A Carolina Hurricanes blog with occasional news about the rest of the NHL.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Kaberle under the knife, Sutter helps team Canada, and more

Here's a couple of quick hits for this lovely Monday evening.

  • For the second summer in a row, Frantisek Kaberle will have to undergo surgery just before the start of camp. This is not good news. Kaberle, who scored the Cup-winning goal in the 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs, missed the first half of the 2007 season after having shoulder surgery two days before the start of camp. This summer, he underwent surgery on Saturday to replace torn cartilage in his right knee. He is expected to miss 4-6 weeks. Although camp officially opens on the 14th, most players have been participating in the voluntary "Camp Brind'Amour". Kaberle has skated a little bit while the trainers hoped that his knee problems would "just go away". They thought the same thing about his shoulder last summer. Six weeks would put him one week into the regular season, but still six weeks behind in terms of training.
    The so-called "depth" that the Canes have at the blueline is now under serious scrutiny. Kaberle probably won't play until late October. Bret Hedican's status is still very much in question. Now is the time for the Canes to make a decision. in my opinion, Hedican will be able to give (at best) 45 games this season. Carolina will have consider asking Hedican to retire. The will have to consider re-signing David "Snuggles" Tanabe on the cheap, or sign one of the available free agent defensemen such as Brent Sopel. They will also have to take a long look at youngsters from within "the system" such as Noah Babin and Brett Carson. Babin has already made a lot of fans.
    The perpetually on point Scott Cason doesn't want to see the Canes' management sit on its hands like they did last year when the defense was hurting. I'm with him.

  • Canes draftee Brandon Sutter helped the Team Canada Junior squad defeat the USSR Russian team 4-2 in game one of the "Super Series". He had one assist and had a good shorthanded scoring chance. Game two will be Wednesday. The first four of the eight game series will be in Russia, while the final four will be in Canada. Check the schedule for more details.

  • Join me and Carolina on Ice in trying to jam the ballot box over at NHL Tournament of Logos. The Canes logo is battling the Devils logo, and frankly, we're getting our butts kicked. So far as I can tell, it doesn't reject multiple votes from the same ISP, so plug away. Vote early, vote often.
    That main site has been doing some really cool stuff with looking at the new logos/sweaters. It's a very good way to spend a few minutes or an hour, or whatever. Anyway, go vote for the Canes logo, then spend a while exploring around.

    Carolina "officially" unveils its new sweater on September 16, during the first preseason game.
  • 1 comment:

    nomadologist said...

    If someone told me this time last year that in the summer of 2007 I would say, "man, I hope the Hurricanes re-sign David Tanabe," I would have respectfully disagreed or something. But man, I hope the Hurricanes re-sign David Tanabe.

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