Wow, that certainly was anticlimactic. Although the Hurricanes were fairly quiet at the kick off to free agency, there are some encouraging signs that JR and crew are working on some deals that could upgrade our roster immensely.Take a look at this sitchy-ation without your “crazed fan” goggles on before you go all Jeff O’Neill and take drunken romps around the City of Oaks. Here’s a couple of points that might just give you a new perspective on how events have unfolded thus far and save you a couple grand in court costs!
(Insert Name of Your Favorite Big Name Free Agent/Trade Target Here) is still available! None of them have made a decision yet about where they want to play (although, probably not
in this instance). As we know, The Hurricanes have made an offer to the two free agents most teams coveted. So, we know at least we’re still in the
running for their services, as neither of them have declined any offers. If things go according to script, the majority of trading will be put on hold until the top free agents have made their decisions. So, once again, just waiting. These things do take some time, and hopefully we’ll be getting the answers soon, but in the meantime, we at least know the Front Office is making efforts towards improvement.
- Joe Corvo‘s back……again! While this in itself isn’t an encouraging sign, (to some of you it’s quite the opposite) his signing, and the subsequent eviction of Bryan Allen and Jaro Spacek, does at least give us a look into that shiny dome of JR’s. We all know that “Uh-Oh” isn’t first pairing quality or PK material, as a matter of fact, hardly any of the current defensemen on the roster fit the hole that Allen leaves. We also know that we have an offer in front of Suter. Imagine if he did end up in Raleigh. Then essentially we would have replaced Allen and Spacek with Suter and Allen. That would be a significant upgrade to our D Corps.
- We have excellent trade assets! Even if we flop in free agency, we have other routes of upgrading the team! Let me qualify my following statements by saying that I like Joni Pikanen. I know I’m probably in the minority, but I think most of the faults people assign to him are negated by the positives he brings (which is often overlooked in arguments against him). But, here ya’ go Joni haters, if we could get a player like Rick Nash, who fills a position that we are in dire need of filling, he’s gotta go. I can hear you now, “You’re a big, dumb, idiot. Nash won’t sign here because it’s not on his short list.” First off, enough with the name calling. I’ve been following hockey for 25 years, stranger things have happened. We also have some flexibility at forward. Anthony Stewart, Chad LaRose, Zach Boychuk,Patrick Dwyer all of them are expendable and worth enough to garner something in return if packaged and sold correctly. Use what you have to get what you need!