It is time for annual predictions and I'm going to do the same.  However, my predictions will be based on a more optimistic assessment of what will happen this season, though it is based at least in some part on what players and the team did last season and in previous years.  While this may not be what actually happens this season, I think my predictions are at least as valid as the ones others are making using the same or similar data.  I will start by predicting the Hurricanes finish either fifth or sixth in the Eastern Conference this year, fighting it out to the last day with Tampa Bay as to who is second in the Southeast Division.  After the jump, my other analysis and predictions.

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A friend of mine sent this to me to let me know that Coach Maurice is being inducted into the Sault Hall of Fame in his hometown.  I thought everyone here might want to see this as well.  I think it speaks highly of him that they are doing this for him.  I, for one, am proud to have this man as the coach of my hockey team.

http://sootoday.com/content/sports/full_story.asp?StoryNumber=50744

Since no one has done so yet, I want to congratulate the Charlotte Checkers on coming back with four goals on eight shots in the third period to beat the baby Penguins 4-3 and take the series in four games to two.  I am sure there will be more forthcoming information soon but it seems like  the Cardiac Checkers are alive and well.  Dalpe had the game winner while Chris Terry scored two goals and Brent Sutter added the fourth goal and had two assists.  I was hoping to make it down for one of the playoff games during the third round but hopefully the Checkers will sweep Binghampton Senators and then I will just have to find a way down there for the Calder Cup finals.

Chrissy and I will be going to the All-Star Game on Sunday and we could actually show up early and tailgate but we haven't had a chance to get all of the things we would need (like a portable grill, for example)  So, I was hoping maybe we could hook up with some others who are going.  We could bring anything you would need (more beer perhaps?) if you could throw a couple of extra dogs or burgers on for us (reindeer works for us, too).  Just let me know either here or via my email (burnsch3@yahoo.com) and we would love to come hang out with y'all for a couple of hours before the big game.

The Hockey News predicts that the Carolina Hurricanes will finish ninth in the conference this year.  And Cory has a great write-up about all the predictions over at On The Rink.  So, does anyone here think the Canes will be able to sneak into the eighth spot (or higher) and make the playoffs or are we going to miss them again?  Will we make second in the division (as indicated in a Bleacher Report article) or will we fall behind Tampa Bay and slide into third again this year?

Given the recent articles and posts by everyone who thinks that the 2010-2011 season is already over before it has started, I would like to present a little more optimism.  And this is not because I am some homer who believes everything that management says or that I am entirely happy with the direction of the team at this time.  But, I think it is necessary if we are to establish ourselves as a consistent playoff team.

First, I believe that the entire focus of a team must be to win.  Anything else is secondary.  Sometimes a team won't win due to injuries or other factors beyond the ability of the team to manage.  At other times, winning becomes sublimated to other temporary goals.  In the case of the Hurricanes this year, that goal is to find a minority purchaser by showing that the team CAN be profitable even if it does not always make the playoffs.

In some ways, I think the fact that we are going to be a salary-floor team this year might actually be beneficial in that it allows us to move up some players to the NHL before they otherwise would have been able to obtain positions.  That this might cause the team to become less competitive may or may not be true.  If you look at the previous season, you will find that the team was competitive when the younger players were playing.

And I am not looking at the period from January to the end of the season.  I am looking at the post trade-deadline team which went 10-7-3.  The team was, essentially, the team we are going to start the season with this fall.  I realize that going .500 is not going to have us making the playoffs.  But, if the team could start out at this level, perhaps by the second half of the season, they could have developed enough chemistry to go on a great run and actually make the playoffs.  At least, that is the best scenario.

You might say that we did have several players then we do not have now and you would be correct.  Ray Whitney is with Phoenix now.  But, I think it has been pointed out and that the statistics would show that Ray was not a significant factor after the trade deadline.  Nor was Rod Brind'Amour.  Now, I do believe that Brian Pothier played well for us and that Anton Babchuk is not going to be as good as he was, but I do believe that Babchuk should ahve improved with another year of experience.  And Babchuk's offensive game is superior to Pothier's.

Furthermore, during that same time period, Tim Gleason and Tuomo Ruutu were playing hurt or not at all.  I expect both of those players to be healthy at the start of the season and be able to provide more hitting, a stronger defense, and additional goal scoring.  So, I think our defense will be better with them and our scoring should be just as strong as it was with Whitney and Pothier.

This is the starting lineup I foresee although it is possible other players could play themselves onto the team:

Staal/Jokinin/LaRose

Sutter/Ruutu/Boychuk

Dalpe/Cole/Samsonov

Dwyer/Kostopolous/Tlusty

Gleason/McBain

Pitkanan/Carson

Babchuk/Harrison

Ward

Peters

On the first team penalty killing unit I would foresee Sutter and LaRose.  It might make some sense to swap LaRose and Boychuk on the first and second lines to give Sutter and LaRose more time to play together.  I think not only would they be very good penalty killers, other teams would have to be extremely wary of them gaining possession of the puck and scoring shorthanded goals.  The second team penalty kill unit would be Dwyer and Kostopolous.

I think we should recognize that a cap floor team is not going to be able to make the playoffs on a regular basis.  However, I sincerely believe that this will be a short term situation and that after a new minority owner has been found, the team will move back up in salary to some place that is probably about halfway between the floor and the cap.