Canes FA and needs

[Peppa Jack Supreme]

The only way that Cole comes back is at a home team discount. He isnt going to get over 3 million from the Canes. We dont have alot of money to spend on FA, they are going to concentrate on keeping the guys they have in house already. Brind'amour hanging it up will give us a little extra cash space. LaRose isnt going anywhere and he might be the only UFA we keep, Rutuu and Jokinen are RFA and arent going to have the chance to go anywhere and I dont think they want to. As for bringing up the guys from the minors. I doubt your going to see Sutter up on the opening day roster, he still needs to put on more weight to fill out his frame. I have no doubt the Zach Boychuk will be on Staal's line come october. Look out for Dryson Bowman, Ive got a feeling he will be on the roster. Same goes for Mike Murphy, he will be the backup goalie next year. He just finished a great year in Bellview and should be the back up for Cam for the next 3-4 years. I really dont expect for them to make a run at any big names in free agency. Thats just not our style and that wont change this year. We always pick up cheap roll players and hope they can fill needs. Jeff Hamilton, Trevor Letowski, Dan Lacouture..... Ron Francis was the last big time free agent they signed. Ive got a feeling that Brind'amour is going to retire. I for one hope that he does. Staal is ready to wear the "C" and Roddy knows it. Staal, Cullen, Jokinen will fill out the center spot on the top 3 lines, not sure who will be on the 4th line. Training camp cant get here fast enough

[dexterpyro]

Litsening to Jim Rutherford on 99.9 the fan yesterday and he says there most improtant tasks are getting the Coach set and sign LaRose to a deal...then go from there on other players, draft and then FA....

I have to say I agree with him.....that is why he is the gm

[Peppa Jack Supreme]

Well Brind'Amour isnt going to retire. I think thats a bad thing for our team.

Cole - Staal - Boychuk

Whitney - Cullen - Rutuu

LaRose - Jokinen - Samsonov

Eaves - Brind'Amour - Walker

This is what Im thinking the lines look like opening day 09. Lets just hope that they can get some guys locked up past next season. Ward, Cullen, Whitney..... all free agents.

[dexterpyro]

I think bridamour not retiring may be a good thing in the long run......Sutter can stay in the minors one more year and be an even better player when he comes up Full time....

[2plankingpanther]

Well Brind'Amour isnt going to retire. I think thats a bad thing for our team.

Cole - Staal - Boychuk

Whitney - Cullen - Rutuu

LaRose - Jokinen - Samsonov

Eaves - Brind'Amour - Walker

This is what Im thinking the lines look like opening day 09. Lets just hope that they can get some guys locked up past next season. Ward, Cullen, Whitney..... all free agents.

I like that 3rd line,all 3 of them are overacheivers!I hope they sign Chad LaRose(Frodo)to a contract!

[2plankingpanther]

I'm just not impressed w/E Cole,w/a tight salary cap,why should the Canes keep him?

[carpanfan96]

You keep Cole because of the Chemistry he has with Staal, he makes Staal a better player.... Just not for 4 million. I would like for the team to add another scorer on the first line either from the Minors or a FA and we need to get at least 2 speedy defense players to add to the mix.

[Peppa Jack Supreme]

The only reason they should keep him is if the money is right. He is still a top 6 forward and he played like it in the regular season after the trade deadline. He does have chemistry with Staal and nobody is going to argue that, but like everybody here is saying at the right price.

[RedMage138]

Following his exit interview with GM Jim Rutherford, Erik Cole seemed confident that he would re-sign with the Hurricanes this summer. "I would expect that this is where I'll be (next season)," he said. "This was the organization that I first came in with, and there's a lot of loyalty there."

full article: http://hurricanes.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=424219

This seems to be a done deal

[dexterpyro]

Looks like for the most part that Rutherford and company want to go with the same team as last year just add some size and skill on defense. I hope that we get the Coaching staff back, one of the best.......

[Peppa Jack Supreme]

Bouwmesster would be sweet as hell. to bad our team is broke.