. We’ll see for sure. We have some guys who can jump into the top nine [forwards], but they’re not capable of scoring 35 goals like Justin is.”

Rutherford said Williams’ injury “opens the door wider” for a player such as Jeff O’Neill, the former Hurricanes forward who did not play in the NHL last season and is attempting a comeback.

“If he has a good training camp, that would give us another option,” Rutherford said. “We have options. It’s difficult to replace a player like Justin, but it is an opportunity for someone else.

“We do not have to take a huge step backward.”

Rutherford, noting the team’s depth on defense, said the Canes could look into trading for a forward.

“We’ll look at everything we can,” Rutherford said. “That’s what training camp is for — to evaluate. We may have players who perform well and not have to look outside.”

Staal is a wealthy man

The triangle area’s newest most-eligible bachelor cleaned up. I thought $7.5 per season, but he actually managed to get more than $8 (7 years, $57.75 million total). I like this deal, mostly because the Canes avoided the trend of offering ridiculous deals with double-digit lengths. Staal will be thirty when this expires, the perfect time to re-assess the situation.

I noticed that Jason Chen has started his season previews on the main Hockey Analysis sight. I will reserve my Carolina observations until we see what training camp brings us.

Hockey on the horizon

I am glad to see hockey news picking up again in anticipation of the coming season. Nothing particularly interesting to report on the Canes front. Rutherford is trying to resign Eric Staal in anticipation of next year’s free agency. Here’s betting he gets a 7 year $7.5 million dollar contract.

Training camp starts in less than two weeks, and I think the biggest story will be Jeff O’Neill’s comeback attempt. I will post updates.

O’Neill Update

August in the NHL, so not a lot has been happening. Not much has gone on in Raleigh hockey lately, though today’s announcement that Jeff O’Neill will indeed be joining the team at training camp and competing for a roster spot in interesting. O’Neill has had a good career in Canes uniform, and it would certainly be nice if he were to return to something like a 25-goal 60-point form. I wonder, however, given our plethora of forwards, how exactly he will fit in….

Dog Days

Nothing much happening in the hockey world at this, the nadir of the NHL calendar.

A couple of things worth mentioning. The recent NC Sports Poll has caused quite a stir among Canes fans, primarily due to the possibly disturbing fact that a solid 18% of those polled being entirely ignorant of the team’s very existence. My only reply is to quote Mark Twain and Disraeli: There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics.

Also worth mentioning is the possibility of a new third jersey making its debut soon. I like the idea personally, though I know many hockey fans prefer the neat, simple, classic look to the often busy alternatives.

Interesting tidbits

Two semi-interesting things surfaced today, courtesy of Luke DeCock over at the News and Observer. First round draft pick Zach Boychuk needed surgery to repair a wrist injury sustained during the WHL playoffs. The three month rehab time means he will still be well less than 100% come training camp. I wonder how this affects his chances of making the team (actually I don’t really wonder… he likely will not make the team).

The second item of interest is the possible return of Jeff O’Neill. I was an O’Neill fan, especially during the 2002 playoffs, but frankly I considered his trade to Toronto a good thing when it happened. He seemed to run out of gas or something, but his early luster was certainly gone. Still, the man is two months younger than me, and I like to think that I am still in good enough shape that one day the NHL will realize what they have been missing and come calling. So best of luck to O’Neill.

Random Thoughts

No new news from Raleigh, though the News and Observer did run this nice piece on prospect Brandon Sutter. Sutter is the Cane’s best prospect, and is more than likely to make the team this fall.

My other thoughts revolve around two recent firings. First, our southeast rivals Tampa Bay parted ways with GM Jay Feaster. This move was pretty clearly coming after Barrie and Koules took over the franchise and began running things from the owner’s box rather than the GM’s office. Still, pushing out a GM who put together a Stanley Cup team was a bit of an amateur move, as have been many of the new owners’ free-agent activity. I was never a fan of Feaster, especially after the way he handled Dave Andreychuk a couple of years ago. The recent nonsense surrounding the trade of Dan Boyle was also remarkably like the dishonorable way in which they Stanley Cup team’s captain was forced out. Still, Feaster was smart and professional, something which Koules and Barrie are yet to establish themselves as.

Ted Nolan also got the axe recently (today). Bad move by GM Snow. Nolan got a lot out of next to nothing on Long Island the last couple of years. I guess that wasn’t enough.