Final offseason update (?)

Well, I figured I ought to post before it goes an entire month without hearing from me. Luckily, the offseason is almost complete and I shall switch into true hockey mode. It helps, of course, that my college football team has already tanked, so the only distraction from the coolest sport on earth will be that pesky thing called "school".

Anyways, this week the Canes named Rod Brind'Amour Director of Forwards Development, finally finding him the position that they had guaranteed him when he retired earlier this summer. Definitely a good fit, I'm sure that he'll try to instill some of his famous work ethic in our younger forwards. I'm also really glad that he stayed with the organization - for he did have a long and significant stay with the Canes.

And it seems to be fitting to wrap up the summer with what is hopefully the conclusion to the Ilya Kovalchuk debacle. I believe the last time I posted, the NHL rejected his contract. Well, they accepted a new one, and added a section to the CBA to prevent teams from creating similar contracts. Now, the league has fined the New Jersey Devils $3 million and two draft picks - their third round pick in the upcoming draft and a first round pick sometime in the next four drafts. A pretty steep penalty which shows that the league is serious about protecting its salary cap.

But, if the Devils win the Stanley Cup sometime in Kovalchuk's tenure, I'm sure they'll think it's all worth it.

So that's the end of the offseason, or close enough - there's only 6 days until the Canes play their first preseason game! Promise, promise, promise that I will pick up the posting frequency!

Man, it's boring around here

Well, it's been a while since I posted... primarily because there has been absolutely nothing interesting going on.

But to make it up to my loyal readers, here's a picture of an astronaut raising the Stanley Cup:

See, it's an away jersey because it's on the moon! Get it?

This is the reason you should not let me get near image editing software of any kind.

Anyways, I suppose some things have gone on, just nothing that is even remotely Canes related. Kovalchuk's contract was rejected by the NHL, but that story has dragged on far past its fifteen minutes in the spotlight (more like a three hour epic movie), so I'm pretty much uninterested. Other than that debacle, not much has gone on in the league, making for a pretty boring summer all around.

And, unfortunately, summer for myself is ending (although the offseason will continue to drag on) with a trip to college tomorrow. What does this mean for this blog? Well, I'm not entirely sure. Last year I attempted to post continual game recaps as I always did, but I think I fell short a little bit in that. This year I'm thinking maybe a weekly recap with the occasional post when something major happens. The goal is to give relatively timely updates and maybe increase the quality of said updates. But the season is still far away, so I'll see how that plan shapes up when it gets here...

And I'll definitely try and post more hockey and/or space themed clip art. Because that's looking awesome up there...

There goes the hopes for a Kovalchuk-free summer...

Soooooo, I take back that last post about Kovalchuk. Not because I said something that I now disagree with, just that the NHL rejected the 17-year monstrosity last night.

The reasoning behind the NHL's rejection is that the last few years at $500,000 were only tagged on to lower the overall cap hit on the contract - that no one really expects Kovalchuk to play into his forties.

Which, I think, is kind of obvious to all of us. But, why was Kovalchuk's contract rejected but Marian Hossa's of last year accepted? My theory is that the NHL wanted to nip these sorts of contracts in the bud before they become standard. That, and they really dislike the number seventeen.

Of course, none of that makes sense. Which is what will make what happens after this all the more interesting. Will the Devils submit a better, more realistic contract? Will the NHLPA file a grievance? Will Kovalchuk make it to the market again? All I can say is that summer just got a lot more interesting...

Kovalchuk finally signs

Finally, it has happened!

Ilya Kovalchuck, the biggest-name free agent on the market this year, has finally signed with a team.

And, man, this contract is a doozy. 17 years, $102 million to stay with the New Jersey Devils. This is another one of those "front-loaded contract" deals, where the player only ends up making league minimum for the last few years of the contract. Kovalchuk will be 44 years old when this contract expires.

It's hard to say how I feel about this. I think signing players for such a long time is almost always a stupid idea due to the prominence of injuries in the NHL. And, somehow, Kovalchuk's name doesn't readily come to mind when I think of players in the league I am certain will be consistent for almost two decades in the future. I mean, the guy's only won one playoff game.

I guess I think that, while Kovalchuk is a good player, he doesn't seem like the superstar that I think deserves the money-loaded long contracts (i.e. Sid Crosby or AO).

But, who knows, maybe he'll live up to his contract, now that he's not playing in Atlanta.

As for the Canes, they convinced Riley Nash to give a big "screw you" to Edmonton and forgo his playing career at Cornell to join the big leagues. (And to be honest, I wouldn't want to live in a place that cold either). The Canes also signed Brett Carson to a two-way deal, meaning that all the small parts are getting aligned for this next season.

Kovalchuk's signing will likely create some movement in the free agent market, and although the Canes are highly, highly unlikely to do anything, at least the summer won't be so boring for so long.

Canes update

The Canes had a few news worthy items yesterday to break up the largely dull offseason.

They signed defenseman Bryan Rodney to a two-way one year contract and goalie Justin Pogge to a two-way one year contract as well. Both signings obviously solidify the depth of the organization.


The big news, however, was the announcement that the Canes would retire Rod Brind'Amour's jersey on February 18th against Philadelphia. A very nice honor for a guy who was a core part of our team for so many years. As with Glen Wesley, it is against a team that he also played with in his career.


Although, let me just say, that if the Canes continue on this current jersey retiring clip, they won't have many numbers left in the rotation. Not knocking Brind'Amour, just sayin'.


That's been pretty much it for this offseason so far. If you take a look at the sidebar, I switched some things up. Nothing big, just mild changes and rearranging of information. Will eventually get around to adding blogs to the blogroll, but, like Ilya Kovalchuk, I'm taking things slow this offseason.

Death by hockey deprivation...

I don't think I've ever pined for hockey so much as I am right now.

I think it might be because the weather in Appalachia is slightly cooler than what I'm used to in the Triangle, so the change in temperature that I associate with late October (and hockey season) is already occurring now - with no hockey. Perhaps it's because I'm nowhere near the Canes now - is the distance making the heart grow fonder? Maybe. Either way I still grimace whenever I see someone on this campus wearing a Pittsburgh Penguins shirt (I think I've seen more here then when I was in Pittsburgh... go figure...)

On the other side of things, this year was the first year I actually didn't care what the Canes TV schedule looked like, considering I am firmly planted in the Comcast Sports area of the nation now and I don't think the TVs here have seen anything that is named Versus (in similar news, DirecTV dropped Versus earlier this week. In my opinion, you don't get DirecTV for hockey, you get it for the Sunday Ticket and the Green Bay Packers...). Although the whole Versus thing doesn't matter for me or for other Caniacs because there's no Canes games on national TV this year anyways.

Is an ESPN contract not looking better and better by the minute?

Getting off the topic of the TV schedule, Cam Ward is scaring me a little with these back spasms that were flaring up at the Canadian Olympic team camp. Hopefully it's nothing to worry about, but I think it's something to keep an eye on.

30 days until the season starts... I'm restraining myself from counting the minutes...

Rebel Yelle

The Canes signed Stephane Yelle a few days ago, adding depth at center.

It seems that Rutherford is taking full advantage of the Bruins' salary cap position this offseason. Another move that, if it ends up not benefiting the team, not a lot was given up. This move gets a thumbs-up from me.

And, no, I couldn't resist putting the title.

Breaking the summer silence...

Wow, guess I haven't updated in a while, eh?

Well, never fear, I can assure you that absolutely nothing has happened in the hockey world, especially from a Canes view. I mean, it is August, after all - the worst month of the offseason. Truly, the only thing that has occurred is my participation in the Cycle Like Sedins NHL re-draft. And I plan on that particular post coming much later - hopefully looking at the whole lineup will be more favorable than looking at it round by round... Cause right now I am proving my ineptitude at picking people who haven't played for the Canes - this is why I do Autodrafts in fantasy hockey...

Anyways, that is not what I wanted this post to be about. For those who follow my Twitter account (and you totally should, otherwise how else would you know what I'm hungry for or what I just ate?), you may have picked up on the fact that I am going to college. Which doesn't have anything to do with hockey, necessarily, but it probably will affect this blog. Primarily because I am moving out of the FS Carolinas viewing area, which means the number of full Canes games I am able to view will drop significantly.

What does this mean? I'm not entirely sure. But it probably will affect the frequency of posts here, because I can hardly do game recaps if I didn't actually see the game (or rather, I can hardly do good game recaps). I'm playing around with the idea of a weekly recap of all the Canes news... but that's just in the planning stages for now.

I do want to thank all of my readers for, well, reading this. When I started this blog, I didn't have any kind of plan, didn't know what I would write about. So it really astonishes me every day to think that people I don't know (and therefore can't blackmail) actually want to read what I write on a regular basis. Thank you all for stopping by for these 600 posts (Seriously, this is post 600). I hope you like reading my Canes-related ramblings, and I hope to continue to ramble on for another 600 posts.

Canes buyout Frank Kaberle

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.

What kind of birthday present is this?

The Canes have traded Patrick Eaves and a 4th round pick to the Bruins for Aaron Ward.

Again, Rutherford has gotten someone who had been with the team previously. (See: Josef Vasicek, Matt Cullen, Paul Maurice). Honestly, I wish he would stop doing that. I do actually like to see new faces in a Canes jersey, not just re-hashes of '02 and '06.

Although, I'm not sure that this is an entirely bad idea. Eaves, although he seemed to have a lot of potential, just didn't click for whatever reason in Carolina. Ward is a defensive defenseman, and at times can be very effective. At other times he can be a slow moving lump that doesn't really do much. But, nevertheless, the Canes need a defensive defenseman, and Ward will certainly fill that part of the equation.

Also in Ward's favor, mainly from a nostalgic standpoint, don't forget that he was the first one to score a goal in Game 7 against the Oilers.

And, to make things even more interesting, remember the Scott Walker sucker punch in the Bruins series? I wonder how their first meeting will turn out. (My prediction? Probably uneventful, but enough of a story line for the TV crew to talk about it for a while).

The more I think about this trade the more I think I will have to wait and see how it plays out in the season. I'm not ecstatic about it - but at least we didn't give up more than Patrick Eaves and a draft pick.

Ruuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!

The Canes signed Tuomo Ruutu to a 3 year contract that pays him 3 mil this year and increases to 4 mil the next two years.

I'm definitely glad that the Canes were able to sign him. Perhaps $4 mil is a little much, but if he continues to output the same offense and the physicality then I think it will be a good deal.

So, as of now, it appears the Canes only have remaining issues on the defensive end. A Kaberle buyout and another signing, perhaps?

I'll post whenever there's news of import - but considering this is the end of July, it might not be for a while.

News from the offseason

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.

Midsummer Action!

So it's the eve of my semi-annual trip to family in the middle of technological nowhere (I think I'll have access to email this time...), and of course I'm going during the most interesting part of the offseason.

Tonight and tomorrow are, of course, the 2009 NHL draft. The Canes first pick is 27th, so that means we are nowhere near involved with the Tavares/Hedman debate. My full insight on the draft is at Cycle at the Sedins, which makes me look awesome because I have mostly the same opinion as the dudes at Canes Country and also kind of makes me look like a retard because I confess that I can't keep the NHL and NFL drafts straight. But, honestly, I can't, which is why I generally only list who the Canes picked up and don't do any kind of analysis. Because analysis is severely overrated.

Then the next few days become crunch time for the Canes to sign their UFAs before they hit the open market. Unfortunately, Rutherford has said that contract negotiations are slow, so signs point to a Cole-and-LaRose-less hockey team. Which makes me want to weep tears of infinite sadness because those two are my two favorite players... argh!

Finally, July 1 (next Wednesday) is the first day of free agency, also the day I am returning. Expect either a long, rambling post or a short detail-less post towards the evening with all of the crazy happens of the most exciting day in the offseason (read: the only day with any hockey news).

Free agency as I see it

Well, the season's over for the Canes (if the Red Wings keep at it, it'll be the end of the season for everyone in about two more games...), and now it's time to turn away from that painful last series to look to... the future!

(That sentence is a lot cooler if you imagine cymbals crashing and sparks flying as "the future" is spoken in one of those movie trailer voices. Seriously, read it again and try it.)

Yes, now is the time to focus on the upcoming season, and more importantly the upcoming free agency period. The Canes have seven players up for some kind of free agency and the topics range from performance to salary cap.

But the topic I'm going to cover is the most important of all:

Do I really want to watch you play in a Canes uniform next season?

In order of importance:

Leaving is not an option

Chad LaRose
Explanation: Chad LaRose is the heart and soul of this team. You can't just let the heart and soul walk away from the team. Us Caniacs would be left with a pathetic, soul-less team - a zombie team destined to wander the ice rinks hopelessly searching for a spark of life. And I think we've had enough of that nonsense.

I like you a lot. Please stay!

Jussi Jokinen
Explanation: Our playoff hero. Do we really want him to go? Heck no! I know that he wasn't the most significant player in the regular season, but he certainly made up for that in the playoffs, pulling the Canes' butts through several games (and to think that Tampa wanted to waive him?). Not to mention his shootout prowess doesn't hurt either.

Tuomo Ruutu
Explanation: Take away Tuomo, take away our physical presence. It's as simple as that. He didn't score as much in the playoffs as he did in the regular season, but I think he made up for it in the fact that he often went through people to go after the puck. Not to mention - we just can't lose a guy with a name as awesome as that.

Erik Cole
Explanation: Yeah, okay, I probably have Cole ranked a little higher than he should be - but I don't think I can stand losing my favorite player again. He didn't do that great in the playoffs, but the Canes started to turn around their season when he was added to the team. Coincidence? I beg to differ.

Sure, come back. Whatever.

Ryan Bayda
Explanation: He filled in on the lower lines when he was needed. Not the greatest, not too shabby though. He's been with the Canes organization for a while (finally cracked the big leagues!), so sure he can come back.

I'm not sold on this whole "You playing for us again" thing. Why don't you run it by me again?

Dennis Seidenberg
Explanation: I said to my dad before the beginning of Game 4 that "We have a plethora of useless defensemen." I wouldn't say that Seidenberg is useless (it's called hyperbole), but he just seems to be a part of a nameless defensive corps the Canes put on the ice every year. Not that bad, although the mistakes can be miserable to watch.

Anton Babchuk
Explanation: Unlike Seidenberg, Babchuk certainly has made a name for himself. His killer slapshot makes him nothing like a cookie cutter player. But (and maybe this is a case of "what have you done for me lately?") he completely tanked in the playoffs. It was like he was a traffic cone that the opposing team skated circles around - and we saw absolutely none of his miraculous slapshot. I mean, seriously, the guy was replaced with Frank Kaberle. That's pretty bad.

So, there you go. My analysis of the Canes' upcoming free agents (quite possibly the longest thing I've ever written for this blog). And probably the only Canes stuff that we'll be talking about for a long time.

Whatever.

*sigh* I just haven't wanted to write anything on here. I think I'm a little hockey-depressed right now...

But, I feel the only way to get over this feeling of abject loss is to power through it, so here goes:

First off - Rutherford's thinly veiled anti-Laviolette comments

My advice to you, Jim (because I know my blog is one of your number one reads...), is to power through the loss and DON'T FIRE LAVIOLETTE! Laviolette is awesome! I even wrote a post about his complete awesomeness here. (If you can call that coherent writing...)

Second - Offseason signings

Jeez... who's even up for free agency this year? Ah well, sign Samsonov, he wants to stay.

Third - The 2008 playoffs

Despite what I think should have happened, the NHL playoffs have continued to go on without the Canes present. No predictions for this season, I've decided (it's sort of too late for that, y'know?). And, who am I rooting for? Whoever is playing the C[r]apitals. Go Flyers! (Sorry, no cool graphics or Southeast Division loyalty this year...

Fourth - ...?

Yeah, no fourth. I guess three's the charm in this post.