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Today the Canes announced that they have bought out Frank Kaberle's contract.
I think with the recent signings on defense that no one will be surprised by this development. Kaberle had been good in the past (specifically the '05-'06 season), but he recently had been useless, sitting out several games this past season.
And, honestly, just look at the posts tagged with his name and you'll get several pleas to trade him and his monstrous contract that he didn't quite live up to.
Including an awesome MS Paint pic of "Tank Parabola".
Well, I suppose I'll have to settle for a buyout instead of a trade.
News from the offseason (complete with stilted sentences because coherent thinking is totally not made for when school is out):
Signs that the next season is getting closer (but still dreadfully far away) were seen in the past few days. The Canes released their preseason schedule, which consists of four games with the Predators and Thrashers being the opponents. The full regular season schedule will be released on the 15th (Wednesday!), which coincidentally is the start of the prospect conditioning camp.
The Canes are continuing to try and solidify the ranks for the next season, signing Jay Harrison to a two-way contract. There is also talk of buying out Frank Kaberle to help save the team some money. If the Canes would manage to sign someone good I wouldn't be against such a move - as of now I really don't see that our defensive depth has improved since the last season (especially with Anton Babchuk looking to take his wicked slapshot back to Russia), so currently I don't think Kaberle being on or off the team really makes a difference.
You may have seen that the Canes made the 1st-of-the-NHL, 2nd-overall position in ESPN the Magazine's Ultimate Team Rankings. Rutherford has some nice things to say about us fans in an open letter about the rankings.
All I have to say is finally - FINALLY! - the Canes are getting some respect from a national source. We Caniacs have known all along how awesome hockey in the Triangle is - it's nice to see other people wising up to that fact as well.
Canes did okay this weekend, dropping one in overtime to the Kings and winning one over the Ducks.
And, despite having seen highlights or actual parts of each game, I can't remember anything about either game.
Except that Cam continued to look sort of shaky on some of the Kings goals, and the Canes seemed to completely lose it in the second period against the Ducks.
Oh, and Kaberle went out of the Kings game with some sort of leg injury... yes, we have yet another injury...
Next game is back on the East Coast, against Pittsburgh on Thursday.
So I am going on yet another vacation, this one just as filled with college visits, baseball games, and amusement parks as the last one - but this time no family and access to cable TV! Bonus!
I would like to point out that the last time I went away, a major trade happened. (I miss you Erik!) Perhaps another trade will occur when I'm gone, this one involving a certain defenseman who is set to earn $2.2 mil this year. (Psst - his name rhymes with Tank Parabola!)
And if that is not the best picture you've seen all day, you have no concept of art.
So, at least the '08-'09 Canes won't be without two of my favorite players: Yesterday Chad LaRose signed a one-year, $875k contract, avoiding his arbitration date.
And it looks like the Canes roster is mostly wrapped up for next year. Except for a rumored trade involving one of our defensemen. (Psst... Rutherford! Trade Kaberle! An offensive defenseman that scored no goals? And has a rather large contract ($2.2 mil) for that goose egg in the stats? Hello trade bait!)
You know what is just incredibly, incredibly stupid? Writing an essay - for a math class. That's right, in my Calculus class we have to write an essay - which doesn't even have to do with math. To put this in perspective, in my AP English class we haven't even had to write an essay yet. And here, on the second day of school, we're assigned an essay for calculus. I mean, COME ON! It's math! Who cares if we know how to write?
Speaking of rampant stupidity, having lunch at 10:45am is pretty stupid as well. I mean, COME ON! I eat breakfast at 10:00!
The last rather moronic point of today - Frank Kaberle is having surgery right before training camp - for the second year in a row! I mean I'm not calling him a moron (just his doctors) but COME ON! This is twice in a row that Kaberle has had a lingering injury that has needed surgery - right before the season starts. Last year it put him out for several months - luckily, this year it's only a few weeks. But the point remains - please, get your surgeries done early in the offseason! (Especially if you're in our rather shaky defensive corps...)
Canes won 2-1 last night against the Montreal Canadiens.
I was not able to listen to the game, as I was too busy, so I can't really comment on the actual play of the players.
Except that: The Canes won! Finally!
And that: Wow. Frank Kaberle scores the game-winning goal in his first game back with the Canes. Hopefully, this is a sign of a significant turn around for the team.
Also that: Andrew Ladd fought with Craig Rivet. I heard from my alternate-viewpoint Caniac, who happened to see some highlights, that Ladd won, but just barely.
Although the news of Kaberle's comeback is good news for the Caniac Nation, it is bad news for Anton Babchuk. Especially after he refused to be sent to Albany, so the Canes had to suspend him.
I'm not quite sure what exactly happens when a player is suspended. I assume that said player gets no pay... but is there anything else that happens?
Anyways... on a purely non-hockey note: Carolina plays Dook tonight, 9 PM. You can guarantee that I, plus everyone who cares about ACC basketball and/or those who live within a 50-mile radius of either school, will be watching it.
