wow a smart move by the canes.

you guys usually get one a year

lock pitkanen up now. he's gnna get his shit together soon and be a top 5 defensman in the NHL

7/1/2008 1:48:28 PM

Trading Cole was smart, I don't think he has much left as far as success goes.

Pitkanen will be good, but he'll be paired with someone like Gleason to cover his poor defense. Well that's assuming he plays poor defense. He was +25 one year.


^Couldn't agree more

[Edited on July 1, 2008 at 1:51 PM. Reason : ]

7/1/2008 1:50:36 PM

People assume Pitkanen is bad defensively because he is an offensive player.

I don't claim to have seen him play that much, but from what I understand, he's pretty solid in his own end. And he's a big guy as well (6 foot 3, 213 pounds).

Quote :

"LaRose is safe, we qualified him and I dont see him getting an offer sheet. I dont know what in the hell we would trade him for."

That's what I thought as well, but I'm just a bit puzzled over these one way contracts to Brookbank and Bayda. I don't see us as the kind of team with the luxury of paying a bunch of guys to sit in the press box and drink beer every night.

7/1/2008 1:56:30 PM

^He was -25 his last season in Philly, after finishing +25.


but I do think his -25 was just a fluke. I think Boobs_r_gr8(whatever his name is) is correct. We got him, we'll sign him, and get some of the D-man prime years cheap.

[Edited on July 1, 2008 at 2:02 PM. Reason : ]

7/1/2008 2:00:36 PM

+/- is a meaningless stat. Bret Hedican was a +17 this past season.

That entire season for Philadelphia was an epic disaster. RJ Umberger was a -32. Derian Hatcher was a -24.

7/1/2008 2:04:16 PM

I don't disagree. It's the most useless stat, but it does say something (maybe a not a significant amount).

7/1/2008 2:06:28 PM

+/- isn't useless, you just have to look at in context. If a guy and his partner are -13 and -15, you can look at poor back pressure and/or goaltending. If he's -20 and his partner is -5, that says a bit more about when he gets caught alone.

7/1/2008 3:13:36 PM

Getting a little worried here... Rutherford just said the payroll will be $45-46 million this year, which is $3-4 million less than I expected. He also says he is likely going to sign a defenseman from Europe, which will then put us in a position where we need to trade 1 or 2 defensemen.

I feel certain now that Kaberle will be traded.

[Edited on July 1, 2008 at 4:25 PM. Reason : .]

7/1/2008 4:23:14 PM

I don't know what in the heck we would get for Kaberle, or who would take on his salary. Should be interesting.

7/1/2008 4:25:52 PM

If Kaberle would play the kind of D he did during the cup year, and we sign Pitkanen, then we would be a cop contender fo sho.

7/1/2008 4:39:27 PM

Josef Melichar...

7/1/2008 4:56:43 PM

yeah, I'm curious about the Melichar rumors too

7/1/2008 5:02:33 PM

If we canmove Kaberle, then hell yes to Melichar

7/1/2008 5:14:42 PM

lol @ luke decock bustin on eklund

Quote :

"(Ironically enough, the Cole-to-Edmonton, Pitkanen-to-Carolina rumors that started at last year's draft in Columbus started with me and Jim Matheson, the Hall of Fame writer from the Edmonton Journal. There was a rumor that the Oilers were interested in an Eastern Conference forward -- I think it turned out to be Glen Murray -- and Matty asked me if Cole might be moved. I said maybe, but the Canes would have to get a defenseman back. So it would have to be a three-way deal. Someone's minions were eavesdropping and the next thing you know it's rated Q7. And then, less than 13 months later...) "

7/1/2008 5:54:14 PM

BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK BABCHUK IS BACK

7/1/2008 8:50:28 PM

WITH THE CANES????

7/1/2008 9:04:31 PM

????

????

7/1/2008 9:21:03 PM

Stillman signs w/ the florida f'n panthers for 3 years @ too much money.

7/1/2008 11:59:22 PM

he's trying to be the first to win a cup with all five southeast division teams

7/2/2008 1:03:06 AM

hahahaha

7/2/2008 1:35:55 AM

Josef Melichar signed. $1 mil, 1 year.

7/2/2008 10:59:57 AM

I know the name, but I'm not too familiar with Melichar. What type of player is he?

7/2/2008 11:07:37 AM

shutdown dman, not going to put up more than 10-15 points in a season

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/hockey/nhl/players/2160/

Gleason - Pitkanen
Corvo - Melichar
Babchuk - Wallin
Seidenberg

bye Kaberle, thanks for the Cup

[Edited on July 2, 2008 at 11:18 AM. Reason : d]

7/2/2008 11:16:51 AM

See, I think Seidenburg should be in there as a D-man, he was so fucking good before he got hurt.

Especially over Wallin.

[Edited on July 2, 2008 at 11:29 AM. Reason : ]

7/2/2008 11:29:43 AM

Quote :

"shutdown dman"

uhm no

7/2/2008 11:40:04 AM

Pitkanen signed to a 3yr/$12mil deal!

7/2/2008 11:52:29 AM

good deal.

you guys should have locked him up for longer though

7/2/2008 11:55:56 AM

Once again, I agree.

7/2/2008 11:59:10 AM

WOOOOOO

nice deal

7/2/2008 12:21:39 PM

^^^perhaps he didnt want any longer of a deal.

7/2/2008 12:32:10 PM

3 years is not enough bc now you are only 1.5 seasons away from the new contract speculation

i would have offered him more to keep him more years

5yrs/23mil wouldve been fair

7/2/2008 12:39:00 PM

No way he would have taken that. 3 years takes him up to UFA eligibility, and that's when he can cash in with a huge deal. If we wanted to start eating up UFA years, then we were probably looking at $5 mil a year.

7/2/2008 12:45:03 PM

Quote :

"“When you shock somebody, even though that you hear you may be traded, when you get that final word it is hard,” Rutherford said. “He was emotional about it. He’s gone through a lot here. He’s been a good player and he had an almost career-ending injury here. So, this is a tough day for him.”"

poor Cole

7/2/2008 1:00:40 PM

yeah i remember melichar with the pens and he is. . . a warm body, i guess

don't expect too much

[Edited on July 2, 2008 at 1:16 PM. Reason : unless he came back from sweden as dolph lundgren]

7/2/2008 1:15:58 PM

Quote :

"An emotional Cole was playing golf with Justin Williams when Mike Commodore called to tell him his parents had a room to rent in Edmonton. Then he saw a missed call on his phone from the RBC Center. Just like that, he was gone. "

7/2/2008 1:24:30 PM

^link?

7/2/2008 1:49:24 PM

the N&O blog

http://newsobserver.com/blogs/canes/home

7/2/2008 1:51:23 PM

http://blogs.newsobserver.com/canes/canes-trade-cole-edmonton

7/2/2008 2:09:05 PM

WAIT? Pitkanen got traded??????

to the CANES?????

7/2/2008 2:53:52 PM

and signed.

7/2/2008 3:33:47 PM

Keith Aucoin is a Capital. 2 yrs, no idea on terms, but a 2-way deal doesnt make sense to me.

7/3/2008 10:48:28 AM

Where did you see that it is a 2 way deal?

7/3/2008 10:59:38 AM

http://johnwaltonhockey.blogspot.com/2008/07/breaking-news-center-keith-aucoin.html

Don't know if it is legit or not though.

7/3/2008 11:05:11 AM

Quote :

"Here's the deal with Keith Aucoin's, well, deal. It is a two-way contract for next season and a one-way deal for 2009-10. He would make $475,000 if he spent every day with the Caps next season and $500,000 in '09-10. So it looks like Aucoin will be a key cog for the Bears and someone who can be counted on with the big club in a pinch if needed."

7/3/2008 12:02:58 PM

bye Aucoin :|

7/3/2008 3:36:30 PM

why didnt we offer him something similar? that's cheap

7/3/2008 4:11:15 PM

Because we couldn't offer him a 1 way deal for next season like he got in Washington. There's just no spot for him.

Staal
Brind'Amour
Cullen
Sutter

7/3/2008 4:15:37 PM

I would have signed him for a year and let Sutter develop for another year but I'm guessing Sutter is good enough to play at the NHL level now.

7/3/2008 9:36:40 PM

The thing is Aucoin is pretty useless on the 4th line. He's a small setup man; not exactly what you want when you're looking to get bigger on your 4th line. Not that Sutter is very big, but he's gritty. Also, Sutter is too young to play in the AHL, so he either plays with us, or he goes back to junior.

7/4/2008 1:12:41 AM

^ not sure that is true? I thought we've signed him in Albany. He played at least one game last year...

7/4/2008 4:15:19 PM