Carolina Hurricanes News: Washington Capitals, Remaining NHL Free Agents, and Marc Methot
The Carolina Hurricanes haven’t been busy, but a couple of their Metropolitan Division rivals could be nearing contracts with some of the many remaining free agents.
More From Cardiac Cane – Should the Hurricanes Sign Erik Cole?
Also, could the remaining free agents make up a good, full NHL team, and Ottawa’s Marc Methot looks to have a big bounce back season in 2015-2016.
Let’s take a look at today’s news.
Hurricanes Links
- Josh Wesley may always be known as being the son of Carolina Hurricanes legend Glen Wesley, but he is set to go down a very different hockey path. (Cardiac Cane)
- Matt Karash discusses what the next steps are for Zach Boychuk, Jaccob Slavin, Michal Jordan, and Elias Lindholm. (Canes and Coffee)
Washington Capitals Nearing Deal with KHL Blue-Liner – CSN Washington
The Washington Capitals are reportedly in on KHL defenseman and Team Russian captain Ilya Nikulin, according to CSN Washington.
Word is that Nikulin is set to head over to North American for the upcoming season, and his KHL coach has said the move is all but certain at this point.
More from Cardiac Cane
- 2023 Southeast Rookie Showcase: Takeaways from the Canes’ Strong Showing in Florida
- Week Two Coverage Of College Hockey In NC
- Derek Stepan Ends His On Ice Career As A Hurricane
- The Southeast Rookie Showcase Will Be a Good Look at Carolina’s Future
- Noesen Ready To Provide Depth For Canes
“I can understand why players like Medvedev and Nikulin want to try and play in the NHL,” Bilyaletdinov said. “It’s a good league, and it’s an honor to play there. I’m sure Ilya [Nikulin] will make the right choice and will get his contract over there.”
Nikulin is a close friend with Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin, and apparently O.V. is the godfather of Ilya Nikulin’s son.
The now 33-year-old defenseman was drafted in 2000 by the Atlanta Thrashers, but he did not sign a contract with the team and has yet to plan a game in the NHL.
Cat Silverman of Today’s Slapshot discussed why the move to America is an odd move at this point in Nikulin’s career.
Some of the draft class’ stars are still thriving in the NHL — Marian Gaborik doesn’t show signs of slowing down, nor does Justin Williams or Henrik Lundqvist — but Dany Heatley is in the AHL, Ilya Bryzgalov has retired, and a handful of other names (Antoine Vermette, Scott Hartnell, and Niklas Kronwall) are all being watched for regression. If Nikulin wanted to make an NHL appearance, now seems like a strange time.
Nikulin is known as an effective offensive defenseman in the KHL. Over the past 2 seasons, he has tallied 18 goals and 35 assists in 110 games.
Obviously, it is never easy to transition from one league to another, and at the age of 33, it seems weird that he is just now deciding to try it.
Another issue will be money. The Capitals have under $1 million in cap room right now, but if they send goalie Justin Peters to the AHL this season, that will jump up to $1.4 million. Even then, would that be enough to get him under contract?
The All-Free Agency Team is Actually Decent – Columbus Dispatch
At this point, it is very well known that there’s still a plethora of good free agents still on the market.
The Columbus Blue Jackets appear to be the team most into defenseman Christian Ehrhoff, but according to the Dispatch, he is still looking for more money. Columbus has had an offer on the table for the veteran blue-liner for a long time.
With all these good free agents still available, Aaron Portzline made an all-free agent team.
F1: Curtis Glencross – Stephen Weiss – Daniel BriereF2: Martin Havlat – Olli Jokinen – Michael RyderF3: Martin Erat – Tomas Fleischmann – Brenden MorrowF4: Erik Cole – Marcel Goc – B.J. Crombeenextras: Tyler Kennedy, Jiri TlustyD1: Christian Ehrhoff – Andrej MeszarosD2: Jan Hejda – Cody FransonD3: Tim Gleason – Marek Zidlickyextra: John ErskineG1: Josh HardingG2: Jonas GustavssonG3: Ray Emery
There are a lot of good players on the lineup above, and while some of the placement of those players is a bit off in my opinion, the point is still very obvious.
Especially at forward, there are a whole lot of good, influential players still on the market. There’s at least 6 or 7 top-9 forward still on the market and 6 or 7 top-6 defenseman still available as well.
Former Carolina Hurricanes forwards Jiri Tlusty and Erik Cole and defenseman Tim Gleason are among the long list of players still on the market.
Marc Methot Looks Forward to Bounce Back Season – NHL.com
The 2014-2015 season was a contract year for veteran defenseman Marc Methot, and the Ottawa Senators got him inked to an extension back in February, but last season was tough for him nonetheless.
Methot played in just 45 games and tallied 11 points while fighting off injury problems.
“That was one of the most stressful things that I’ve had to deal with during my career,” Methot told the Ottawa Citizen on Friday. “I’m not complaining about it, but it’s not easy when you worry about your future and your security and that kind of stuff. All of that ties into it. Having that comfort now is just great, because I can just focus on playing and winning games.“Last year was a bit of nightmare in terms of dealing with the injury, so it’s finally nice to be going into the season healthy, and I’m in pretty good shape right now.”
Now, Marc Methot is ready to turn the page and help the Ottawa Senators build on what they did last season. The Sens finished the year on a 22-4-3 run, earning a playoff birth in the Eastern Conference.
The Montreal Canadiens beat the hot Senators in 6 games in the first round of the playoffs.
A year older and a year wiser, the young core in Ottawa thinks they have what it takes to duplicate what we saw at the end of last season.
“It’s huge, knowing we have a great group going into the season, not a lot of unknowns and we have a lot of experience after last year,” Methot said. “You can’t expect that [late-season winning streak] to just continue at the start of the season. You have to put the work in.”
Mike Hoffman, Mark Stone, and Curtis Lazar among the young players that will help this Ottawa team this season, but the odds are still against them in a very skilled Eastern Conference.