'Canes sign center Stephane Yelle

[ItsNotGonnaBeAlright]

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/hockey/nhl/2009-08-19-1805136141_x.htm

The Hurricanes said Wednesday that the 14-year pro has agreed to a one-year deal worth $550,000.

The 35-year-old had seven goals and 11 assists with Boston, and has won the Stanley Cup twice with Colorado.

Not sure how much ice time he and Ward saw together in Boston. Definately makes things interesting though.

[ItsNotGonnaBeAlright]

Also, just judging from the way Boston played, I would expect this guy to be more important in terms of penalty kills than scoring.

[Vagrant]

Yelle is a piece that is sorely missing from Carolina. He is an elite faceoff man and elite penalty killer. The point totals tell nothing of his effectiveness. Plus, he's gritty and dirty. Along with Walker and Kostopoulos on our 4th line, it's going to be insane to play against. All three of those guys can make life really hard on the opposition and all are defensively responsible to say the very least.

We needed a player to take some of the penalty killing load away from Rod Brind'Amour, who is 39 years old and slowing down, and be able to step up and take some of those important draws in the defensive zone with seconds remaining. We haven't had the option of anybody taking those draws since Francis and Brind'Amour were first and second in the league in terms of faceoff acumen.

Brind'Amour - Larose

Pitkanen - Ward

Yelle - Kostopoulos

Alberts - Gleason

Those will likely be our penalty killing lines. Just insanely good.

[ItsNotGonnaBeAlright]

Glad someone did their homework. All I saw was that we picked up a lesser known center from Boston and could only assume he was a leader on a stellar penalty kill line. If he works well in man down and 4-on-4 situations, then he is certainly a welcome addition here.

[Vagrant]

He is one of the league's best in terms of penalty killing to be honest. The problem with him has always been his limited offensive ability and teams are always chasing that dream of having a 4th line that can score as well as keep from being scored on. However, with Carolina having three solid lines full of scoring forwards, it made sense to get bigger and stronger on the 4th line to match up against other teams best scorers.

The NHL desperately needs a website that keeps track of scouting reports of players and offers a brief view into what a player does, because if Yelle had come from the Western Conference then it would have been harder for me to really diagnose his role without having seen him play a lot.

Yelle has been around a long time. All the way back to those Colorado Avalanche teams where Sakic and Forsberg were dominating and winning the Cup in the 90's. He was a first unit penalty killer there, too.

Players like Yelle are having an increasingly hard time finding work. Blair Betts, who is younger and better by most accounts, is still without a contract. He does have a lingering injury to worry about, but it's still no excuse.

[ItsNotGonnaBeAlright]

The NHL desperately needs a website that keeps track of scouting reports of players and offers a brief view into what a player does, because if Yelle had come from the Western Conference then it would have been harder for me to really diagnose his role without having seen him play a lot.

That I will definately agree with. It's so hard to find what a new player will mean to a team unless you have followed that players carreer in some way. If that sort of thing were more easily discussed, I'm sure I'd be much more of a hockey nerd than I am. As it is, I've learned more from you here in two posts than I had from an hour of trying to look him up.

Thanks.

[17+89=6]

I also think Yelle is a perfect fit for us. Another defensive-minded forward who can block shots and kill penalties. We need any defensive help we can get, and I think he also played D in Calgary when they had defenseman hurt. If that is the case, then that add's depth two potentially 2 positions for us. I'm glad we are starting to sure up our defense, even if it's not with pure defenseman.

[SMACKDAB]

I like her.....I think she is really cute. Besides.......I love the name Stephane. It's just soooooooooooooooo sexy!

:drool5:

[Vagrant]

I have a feeling you wouldn't think she was so cute if you could see a picture.

[SMACKDAB]

I have a feeling you wouldn't think she was so cute if you could see a picture.

Yeah, I know. Sarcasm my man......sarcasm. :cheers2:

[Vagrant]

Oh, I know. I was doing the double sarcasm volley.

[SMACKDAB]

Oh, I know. I was doing the double sarcasm volley.

You know that is illegal now don't you?