Canes sign Pitkänen, Melichar

On Wednesday, the Hurricanes made two signings. One fully expected, and the other a bit of a surprise.

The first of the signings was the surprise. Jim Rutherford went way off the rumor charts by signing former Penguin Josef Melichar. The rumors about him were that he was going to return to the Pens after spending last season in Czech and Swedish leagues. He spent his entire six-year NHL career in Pittsburgh, where he tallied 40 (7/33) points in 310 games. The 29-year old Czech was signed to a one-year deal at $1M. When Rutherford flat out said that he was gonna get another defenseman to get bigger and younger, then get rid of one of the existing ones, everyone pretty much assumed he was really saying "Frantisek Kaberle, pack your bags". I'm not sure what the Canes would be able to get for the guy who scored the Cup-winning goal in 2006, but I'm guessing they'll get a prospect and a second round pick.

Frankie has been so frustrating to watch. He can't seem to put two good games back to back. Most nights, he can't even put two good shifts back to back. He's been having lingering problems from the multitude of surgeries he's had, and at 34, he's just not getting any younger. I'd say his days are over in Carolina.

The second was the big one. Joni Pitkänen was signed to a three-year $12M deal. The money is a bit more than I was hoping, but the length is more than I was expecting. For the most part, I've been hearing good things about him and his skill set. The question marks are on his health. From a Carolina standpoint, his health can't possibly be dodgier than that of Bret Hedican or Frantisek Kaberle. And he can't possibly be worse defensively than those two. And he definitely will provide more back-end offensive production than those two combined.

Frankie and his $2.2M have got to go. If the Canes can get a depth forward out of it, hooray! Otherwise, shed the salary and stock up on draft picks. I'll always have the fond memory of Frankie scoring the Cup-winner on June 19, 2006 -- just a few feet in front of my face, but this team desperately needed a massive overhaul of the defense. It started with the brilliant Commy/Stillman for Corvo/Eaves trade last winter. These two signings pretty much finish that off. I still think Kaberle is a swell guy, but I also think that both the team and Kaberle would be better served if he was traded.

The few of us who stand behind the team on this Cole/Pitkänen deal have been getting railed by the many who hate it. Make no mistake, I will miss Cole. He will continue to be one of my favorite players; he'll just be wearing a different sweater. I understand and appreciate what he did for this team. I understand it as much or more than the next guy. I'm not saying "Good riddance, jerk!" None of us is saying that. It's business. The Sliding Pokecheck put it quite nicely in her post:

"The Hurricanes had a lot of good forwards and desperately needed to trade for a defenseman. Cole was the only one the team could afford to lose WHO WOULD ALSO get the team something of value in return. Someone had to go and Cole was a valuable trade option. There you go. It's business, folks. Much as you might get attached to certain players and want to keep them around for their entire career, it's not about you - it's about trying to put together a winning team."

Carolina didn't miss the playoffs last season because they weren't scoring enough goals. They had plenty of offense. They narrowly missed the playoffs chiefly because their defense sucked. This will probably be a blog post of its own sometime in the near future. The chief goal this summer was to rehaul the defense even if it meant losing a star player. Feelings have been hurt, but that mission has been accomplished. The defense has been rehauled. Will it pay dividends? I think so, but we'll have to wait and see.

If Pitkänen stinks up the joint, I'll gladly eat crow. For now, I'm totally behind this.

As an aside, the Hurricanes website lists Melichar with the sweater #2. Obviously, that won't be his number. Since the Hurricanes are retiring that number for Glen Wesley, Melichar will be asked to pick something else. Pitkänen is shown with the #25, which will be just fine. I just hope he can be better in that sweater than Bruno St. Jacques and Eric Belanger were.

It's over (and it never really began)

On Monday, the Avalanche re-signed John-Michael Liles to a four-year deal the day before he would have become a sought-after free agent. This ends all speculation that the Hurricanes have him on their shopping list.

There will still be lots of quality defensemen around when the free agent "frenzy" starts tomorrow, but Liles is the one that Canes fans have been salivating over for almost a year now.

Meanwhile, down in the City of Tampa, they've gone wild with their signings and acquisitions. They signed both Ryan Malone (7 years/ $31.5M and Gary Roberts (one year $1.25M + bonuses). They have also acquired the rights to Brian Rolston. They have Vaclav (who I still refuse to call "Vinny") Prospal back under contract and there is talk of making Vincent LeCavalier a "Bolt for Life".
Somehow, amongst all of this, the Lightning aren't really in danger of coming near the cap ceiling. The trouble is, they're going to have to go all out and spend too much money on a goaltender.

Carolina has their work cut out for them. They need at least one defenseman out of the free agent pool. Some fans are clamoring for the return of Mike Commodore. I'm not crazy about that idea. They will also need at least one forward. A fourth line winger.

It seems likely that Chad LaRose will accept his qualifying offer and stay on for one year. He is scheduled to become a RFA, but because his salary will fall below the $863,156 mark, the Canes would receive no compensation if he signs elsewhere.

While the Canes bloggers have been relatively active during this extremely dead time, we haven't heard a word from the professional journalist. What gives?

Tomorrow's the big day. Paul Kukla had a great line about tomorrow, the beginning of the free agent signing period:

"Have plenty of food by your side, you won’t want to leave the computer. While your family and friends are celebrating Canada Day or a long Fourth of July holiday, you will be ridiculed, laughed at or just ignored. But don’t give in to their request to join in on the holiday fun, you see, this is our hockey holiday."

In a cruel twist of fate that only the famous ironist O. Henry would appreciate, I don't have to "work" tomorrow, which is the perfect day to have off. However, I have to tag along with the owner of my restaurant so I can assure him that I can handle the paperwork aspect of things while he's on vacation next week.

Happy Canada Day! Happy Free Agent Day!

Another puzzle piece snaps into place

In a week of very boring Canes-related news, the latest is that goaltender Michael Leighton has been signed to a two-year NHL contract.

This move has been expected since about the middle of February, and it has finally come to pass. Leighton, who just turned 27, will make $600k, which is a savings of $800k from what they were paying Johnny Crackers.

Leighton was the best goaltender in the AHL in 2007-08, going 28-25-4 with a GAA of 2.10 and a save percentage of .931. He won the Aldege "Baz" Bastien award as the league's top netminder. He set an AHL record with 98 saves in a five-overtime loss in the Calder Cup playoffs. He also appeared in three games for the Canes, going 1-1-0.

This totally expected signing snaps another puzzle piece into place.

Carolina has two goaltenders, ten forwards and three defensemen signed for next season. The defense is the number one priority right now. The deal with Tim Gleason that was alleged to be "close" a few weeks ago has stalled. RBH is hoping that the two sides can agree to a long-term contract, but we're fearing that these negotiations will culminate in a one-year deal. We don't like one-year deals.

If both Gleason and Dennis Seidenberg are re-signed, there still leaves one spot to be filled. There continues to be loads of speculation that the Hurricanes are interested in John-Michael Liles. He is scheduled to become a UFA on July 1, and will probably have lots of suitors.

Brooks Orpik is slated to become a UFA and the word on the street is that the Pens won't be making extra effort to keep him. There are a lot of fans in Carolina who still aren't ready to let the Cole-Orpik thing go, but even the most unforgiving person would have to admit that Orpik is a good, tough defenseman that most teams would be happy to have.

Nashville's Shea Weber is a RFA-to-be worth pondering. I don't see a whole lot of other interesting (and affordable) options in the FA market.

Of course there's still loads of talk about moving one of the "extra" forwards for a high-profile defenseman in a trade. One rumor that has popped up is sending Erik Cole to the Canucks for defenseman Kevin Bieksa. I haven't studied the pros and cons of that one, but I do know that Bieksa just signed a three-year deal worth $11.25M.

The draft is just nine days away, then the FA period ten days after that.

Is it October yet?

looking to the offseason

Carolina technically is still in the running for a playoff position. I'm pretty confident, however, that Washington will get at the very least one standings point tonight. That will end the Canes season and begin the re-signing season.

We're all hoping that at some point, preferably tomorrow morning, Bret Hedican announces his retirement. I'm sure he's a nice fella. He's a terrific skater and a consummate teammate, but he just isn't any good as a defenseman anymore. Sure, he's tops on the team in +/- rating, and he's way up there in blocked shots. Sure, he's up there in takeaways. Sure, he makes a dazzling play once in a while. However, he blows coverage a lot, lags behind plays, refuses to hit, and is a source of constant frustration. I've been ready for him to retire for a long time.

When he retires, the Canes will have just three defensemen under contract. Later on, I'll evaluate the forwards, but for now, I'll look at the defense.

Frantisek Kaberle is signed through 2010 and his cap hit will be $2.2M next season.
Nic Wallin is signed through 2010 and his cap hit will be $1.725 next season.
Joe Corvo is signed through 2010 and his cap hit will be $2.75 next season.

Hedican will retire.
Glen Wesley may retire, but it wouldn't hurt my feelings one bit if he signed on for another year at $1.4M

Tim Gleason made $1.175 this season and is scheduled to be a RFA. I think he needs to be re-signed. Maybe with a slight raise. Let's say $1.3M.

Dennis Seidenberg played well this season for $850k and will be a RFA. I'd like to see him back, but I wouldn't be surprised if he signed elsewhere.

Tim Conboy made $550 on a two-way contract this season and will be a RFA. I'd really like to see him back with a two-year extension.

Casey Borer is under a two-way contract through next season. He won't be a full-time NHLer, but he'll see time.

For sure, I think we'll see Conboy and Gleason signed to extensions.
Although I like Seidenberg, I think he'll end up somewhere else.

The Canes will have to make at least one move for a defenseman in free agency. Even if Glen Wesley decides to stick around. I can't possibly speculate at this point, but I think the thing to do will be to get a defensive defenseman.

That's it for now. Later on, the forwards.

Canes sign Hamilton

This is NOT the news I was hoping to get today, but it'll do.

Carolina has signed Jeff Hamilton to a two-year deal at $800k per year.

Hamilton potted 39 (18/21) points on a very bad Blackhawks team last year.

The 29-year old Ohio native was undrafted, and entered the league after being invited to try out for the Islanders a few years ago.

39 points is 39 points, but I've never heard of this dude, and his profile on TSN makes him sound like a glorified AHL player.

>>UPDATE<< I just watched the NHL highlight reel for Hamilton, and I'm pretty impressed. He's got a lot of creativity, a deceptive shot, a nose for the net, and as Don Cherry would say, the guy can dangle. I think he'll be fine.

Carolina has accomplished the goal of picking up a third line center. Although he isn't of the "name brand" variety (ie Todd White, Brian Smolinski), he should fit in nicely. And at the end of the day, the Canes have come in $1.5M under budget.

Hamilton wore the unusual #51 for the Blackhawks last season. He can have it here, too.

Does this mean there could still be a movement of defensemen?

Briere a Flyer

Philly made the first big splash of the free agency period Sunday afternoon when they signed Daniel Briere to an eight year deal valued at $52M. He will earn $10M this year, but the cap hit will be just $6.5M.
Briere is a good player, but this is lunacy. Ten million dollars? This, I'm afraid, is the result of last year's $5M arbitration award. That should never have happened. The Sabres should have gotten him signed, but instead they find themselves in a tough spot. I said last summer that the award would cause problems, and I thought they would come up sooner than this. I guessed that they would walk away, and Briere would have signed somewhere else.
Even after his 95-point season and disappearance in the playoffs, nobody in their right mind would have guessed that he would be paid $10M. The average of his 8-year deal is $6.5, which I still think is a bit high, but it's much more reasonable than $10.

Now we're starting to hear rumblings that Chris Drury doesn't want to return to Buffalo and that he is being courted by a certain team who wears teal. We'll probably know more about that by day's end. If this turns out to be so, Buffalo will have to aggressively go after some of the other name brand players in the FA market. And they will have to reconsider their intentions for Dainius Zubrus.

Don't be surprised to see Scotty Gomez in Buffalo next season. He made $5M last year with the Devils. After a below average season, he's not in line for a raise, so consider him to be a downgrade from Briere, but for the same money (or maybe even more money). Again, this goes back to what I've been saying for over a year: they should have signed Briere to a long term contract instead of allowing him to go to arbitration.

Now. About Philly....

With the Briere signing, they come in at about a $48.6M cap hit, and I think they need one or two more forwards. They have made some very serious moves to improve their team.

Last I heard, they did not give Joni Pitkanen a qualifying offer, which means his status changes from RFA to UFA.

Thrashers sign White

This is what Carolina gets for playing the "wait and see" game.

Todd White has signed a four year deal with the Thrashers. The first signing of the free agent period. Carolina said that it would wait to see how things panned out before they got active, and according to today's N&O, maybe as much as 10-14 days. This is unacceptable.

Todd White was the player that I really wanted us to get, and now he's in the division, just not in the right sweater.

Obviously, Carolina isn't in the Danny Briere or the Chris Drury or the Ryan Smyth or the Scott Gomez sweepstakes, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be aggressive. I'm frustrated with this.

Now Carolina will have to go hard after Dainius Zubrus or Brian Smolinski.

Something tells me we'll end up with Bates Battaglia, which wouldn't even fit our need of a third line center.

Grrrrrrr.

Floodgates about to open, still no d-for-d trade.

The opening of the free agent market is less than 24 hours away, and it promises to be a doozy of a first day.

All week long, there has been speculation and rumor that Carolina was attempting to negotiate a trade with Philly wherein Carolina would send defenseman Nic "The Secret Weapon" Wallin and would receive the rights to UFA defenseman Joni Pitkanen. That rumor fit right in with Jim Rutherford's idea to move one of the "defensive" defensemen for a "puck-moving" defenseman. As the eleventh hour is upon us, and Pitkanen it about to be in the free market, this trade seems less and less likely.

This trade would have rid the Hurricanes of all things Swede, and therefore would have significantly reduced their evil quotient.

It's unlikely that Carolina will pick Pitkanen out of free agency unless they trade away one of their existing d-men, and it's also unlikely that they'll trade with whoever picks him up. Consider this deal dead.

I'd still like to see some sort of trade that nets Carolina a defenseman with offensive upside, but we will probably have to wait.

In the free agent market, Carolina is looking for a third line center, and RBH is solidly in the Todd White camp. At 32 years old, he's no spring chicken, but he's a solid centerman with consistent offensive output of around 40 points a season. He's smallish and quick, which means he'd fit right in. I'm guessing that he could be had for less than $2M, which would fit in nicely under Carolina's self-imposed budget of $44M. It would also give some wiggle room for Carolina to orchestrate a trade where the new guy has a healthier contract.

There are a few other names on Carolina's "wishlist", but I can't be sure who they are.

The Sabres have yet to offer a qualifying sheet to Dainius Zubrus. That certainly is an interesting possibility. However, Zubrus might require knee surgery, which makes him a significant risk. I wouldn't roll the dice on that.

Jiri Novotny, who was traded to Washington for Zubrus has not been given a qualifying sheet, and will thusly become an UFA. Not very interesting if you ask me. He's a young cat, and quite big, but he doesn't have much offensive upside. He's almost a carbon copy of Big Joe "Lord of Evil" Vasicek, which is not what the Canes are looking for. Both players are Czech. Vasicek is 26, Novotny is 23. Vasicek is 6-5/215. Novotny is 6-2/204. Vasicek had 22 (6/16) points with Nashville/Carolina last season. Novotny had 19 (6/13) points with Buffalo/Washington last year. Vasicek is slow and lazy. Novotny is slow and lazy. No sale.

The Caps have also declined to qualify Kris Beech, who was scheduled to become a RFA. Now he will be an UFA, and could be had for peanuts. Another big-ish young guy with minimal (but sufficient for third-line pivot) offense. It wouldn't be a "sexy" move, but it would leave a ton of room under the cap for a trade deadline move.

Speaking of the Capitals, they have a TON of room under the cap, and could easily sign Briere or Drury. I don't anticipate Drury playing for any team not named "Buffalo", but Briere is probably gone.

Mike Comrie would be a solid pickup for the Canes, but would be a little too expensive. Plus, it might be a little confusing to have Commy (Mike Commodore) and Comrie. Added to that, he kinda looks like Craig Adams, so that would be additional confusion. Last summer, there was some Comrie talk, but not much.

Peca? Forget about that. For his diminishing skill set, his price tag is wicked high.

Denis Arkhipov? Lazy Russian.

Robert Lang? Everyone loves a Czech, but he's old. Almost as old as Glen Wesley.

Bryan Smolinski? Not bad. Again, his age is a concern. He's 35, which isn't exactly ancient, but I think the Canes already have enough old dudes on the team. For all my worries, though, it would be hard to complain about getting 40 or so points out of a guy for right at $2M for a one-year contract. Bubba from Canes Country is a fan of Smolinski. Read his take on the matter.

Byron Ritchie? Not really an NHL-calibre player. Would be a downgrade from Vasicek.

Carolina is not in the sweeps for any of the big buck guys like Briere, Drury or Ryan Smyth. Of the above mentioned lot, or any others who have been talked about in Carolina, the only one I really like is White.

Don't forget, Carolina now has three NHL goalies on its payroll. I don't think they'll trade Michael Leighton, since they went to the trouble of acquiring him in a draft day trade. I think Laviolette likes Crackers too much to get rid of him, and Cam is the franchise goalie. I'm guessing Leighton goes to Albany, and we trade away one of those prospects.

Tomorrow I'll be glued to the computer screen all day watching the market frenzy.

Flyers, Preds tamper.

On Monday afternoon, the Hamilton Predators and Flyers announced that they have negotiated a deal which returns a "conditional" draft pick from Philly to Nashville in exchange for exclusive rights to negotiate with Scott Hartnell and defenseman Kimmo Timonen. Both are were considered to be high profile free agents-to-be.

The TSN story is here.

This isn't a sign-n-trade. Nashville didn't sign the players first. The players are still scheduled to and WILL become free agents on July 1. However, Philly will have "exclusive" rights to negotiate with them. No other team will have the right to tender a sheet at that point.

Does someone want to tell me why this isn't considered to be tampering? Collusion? If the other teams are locked out, isn't that tantamount to allowing Philly to tender a sheet before July 1? Am I missing something?

EDIT ---> Apparently, Philly has signed these two players to long-term deals. Hartnell : 6 years for a total of $25.2M. Timonen: 6 years for a total of $37.8M.

Remember, this isn't being referred to as a "trade". Trades are fine. This kind of negotiation smells fishy to me. Even if it is referred to as a "trade", this is still fishy as hell. Two top notch players for one draft pick?

As if there wasn't enough sketchiness going on in Nashville, now there's this.

Hurricanes to move on without Walker

I guess you can say it's official that the Carolina Hurricanes are done with Scott Walker.

An article in today's News & Observer covers the fact that there are just a few pieces remaining in the Hurricanes puzzle. It points out that Walker has rejected offers from the Hurricanes, but does not suggest ongoing negotiations. The subtle suggestions over the last week are that the Hurricanes have made a final offer. In part, and in a nutshell, the article says:

"That leaves only the decisions on David Tanabe and Josef Vasicek, both potential free agents."

Luke Decock suggests that the Hurricanes have a few names on a shortlist for filling the third line center position. That shortlist consists of Todd White from the Wild, Michal Handzus from the Blackhawks and Mike Peca from the Leafs. Peca and Handzus both had significant injuries last season, forcing them to miss huge chunks of the season. They're both still serviceable, but at their age, and at Peca's price tag, you have to wonder if it's worth it. Like "Bubba" from Canes Country, I'm pretty into the idea of Todd White. He could be had for under $2M, and he had good third line numbers last season, amassing 44 (13/31) points and a +8 in 77 games. I say go for it.

It still leaves the right wing question up in the air. Now that Taylor Pyatt has re-signed with the Nucks, the UFA market is about dry. I like Scott Cason's idea about Jason Blake. I hadn't really thought about it until I read his post, but it's a fantastic idea. Again, he could be had for less than $2M (probably right around $1.75), and he's coming off a very good 69 point (40/29) season with the Isles.

Neither Todd White nor Jason Blake is a spring chicken, but they're both good players and could be valuable additions to the third line, which struggled all season in 2006-07.

The Hurricanes have around $5M to play with, and if they get one or the other of these guys (or hopefully BOTH) for around $1.75M for one year, they should be in good shape. If defenseman David Tanabe re-signs with a home team discount, it'll make a guy like Andrew Hutchinson expendable. There was some talk late in the season that the Oilers were interested in Hutch, so maybe we could enter negotiations with them for a depth guy.

There would still be around a million and a half to pick up at least one more winger. All this would fit under the Hurricanes self-imposed budget of $45M.

Who's got any thoughts on this matter?

Oh. Game four of the Stanley Cup Finals is tonight.

An early glimpse into Carolina's summer. (part I)

The off-season proper hasn't quite begun yet, but the Carolina Hurricanes are going to have some work to do. There's no time like the present to ponder their needs.

Ask any Canes fan to point their finger to the one most important personnel loss between the 2006 Stanley Cup Champion team and the 2007 team that missed the playoffs. They'll point to Matt Cullen. They'll also point to the loss of defenseman Aaron Ward, and to the fact that the blue line was decimated with injury all season long, that the Canes had a fully healthy squad for only 18 minutes this season.

Carolina filled the Matt Cullen vacancy with Scott Walker. Walker scored 51 points (21/30) in 2007, which is actually a hair better than Cullen's 49 (25/24) in 2006. We certainly like him here, but it wasn't the same. There was something else that Cully brought to the table. He brought a lot of that "intangible" stuff. That je ne sais quoi. This summer, Carolina will have to re-sign Scott Walker, and they'll have some other work to do. They'll also have to find some more of that je ne sais quoi stuff. Justin Viva Williams has it. Erik Cole has it. Cory Stillman might have it. Ray Whitney has it in spades. I don't think Eric Staal has it. I'm pretty sure the Captain doesn't have it. Trevor Letowski sure as hell doesn't have it.

On the blueline, Carolina will most likely be waving goodbye to Glen Wesley, and injury will probably force Bret Hedican to retire. Although N&O writer Luke Decock seems to think the Canes have enough defensemen in the cupboard, we think differently here at RBH.
Here's a look at the defensemen who are under contract for next season:

Frantisek Kaberle (through 2010) $2.2M
Nic Wallin (through 2010) $1.75M
Mike Commodore (through 2008) $1.3M
Tim Gleason (through 2008) $1.175M
Dennis Seidenberg (through 2008) $850k
Andrew Hutchinson (thorough 2008) $500k

Hedican is also under contract with a player option for $2.4M next season, but there are serious doubts about his hip.

"Even without Hedican, the Canes are loaded on the blue line." -- Luke Decock, News & Observer

If he doesn't come back (and he shouldn't), that leaves the Canes with exactly six defenseman. That isn't exactly "loaded", as Decock puts it.

Canes GM Jim Rutherford, quoted in that same article:

"If he plays, he's a good player for us, but if there's a question about whether he can play in most of the games, we'd probably want to bring someone else in."

This summer, Hedican will be seeing the same doctors who put SuperMario back together again. However, that statement from Rutherford sounds like a vote of no-confidence if I ever heard one.

Carolina will have to spend some dough to keep Scott Walker around. They will have to pay Cam Ward, who is scheduled to become an RFA. They will need to spend some money to acquire a goal scoring forward. They will have some money left over, and they will need to focus on a shut-down defenseman. Sure, the fans want to see a flashier move, like an Andrei Markov. His price tag will likely be around $2.2M, and the Canes could afford it, but I'm just not sure that another "offensive" defenseman is what the Canes need.
David Tanabe showed tremendous improvement over the course of this past season, and will be an UFA in July. If the Canes can bring him back cheap, I think they should. I don't think that'll be much of an issue. Even with Tanabe, that's only seven defenseman. They'll need to sign an every-night defenseman and probably one more reserve-type. I certainly wouldn't sneeze at an Andrei Markov, but I just don't think it's the right direction.

Later, I'll glance at the needs in the forward lines, and I'll have a better assessment of the defensive needs and the available FAs.

"The Wizard" to stay in Raleigh

On Friday afternoon, the Hurricanes checked off the most important item on the "summer to-do list". Ray Whitney was re-signed to a three year deal which will pay him $3.55M per season. This past season, Whitney posted a career high 83 points (32/51). He earned a bargain basement $1.5M paycheck from the Hurricanes and also received $1.2M from the Red Wings as part of their 2005 contract buy-out.

I was away all weekend (in a wedding, and piss-babbling drunk the whole time), unable to get hockey news (other than scores), so I have a lot of catching up to do. This was a very good thing to come home to.

Although both sides were clear about wanting to keep Whitney in Raleigh, there was still some anxiety among the natives. Whitney was slated to become an UFA on July 1, and would have been one of the hottest commodities. There was some speculation that he would get offers in the $4M + range, but neither side wanted to waste time getting re-signed.

The Caniac Nation is breathing a collective sigh of relief as the fan favorite is locked in at what is still a very good price.

Next, the Canes need to focus on getting Scott "Remo" Walker re-signed. He earned $1.52M last season after being acquired from Nashville, and he tallied 51 points (21/30). The 33-year old, who quickly became another fan favorite here, can expect to make about $2M next season.

Josef Vasicek and Anson Carter are also on the "to do" list, but with them, it's not nearly as pressing. Anson Carter wouldn't be missed. "Big Joe" would be missed, but only for sentimental reasons. Both players are replaceable.

Glen Wesley will most likely retire (although I said that last summer, too) and Bret Hedican will most likely not exercise his player option. His back/knees/ "lower body" can't take it anymore.

Carolina will have to get some defense and a third line center out of free agency. They will need to get defensemen and goalies in the draft. The cupboard is exceptionally bare in our minor league system.