Carolina Hurricanes Morning News: Auston Matthews, New Jersey Devils, and Ron Francis
By Brett Finger
It’s been another slow news week across the NHL, but the Carolina Hurricanes are just a month away from the Traverse City prospect tournament in September, and the whole league is about a month and a half away from training camp.
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Auston Matthews, top ranked 2016 draft prospect, has declared where he will play his hockey next season, the New Jersey Devils have a couple question marks in regards to injured veterans, and is Ron Francis on the hot seat?
Let’s take a look at today’s news.
Auston Matthews to Go Over Seas
The 2016 NHL Draft will be headlined by top-prospect forward Auston Matthews. An Arizona native, Matthews is like Jack Eichel in a sense that yet another American forward is at the hight of all draft discussion.
Matthews, 17, announced a couple days ago that he will not play junior or college hockey in North America. Instead, he will play for Zurich in the Swiss National League next season, leading into the 2016 Draft.
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There really wasn’t a wrong choice for Matthews. The WHL, the league he would’ve played in had he gone the junior route, is of course a great developmental league for young players. The college route would have put him against big, skilled players, some of which are in their early to mid 20’s. Finally, going international would give him experience playing with grown men, which would potentially make his transition to the NHL much easier and quicker.
Matthews spent parts of last season with the U.S. National Development Team Junior squad and the U.S. National U-18 Team. He had 48 points in 24 games with the USNDT Junior team and 116 points in 60 games with the U-18 team.
The young scoring machine also posted 8 goals and 15 points in 7 matchups in the U-18 WJC and 3 points in 5 games in the U-20 WJC.
Whoever gets Auston Matthews in next year’s draft will be getting an incredibly good young forward and a dynamic scorer. It will be a big year for him in Switzerland, however. He will be matched up against good competition overseas, and he will be getting a lot of attention.
New Jersey’s Injury Woes
The New Jersey Devils are coming off of a bottom-10 finish last season, and they will hope to bounce back this year with a thin looking roster, but being without two more players due to injury will only hurt the Devils.
Ryane Clowe has had constant injury issues over the past two seasons with New Jersey. He signed a five-year deal with the club before the 2013-2014 season, and he has played in just 56 games since, including just 14 games last season.
According to Tom Gulitti, new Devils GM Ray Shero has talked to Clowe several times alreay, and he plans on talking to him again soon.
"“We’ll be in touch maybe this weekend talking again and early next week at the latest,” Shero said. “They’ve been really good conversations and I’m just trying to find out where he is in terms of how he feels. It’s basically the doctor reports and how he feels. It’s really a doctor’s decision at some point and his decision and the doctor’s decision.“But, I’ve been getting to know him and what he’s been going through over the last couple of years in particular.”"
Also, the future of Devils captain Bryce Salvador is in question as he is getting up in age and is considering retirement. The 39-year-old blue liner played just 15 games last season for the red and black. He is a few weeks away from making his decision on next season, according to the report.
Ron Francis on the Hot Seat?
Yesterday, Lyle Richardson of Bleacher Report discussed and listed 10 general manager on the hot seat for the 2015-2016 season, a list which included Carolina Hurricanes GM Ron Francis.
To think Francis is actually on the “hot seat” in terms of job security after just one season is ludicrous. It doesn’t make sense at all. He has come in and made almost all the right decisions over the past year and change, but that doesn’t mean this season isn’t a big one for him and the club.
Francis has tons of decisions to make regarding the current roster and players like Eric Staal, Cam Ward, and Jeff Skinner, along with trying to make last second free agent signings and sending out camp invites. There is also the task of building up the farm system and providing a solid base for this team to build on.
It will be an important season for Ron Francis, and there is plenty to be done. He will be pressured to make this team playoff-worthy once again very quickly, but it looks like Francis is prepared to do things the right way in Carolina.