For the past 2 plus years the Canes have struggled and have failed to make the playoffs. To remedy this failure us fans were told the team was going to get back to the playoffs through the draft and development of our young players. The team has drafted fairly well (better than average) as can be seen from the following history:

2011 - Ryan Murphy (12th), Victor Rask (42nd)
2010 - Jeff Skinner (7th), Justin Faulk (37th)
2009 - Phillipe Paradis (27th), Brian Domoulin (51st) (Paradis traded for Jiri Tlusty who was Toronto 1st round in 2007)
2008 - Zach Boychuk (14th), Zac Dalphe (45th) (Note: Boychuk's NHL stats through 2011 were 69 games, 7 goals, 11 assists, -2, 6 Penalty Mins)
2007 - Brandon Sutter (11th), No 2nd round pick
2006 - Jamie McBain (63rd), no 1st round pick
2005 - Jack Johnson (3rd), Nate Hagemo (58th) (Note: Jack Johnson's career stats through 2011 were 335 games, 30 goals, 93 assists, -86, 250 penalty mins)
(Note: Jack Johnson traded for Tim Gleason, Gleason was 1st round pick in 2001 (23rd)), Hagemo suffered a career ending shoulder injury in college and never turned pro.)
2004 - Andrew Ladd (4th), Justin Peters (38th) (Note: Andrew Ladd traded for Touno Ruutu who was 1st round pick in 2001 (9th))
2003 - Eric Staal (2nd), Danny Richmond (31st) (Note: Richmond traded for Anton Babchuk who was traded for Ian White who was traded for Derek Joslin)
(Note: Richmond received honorary Stanley Cup Ring from Blackhawks in 2010)

As can be seen we have developed several very good (even star) players such as Staal, Sutter, Faulk, Skinner, McBain, and Johnson (who turned into Gleason) and Ladd (who turned into Ruutu).

During the current season all of us fans have been crying for the team to play our newest draftees (Boychuk, Dalphe, Bowman, Smason, etc.). In my view it is critical that we do this now. This team according to management's own assessment is in need of at least the addition of one top six forward. There are four ways of accomplishing filling this need:

1. Finish so lousy this year that we have such a favorable draft pick that we can draft one in the first round. If that is to be the case, who should we draft if available to us? I don't know enough about them to have a valid opinion. From what I read the two Russians look the best. Are they NHL ready?

2. Trade for a top six forward. To me to improve the team we would have to be able to trade with a team that would take some of our youngsters (Boychuk, Bowman, etc.), bottom six forward(s), defenseman, and/ro draft picks in return. Who should we target if this is the route to take? IMO Rick Nash would be a good target.

3. Have one or more of the young forwards we have already drafted step up and become a top six NHL forward. We have played these young players with the Canes in short 3 and 4 games trials for the past two and a half seasons. To date none that have been called up for these short auditions has produced enough offensively to fill the role of a top six forward. IMO the one who has shown the most promise to be an offensive force has been Boychuk. I realize that for some reason he seems to have fallen from favor with management, but when he was up he showed offensive creativity and was a tenacious player. I personally wish Muller would take a look at him and give Boychuk a good trial run and form his own opinion as IMO Mo frustrated Boychuk's development with his sticking him almost entirely on the 4th line. This being said, I am becoming concerned that none of our current crop of prospects is going to pan out to be a scoring top six forward. What do you think?

4. Sign a free agent in the off-season. IMO this would be the easiest method if it could be accomplished. My concern is that the number of bonafide top six forwards that will be available will be slim, and in that field will be even slimmer when you weed out those free agents who will not sign here for any amount of money (Parrise for example). I am not aware of all the forwards who would be free agents, so I need your help here.

I do note that Jiri Tlusty appears to be on the verge of becoming a bonafide 20 goal scorer, but IMO we need to add another top six forward regardless of any further improvement on Tlusty's part. Also note that to me solving this need for a top six forward will become a severe probledm if we do not resign Ruutu.

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This season the Cane's defensive corp has left something to be desired. The team is at the bottom of the league statistically in goals given up, goals in the 3rd period, and any other measuring stick you want to apply. In a discussion with my buddy, Curt , (better known to me as "The Wizard of Windsor") posed the following question to me. What will be the makeup of our defensemen corp next season?

In our discussion we identified and discussed our current roster of defensemen as follows:

Gleason: Thought he would be traded on or before the trading deadline this year.

Pitkanen: Thought he more than likely would still be on the roster next season, but could be traded on or before the trading deadline this year.

Harrison: Probably would still be with the Canes next year in last year of two-year contract. Reasoning was something along the lines he was inexpensive, was reasonably good, and gave us some size. His downside was some lack of mobility although we did think he was average in this area.

Spacek: Would more than likely not be with the team due to his age and very high salary. If he would resign for substantially less than the 3 million plus he now gets, we thought he might be valuable to retain to be used in spots where his experience and talents would be valuable.

McBain: He would not be traded and would be on next year's team.

Faulk: Definitely retained and probably in the team's top defense pairing.

Joslin: Probably retained as he is young, has size and has performed reasonably well

Allen: Probably will be traded on or before the trading deadline this year. Seems to have lost some mobility. He has provided some physical presence which will be missed if not replaced.

The potential newcomers under Cane's control are Doumelin, Murphy, and Sanguinetty (excuse the spellings). All of these newcomers seem to us to be more offensive defensemen than defensive defensemen with the possible exception of Doumelin. Sure would like some input from the rest of you Caniacs on how the team should proceed shaping the defense corps for next season. Seems to us that we are going to need to go after a proven defensive type player, who is moblile and who can also bring some physical presence. What are your thoughts?

Winnipeg is coming back into the league in an arena that will seat only 15,015.  Assuming they sellout (which they look like they will do or have done), how are they going to make it financially since the Hurricanes seem to be cash strapped and our attendance averages in excess of 15,015 fans per game?

It seems to me that the answer is one of the following:

1.  Their owner is willing to accept annual losses.

2.  Their ticket prices will be higher (much) than the Hurricanes.

3.  They are planning on going very young and have a roster whose total salaries match closely to the league salary floor.

4.  They are going to be profitable without making the playoffs.

5.  They are going to get more outside revenue from some source/s.

Would someone give me someone give me some ideas why Winnipeg is not concerned and seems to think they are going to prosper with the attendance cap lower than our average attendance.  Or in other words,  why are the Canes so cash strapped the facts about Winnipeg?

Last off season Jeff Skinner, Neal (Penguins), etc trained with ex-Hurricane Gary Roberts and both have had very good seasons.  In his analysis JR has stated Boychuk and Dalphe have to improve their conditioning to play in the NHL.  Wouldn't it be a good idea if the team have both Boychuk and Dalphe attend this training in the coming off-season?  Has anyone heard whether the Canes intend on doing something like this for any of our young players this off season?

Could someone explain to me why we had to make two trades with San Jose to obtain a draft pick in one and a defen seman in the other?  Why didn't we just make one trade that sent White and future considerations to San Jose for the defenseman and a draft pick?  Anyone got any ideas?  Just curious.

While here I might just as well get my two cents in on the state of affairs as I see it.  I believe we have the players to get into the playoffs.  I believe if Pitkanen play up to his full potential we have pretty good defensemen.  Improvement on defense to me will come if Mo will let the forwards take it to the opponents and keep the puck in the attack zone more.  We need to cut down the number of shots allowed.  You do this through attacking (controlling the puck), hitting, and using our speed.  What are your thoughts?

Otherwise...Go Canes.

I write the following in hopes it is received in the vein of constructive criticisim.  Last night against Boston I noticed certain players giving their all (Whitney, Jokinen, Ruutoo, Pitkanen, Samsonov, and Cole most notably) and others who appeared to be going through the motions (the defense as a whole and Erich Staal).  I have been disappointed in Staal's effort for the past few games.  My complaints in particular are:

1.  Staal can be a real force and a HORSE (power player) on the ice, but only displays this capability in a game here and there.  He's the Captain, he needs to be ERICH STAAL on the ice, not erich staal.

2.  Staal has a a bad habit on the ice which in my opinion is costing him goals.  When he tries to make a play, he stops on the ice and looks to see what happens.  He is then flat-footed and when the rewsult of the plays sends pucks in his direction he can't get to them before the opponents do.   Listen, I'm no hockey guru, I'm just a fan.  I just wish someone like Whitney, Cole, etc. would observe Staal to see if I'm correct in my observation.  If they find that my observation is valid, it would be more appropriate that they, as his peers, would point out this habit constructively.

Again, I write not to crtitisize, but trying to help.  When the Carolina Hurricanes take the ice, Staal is OUR MAN.  He's our superstar.  He's as valuable to this team as any other player in the league is to theirs.  He's our HORSE.

Another thought as long as I'm writing, RAY WHITNEY COME BACK NEXT YEAR.  WE NEED YOU!