Carolina Hurricanes 2009-2010 Regular Season Thread

[xPUREBYBLOODx]

Good Game Boys...

[Kettle]

looking pretty good so far tonight. i've been out of the loop except for this thread. not been a good fan. who is this goalie thats playin tonight? Leighton?

[Mesmer]

Heading up for the game vs. the Capitals tomorrow night. Can't wait. We'll probably get lit up, but it's going to be cool seeing Ovechkin play in person, and it's always a blast going to Canes games... even if we are terrible.

[Mesmer]

Guess I'll keep talking to myself.

Had a lot of fun at the game, despite the loss. The effort is there, it's just that the execution is awful. Ovechkin got suspended for 2 games for the dirty knee-on-knee on Gleason that also got him ejected. Sweet, I hate that guy. Leaves his feet every hit and never gets called for poo. Glad to see him out.

There are now 4 days off to get ready for Luongo and the Vancouver Canucks.

[Gman was right]

I heard Cam Ward and Scott Walker may return Saturday. At least thats good news since Ill be at that game. I feel bad for Corvo though.

[Mesmer]

I'm glad to see guys come back, but seriously this team needs to get younger. Scotty Walker, I love him, but he's one of those guys that probably needs to go. I hope Cam's coming back soon but let's be honest here. Legace and Leighton have done a pretty good job. They've given this team a chance in almost every game.

If we don't play better, it doesn't matter if Cam is in net. Trust me, I had him on my fantasy team...

To me this is the most painful stretch. We're too far away from the deadline to sell off the team, and we're too far into the season for there to be any hope of a turnaround left.

I really think that if we get a lot younger at the deadline, and we can bring up some of these good prospects we've got playing in Albany... combine a top pick and we're looking pretty good coming into next season. (Think Colorado)

[Gman was right]

Cam Ward played lights out the first 2 weeks of the season but then seemed to struggle a little bit. I put alot of his struggles on Aaron Ward. He has just been god awful this year. Scotty is getting up there in age but I think we could still use him since we really have no better defensemen. I like Alberts and Gleason too but they definitely need to upgrade the position in the offseason. I doubt they'll make many moves before the trading deadline. I read this article on the hurricanes website. JR had a few interesting things to say about that.

“It’s hard to accelerate [change] because you really can’t move contracts out,” said Rutherford. “If we could, we would probably move a handful of guys out today and move the younger guys in, even if they weren’t ready, and start that process"

Here is the comment that really caught my attention. It sounds like he's playing for draft picks next year

“If we can’t get back to that playoff spot, in some ways we don’t want to perform too well, because then you get in those years where you pick 15th or 20th in the draft instead of picking in the top five,” he said. “I remember the last time we had a bad year [a 30th-place finish in 2002-03], it was hard for the fans, it was frustrating for us and it was ugly, but there’s a big prize waiting if that happens. The prize we got last time was Eric Staal and a big reason why we won a Stanley Cup.”

[RedMage138]

Scott Walker isn't a defenseman...

If we really want to make some wholesale changes and get younger then Ward, Brindy, Whitney and Walker all need to go. Don't get me wrong, I loved these guys as much as the next canes fan, but at this point they aren't what we need anymore.

12 guys on our roster are over 30. The Canes are officially too old.

[Gman was right]

Yeah I was thinking of corvo when I said that, my bad. Regardless we need two young defensmen in the offseason. What do you guys think of todays trade?

[Mesmer]

Mmmm.. I'm not sure... I don't think we'll be able to evaluate this until we're further down the line but it seems like JR has Tlusty in his plans for next years super youngin squad.... which Paradis would obviously not be ready in time for.

[RedMage138]

Bowmen-Boychuck-Tlusty line next season

[Mesmer]

As long as those guys get minutes, I'd love it. Gotta clear out some of these vets to make room for guys like Sutter and Boychuck to get top minutes.

Also, I'm for anyone JR can aquire that's not old and the answer is "Yes" to the answer "Can you shoot?"

We have nobody who can hit the net on a regular basis. Ruutu is like a roman candle, and as good of a two way game that Staal plays when he's in a groove, and how well he creates space for himself, handles the puck, and moves it to teammates (When he has decent ones)... his shot isn't up to that level.

[DudeNamedJeremy]

can this thread just be used as an nhl discussion thread or is it JUST for the canes?

i went to the blue jackets and avs game last night the ending was such a bummer! jackets were down 2-3 and scored with 12 sec left and then reviewed the goal and changed it to no goal and the jackets lost

[Mesmer]

More NHL discussion the better, imo. I love the Canes, but I watch as much of the rest of the league as I can because I love hockey and the Canes are terrible.

murq, that does sound like a bummer

I'd love to see the Jackets play... Rick Nash has evolved into something more than human this season