Carolina Hurricanes News: Christian Ehrhoff Rumors, Team Canada, and NHL Mount Rushmores
By Brett Finger
The Carolina Hurricanes have shown interest in veteran defenseman Christian Ehrhoff in the past, but the offensive blue liner is not close to signing a deal, according to reports.
More From Cardiac Cane – Should the Hurricanes Sign Winger Erik Cole?
Also, Team Canada wins the gold medal in the 2015 U18 Ivan Hlinka tournament, and what four faces would appear on each NHL team’s Mount Rushmore?
Let’s take a look at today’s news.
Hurricanes Links
- Alex Nedeljkovic prepares for his final year in the OHL. Yesterday, we previewed the Canes top goalie prospect’s 2015-2016 season. (Cardiac Cane)
- The Carolina Hurricanes are set to have some very challenging road trips this season. We ranked them in order of difficulty and importance. (Cardiac Cane)
- Matt Karash discussed what the next steps are for Chris Terry, Victor Rask, Haydn Fleury, Sergey Tolchinsky, and Brendan Woods. (Canes and Coffee)
Christian Ehrhoff Not Close to Signing a Deal – Aaron Portzline
The Carolina Hurricanes were among the teams to reportedly have interest in veteran blue liner Christian Ehrhoff, but according to Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch, no deal of any kind is imminent for him.
UFA D Christian Ehrhoff continues to listen, consider #NHL offers, but nothing imminent. Europe/KHL not a consideration at this point. #CBJ
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) August 14, 2015
The report mentioned that going overseas to play his hockey next season is not a consideration right now, but could that change if he doesn’t get the deal that he wants?
The Columbus Blue Jackets have been the team with the most interest in Ehrhoff this summer according to everyone around this situation, and apparently they have offered him deals, but the player has yet to bite.
Maybe Ehrhoff follows in the footsteps of Sergei Gonchar and tries out for a team in training camp and preseason, or maybe he will forced to do that if there is just a lack of interest and offers.
Christian Ehrhoff is one of the bigger names available in a large pool of NHL players still on the market. Cody Franson, Jiri Tlusty, Scottie Upshall, and Erik Cole are also still unsigned.
Team Canada Wins Gold at the Ivan Hlinka – NHL.com
For the eighth straight year, Team Canada has won the Ivan Hlinka U18 tournament. The boys from up north won all five of their tournament games and won the gold medal game 7-3 over Sweden on Saturday.
The club had a 4-0 lead over the Swedes after the first period and were led by 2016 top prospects Tyler Benson, Michael McLeod, Jordan Kyrou, and Pierre-Luc Dubois among others.
The Canadian team has won this tournament 20 times since it was created 25 years ago.
"“I´m really proud of this group of players,” Canada coach Stan Butler told the tournament website. “They all pulled together for one thing. We told them when we got here: This is about one team and one goal. We were one team and we chased one goal, which we got here today.”"
Canada outscored its opposition 23-7 in the tournament.
NHL Mount Rushmores – ESPN.com
ESPN’s John Buccigross updated every NHL team’s Mount Rushmore. He did the same thing back in 2009, and while some teams have changed pretty legitimately, the Carolina Huricanes have stayed exactly the same.
In 2009, the four faces on the Canes Mount Rushmore from Buccigross were Rod Brind’Amour, Kevin Dineen, Ron Francis, and Eric Staal, and it stays that way in 2015.
He provided an explanation as to why this list stayed the same.
"“Three coaches and no playoffs for the Hurricanes since this original Mount Rushmore was constructed. The Hurricanes have made the playoffs five times in 17 years in North Carolina, and the Penguins just hired the man who was Carolina’s GM for all but the final season of that run. So: Brind’Amour, Dineen, Francis, Staal.”"
Not much has happened in Carolina since 2009. The team hasn’t made the playoffs since that season, and they don’t show awfully too much hope to change that this season.
It’s always interesting to see what people’s opinion of the team is from outside of Carolina. Those four names are very close to what I would pick for the Canes Mount Rushmore.
You can’t have a Hurricanes Mount Rushmore without Ron Francis and Rod Brind’Amour, and it is hard to argue against Eric Staal and Kevin Dineen. Guys like Glen Wesley and Cam Ward are also players I think have to be at least in the discussion.
What four faces would you put on the Carolina Hurricanes Mount Rushmore?