4 straight years of missing the playoffs behind us, can the Canes make it 5?



New Faces


Nathan Gerbe #14
Midget winger who looked good in the preseason.


Elias Lindholm #16
Highly rated rookie that's been injured all preseason.


Ron Hainsey #65
A defenseman who wears #65 for the Canes.


Mike Komisarek #5
A #7 or #8 defenseman on most any other team in the league.


Andrej Sekera #4
Top 4 capable defenseman who will inevitably get Top 2 minutes.


Anton Khudobin #31
Our best backup in forever, but we'll see what he does behind this D.

Plus an assortment of other AHL level talent that will surely see time in Carolina due to crippling injuries to our NHL level talent. Also, perhaps Radek Dvorak who is still practicing with the team two days before opening night but doesn't have a contract.



Potential Lines (as of October 2nd's Canes Depth Chart)
http://hurricanes.nhl.com/club/depthchart.htm?dcid=12

Tlusty - E.Staal - Semin
Gerbe - J.Staal - Dwyer
Skinner - Nash - Dvorak?
Bowman - Lindholm - Westgarth
Sutter

Sekera - Faulk
Harrison - Murphy
Bellemore - Hainsey
Komisarek

Ward
Khudobin



Injured

Ruutu (who knows, not "hip-related" according to JR)
Gleason (concussion)
Pitkanen (likely career ending shattered heel)

This list will continue to grow over the course of the season.



Prediction


The season will probably go something like this.


Or this.

[Edited on October 2, 2013 at 10:59 AM. Reason : required edit.]

10/2/2013 10:58:14 AM

Anton Khudobin is excited for the season to begin

10/2/2013 11:01:48 AM

Should be an interesting season..is anyone doing a road trip? I'm now in Chicago, so March 21st I am going to the game here against the Blackhawks. I also conveniently schedule business trips every once in a while to coincide with games (last year in NJ, another in NY).

Hoping for the best, but with Ruutu, Pitkanen and Gleason out for probably extended periods of time (and season in Pitkanen's case), who knows what will happen. Will be a fun year regardless though as all 'Canes hockey is fun hockey.

10/2/2013 11:07:50 AM

not sure about this bunch. Hopefully we can come out firing though

10/2/2013 11:40:13 AM

from Sweden's description I can tell Hainsey will be our MVP

10/2/2013 12:10:12 PM

Quote :

"Midget winger who looked good in the preseason."

this made me lol

10/2/2013 1:35:50 PM

I predict a slow start, a coaching change after the allstar break, and then a string of wins towards the end of the season that bumps us into the 8-12 draft pick range


either that, or we finally gel and get good consistent play out of the Staals, Semin and Skinner and wind up being able to outscore our opponents and make the playoffs.

10/2/2013 1:40:20 PM

Jim Rutherford, you hush.

DREGER REPORT: SOME NHL GMS SAY IT'S TIME TO LOSE FIGHTING
http://www.tsn.ca/blogs/darren_dreger/?id=433262

10/2/2013 3:49:32 PM

The "New Faces" area is hilarious, Sweden.

Looks like the question mark can come of Dvorak now. If I ever sit close enough I'm tempted to bring a sign that says "AOEU HTNS" but I'm afraid that may be too dorky.

10/2/2013 4:51:46 PM

Excellent thread.

Dvorak has now signed.

10/2/2013 4:57:59 PM

wat

10/2/2013 7:40:03 PM

http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=116990

Hunter Garlent
Ht/Wt: 5' 8"/165 lbs
Position: C
Team: Guelph (OHL)

Quote :

"He may be small in terms of stature but that does not mean that Hunter Garlent is small in terms of talent and worth. A key piece of the future for the Guelph Storm, Garlent has shown already that he is capable of playing in all situations and he has the potential to be a great sleeper in both the junior and professional rankings. Not long ago, a player his size would be considered more of a liability than an asset but Garlent has proven that his game is much bigger than his 5'8" frame. He has incredible speed and he has a very good shot. Garlent is very elusive and he is one of the best skaters on the Storm's roster. He also has a significant tenacity to his game that makes him a very complete player. He is not afraid to go up against players who are much bigger, maybe because of the fact that he sometimes plays on the same line as 6'7" Justin Auger. With a lot of the attention being placed on Storm teammate Jason Dickinson, Garlent should not be overlooked and he certainly has all the skills it takes to be successful. Submitted by: Margann Laurissa - May 28th 2013"

[Edited on October 3, 2013 at 12:03 PM. Reason : http://www.mynhldraft.com/2013/NHL-Draft-Profiles/Hunter-Garlent]

10/3/2013 12:01:35 PM

Chip is saying that Ruutu could be a week away.

10/3/2013 12:41:51 PM

iop1. Thanks for running with this, Sweden

10/3/2013 1:49:13 PM

i am alternately excited and anxious about this season

go go gadget gerbe

10/3/2013 5:10:53 PM

I'll be looking for some Roy-like antics out of our fellow former Hab on Friday.

10/3/2013 6:20:48 PM

3 days into the NHL season and the Hurricanes are still UNDEFEATED!

I think this is going to be a good year, we're going to blow the doors off the Southeast Division and...

...oh crap.

10/4/2013 7:30:34 AM

just to infuriate the canes fans... here we come

10/4/2013 2:32:33 PM

Just to infuriate Canes fans, here's a chyron ad for a totally awesome OT win over Boston in '09.

10/4/2013 3:27:58 PM

if that rex ad with the canes baby mobile is the one that gets played 16x a game for 82 games, that will be an annoying thing

10/4/2013 7:08:27 PM

It looks like the Red Wings are playing the Red Wings

10/4/2013 7:20:26 PM

Whoop whoop

10/4/2013 7:34:08 PM

IT'S TIME FOR FUN HOCKEY!!!!!

10/4/2013 7:38:54 PM

2-0 on goals from Dvorak and Gerbe.

THE PIMP HAND IS STRONG.

10/4/2013 8:38:41 PM

I may be in the minority here, but I think chantel is doing much better than last year.

10/4/2013 8:44:50 PM

^agreed, but it still sounds like amateur hour when she reads out the scores like high school announcements

10/4/2013 8:47:17 PM

Much better than last year, but still not very good.

10/4/2013 8:57:21 PM

Mid season form... Piss away the regulation win by not clearing a puck after your goaltender saves your nuts.

Granted they had like 3 hall of fame forwards on the ice, but whatever.

10/4/2013 9:28:02 PM

Welp

[Edited on October 4, 2013 at 9:33 PM. Reason : x2]

10/4/2013 9:28:42 PM

YUP

10/4/2013 9:47:10 PM

JUST GOT BACK FROM THE GAME.

fuck.

10/4/2013 10:11:14 PM

Surprise we can't hold on to our shit

10/4/2013 10:35:02 PM

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/carolina-hurricanes-commercial-haunt-baby-nightmares-video-163916680--nhl.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

10/5/2013 1:40:52 PM

So Jussi

10/8/2013 11:31:17 PM

good for Jussi. I was not a fan of the trade, but good for him.

10/9/2013 7:30:32 AM

watching on a bit of a delay so --

1) BABY LINDHOLM!!!

2) holy fuck semin

10/10/2013 8:44:25 PM

Dat Gerbe

10/10/2013 9:29:03 PM

BEAP BEAP

10/10/2013 9:51:31 PM

Gerbe baby

10/10/2013 10:10:48 PM

Been pretty impressed with Gerbe so far. And I thought Khudobin looked pretty good tonight.

10/10/2013 10:23:34 PM

Sabres are 0-4-1 and we have two of their best players lol

10/10/2013 10:41:08 PM

10/11/2013 10:17:05 PM

2-2-2. .333 hockey, way to go guys.

10/13/2013 3:50:10 PM

I think now's the perfect time to revert to my pre-Hurricanes Avalanche fandom.

10/13/2013 3:51:25 PM

Fire JR.

10/13/2013 3:53:01 PM

Lol. this team.

10/15/2013 7:34:07 PM

Chicago is pretty much skating circles around the Canes after 1 period

10/15/2013 8:09:53 PM

Much better in the last, roughly 30 or 35 minutes of regulation

10/15/2013 9:36:24 PM

Much better, yes, but saying we are like 100% better is not really anything to brag about. Eg, I scored a 40 on this test, instead of a 20.

How in the hell we have put this into overtime, I haven't got a clue.



[Edited on October 15, 2013 at 9:46 PM. Reason : we dominated the fuck out of ot though.]

10/15/2013 9:39:22 PM

Still can't win a damn shoot out

10/15/2013 9:57:17 PM