What next for the Hurricanes?
Posted 6:34 PM ET | Comments 1
Long time Hurricanes writer, Luke DeCock says it's time to blow up the Canes. Ok, I get his reasoning. The Canes have been on the play-off fringe for years and, despite their higher investment level this year, nothing has changed. The fact is, they are just not good enough and haven't been for years. Might be time to look at the front office. Jim Rutherford is a brilliant hockey mind, but maybe it's time for some fresh blood at the helm. The book isn't out on Kirk Muller yet but time will tell if he can lead this team into the play-offs or not. On the ice, the team studs, the Staals, Semin, Ruutu, Skinner, and Ward, just didn't get it done, as individuals or as a group. Of that group, the Staals and Skinner are keepers. Semin isn't going anywhere right now because of his big $7.0M ticket. Might be a good buy-out option this summer. So, that leaves Ward and Ruutu as your major trading chips. First on the agenda was to lock-up Anton Khudobin. Now, that's done. On the D, Faulk, Sekera, and Liles, fill 3 spots. And, Ryan Murphy should compete for a spot in training camp. From there, it's slim pickings. They desperately need a top 4 D-man to run the powerplay and more toughness. Upfront, after the Staals, Lindholm, and Skinner, a few positions could be filled by role players, Dwyer, Tlusty, Nash, and Bowman. The others could be moved. But, the dire need for scoring help on the second line and a strong 3rd line center must be addressed. There are some big names being bantered around that might interest the Canes (Gagner, Edler, Hemsky, Yakupov, Cammalleri) but don't expect to see any of them in a Canes uniform anytime soon. My sense is that most of the heavy lifting for a Canes rebuild will have to wait until summer.
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