Go West, Young Man

"If any young man is about to commence the world, we say to him, publicly and privately, Go to the West" (from the Aug. 25, 1838, issue of the newspaper New Yorker).

Judging by the young keeper's upbeat tone while being interviewed recently on a local Toronto sports radio show, you'd think former Leaf goalie prospect Justin Pogge had just won the lottery, a short 50 minutes after being informed by his now-former boss that his services, and his rights, were now the sole concern of The Ducks of Anaheim. No hint of rancor, bitterness, or bruised ego, just the genuine enthusiasm of a good Canadian kid with a dream of cracking the big leagues some day, even if it meant his team colours were about to change for good. Like Pogge, like thousands of teenage boys across Ontario, it was my childhood dream to be the Bud's backstop one day. What a cold, harsh dose of reality when I finally accepted that my love for the game would have to be expressed either in a men's league, through an internet blog, or in front of my TV with a pint and a pepperoni slice in my hands instead of a blocker, goalie stick and catcher. Surley Pogge's fate is not so dire...
Drafted 90th overall by Toronto in 2004, the talented young goalie oozed promise, going on to lead Canada to a 5-0 rout of the Russian juniors in which he made 35 stops, earning his 3rd shutout of the campaign along with Top Goalie, Tournament MVP, and All Star Team honours. He had skill and swagger. Some say he was a little cocky at times, but what's in a rumour...besides, goalies need a little bit of extra confidence, especially goalies charged with the duty of saving an original six franchise from perpetual embarrassment within the next couple years. Kind of a heady notion to have to wrap your noggin around...
Pogge struggled in the handful of outings he was awarded with the big club last season. Clearly, that swagger was stifled as he got lit up time and again with every kind of shot, most of them routine saves for a player of his pedigree, yet he fumbled and floundered like a fish out of water, over-playing shots, leaving gaping holes for easy tap-ins, and just plain not getting it done. Confounded and disappointed, the shell-shocked young keeper retreated back to the minors where he battled to try to maintain respectability in junior, often losing important starts to fast-rising upstart James Reimer.
It must have been a long summer for Pogge, a restricted free agent, waiting patiently for a qualifying offer, having his thunder stolen from under his skates by an unknown, undrafted Swede whom the 'faithful' have embraced as the successor to the crown he never got to wear. It was well into August before he was finally able to take the Blue and White sweater, and the accompanying monkey that comes part and parcel, off his back. Upbeat, optimistic and motivated, Justin Pogge is poised to climb the ranks in a less volatile environment, in a sun-soaked land to the west where legions of starry-eyed celebrity hopefuls have fled in search of their childhood dreams. Ironically, he won't see a tenth of the flashing lights that he would have in the city we call Hockey Mecca, but he'll be received by a hockey club with a recent winning history, who actually envision him as part of their future, and he may finally get that chance to live his dream-to be an NHL goaltender.
It's time the young man with the fading stars in his eyes heads West.Those famous words once uttered by an obscure newspaper editor called Horace Greeley a century and a half ago, and the wisdom they contain, could be the big break the once-celebrated, often-maligned former Canadian champion deserves. Best of luck Justin Pogge...

So far, so good!

Well, if you are a Hurricanes fan, you probably feel the same way I do about the work of Jim Rutherford (JR) and his staff, thus far...So far, so good! But you are probably also wondering what JR has up his sleeve to add some much-needed offence to the front lines.

Historically, JR has tended to focus on getting his own free agents under contract and and otherwise would lay very low in the early days of free agency. He wanted to wait for the price to come down before jumping in. This year that was his plan, again. In fact, he was very clear that he had no plans to sign other players or make any trades until late in the summer or around training camp time, once the Canes had determined the positions they would need to fill. 

And, initially, it looked like JR was going to stick to the script. His first order of business was to sign RFA Jussi Jokinen to a multi-year deal. Jussi was a revelation in the play-offs and a versatile player that the Canes wanted to return. JR then turned his attention to his UFAs. Dennis Seidenberg seemingly decided to move on and with prospects Rodney, Carson, and McBain in the wings, no problem. But what about Erik Cole and Chad Larose? Much to his chagrin, he was unable to get either signed before July 1st and so both decided to test the free agent waters. However, undaunted, JR stood his ground and was able to get both signed to long-term deals at close to the budget he had allocated for them. A good start! 

Meanwhile, he continued his efforts to get remaining RFAs Tuomo Ruutu and Anton Babchuk under contract. This has not been as easy as first anticipated. JR tendered qualifying offers to both, but neither player accepted the offer. Ruutu finally accepted a three-year deal avoiding arbitration just prior to the August 1 deadline. That was a great signing. Ruutu is a critical member of the team and is just coming into his own. He is a future building block for the franchise and wasn't going anywhere. 

And, it gets better. JR surprised all of his by signing big winger Tom Kotsopoulos to a multi-year deal. He was one of the top hitters on the Canadians, is an outstanding penalty killer, and plays with emotion, a real fan favorite. He brings it every night!  He gives the Canes much-needed size on the wing and will chip in with some offense on occasion, too. A major improvement over Ryan Bayda, in my mind.

But that's not all. He then went out and signed hulking 6'4" defenseman, Andrew Alberts, to a modest two-year contract. He was on my wish list and gives the Canes a much-needed no-nonsense, shutdown type of defenseman, a critical missing link in our play-off run last year. Pencil him in as a solid number five or six d-man. He may even chip in with a little offence, too. Our only concern with Andrew was his concussion problems a few years ago, but hopefully that's now a thing of the past.

And in a surprise move that caught most of us off-guard, he traded underachieving forward, Patrick Eaves, to the Bruins for former Cane, Aaron Ward. I have mixed emotions about this deal. Sure, Ward was a key piece in the Canes run to the cup a few years back and he was strong alongside Zdeno Chara on the Bruins D last year, but he is in the waning years of his career. I would have much preferred if the Canes had re-signed Dennis Seidenberg to a long term contract.. Dennis was outstanding alongside Joni Pitkanen in the play-offs last year and was just coming into his own. I suspect JR's plan is to give the youngsters a shot at filling one of the D-spots and was looking for a short term fix in Ward.

He has also managed to finally shed the Canes of Frantisek Kaberle, buying out his contract, and improve the Canes bench strength, flying under the radar to sign former gritty Coyote winger Steven Goertzen, 6"2" and 215 lbs, and huge 6'4" defenseman, former Leaf, Jay Harrison, to the mix. Either can come up to the big club in a pinch. I guess JR wasn't kidding about making the Canes bigger, eh?

OK, so what about Babchuk? He is still sitting in limbo. Anton started to live up to some of the promise last year, after being drafted in the first round by the Hawks in 2005. His offensive game really took shape in the second half and with sixteen goals on the season, he was among the league leaders for defensemen in that category. Sure, he is still rough around the edges but I thought he made great strides last year, particularly when he was partnered with Joni Pitkanen. But JR didn't seem to pay much notice to that. He has elected not to negotiate with the player and has not budged from his initial qualifying offer of $1.0 million, the same amount that Anton earned last year.  To me, this just doesn't make sense. Clearly, Anton is worth more. So, why not pay him.

This is not the first time that JR and Anton have locked horns. But. I'm sure it will be the last. JR is clearly done with Anton and is working on packaging Anton in a deal for either a capable low-cost forward or high round draft pick. Gee, I wonder what would happen if Anton had a change of heart and came back and accepted the qualifying offer. That would make things very interesting. Personally, I would love to see Anton teamed with Andrew Alberts on the third pairing. That would give us another balanced pair, with excellent size. Apparently, according to JR, this will be resolved soon. I vote we keep Anton.

So, what's next?

I still think the Canes should look at Manny Molhotra. The longer he remains unsigned, the more likely he would fit into our budget. He would be an awesome fourth line center and would allow us to leave Brandon Sutter on the farm for another year of much-needed seasoning. Any of Blair Betts, Dominic Moore, or Andy Hilbert could also fill that 4th line center spot nicely. The Canes has also been rumored to be interested in Rob Neidermeyer, a strong defensive center/winger, who remains unsigned. He brings size and experience and scored fourteen goals last year, a good-offensive showing for him. What about Maxim Afinogenov. Now rumored to be heading to the KHL, he could be a steal if he finds his game, again.  And, how about Nicholai Zherdev. Apparently, no one is rushing to sign him, now that he is a UFA. He is the type of player who would probably flourish with the Hurricanes. A Ruutu, Staal, Zherdev combo would be amazing. Finally, Christian Backman, a longtime favorite of JR, is still available and would be an interesting addition to the defensive corps. He brings size and offence to the mix.

Notwithstanding that, I still think the first order of business is to deal with Babchuk. That means packaging Anton for the best possible return. There have been lots of rumors of potentially interested parties. Vancouver and the Rangers were specifically cited in a Babchuk interview recently, as interested teams. It would be great if the Canes could add a forward to the mix and secure a potential top six side-kick for Staal. It would be even better if they could shed some additional salary along the way, such as Walker or even Samsonov, but that is very unlikely.

JR has lots of options. Here are some possibles:

Babchuk for a 2nd or 3rd round draft pick (most likely)

Babchuk for Bernier (VCR) (I like this one a lot!)

Babchuk for Mayorov (interesting prospect) or Chimera (Columbus) (They're looking for an offensive D-man)

So, not including a Babchuk trade or free agent signing, this is what the Canes line-up will look like come training camp.

Ruutu - Staal - Cole, Whitney - Cullen - Larose, Samsonov - Brind 'Amour - Walker

Goertzen - Jokinen - Kotsopoulos

Gleason - Corvo, Pitkanen - Ward, Alberts - Wallin

Ward - Leighton

And you still have Ryan, Carson, Rodney, McBain, Sutter, Bowman, and Boychuk, battling for spots.

It's a solid line-up, for sure, but not strong enough to battle for the big prize. The offensive contributions from Babchuk, Seidenberg and Kaberle on the D-corps, will be sorely missed. Hopefully, JR still has a move or two up his sleeve. 

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