Williams injured

On Wednesday, the Hurricanes got some horrible news. Justin Williams has torn his right Achilles tendon and will miss four to six months. According to the News and Observer, Williams suffered the injury in an off-ice workout and should miss the majority of the season.

Williams, the first line right winger, missed the final 45 games of last season. 43 of those were due to a blown ACL. Since joining the Hurricanes, Williams has been nearly a point-a-night producer and will be sorely missed, just as he was down the stretch in 2007-08.

This is indeed horrible news. RBH had Williams projected at 73 (36/37) points this season, second most on the team.

Jim Rutherford stressed the fact that although this is terrible, the entire season won’t be lost:

“It’s certainly a setback for us. We were looking forward to Justin having a big year. This doesn’t mean he won’t be a part of it. He can come back for the most important part of it.”

He also stressed that the Hurricanes have some depth and will be able to fill the void. Just not as well.

Patrick Eaves will be handed an excellent chance to earn his mettle. Suddenly, the injury-prone youngster who arrived in a blockbuster trade last February, will be on the team’s top line. RBH had Eaves projected at 32 (16/16) points as a second line right wing. The other good that comes out of this is that Ryan Bayda, who has worked his tail off, will be guaranteed a spot on the big team.

The other thing that arises from this situation is that it almost guarantees Jeff O’Neill a job. After a disastrous year on and off the ice just before the lockout, plus the tragic death of his brother, O’Neill was traded to Toronto, and few people were sad to see him go. Although he didn’t return to his 40-goal form, he started to show promise with the Leafs. He spent last season out of hockey entirely, but continued to skate and work out. This summer, the Hurricanes all-time leading goal scorer (176 goals) was offered a tryout contract. All indicators are that he’s been looking good.

I’ve been hyper-critical of O’Neill in the past. He looked terrible in his final year here, and the DUI (two of them) didn’t help. But I’ve also been able to look at Jeff O’Neill vis-a-vis the summer of 2008 in a completely objective manner. He’s been working hard, and he means business. He’s gotten married and has a kid on the way. That makes a man change quite a bit. This isn’t the old Jeff O’Neill. Before I knew about Williams’ injury, I commented to a friend just today that I would be the first guy to tip my hat to O’Neill if he makes the team. That looks like an inevitability now.

The lines will have to be shuffled, and O’Neill is huge because he can play any forward position. Camp hasn’t even opened yet, but here’s how I imagine opening night:

Ray Whitney / Eric Staal / Patrick Eaves
Sergei Samsonov / Rod Brind’Amour / Scott Walker
Tuomo Ruutu / Matt Cullen / Jeff O’Neill
Chad LaRose / Brandon Sutter / Ryan Bayda

So, Caniacs who still have those dusty old 92 sweaters might want to pull them out of the closet.

The David Tanabe plot thickens

On Monday, the Hurricanes placed winger Jeffrey Hamilton and defenseman David Tanabe on waivers. Presumably, they will both clear, and the idea is to buy out both of their contracts. Each player has one year remaining on his contract.

As you probably know, the CBA does not allow a team to buy out the contract of an injured player. David Tanabe has been out since December with concussion-like symptoms. He's failed to show up for any year-end interviews or other meetings with team staff. While his camp is still saying that he's not well enough to even leave the house, the Hurricanes are confident that if it comes down to it, a doctor will deem him "healthy". If that turns out to be the case, the buyout will be legal and Carolina can move on.

It's no surprise that Carolina is buying out Green Eggs and Hamilton. Even when the Canes were banged up with injuries last season, he was finding himself in the press box as a healthy scratch pretty frequently.

This Tanabe thing has been a mystery. The "injury" itself is mysterious enough. Nobody was ever able to ascertain exactly when or how he sustained the concussion. All we know is that it happened in "the Alexei Ponikarovsky game" wherein the Canes made a miraculous comeback from two goals down with 85 seconds to play to win the game. He left that game at some point in the first period and never came back I reviewed and reviewed the game tape, and there was never any hit that would have caused a massive concussion.

I'm not saying that he made the whole thing up. I'm not saying that he had a major row with coach Laviolette. I'm not saying that there was a false injury. I'm just saying. This whole thing is pretty weird.

When Snuggles didn't show up for the team photo at the end of the year, everyone thought it was a little weird. When he didn't show up for his exit interviews, everyone thought it was even weirder. When he repeatedly missed meetings and didn't return phone calls, everyone started to wonder what the heck was going on. All along, we were fed the same line that he couldn't even see straight, let alone play hockey.

This talk of buying out Tanabe came up a few months ago. Of course it all went by the wayside because the CBA forbids the buying out of an injured player's contract.

Today, Luke Decock reports that the Canes are gonna do it anyway. He says that the Tanabe buyout will cost the Canes $600k and the Hambone buyout would cost $533k. For 2008-09, if both players are bought out, Carolina would take a salary cap hit of $416,667.

Tanabe has been nothing but trouble. After being selected 16th overall in the 1999 entry draft, Tanbe had two tenures with the Hurricanes, but never quite lived up to the high expectations. Instead, he lived up to the nicknames "Snuggles" (for being soft) and my personal favorite "Avi" (David - D = Avi). His second time through, he was easily Carolina's worst defenseman on a very bad blueline. Even when he turned the corner around Christmas of 2006 and showed marked improvement, he was still pretty bad and extremely soft.

Immediately following the game in which he was injured, I pointed out that I couldn't tell how he got hurt and I joked:

"At some point in the first period, "Avi" Tanabe suffered a concussion, but nobody knows how or when. I assume he concussed himself when he considered actually hitting someone."

There is no doubt in my mind that Avi will be well enough to file a grievance with the NHLPA. As of today, we're getting a "no comment" from Tanabe's camp.

If this saga were going on with some other team, I'll admit that I would be crying about how unjust and callous it is for the team to try to buy out the injured player's contract. However, this has gone on long enough, and has had so many odd turns that I'm having very serious doubts about the magnitude of Tanabe's injury. I'm not at all suggesting that he has personal problems and cried "injury" to cover them up. I'm just saying.

Other teams will have until noon on Tuesday to pick up Tanabe or Hamilton. After that, we might see some fireworks.

Williams, Whitney set for return

Justin Williams was cleared for full contact practice on Monday. He made it through the full practice with no complications. After missing 43 games with torn ligaments (both the MCL and the ACL) in his left knee, "Viva" is listed as "probable" for tomorrow's huge game against the Capitals. Read Luke Decock's N&O story here.

Ray Whitney, who has missed the last 12 games with a bad ankle, is also slated for a return to the lineup on Tuesday. He left practice early on Monday, but is still hopeful for play against Washington. Coach Laviolette has said that he won't mess with the chemistry of the top three lines. What this means is that Carolina could possibly have a fourth line of Ray Whitney/Jeff Hamilton/Justin Williams. That's a pretty damn good fourth line if you ask me.

If these two are a go for tomorrow, I expect that Joe Jensen and probably Tim Conboy will be sent back down to Albany.

I'm pretty excited to see Viva ready to play. He'll see limited ice time, but he'll be chomping at the bit to make a difference.

The home stretch

With eight games to play, Carolina is atop the Southeast division with a three point lead over Washington and a five point lead over Florida. All eight remaining games are Southeast matchups. Two against each team in the division.

Every game will be critical, starting tonight in Atlanta. Puck drop at 7:00.

Jeff Hamilton has cleared re-entry waivers. With Matt Cullen out of the lineup indefinitely with post-concussion issues, Hambone will get some quality ice time. Or at least some quantity ice time.

When will the injuries to key players finally be too much?
The top line of Ray Whitney/ Rod Brind'Amour/ Justin Williams is out. Matt Cullen is out.

The newcomers and the "Rat Pack" have played extremely well, but it's gonna be hard to make a deep playoff run with AHL-quality players in the lineup. I hope they prove me wrong.

On the other hand, Justin Williams should be able to return if the Hurricanes can hold on to that SE lead and make the playoffs.

It's going to be a very tight race. Every game is a "must win". For the Panthers, they literally must win every game (and get some outside help). The Thrahsers and Lightning are out of contention, but they could easily play the part of spoiler.

The Caps, who won last night in Nashville, will be on the road tonight at Chicago. Canes fans will have a keen interest in that game, just as the Caps fan will have an interest in the Canes game.

Full game posts late tonight.

Ruutu's injury update

Late in regulation of the game between the Hurricanes and Devils, Hurricanes newcomer Tuomo Ruutu was clipped by Hepatitis Boy's stick. He was bleeding quite a bit, but he left on his own power, and I assumed that it was just a normal little cut. I even said in an IM chat that he would "take a few butterfly stitches and be okay."

Not quite.

He needed 40 stitches to close the cut that went from the brow above his left eye to his nose. Today, there was significant enough swelling to prevent Ruutu from practicing, and he may have to miss Thursday's game against the Rangers. LSB has more details.

If Ruutu can't go on Thursday, Trevor Letowski will have an increased role. Jeff Hamilton has been assigned to Albany and won't be put through re-entry waivers. He'll stay there, and the Hurricanes won't be calling anyone else up.

There isn't any word on Tim Gleason yet. He took a baseline test this morning and sat out of practice with a "headache". That's got concussion written all over it. That's not god news for Canes fans. Gleason has been one of, if not THE best defenseman for the Canes over the past few months. Just as no forwards will be called up, neither will a defenseman. The Hurricanes will stand pat with what they have and hope for the best.

With a five point lead and sixteen games to play, Carolina can hope that even with this ever-growing list of injuries, they can limp to the finish line ahead of Washington and Atlanta.

Ryan Bayda becomes the flu's latest victim

Carolina Hurricanes third line left winger Ryan Bayda was sent home from practice today because he was sick. Here's the list of players already out of the lineup for tonight's game against the Bruins:

C Rod Brind'Amour (out for the season -- ACL)
LW Justin Williams (out for the season -- ACL, MCL)
C Chad LaRose (out for the season -- broken leg)
D Dennis Seidenberg (ankle)
W Patrick Eaves (shoulder)
D Bret Hedican (lower body)
D David Tanabe (concussion)

From the sounds of the reports this morning, LW Bayda will be unable to go, making the count eight.

In addition, the following players are sick with flu-like symptoms, but will probably play anyway, but will be unable to give 100%:
RW Erik Cole
LW Ray Whitney

There's a reasonable chance that Carolina could only have nine forwards available tonight, and that's counting Wade Brookbank.

Center Joe Jensen was called up from Albany on Monday, only to be hospitalized by illness during the game. He was reassigned to Albany, but sent home to bed.

This will be the first of six straight home games for the Canes, who have won four home games in a row.

Washington and Atlanta, who both trail the Hurricanes by two standings points, are idle tonight. Florida, who is four points back, is at Pittsburgh.

Puck drop is at 7:00. No local TV coverage.

Red Wing nation pushes collective panic button, then breathes collective sigh of relief

On Monday night, the Red Wings and Avalanche met for the final time this season. Both clubs were mired in losing streaks. Detroit ended their six-game losing streak, but suffered an injury to their Captain. Despite the "worst-case scenario" cryings from the Winged Wheel nation, Nicklas Lidsrom is only expected to be out for a week to ten days with a minor knee injury.

The Red Wings entered the game clinging to a narrow 18-point lead in the Central division and were able to give themselves some much needed breathing room with the win over their most hated rival. While they're happy to have won the game, they're more concerned right now with the fact that they have just become the only team in the history of the game to see one of its star players get injured.

After reading around some of the Wings blogs, it's clear that most of the "ZOMG, it's the end of the world!" posts were hastily written before details were available, but it still reeks of hubris to whine about a minor injury, as if that kind of thing can't possibly happen to the Red Wings.

Part of the uproar stems from the fact that Lidstrom was hurt by an Avalanche player, and some are viewing the hit from Laperriere to be dirty.
Part of the uproar also comes from the fact that the Red Wings blue line was already banged up going into the game. Brian Rafalski and Niklas Kronwall are both out with injuries.

This is far from a "worst-case scenario". Rafalski is day-to-day with a sore groin. Kronwall is about a week away from returning from a shoulder injury. Lidstrom is not expected to be out for more than 10 days.

As expected, Aaron Downey went out and got some of that "frontier justice" stuff by going after Laperriere once in a fight and once in an open-ice hit. After the game, Downey, who has barbells for brains, delivered what has to be the quote of the year. From the Detroit Free Press:

"(W)hat you’ve got to do is, you’ve got to have a good head on your shoulder and you don’t want to put your team in jeopardy even though you’d like to go out there and run (Ryan) Smyth or you’d like to run one of their skill guys. Sure it’d be good to go out there and goon the guy, but that’s not hockey. Let’s play good, hard, passionate hockey like they did in the Roman times. I’m not going to run their guys to prove a point but you know what, I’ll go out there and get him back. Fair justice is fair justice."

Yeah. Who can forget that epic championship series between Capri and Naples back in 23 BC? Augustus Caesar had four goals in game seven alone.

Injury list: the return of the hogs

Last season, I used a bit of humor to demonstrate the depth of Carolina's injury woes. This season, Carolina has again been bitten hard by the injury bug, and I'll use the same trick to demonstrate.

The Canes have NINE! players currently injured. Rod Brind'Amour, Chad LaRose and Justin Williams are done for the season. It's looking more and more unlikely that David Tanabe will return. The good news is that Joe Corvo, Tim Gleason, Patrick Eaves and even Matt Cullen are "possible" for play tonight. No word on when Dennis Seidenberg will return from his ankle injury.

19 Hurricanes players have missed games due to injury or illness. Even newcomers Joe Corvo and Patrick Eaves have already missed games. Here's the laundry list, complete with pig graphics:

FORWARDS







































DEFENSE





























The following players are no longer with Carolina, but lost these man-games while they were here:


















In addition, these players are lost for the season. Tanabe's total is listed as 25 because he hasn't been ruled out for the season, but it doesn't look like he's gonna return. It mas as well say 47 games. For LaRose, Brind'Amour and Williams, the totals reflect the fact that they'll be done for the rest of the regular season:

Carolina's injuries

I just did an informal count of Carolina's man-games lost to injury this season, and I came up with 197. Last night, Brind'Amour wasn't counted in the tally since he played in the game, but he missed one game earlier, and he will definitely miss the remaining 22 games. So will Chad LaRose and probably Justin Williams. Add those 66 to the mix, and Carolina will have lost a bare minimum of 263 man-games. It doesn't seem likely that David Tanabe will ever return from his concussion, and Matt Cullen's return isn't likely to be soon. Patrick Eaves is still a few games away. There's no certainty about any of those, but for sure there will be 263 man-games lost, plus whatever else happens down the stretch.

It's likely that Carolina's total will be 300 or more, which is what I guessed yesterday.

The year Tampa won the cup, they lost 45 man-games to injury. That's it. They managed to stay impossibly healthy again the next year, but since then they've had their share.

I don't know about the totals for the other teams around the league, but I would imagine that this 197 so far has to be near the most in the league.

Tomorrow, I'll have a fully detailed post about the injured players. Just like the one I did last season. For now, here's a sneak preview. Players currently injured are indicated in bold:

Erik Cole : 8 games
Andrew Ladd : 19 games
Trevor Letowski : 2 games
Scott Walker : 23 games
Ray Whitney : 3 games

Joe Corvo : 1 game
Tim Gleason : 1 game
Bret Hedican : 12 games
Nic Wallin : 14 games
Glen Wesley : 3 games

Matt Cullen : 16 games
Patrick Eaves : 2 games
Chad LaRose : 7 games (done for the season)
Dennis Seidenberg : 16 games
David Tanabe : 25 games
Justin Williams : 24 games (done for the season)
Rod Brind'Amour : 1 game (done for season)

Cory Stillman : 3 games
Mike Commodore : 17 games

In addition, I think there was a time when some of the Carolina call-ups got injured or sick, but the above listed 18 players are full-time NHLers.

Tomorrow, look for a fully detailed post about this.

Get well, Richard Zednik. Scary incident at HSBC.

While I was busy watching UNC extend its 53-year home winning streak in college basketball against Clemson, I missed a grisly scene in the Sabres-Panthers game.

Richard Zednik was cut in the neck by the skate blade of teammate Olli Jokinen in the third period of action with the Sabres leading 4-3. Zednik was cut deeply and was bleeding profusely, but skated to the bench under his own power.

The players on both teams and the fans stood in stunned silence as the game was delayed for 15 minutes. Longtime Sabres fans must have been reminded of that horrible incident with Clint Malarchuk back in the Aud in March of 1989. With reference to that, Sabres play-by-play man Rick Jeanneret said "I'm afraid I have (seen that much blood), but I don't like to recall it."

Thankfully, the medical staffs of both teams worked to stop the bleeding before rushing him to a local hospital. As of now, he's in stable condition.

I have issue with the fact that the game was resumed. According to what I've read, the indications are that referee Bill McCreary gave Jacques Martin the option, but I don't think there should have been any question. The game should have been suspended or called. I'm sure the Panthers players would have been okay with even ending the game right then. I don't think any of them, or any of the Sabres for that matter, could focus completely on finishing the game.

There's no telling what this will mean to Zednik's season or career, but all of that is secondary to his health right now.

What makes this even more frightening is that it happened just one day after linesman Pat Depuzzo was cut in the face by Steve Downie's skate in Philadelphia.

RBH wishes all the best for a full and speedy recovery for Zednik.

Canes-Isles in a matinee

The Hurricanes and Islanders play an unusual weekday matinee today. Puck drop will be at 2:00. This is the front end of a back-to-back home-and-home. The teams will square off again tomorrow night in Raleigh.

Barring a last-second change of plans, Brandon Nolan will not be in the Hurricanes lineup and will not have the chance to play against his father.

In other news, Johnny Crackers Grahame has been place on re-entry waivers, which expire at noon today. Michael Leighton is expected to dress for the Canes even if Crackers clears.

In other other news, Erik Cole had to leave practice early on Sunday with what appeared to be a knee injury. The good news is that he's fine and will be in the lineup today.
Also, Trevor Letowski, who thought "for sure" he had broken his foot blocking a Sheldon Souray shot on Friday, is fine.

After so many injuries, it's nice to have dodged a couple of bullets.

Don't forget. Very early puck drop today. 2:00 today and 7:00 tomorrow.

Leighton to get trial by fire

Goaltender Michael Leighton was called up from Albany on Thursday. John "Crackers" Grahame, who has won a Stanley Cup, was sent down. Before Leighton even gets a chance to learn everyone's name, he'll be put to the test. He'll be starting in nets tonight when the Canes are in Atlanta

Leighton has been, simply put, killing it in Albany. He has five shutouts this season to go with an impressive GAA of 2.14 and a save percentage of .928. Although his record is a very mediocre 13-14-2, the rest of his numbers are quite good.

Leighton has appeared in 47 NHL games, mostly with the horrible 2003-04 Chicago Blackhawks who only won 20 games all season. He has an unimpressive 10-23-10 record, a GAA of 3.69 and a save percentage of .882. These are hardly "good" numbers, but we think that he's grown a lot in the AHL and is finally ready for the NHL. There's little doubt that he could be worse than Crackers, so there isn't really anything to lose here.

Leighton will be wearing #49 for the boys in white. We're all wishing him the best.

In a related story, Crackers has cleared waivers, been assigned to Albany, and will possibly get the start tonight against the Syracuse Crunch.

Looking at tonight's starting lineup for the Canes, five started the season in Albany. Keith Aucoin will be the third line center, Brandon Nolan will be the fourth line right wing, Casey Borer will be the third pairing right defenseman, and Michael Leighton will be the netminder. The fifth guy is Wade Brookbank. He's a defenseman, but he'll be the fourth line left wing tonight.

Defensemen David Tanabe, Bret Hedican and Nic Wallin are out of action. Also, forwards Scott Walker, Matt Cullen, Andrew Ladd and Justin Williams will be in the press box. An analyst for the Thrashers radio network reported that these wounded guys have a collective 3,774 games of NHL experience. Luke's story on this can be found here.

Leighton will be put to the test against some of the greatest skaters in the league. Ilya Kovalchuk is enough of a headache, but there will also be Maid Marian Hossa.

Puck drop is at 7:30 tonight. During the second period, the Thrashers and the Canes will swap tv color men. Thrashers fans will have to put up with the ridiculous commentary of Tripp Tracy. Good luck with that.

Carolina loses game, Ladd, Walker

On Wednesday night, the Hurricanes played a gritty game against the Thrashers which resulted in a 5-4 overtime loss. There were some good things and some bad things. Then the injuries.

Carolina converted two of seven power play chances. This is a good thing. Eric Staal and Erik Cole each notched power play tallies. These guys need to be Carolina's best players, and they were both good on Wednesday. Just not good enough.

The bad and the ugly was that Carolina's penalty kill, already the worst in the league, got worse. The Canes only committed two penalties during the game, and they surrendered two power play goals. This is completely unacceptable. Maid Marian Hossa's game winning power play goal in overtime was a case of too much time and space. It was an easy goal. However, Ilya Kovalchuk scored the goal of the night. Perhaps the goal of the month. While on the power play, he took the puck coast to coast and beat Cam Ward very easily with a phenomenal and beautiful individual effort. He's leading the league with 33 goals, and this one was a textbook example of "highlight reel goal". I'm still kinda dazed by it.

The good things are that Erik Cole scored a goal at home. It was the first time he's done that all season. Eric Staal continued to pour on the points. His two points on the game put him at 37 (21/16) for the season. He won't finish anywhere near the 100 (45/55) that he had in the year of the Cup, but he's continuing to play at an elite level. He's got 10 (6/4) points in his last 9 games, which is more like the Eric Staal that we know than the guy who went four game pointless streak and a six game goalless streak in November.

Andrew Ladd had surgery today for his eye. He'll be out for a couple of weeks. The Canes were already looking like a MASH unit, but when you add Ladd and Scott Walker (7-10 games, knee) to the already big list, they look awful. Carolina should be making a few callups from Albany. I imagine Nolan will be recalled along with Ryan Bayda. Or Keith Aucoin. For more on the injuries, read Luke's article in the N&O.

In Wednesday's game, Carolina also got even strength goals from Andrew Ladd and Ray Whitney. They had to battle back from down 3-1, and 4-3 to force overtime. They should feel good about accomplishing something on the power play. They should feel good about finding something when their backs were against the wall. They should feel horrible about the penalty kill. They should feel horrible about committing a penalty in overtime. Cam Ward should feel awful about giving up five goals on just 14 shots. They should not have lost this game, but they did. The one standings point shouldn't be a consolation, but rather a scarlet letter.

The same two teams will kick it in the Philips Place Arena on Friday night. There will be a lot of different faces on the Carolina bench, including goaltender Michael Leighton, who has been called up from Albany following the waiving of Johnny Crackers

Canes injury woes continue

Carolina was already pretty banged up when they went to Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night. When they left, they were a lot worse for the wear. Of course they lost the game, but they lost more than that. Matt Cullen and Andrew Ladd may miss games due to injuries sustained in the game.

Justin Williams was already out with a bad knee. Both the MCL and the ACL are shot. He's done for the season. We already knew that.

Chad LaRose is concussed. He skated in practice today for the first time in over a week, but wore the yellow "no contact" sweater. He won't be back in time for the Boston game.

Craig Adams has finished his two game suspension

Matt Cullen suffered a broken nose. He may or may not be concussed. The lack of news in this department doesn't fall into the "no gnus is good gnus" department. (anybody old enough to remember that?)
Seriously, I assume that Cullen took a baseline test this morning. If he had passed the test, I think we would have heard by now. I read somewhere on a Rangers site that TSN.ca is reporting that he is NOT concussed, but I haven't been able to find any such article. No news is bad news.

Andrew Ladd may or may not have a broken orbital bone after he got clobbered by Sean Avery. I can't find any mention of this other than in blog comment sections, so I'll reserve that with a grain or two of salt.
This suggests that Colin Campbell isn't interested in Orr (not surprised) or Avery. Avery's transgression, however, is bunched in with those that carry a mandatory one game suspension. Nothing further will be levied on him. Meh.

Williams and LaRose are definitely out. Cullen is probably out. If Ladd indeed has a broken orbital bone, he'll be out for a while. Two top six guys and two third line guys. When Williams went down, the rallying cry was "Time for Ladd to step up. Time for LaRose to play an increased role." Now they're both out. It's a fantastic opportunity for Brandon Nolan to stay on the team and prove his worth. We should expect to see Ryan Bayda get the call-up from Albany. Maybe Keith Aucoin too.

Whether it's freak accident (Williams) or the result of marginal play, other teams are definitely taking liberties with Carolina. What makes it worse is that they know they can. Carolina is going through a horrible power play slump, so other teams can rough us up at will with confidence that Carolina won't score on the power play. They also know that Carolina isn't going to send anyone out to "clean matters up". It's a well-known fact that they have a "no fighting" rule, and even if they wanted to fight, Brandon Nolan is the only one who could even remotely strike fear in anyone's heart. This isn't the "new NHL" anymore, where skilled players are protected by the rules. Luke Decock said it best today:

Like it or not, the NHL is once again relying on frontier justice. And the Hurricanes look like the Quakers in the wagon train.

To remedy that, Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford is indicating that he's shopping around for an enforcer. The holiday roster freeze will thaw out at midnight tonight, and Carolina will look for free agents who might fall under the umbrella of "enforcer with skill". Good luck with that. Rachel Carter of the N&O has the story on that, which can be summed up with JR's quote:

“So, we continue to look at things. I think the one area, and we've talked about this the first half of the season, but it becomes more obvious now — is maybe an enforcer.
It seems like every week one of our guys is getting hit pretty hard and getting hurt, so we may try to look a little harder at that....
There's been guys come available that are tough guys, but probably not at the level we're looking for, so we're still going to look for one of those top guys.”

This will have to come on the free agency market. Carolina doesn't have any healthy players to use for trade bait.

The Canes will be home on Friday against the Bruins. I can only count ten healthy forwards. Brind'Amour, Whitney, Cole, Staal, Stillman, Hamilton, Walker, Adams, Nolan, Letowski. There are seven healthy defensemen, but that leaves them one player shy of a full roster.
Someone has to get called up.
At midnight.

Don't expect the "enforcer" move to come on Friday, but definitely expect Ryan Bayda to be wearing #18 against the Bs.

There is continued rumbling about making a move for a puck-moving defenseman. That will have to come via trade, which means we have to wait for people to get healthy.
Any ideas?

Worst-case scenario for Williams; Nolan called up.

Justin Williams' injury on Thursday night turned into a worst-case scenario on Friday after doctors examined him. He has re-torn the ACL in his left knee. Reparative surgery is scheduled for next week, and he is expected to be out for four to six months. Basically, the only way he will return to the Carolina Hurricanes lineup is if they make a very deep run in the playoffs. (Think Erik Cole, 2006)

In other news, Chad LaRose has been placed on the injured reserve due to a concussion. It seems that I have gotten my wish and Brandon Nolan (son of Islanders coach Ted Nolan) has been called up from Albany to take LaRose's place. No word on how Williams' void will be filled.

Although Williams has been in a monumental slump (no goals and only 5 points in the last 12 games), he is a key piece in the Hurricanes' scheme. He will be missed a lot.

Nolan wears number 12 with the River Rats and will probably wear number 21 with the Canes. We'll find out for sure tomorrow in Tampa.

Hurricanes lose game, Williiams

Carolina went to the swamps on Thursday to play one of those "four point games" against second place Florida. With a chance to expand their lead to seven points, the Hurricanes fell short. Instead, they blew an early two goal lead and left with a 5-4 loss. Instead of a seven point standings lead, they now have a narrow three point lead. Added to that, they lost Justin "Viva" Williams to a knee injury.

Carolina entered the game in kind of rough shape. They only had 11 forwards available. Craig Adams is suspended and Chad LaRose is concussed. Williams, who has been in a terrible slump, might be out of the lineup for a long time. Late in the first period, he suffered an injury to his left knee which left him writhing in pain on the ice for several minutes. This is the same knee that he injured in the 2002-03 season while still with the Flyers. He missed 36 games with a torn ACL.

I hate to speculate, but it didn't look good at all, and Luke Decock from the N&O wrote the following:

Tangled with Richard Zednik in front of the Florida net, Williams’ legs flew out from under him and Rostislav Olesz slammed into Williams’ extended left leg.

“Not good,” Williams said as he limped out of the building.

Williams missed 36 games with a torn ACL in that knee in 2002-03, so he has a frame of reference for knee injuries. He needed assistance on both sides to get off the ice. I suspect Williams won’t be as lucky as Stillman.

“He’s got to see a doctor, but obviously he couldn’t come back tonight,” Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette said. “The preliminary (report) is that it’s his knee. It doesn’t look good. …

“Even if it is something that is going to be longer, I don’t think there’s anything you can do for it immediately. The swelling is going to have to settle down.”

full story

I'm not excited about this. Down to 10 available forwards, Carolina will have no choice but to make a call-up to the depleted River Rats. I wrote the other day that they had 13 guys out of the lineup with injury or flu. THIRTEEN! They made emergency callups to the ECHL affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Ryan Bayda would be the logical first choice for a call-up, but he is out with a concussion. I guess that means we'll see Keith Aucoin again. I still wouldn't mind getting a look at Brandon Nolan or Jerome Samson, but I suppose we'll have to wait a while before we see them.

I wouldn't be surprised to see both Aucoin and Dave Gove called up.

Carolina will be in Tampa on Saturday, then will be off until Boxing Day, when they face the Rangers at MSG.

Godspeed, Justin!

Hurricanes beat up, but still know comedy

After sustaining a slew of injuries on a three game road trip, the Canes flew home for a four game homestand starting with a back-to-back this weekend. On Friday they'll host the Thrashers, and on Saturday the Panthers will be in town.

On Monday, Erik Cole suffered a neck injury after colliding with Florida goalie Tomas Vokoun. He left the game with 7:32 remaining in the third and was at the Cleveland Clinic when Cory Stillman scored the game-winner with a little more than a minute remaining. Initial CT scans were negative, Cole was cleared to fly, and all reports were that he was "okay". Upon returning home, team doctors took a look at him, and have ruled him out for 7-10 days. They want to make sure that he has a full range of motion and that the stiffness and swelling in his neck go away. Given that he is only about 20 months removed from his C-5 compression fracture, this is to be expected. Frankly, I'm surprised that he got off that easily. The collision with Vokoun looked pretty bad, and we're all breathing a sigh of relief that he didn't sustain a serious injury.

On Wednesday night, Bret Hedican took a puck to the jaw, which left him woozy and with a puffy face. Later, Craig Adams got pummeled in a fight with Doug Janik and he probably had to get stitched up. Hedi and Adams both practiced on Thursday and are said to be no worse for the wear.

Good news is that Andrew Ladd has been participating in full practice, and is likely a "go" for Friday. Nic Wallin is getting close, but will be out for a little while longer. Scott Walker has been skating, but is not cleared for contact. Although not immediate, this signals an eventual return. All good news.

Now for the comedy.

In my in-box today was "a special message from Chad LaRose". A video promoting the "player figurine" giveaway that will be done on November 28 against the Flyers. The first in a series of four, the Rod Brind'Amour figurine looks nothing like the actual Rod, and the way "mini-Rod" is hoisting the Cup is nothing like what the real Rod did when he hoisted it. Us Canes bloggers are in agreement that these figurines look like crap.

The Sliding Pokecheck has posted the video message, which has made me laugh about a million times. You should definitely check it out. It looks like this video was dreamed up, scripted and filmed in a span of about nine minutes. Chad clearly has the script in his hand, and did nothing to prepare other than throw a ballcap on. He's doing all he can to not burst into laughter as he mockingly holds the figure and says "I picked mine up the other day, I put it on the shelf in my bedroom, and I look at it every single day".
I laughed. I cried. It's just a wee bit cooler by the inclusion of "Praise You" by Fatboy Slim as the background music.

Canes down Panthers, Cole hurt

On Monday, the Hurricanes defeated Florida by the score of 4-3. They won the game, but they appear to have lost Erik Cole.

Cory Stillman scored two freakish goals including one from beyond center ice and one from below the goal line. Viva scored the other two goals. Stumpel, Weiss and Booth all scored for the Kitties.

Although the end result was good, The Sliding Pokecheck and I agreed via IM that the outcome of the game wasn't important after seeing Erik Cole lie motionless on the ice for several minutes.

With 7:26 remaining in the third, and the score tied 3-3, Cole was driving to the net, and was knocked down by Jassen Cullimore. Cole went down, and slid head-first into Vokoun. There will be some who will say that Cullimore held Cole, or "dragged him down". He did use his free hand a tiny bit, but I don't think there was anything wrong with what he did. The contact, and the resulting collision with the goaltender were just unfortunate.

Cole lay motionless for several minutes while members of both teams' training staffs tended to him. Right away, he was wiggling his fingers on both hands, moving his feet, but he wasn't really moving. Given his injury history, it was encouraging that he had movement in his extremities, but very frightening nonetheless.

After what must have been seven minutes, Cole was removed from the ice on a stretcher. Kudos to the Florida Panthers training staff, to their players and fans for expressing concern. Kudos to the organ player in the arena for having the courtesy to keep quiet. I've commented about this kind of thing before, and I'll say every time that a time like that is one where everyone needs to forget about which team they root for, and just worry about the health and well-being of the player. Kudos also to referee Mick McGeough for assisting the EMT crews.

According to preliminary reports, he was taken to a nearby hospital, but not immediately. That is another bit of encouraging news.

We won't know anything for at least 12 hours, and I won't know anything for at least 20, but we're obviously wishing the best for Erik Cole. Now is not the time to moan about how unjust the injury gods are.

If there is a bright side, it is that Andrew Ladd has been penciled in for a return to the lineup on Wednesday. Still, I'm sure that the team will recall Keith Aucoin from Albany for the game against the Bolts.

With two assists, Ray Whitney extended his scoring streak to 10 games.

This was Peter Laviolette's 200th win as a head coach. That's a nice accomplishment, but honestly, he couldn't possibly care less right now.

I will make every effort to update the known status of Cole. At this point, just as was the case on March 5 2006, we're just hoping that Erik (the man) is okay. Erik (the hockey player) is second.

UPDATE : 12:46 pm Very good early news. Cole has been released from the Cleveland Clinic and cleared to fly with the team to Tampa. CT Scans were negative. I guess he'll be held out of the lineup even if he is cleared to play. The important thing is that he's okay.

Ladd's return delayed, JR asks about Neil

Although Erik Cole returned to the Hurricanes lineup on Saturday, the team is still far from "healthy". Ryan Bayda was sent back to Alabany, but Keith Aucoin remains with the big club. Apparently, Carolina is looking for some ways to ease the pain.

Trevor Letowski is getting more ice time than most fans would like. Chad LaRose is doing an excellent job of stepping up into the voids left by the injuries of Andrew Ladd and Scott Walker.

According to Lorenzo Perez from the Raleigh News and Observer, Ladd has suffered a setback in his recovery. His ankle just isn't getting any better, and the decision has been made to take him off the ice for another week or so. At that point, he'll start skating again, and then it could still be another week or more before he returns to game action. Apparently, the Walker injury is so far off the charts that they're not even talking about it. The last think I read was that he was still in "excruciating" pain, dealing with torn cartilage in his ribs. There is absolutely no timeline on his return. Not even a vague, foggy one.

With the loss of Scott Walker, you don't just miss a guy who's going to give you 50 some odd points. You don't just miss a second line right wing. You don't just miss a good locker room-type guy. You miss a guy who is going to do those things AND drop the mitts when necessary. Or at least come to the defense of his teammates.

We're not just talking about pugilism for the sake of pugilism. We're not talking about some hack whose only purpose is to fight or to serve as body guard (read: Georges Laraque). There aren't very many skaters who come to mind when you think about a mixture of skill and tough guy-ness. It's like that sponge that's all abrasive on one side and soft on the other. It's like the McDLT. It's like sour patch kids. It's like that split 7" record you used to have with Minor Threat on one side and Beat Happening on the other. It's like... okay. You get the point.

I've thought about this at great length. After game nights, I drive 1.5 hours to get home. I always listen (and sometimes call in) to the post game show. Once I get out of that station's range, I still think about hockey. Okay. I think about girls, too. But mostly, I think about hockey stuff.

One player that obviously comes to mind who possesses both brawn and talent is Sean Avery. Another is Chris Neil. Neil doesn't exactly fall into the "skill player" category, but he's more than "just a pugilist".

According to Spector's Hockey Rumors (via Bubba from Canes Country), at least two teams (Carolina and Edmonton) have contacted the Senators to inquire about Neil's availability. It doesn't seem like Neil and his $1.1M contract are going anywhere, but it doesn't surprise me that Rutherford is going fishing.

It certainly wouldn't hurt to have a solid NHL caliber third line right wing who can contribute to the scoring categories AND who will drop the mitts when called upon. With Scott Walker's return looking distant and the setback to Ladd, Trevor Letowski, and no healthy extras, Carolina may need to do something. Soon. They're playing extremely well despite the injuries, but some reinforcement sure would be nice.

The only setback to having a guy like Avery or Neil is the reputation that they each have. Avery is a reputed loudmouth, jerkwad, boor, etc. Chris Neil has somewhat of a "dirty player" reputation. Remember the Chris Drury incident? Remember the Andy McDonald incident?

I don't think I like the idea of having either of those guys. I just don't think they would fit into the system here.

That said, it was just a "rumor" anyway.

The Canes will be back in action on Halloween night at Florida.

Canes host Habs

On Friday, Les Habitants will visit the RBC Center for the second time this season. Carolina hopes that it can avoid a repeat performance of opening night, when the Canadiens won 3-2 in overtime.

Unfortunately, Erik "Hab Killa" Cole won't be dressed tonight. After suffering a soccer injury, his return is tentatively scheduled for Saturday night against the Islanders.

Cole and Andrew Ladd (ankle) are both in the "returning soon" department. Scott Walker (torso) remains out indefinitely. Dennis Seidenberg (knee) should return to the lineup tonight. However, we can add Nic Wallin (groin) to the walking wounded. Including tonight's injury scratches, Carolina will have lost 31 man-games to injury through 11 games.

Including tonight, the list (with currently injured players in bold) looks like this:
ERIK COLE 4 games -- foot
ANDREW LADD 8 games -- ankle
SCOTT WALKER 4 games -- torso
CORY STILLMAN 3 games -- torso
DENNIS SEIDENBERG 5 games -- knee
MIKE COMMODORE 4 games -- leg
BRET HEDICAN 2 games -- flu
NIC WALLIN 1 game -- groin

The other day, in reference to the injury plight, Peter Laviolette said "Good teams will ignore it".

One thing that cannot be ignored is the play of Cam Ward. After losing 20 pounds in the off-season, Ward came back a much different player. He's more explosive, he's more durable, he's "more" and "better at" everything than he was last season.

Also, Chad "Sharpie" LaRose has been given an increased role with the team. For two seasons, he was strictly a fourth line player, and he saw limited ice time. With the injuries to key forwards, LaRose has got to spend some time on the Brind'Amour/Williams line, and he's looked good. He's also killing penalties and seeing a tiny bit of poweer play time. He's averiging 15:00 TOI per game, and relishing every second of it. Lorenzo Perez from the N&O wrote

"Every day I wake up, I'm so excited," said LaRose, who scored the winning goal in Carolina's 3-1 victory over Vancouver on Monday. "I'm having trouble sleeping at night because I'm so excited for every day, whether it's practice or not, to come to the rink and be in the room with these guys and this team."

Also, Jeff Hamilton is having a great season. So far, he's proving to be the ultimate steal of free agency. With 8 points (3/5) through the first ten games, "Green Eggs and Hamilton" is on pace for a career best 66 points. He'll do this at the low low price of $800k.

Over in Buffalo, Thomas Vanek has scored 5(2/3) points through eight games. He's also on pace for a career best of 51 points. The problem is that Buffalo is paying Vanek $10M this season, for what will be worth much much less than that. The Rangers are paying Chris Drury the same money for what is on pace to be a 55 point season. This is General Managers Gone Wild. I know Darcy Regier had his hand pressed on the Vanek issue, but it's still insanity.

Puck drop is 7:00 tonight. I'm playing in a Scrabble tournament all weekend, so I won't be able to watch tonight. I won't be able to recap, and I won't be able to write anything about Saturday's game with the Islanders.