Preds perform dirty trick, Ray Whitney on fire.

On Friday, the Hurricanes exchanged third line centers with the Predators. Both teams had the chance to get rid of a player that just wasn't "fitting in". Nashville coach Barry Trotz explained it just like that, saying that it was a "lateral" change for both players and teams.

Obviously, Carolina knows JoVa very well, and he won't need any adjustment at all in the locker room. There's maybe two guys in the room who he doesn't know.

"The Condor" played with the Canes on Saturday, giving the Hurricanes a Czech connection that has been missing for some time.

Belanger didn't play with the Preds on Saturday. Before he even set foot in the Preds locker room, he was traded to the Thrashers for defenseman Vitaly Vishnevsky. A very dirty trick by Nashville GM David Poile. No team likes to make intra-division trades, especially with the unbalanced schedule. Jim Rutherford doesn't even like trading within the Eastern Conference. This manoeuvre, though, puts Belanger back in the Southeast division. Had this been on the table as a three-way trade, Rutherford would have had no part of it. Poile insists that is wasn't his intention for this to happen, but I just don't buy that. In the long run, it's not likely that Belanger will be able to give away any secrets, but it's still dirty pool. I hope the hockey gods take note of this underhanded tactic and smite the Preds and Thrash appropriately.

Due to excessive drunkenness last night, I didn't see any of the Canes v Wild game. The Canes rallied from a three goal deficit to make a good game out of it, but lost 5-4. Eric Staal had a 3 (1/2) point night and Ray Whitney added a goal and an assist. "The Wizard" is completely en fuego. He's scored seven (4/3) points in the last two games and has 23 (9/14) points in the last 15. After getting a natural hat trick in a stunning 100 second span Thursday night, he told reporters that he was just lucky, but Eric Staal thought otherwise:

"It was one of those nights," Whitney said. "I was the beneficiary of some hard work by the other guys."

"You were on fire," Staal interjected as he walked past Whitney's locker.

"I was on fire," Whitney said. "Let's be honest."

He'll take a four game points streak into Tuesday's home game against the Kings. More on that later.

Canes report card .... part 3 of 5

After taking a day off, I'll continue with parts 3 and 4 of the continuing series of midseason report cards. In the meantime, Carolina has lost their third straight game (all to teams from cities starting with the letter P), and has been shut out twice in a row. Carolina hasn't scored in the year 2007, and will look to end that trend tonight versus the Islanders in the RBC Center at 7:00.

Without further ado, the grades:

# 19 Trevor Letowski (aka "The Big Letowski" aka "The Dude", "El Duderino, "His Dudeness") -- C
There weren't many expectations about Letowski coming in. We knew he would be a third line winger at best and that he would be more of a Josef Vasicek replacement than a Matt Cullen replacement. He's got a ton of energy and like the other "water bugs", he's blessed with speed and elusiveness. The only problem is that he's not as skilled or as confident as Ray Whitney, so he's not going to be much of an offensive threat. Early in the season, he was pasted by the Penguins' Colby Armstrong with a devastating open ice hit. Letowski missed nine games with a concussion, and might have lost what little confidence he had. Presently, he's got 5 (2/3) points, and I suspect that his second half will be better, but I wouldn't expect anything more than 18 points total. With the way things are going injury-wise, he will have no choice but to step up his game. The mitigating factor here is that expectations were low for him. Elsewise, his grade would be much lower.

#22 Mike Commodore (aka "Commy")-- A-
I'm still completely giddy about the way this has worked out for the Canes. After being essentially cast off by the Flames, Commy found a home in Carolina, where defensemen were needed. He saw significant ice time, and surprised many critics by being a solid, dependable defenseman. This season, he's continued to be a very liable d-man, and has been a major player in this "defensemen joining the rush" thing. In fact, he scored a goal this season while the Canes had a two man disadvantage against Buffalo. For the record, that has been the only three-on-five goal in the entirety of the NHL this season.
With 16 (4/12) points, he's already surpassed last season's points total and is on pace to outperform several of the Carolina forwards. Kevyn Adams, I'm talking to you. The only thing I don't like about his game is that he's taking some lazy penalties with too much frequency. He's been in the wrong place at the wrong time for more than one of those delay of game (puck in crowd) penalties.
However, he's almost always in the right place at the right time, whether it's denying an attacking skater a passing lane, or creating a screen in front of an opposing goaltender. We've got him for one more year, and hopefully another renewal after that.

#24 Scott Walker (aka "Remo") -- B+
This has turned out to be a really good trade. Carolina exchanged Josef Vasicek, who once led the Canes in goal scoring for a season (2003-04) for Nashville's all time points and goals leader. For whatever reason, Vasicek wasn't working in Carolina, and I think Nashville freed up some cap space for JP Dumont with this trade. It's gone well. He's got decent speed, great skating ability, good passing skills, a great sense of where his teammates are and where they will be. His d skills aren't that great, but he doesn't put the Canes in harm's way. He's definitely not afraid to throw the gloves down, either. He's just about the only Canes player to avoid injury this season, which was one of the concerns coming in. He's sitting on 26 (12/14) points, and if he can step it up a tiny bit in the second half, he'll be able to reach the 60 (25/35) points that I predicted on the day of the trade.
All indicators are that he's a really good guy to have in the room. One of those guys that all the guys like. Certainly, the fans do.
I haven't been able to discern the results, but Walker played in a charity poker tournament against other NHLers. However much he won all went to the Garth Brooks Teammates for Kids Foundation, which focuses on children's health, education and helping kids (mostly inner city, underprivileged) get into team sports.

#25 Eric Belanger B
The other player in the "Jack Johnson trade". I have a lot of thoughts about that trade, but that's for another post.
I had no idea what to expect from Belanger. On the day of the trade, I looked at his past numbers and took a shot in the dark, guessing that he'd hit 40 points this season. He probably won't but he won't be far off that mark. He's got some nice moves, and generates some outstanding scoring chances, but he's suffering from whatever Maxim Afinogenov suffered from last season. He just can't finish. He hits posts, crossbars, he's been robbed by phenomenal saves. He's been everywhere but in the net. I think once the Canes get back on the right foot, Belanger will have a good second half, and might end up getting that 40. At his current pace, he'll end with 30 (13/17).
One aspect of his game that I really like is that he can dominate the faceoff circle. When Brindy was out, Belanger was the only one the Canes could trust to go in there and win an important draw. His style, and his stance in the circle are actually really reminiscent of Brind'Amour, so it doesn't surprise me.

#26 Erik Cole -- A-
After a career-threatening neck injury last winter, Cole surprised everyone by returning to the Canes lineup for the final two games of the Stanley Cup Final. He looked good but rusty. While we were all glad to see him, and he played a huge part in setting up the Cup winning goal, there was some debate about whether he should have just taken the rest of the summer off. Coming into camp, there was some trepidation, and the knowledge that he's much more at risk for neck injury than the next guy. For a guy who plays hard and fast, this is obviously something to be concerned about.
Most nights, you can tell that he's having some neck pain, and on some nights, you can see on the bench that he's in a great deal of pain. Still, he plays, and he goes 100%. Last season, he was on fire, headed toward an 82 point season, only to sit out the last 22 regular season games and the first 23 playoff games. This season, he's not far off that pace. He's got 36 (16/20), and when the Canes can right the ship, he'll score in bunches. I figure he'll end with about 78 (35/43) points.
Even when the rest of the team is struggling, and even on the nights when the Canes get crushed, it's a thrill to watch him. He's so fast and so strong and so agile and handles the puck so well. He can turn nothing at all into a breakaway chance.

He's still young and has two more years in Carolina. At some point, which I assume will be next season, he'll be given the "A" when Wesley retires and K-Ads goes on the free agent market.


So there's that.

The Canes will try to (and I predict they will) snap out of this horrible funk tonight. I'll watch the game and do that semi-liveblog thing with open comment thread. After all that, I'll attempt to get part four of the report cards up. Either way, I'll have the whole shebang done by Sunday night.

Canes bounce back, blast Bruins

On Friday morning, the Canes had a lunch date with the Bruins. Not only did Carolina eat well, but they made Boston pick up the tab. The end result was a 5-1 victory for Carolina. The two teams will meet again for a dinner date in Raleigh on December 2.

The Canes played a terrible game on Wednesday, but it could have been much worse if Johnny Crackers hadn't stepped up to the plate big time. He was rewarded with an opportunity to make his second consecutive start between the pipes. This time, he got some support in front of him and he picked up his second win of the season.

Eric Staal, who had been playing poorly and had been effectively benched in the Islanders game, got the scoring started at 18:36 of the first. The Canes were moving the puck well on a power play chance, and Staalsy had the puck down low beneath the left circle. From there, he fired a centering pass to Eric Belanger at the top of the crease. Initially, it looked like Belanger got his stick down to deflect the pass in the net. Replays showed, however, that it bounced in off a Bruins' skate. Credit Staal with the power play goal, Trevor Letowski with one assist and Scott Walker with the second.

At 10:35 of the second, Viva scored what would prove to be the game winner. The Canes were really having their way in the Bruins zone, controlling the puck posession for a very long time. After a few failed clearing attempts by the Bruins, the Canes were able to set up a play against some exhausted Bs players. While the Bruins players looked on, Scott Walker skated literal circles around the tired defenders and found Viva on the left side of the net. Williams took the pass, and easily tucked it in. The whole play, though, was started when David Tanabe made -- I'm not making this up -- a good defensive play in center ice, which allowed the continuation of "offensive" posession. He passed to Walker, who put on the aforementioned skating clinic, then the goal. Credit Viva with the goal, Scott Walker with the first helper and David Tanabe with the second assist.

Just nine seconds later, before the Caniacs could settle back into their seats, Erik Cole made it 3-0. Rod Brind'Amour won the faceoff to Mike Commodore, who fed Colesy on the right wing. He exploded to the net and somehow slipped one past Tim Thomas. Thomas never saw the puck until it was already in. The play was briefly reviewed, presumably to see if it had been kicked in. It was allowed to stand. It was just the 8th goal of the season for Cole. Credit Brind'Amour (23rd) and Commodore (10th) with the assists. Thomas was replaced by Phillipe Sauve, who had just been called up from AHL Providence Bruins.

After John Grahame was penalized for playing the puck outside the trapezoid, Patrice Bergeron scored on the power play with a slapper from the right circle. Marc Savard had he only assist.

Eric Belanger scored at 8:20 of the third on a nice wrap-around chance. He went behind the net, then reversed his direction to go around the left post and beat Sauve in the five hole. Mike Commodore and Chad LaRose got the assists.

The final goal was a really nice one. Craig Adams hit Andrew Ladd with a really nice long diagonal cross-ice pass from blue line to blue line. Ladd stayed on side, streaked in alone on the left side and ripped a snap shot off the far post and in. CrAdams got the only assist.

The "official" three stars went to Erik Cole (third), Scott Walker (second) and Eric Staal (first).

I saw it a little differently.

The RBH stars of the game:
Third Star Mike Commodore, CAR. 2 assists, 21:41 TOI, +3
Second Star Eric Belanger, CAR. 1 goal, 2 takeaways
First Star Scott Walker, CAR. 2 assists

Next up, the Canes will take on the Senators at home on Tuesday. It'll be the first game of a three game homestand.

Reigning champs still winless

Wednesday night, the Canes dropped a 6-3 decision to the Panthers, and remain winless on the season. I only watched the closing minutes of the game and didn't get to watch the DVR, so I can't give glorious details.

While a couple of disappointing trends continued, two were ended. In the loss, the Canes were actually well disciplined for the first time all season. They only committed four penalties. The also got their power play rolling. In eight chances, the Canes scored once on the man advantage. Previously, the Canes had netted two power play goals, but they both came on 5-on-3 segments. One for eights is still not as efficient as we would like, but we've gotta take baby steps.

On the other side, the Canes surrendered one power play goal, late in the game when it didn't matter. They also gave up a short handed goal. I haven't seen the tape yet, but these are usually the result of sloppy neutral ice play. This has been something the Canes have been bad about so far this season.

The goal scorers for the Canes were Eric Belanger, Scott Walker and Andrew Hutchinson. Belanger and Walker also each had an assist. The "new guy" line of Trevor Letowski, Belanger and Walker has been the most productive so far. Walker and Belanger are tied for tops on the team with an embarrassing THREE points.

John Grahame and his terrible helmet were in net for the first time.

Next up for the Canes on their two week road trip will be the Thrashers on Friday night.

A Jack, (Acid) Queen, and Two Kings

This weekend is my annual "weekend o' hell" at work. It always falls on the weekend preceding my birthday, or, when the stars are aligned just so, ON my birthday. This year, it also falls on the weekend preceding opening night.

Anyway, the huge news came down at some point on Friday, and I didn't catch wind of it until around midnight because of my 15-hour day.

The "huge news" is, of course, the trade. In a few years, this might be referred to as "The Trade (v. 3.0)". For now, no quotations, no capitals.

The Canes give up Oleg Tverdovsky and the rights to Jack Johnson. In return, they get third line center Eric Belanger and third pairing defenseman Tim Gleason from the Kings.

My initial reaction was one of shock. I couldn't believe they actually pulled the trigger. Then, I wondered "Wait.... We get Belanger, Gleason, and what else???". Then I thought about it. And thought about it some more. And then I had an IM chat with the Acid Queen. And then I read Scott Cason's brilliant piece. Then I read some other stuff.

My conclusion: I like it.

First, I'll explain what the Canes give up.

• Oleg Tverdovsky
Last summer, the Canes took a big chance on Tevvy. They signed him to a three year deal, paying him $2.5 per season. It had been more than two years since the Russian had played in the NHL. He once showed promise as a top defenseman with offensive upside, and the Canes were hoping to get that out of him. Unfortunately, either the "new NHL" has passed him by, or he had a bad season. Or both. His 23 points (3/20) were less than what the Canes were hoping for, and his less than spectacular play on the defensive front made him look like the most overpaid player in the league. He scored two own goals. TWO!! He was often the target of criticism when the defense was sub-par. I and my friends even named an "award" for feeble play in his honor. All summer, I've been hoping for, and loudly asking for, a trade involving him. Given that he didn't dress at all in the Stanley Cup Finals, and the fact that his quality of play had diminished by then anyway, I would have settled for a seventh round draft pick and a bucket of practice pucks.


• The rights to Jack Johnson. I was trying to be positive about the Jack Johnson thing. I was trying to encourage people to be patient with the kid while he enjoys the college experience. College, I would say, would be good for sanding off his well known rough edges. He needs to grow as a person before he can grow as a hockey player, I would say. He needs a little development. Of course, in the back of my mind, I knew that Johnson and the Canes would never be a fit. We knew all along that he would spend one year in Ann Arbor. When the Wolverines were eliminated from NCAA play last spring, he rejected the Canes' offer to join the team and play on the big team. When the playoffs started, more of the same. After we won the Cup, more of the same. As summer wound down, Johnson announced his intention to stay in Ann Arbor another season. Reports started to pop up that his indisposition to turn pro had to do with the Canes rather than with his "not being ready". I dismissed these reports as hogwash.
  One interesting side note is that until just a few days ago, we were unable to get any comment at all from Jack himself. Anything we heard out of the Johnson camp came from his father, who is a very strange bird. According to some source, Jim Rutherford had a dinner meeting with Jack Johnson a few weeks ago. While the two had dinner and presumably discussed the defensman's future, Jack Senior waited in the car. The whole time. At some point, Jack let on that dad was in the car. Rutherford, shocked, asked why Jack Senior didn't come in and eat with them. There was no answer. Cason thought that it was pretty much done at that point:

  The bridge was already on fire before that faithful (sic) evening. The bridge probably collapsed after that bit of strange cimema (sic).

  
  
  There's a lot that we don't know about Jack Johnson, including when he will decide to enter the NHL. It was looking more and more likely that the talented defenseman had no intention of ever joining the Carolina Hurricanes.
  

If Carolina had just selected Gilbert Brule last summer, this wouldn't be happening right now. If Carolina had selected Mark Staal, they'd have a defenseman, and this wouldn't be happening right now. If ifs and buts were candy and nuts....

By trading away Oleg Tverdovsky, the Canes have an addition by subtraction thing going on. They rid themselves of a hefty contract, and they rid themselves of a player that wasn't working out.

By trading away the rights to Jack Johnson, the Canes no longer have to deal with that media sideshow. It has been a distraction all summer, and really even longer than that. Johnson may turn out to be Pronger Junior. If he does, Rutherford will look like a jerk. If he fails to polish those rough edges, if he parties too hard in college, if he never really transitions to the NHL game, JR looks like a genius. I'm a little sad that we're giving up on such a hot prospect. At the same time, I'm glad that we don't have to deal with that mayhem anymore. I'm not even sure if those "rights" will mean anything. It could be the case that JJ stays four years, and re-enters the draft. I don't know the ins and outs of the CBA well enough to know how that works. Anyone???

The Canes address some immediate needs with this trade, and although it's rarely a good idea to make trades with the "here and now" in mind, this is what we've done. As far as that's concerned, I like very much what the Canes are getting.

• Eric Belanger A bona fide NHL center capable of having a 40 point season. Last season, he had 37 points (17/20) in just 65 games. He'll center the third line, a position which we had Trevor Letowski playing out of position. Now Letowski (or Walker, for that matter) will move to the left wing on the third line. If Belanger indeed ends up centering the third line, and can put up the kinds of numbers he is accustomed to, we'll get our Matt Cullen back. Hopefully more. Ryan Bayda has worked his tail off in camp and in the preseason, but he's the clear odd man out here. If he makes the big club roster, he just went from being the third line left wing to being a healthy scratch.
  
  
• Tim Gleason. The former first-round pick is still very young for a defenseman at 23. He's a big strong dude with offensive potential, and room to grow. He's described as an "average defender" with a ton of grittiness, above average speed, and a decent shot. He's certainly no Frantisek Kaberle, but as long as he isn't a bump on a log, he's going to be better for the Canes than Tevvy ever was. Addition by subtraction, and addition by addition. He's ready for the NHL, and removes some of that third pairing trepidation Canes fans were having. We still might see more of Andrew Hutchinson than this guy, but it'll be a while before we know. And the kid has potential. As Cason puts it:

  The Kings get Tverdovsky. The Canes get their Tverdovsky. Only difference is that the Hurricanes new Tverdovsky has the chance to become Frankie Kaberle with manly pipes and a mean streak. Their Tverdovsky will more than likely stay just a Tverdovsky.

At the end of the day, I, like the Acid Queen, have experienced something like relief with the end of the Jack Johnson saga. I assume that Jim Rutherford knows something about Jack that none of us knows, and said thing pressed his hand to make this deal. This doesn't exactly have the markings of a deal we couldn't turn down. Unless, of course, JR was privy to some information that JJ would never be available to us. Perhaps Jack and Jack Senior rubbed JR the wrong way. Perhaps JR thinks that JJ will never lose his rough edge. I don't know, and we probably won't know until about 2011.

He's the Kings problem now.

The new guys give us some unfamiliar things. Belanger will be the first "French" guy we've had since Marty Gelinas. Gleason will be the only "Tim" that I can remember. This'll give us loads of chances to scream out "Timaaaaay!!!"