A new coach!

Finally!

Yesterday the Canes fired Paul Maurice, a decision that was greeted with much joy from this sector of the Caniac Nation - and that was without knowing the coach that was hired. Later in the day, the Canes announced that they had given the head coaching position to Kirk Muller, a former Montreal Canadiens assistant who Rutherford plucked from behind the bench of the AHL Milwaukee Admirals.

Everything I have read about Muller sounds very optimistic - he seems like he'll bring the fresh outlook that the Canes need behind the bench. This sounds like a great signing - although anything that wasn't some kind of Rutherford retread would probably sound like a great signing at this point. Muller doesn't have any NHL head coaching experience, but all reports were that some team would have picked him up soon.

Compare this enthusiasm to my reaction to the previous coaching change. This one is so much better!

I am still surprised that the Canes didn't move Jeff Daniels up from Charlotte to coach the big club - but they apparently didn't want to shake up the good thing he's got going in Charlotte. Which I can kind of understand, but I would not be surprised to see him getting interviewed by teams soon - he's had a good amount of success in Charlotte.

Muller's first game behind the bench was tonight, and was it a 3-1 loss to Florida. But honestly? Don't care. Just the fact that Maurice is no longer behind the bench is success enough for me.

...Not really. I would like to watch some playoffs with my own team in them this year. But I think this is one step to making that become a reality. Or at least not a total pipe dream.

Hockey is over. Sadness ensues.

So the 2010-2011 season is over. Complete. And not the premature "over" that us Caniacs experienced in April - despite our team's failings, there was at least hockey to be seen. Not anymore - no more hockey games until October.

Congrats, I suppose, to the Boston Bruins and their fans. I was cheering them on throughout the playoffs, and it's nice to see them win. I would make some sort of crack about how I'm glad that Canada doesn't have the Cup for another year... but after seeing the riots in Vancouver, I'm beginning to think war might occur if they don't get one soon.

On the home front, there's actually been some Canes news since I last posted. The biggest news is the shuffling of the front office and who's behind the bench. Ron Francis is back at a desk, Tom Rowe is a scout, Brind'Amour is an assistant and newcomer Dave Lewis is also an assistant. Rather unfortunately, we're still stuck with Paul Maurice as head coach for another year. I'm thrilled, and by thrilled I mean that I really hope they don't re-up his contract. I am also sick of my team doing mediocre, so I would like them to do better this year. Just, maybe better because of Jeff Skinner or something and not because of the coach.

Players-wise, apparently contract negotiations have been going on. Today an article was put out on the Canes site about possibly trading for some people because it's not looking positive for Jokinen or Pitkanen returning. Chad LaRose and Erik Cole might be looking to test the market. If both of them go... man, there goes both of my favorite players.

For which I say to Jim Rutherford: Please Please Please Please Please SIGN ERIK COLE!!!! I honestly don't think I could stand him going to some horridly cold non-North Carolina place again. Hopefully he and the team can work something out.

And that's it for now I guess. I'll keep up with whatever little news trickles in this summer.

Maurice gets 3 year contract

The Canes signed the "interim" coach Paul Maurice to a 3-year contract today. The rest of the coaching staff will remain intact, with an added title of "Director of Player Personnel" for Ron Francis and Tom Barrasso being bumped up to "Assistant Coach".

This is good... I guess. Despite the fact that Maurice didn't crash and burn like I expected him to (actually, he did the opposite of that) I still am not sure about him being the long-term coach. Probably because I can't stop remembering his first stint with the Canes and how that fell to pieces. And because his brand of hockey can be downright boring at times.

Eh, whatever. I suppose if he can continue to get the Canes deep in the playoffs, then there's no reason to complain.

Paul Maurice. The name seems oddly familiar...

A surprise move by the Canes today: Coach Peter Laviolette has been fired.

Well, that's actually not the surprising part. Considering the lackluster play the Canes had been putting out recently, and the impatience of, well, a lot of people, primarily the fanbase, I'm not that surprised to see Laviolette relieved of his duties. It's not like his seat was ice-cold or anything.

But, (Surprise! Surprise!) guess who the Canes hired in place of him?

Paul Maurice.

*facepalm*

Yes, the Canes re-hired someone they fired, hm... back in the 03-04 season? Yes, it was the season before the lockout.

Let me state that again: The Canes fired Lavi to re-hire the guy Lavi was hired to replace.^†

Not to mention - Maurice was removed from his duties as Maple Leafs coach a year ago. Do we really want to be coached by a Toronto Maple Leafs cast-off?

The only thing about this move that is in anyway redeeming, or, to be honest, that makes any amount of sense is the move of Ron Francis to Associate Head Coach. Having a guy like Ronnie on your side is a plus in any situation where hockey knowledge is required.

The rest of the coaching staff remains the same - which begs the question, why not just promote one of those guys? You can't tell me that we couldn't have just gone in-house for this one. (Although, I realize that this pretty much is "in-house").

I don't get it. I just don't get why we're re-hiring someone who didn't work out for us in the past. If anyone can shed any sort of light on this, please try and help me understand this move.

Maurice's first game is tomorrow against the Pens. Oh dear...

^† Doesn't this sentence just blow your mind?

Improvement seen

Canes drop another to Atlanta, losing 3-2 last night.

The difference between this loss and the previous ones was the actual energy the Canes showed throughout the game. Especially in the third period, where the Canes had a sustained drive at the Atlanta net, looking for that elusive tying goal.

Also, Eric Staal showed up, only getting an assist, but playing a heckuva lot better than he had the previous games (Of course, that wasn't hard to accomplish...). And Rod Brind'Amour made an appearance as well, albeit only in the third period. But he came through when the team needed a goal to get back in it, and I suppose that's all that matters.

And we had two powerplay goals!

Speaking of powerplays... please, Wallin, next time you decide you need to argue with the refs and get a unsportsmanlike penalty - don't give the other team a 5-on-3 for two full minutes in the process...

The next game is tomorrow against Tampa. Maybe we can *gasp* win this one?

Oh yeah, speaking of Tampa, it's back to ESPN for Barry Melrose - he was fired after only 16 games with the team...

Things are starting to heat up...

Canes signed Tuomo Ruutu today to a one year $2.25 mil contract.That number seems a little large in my estimation - to me he's still kind of an unknown in the offensive area (although not in the ability-to-get-stitches area). But, hey, it's only a year - if he doesn't live up to it, at least it's not a long-term contract. But if he can hit and fight and score, then it's money well spent in my book.

Interestingly, the player we traded for Ruutu, Andrew Ladd, signed a two-year deal with the Blackhawks as well today. Hope things continue to go well for him and he scores lots of goals this season (as long as they're not against us!).

Yesterday, Jeff Hamilton and David Tanabe were placed on waivers to be boughtout by the team. Which is sad in Tanabe's case, as he doesn't seem to have recovered from that concussion he suffered at all.

And hiding in that article about the buyouts was this gem:

Additionally, Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford said the team has been unable to reach an agreement with forward Darcy Hordichuk, whose free-agent rights the Canes obtained from the Nashville Predators on Thursday. [...]

"The fact that we had tried to get a jump on it and he wasn't interested in what we had to say, it would appear we're not getting him," Rutherford said.

So, the point of that trade was...?

And to cap all of today's news off: Barry Melrose was instated as the Tampa Bay Lightning coach. Which is just sort of weird.

Catching up...

So, haven't posted in a while because summer is in full swing - and in the ultimate oxymoron - I have all the time to post, just nothing to post about.

Anyways... there was a little switcharoo in the Canes coaching scheme. Tom Rowe from Albany is the new assistant coach for the Canes, while Jeff Daniels, the previous assistant, goes down to coach Albany. I just kind of shrugged when I heard the news - not a big deal, I don't think, but it'll make Laviolette's seat become hotter if the Canes don't make it this season.

Michael Leighton was signed on a one-way contract, getting him $600,000 a year for two years. Which is a good move, wrapping up our backup goalie spot with a goaltender who looked frickin' awesome in the AHL this year. (And he didn't look too shabby when he came up for those games this past season, either).

And finally, happening yesterday, the Canes extended their lease with the RBC Center until 2024. Sounds like good news to me!

So, I'm telling myself that I'm going to post two times a week, just to help all you other hockey fans through the summer doldrums. Then again, I told myself for the past two years that I was going to make a hockey shrine out of the 2006 playoff stuff... and it's still sitting in a pile on the table. Oops.

Mid-week update

Not really much from a team standpoint with the Canes, as they don't play until Friday, but there's some interesting stuff out there in general:

- The Canes site has a nice article on Chad LaRose and how awesome he has been so far this season.

- The site also has a good article on Jeff Hamilton and how he has suddenly made the Canes power play freakin' awesome.

- Bob Hartley, coach of the Atlanta Thrashers, was fired today after the team starting 0-6. I bust up laughing at the following quote from the GM in the TSN.ca article:

"Whether Bob should be the victim here or not, time will tell, but unfortunately in this business coaches, all have shelf lives,"

I guess when I think of "shelf lives" I think of moldy cheese that smells a little and is slighty fuzzy... and picturing an NHL coach like that was just hilarious...
Okay, yeah it wasn't that funny. I still think it's quote-worthy, though.

- I think heated skate blades would be the bomb.

That's it for now. More when something newsworthy comes up or the Canes play a game. Whichever comes first.