Rocky Davis

You can bet TT will be protected. He is a core player for us on a terrific contract, no way he is left for Seattle to take.

I think our D will be a little different next year, especially depending on the expansion draft. We don't have a 1:1 Dougie replacement, but depending on how things shake out we may still have Bean who has some offensive upside that I think we haven't seen and Slavin and Pesce may be asked to take more shots in the coming year. It's interesting. I do think if we are going to let Dougie walk at least The Committee is trying to get something back in return via a sign and trade.

You would have glued your avatar pic to the ice, c'mon man we know!

The rumors are he wants $8 x 8 and I don't see that happening, amount or term. I like Dougie and think he has probably fit in with the Canes better than any other team, but I don't know how we can afford that kind of deal with our other guys coming up on their RFA, UFA years. Maybe we can sign him and only play him in the playoffs?

There is one team I know who may want Ian Thomas....Jacksonville. Look at their TEs......they could get the Manhertz/Thomas connection back together.

That's why he is still on the ESPN payroll. He was never a feature writer until they laid all the really insightful reporters/writers off. He's cheap and fills the void.

It looks as if Dougie can be protected or dangled in the expansion draft. Interesting times this offseason. I will say Bean had his moments, but no doubt he needs to get stronger and have a good D-partner. Keane may push if he really is the prospect that he was touted to be.

I agree that Tampa Bay has quite the roster with Point, Stamkos, Kucherov and top it off with Vas. Then to be able to go out and get Savard because of Stamkos. It's really insane.

Unless we sign him we can't protect him if I am thinking correctly, he's a UFA. I am no means an expansion draft expert.

One can only hope. No team should be allowed to be over the salary cap and allow players who sat out the entire regular season and parts of the season to play at full strength. I hope it is the Islanders they play, but if it is the Bruins I will be pulling for Boston.

Dougie will be walking faster than he skated this year then.....

You know overall I agree with you on Dougie, but he was better on D his first seasons here. We can attribute it to playing with Slavin to a point, but Dougie went "old school Dougie" this season. If you recall before his injury last season he was at the very top of the D-man list on both sides of the ice.

He just looked a step slower this year @Stumpy I am really glad that Stamkos didn't poke check the puck away from him into our goal at the end of the game.

Even at 5M we are stretching ourselves a little. If we get the Dougie back from 18-20 then I'd do it. This Dougie I would only want to give 4M max.

We definitely got hit by the injury bug at a bad time and then had to play through a very physical series with Nashville. Nino and Tro kind of regressed to their baselines as the season wore down. Svech didn't take as big of a step up as I thought he would. Aho is a solid player who draws the opponents top checking line every night. TT was not as solid this year, probably due to his concussions. Necas I think made strides, but he has to get stronger. That battle with Maroon behind the net right before Tampa's 2nd goal put his relative strength on display. Staal had his best year with Carolina IMO. Marty, McGinn, Lorentz, Paquette, Geekie, Fast, Foegele are what they are: bottom 6. Ned surprised me and deserves a chance to be the starting goalie next season. Maybe Mrazek comes back if things break right, good luck to Reims. Slavin and Pesce are the heart of the D. Look forward to seeing them next year. Skjei had his moments, but he is second pairing at best. It would be nice to see him more confident on the puck more often. Hakanpaa is a solid D-Dman. He is a UFA, but if the price is right bring him back for the 3rd Pairing with Jake Bean who also needs to hit the weight room. I'll end on Dougie who had such good season for us his first two years here, but this year and into the playoffs I am just not sure what happened. Was it his injury? Was it contract talks? Was it just Dougie not being in shape and having the motivation needed? He won't be getting anywhere near $8M with us and I would be surprised if another team would give him that much. Off season should be interesting.

Back at you...I am sure we'll have some off season and draft chatter. Always like keeping up with the Canes and Panthers.

We do know we need Marley Drugs to place national ads next year, boys get your scripts in so we can have Marley girl inspiration once the games move to national only....

Opinions are like azzholes....every one has one!

Dude, if I see another weak ass Bean pass I am going to throw my tea cup out the window.

With the other saves Ned has made this season into the playoffs I would have thought he would have easily saved that one.

I want them to prove you and me wrong...I feel the same way.

Well as a Panthers fan too, we all know the Saints haven't had their karma come their way yet.....I am still waiting.

The simple solution was Kucherov was not eligible to play at all this season and Stamkos would be able to play after a certain amount of games in the playoffs. Instead, they get to play every game with the highest payroll in the NHL that exceeds the salary cap by multi millions. The NHL has rewarded the brilliance of Tampa's FO to cheat.

They are the darlings for sure, I mean it's obvious with how they were able to keep the team together by circumventing the salary cap. The only good thing about a possible loss here is that I hope I never have to hear this commentating team again for as long as I live. The PBP and "color" commentator suck major cajones.

Ned let up, we are very fortunate as all Stamkos did was throw that towards the net as hard as possible. In years past that would have been a typical goal the Canes would allow. The clock saved Ned's butt.