Shot blocking is something that is always fawned upon by media members as a vital skill to have if you want to go far. The recent playoff series between the Rangers and Capitals has magnified this point since both teams have limited the opposition's scoring chances by crowding up the areas in front of the net and not allowing any shots to get through. No one will doubt the importance of shot blocking, especially for teams who aren't good at controlling possession. It provides a way for a team to possibly make up for not having forwards capable of driving the play at a high rate and make things easier on their goaltenders. However, teams who block a lot of shots do have their issues.

Teams that end up blocking a lot of shots usually means that they are spending most of their time in their own zone, which isn't a good thing. If you were to look at the top shot blocking team's in the league, you'll probably notice that most of them aren't exactly good at driving possession. Another thing you will notice is that seven of the top ten teams in the NHL missed the playoffs, as well. It shows that while shot blocking is very important, it should be the only thing that is relied on to win games.

With that in mind, shot blocking is often used to judge how good a player is defensively but there are a lot of times when a team's leading shot blocker just ends up being on ice for a lot of shots against and is forced to get in the way of a lot of them. A better way to find out who is the best at shot blocking is to see how many shot attempts a player was on ice for and see what percentage of them he blocked. Thanks to Derek Zona and George Ays, we can do that. Although, there aren't many surprises with Carolina's players.

More after the jump

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As promised, here is the second group of UFA's, guys from the Northeast Division. There are virtually no big names in this group, but there could still be a few good role players that might be able to help the Canes out next season. There are also a few "project" players that could interest JR, but most of these guys are bottom 6 or bottom pairing guys. Come July 1st, I don't expect to see many of these guys on the Canes radar, but surprises can happen. Especially if we have any trades this offseason and lose some role players, we might have to find a guy to play a certain role.

Again, what I did was break down the UFA's by team with a small blurb on each player. If the UFA played in less than 20 games in 2011/2012, I listed them without any blurb. The next Division on my list will be our own, the Southeast Division, which I will post on Thursday before starting on the Western Conference. Please take a look and let me know your thoughts on these potential free agents.

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So far this offseason, we Caniacs have been treated to a couple of juicy rumors. We have heard that the Canes are expected to make pitches to Zach Parise & Ryan Suter and we also have heard that the Canes could be interested in acquiring Jordan Staal. Even JR has publicly said that the Canes are in the market for a top-tier player and Peter Karmanos has given the ok to spend some money for the "right" player. But the Canes currently have 11 forwards, 6 defenseman, and 2 goalies under 1-way contracts for next season. We also have 2 or 3 forward and 2 or 3 defensive prospects that might be on the cusp of becoming full-time NHLers and this doesn't even include any draftee that may come in ready to compete for a roster spot. So given all of these things, it seems likely that 1 or more of our current players/prospects may have a new address next season.

So the question is; which current Cane player/prospect will be on the move this summer? And if they are moved, where do they end up and what do we get back in return? For all of the potential exciting news that comes with acquiring a new player, also comes the sad news that a player we have supported we will be wearing a different sweater next season. After the jump, I will list a couple of players that could be moved this offseason and why. Let me know who you think is the most likely to leave the organization and where they may end up..

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One of my favorite players to analyze this year has been Carolina's young defenseman Jamie McBain. When I say that, I mean that his season has been a pretty wild ride and following it has been interesting to say the least. He may have been in the press box on opening night, but over the year, he was used in just about every role on the defense corps. McBain spent a lot of his time playing in both the top-four and the third-pariing while contributing to both special teams units, which showed how versatile he is at such a young age. His performance in these roles, however, is what made this season such a roller coaster for him.

Statistically speaking, McBain had a decent year with 8 goals and 27 points, which is three fewer than he had last year but still solid for a defenseman. McBain also had the highest even strength scoring chance ratio among Carolina defensemen who were on the team for the entire season, which looks like an impressive feat at first glance but you have to dig a little deeper to see why McBain was seemingly able to outperform most of the defense this year. McBain had a solid year overall, but I think some of the credit for his success should be attributed to both Kirk Muller and Jaroslav Spacek, which is something to keep in mind when it comes time to renew his contract in a couple months.

I have little to no doubt that McBain will be qualified and retained, but where he fits in the lineup next season is something that is up in the air. Find out why after the jump.

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I know it's still early, but I thought it might be fun for us to start looking at some of the UFA's that might be available come July 1st and discuss which one's might be right fit for the Canes next season. As you can guess, the sheer number of UFA's is huge, so I decided to break them down per Division. While there isn't a large amount of big names available this summer, there still could be some interesting targets. Even though JR has stated that he is looking for a top-tier player, he is known for getting second-tier or project players and there are plenty of those available this offseason.

What I did was break down the UFA's by team with a small blurb on each player. If the UFA played in less than 20 games in 2011/2012, I listed them without any blurb. I've started off with the Atlantic Division and will break down the other Divisions over the next couple of weeks. Please take a look and let me know your thoughts on these potential free agents.

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Continuing our look at the individual performances from the Carolina Hurricanes players last season, we move onto one of the team's more impressive call-ups from Charlotte, Drayson Bowman. There were some people, myself included, who thought that Bowman had a decent shot to make the Hurricanes out of camp but he would start the season in Charlotte and was eventually called up in November. After not making much of an impression in his first call-up, Bowman would get another shot in mid-December where he was immediately given top-six minutes and had an impressive two goal performance against the Vancouver Canucks.

Bowman would go the next 22 games without scoring a goal and spent most of the month of January in the AHL but he did a lot of good things away from the puck and was impressive enough for the coaching staff to play him in 37 games while giving him top-nine minutes. He settled into a third line role with Brandon Sutter toward the end of the year and made a strong case to be on the Hurricanes to start next season. Similar things were said about him at the end of last season, but he appears to have found a role on this team and the fact that he scored a little bit should help, as well.

After the jump, we will review the ups and downs of Bowman's season and discuss whether or not he will find a permanent spot on the Hurricanes next season.

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While the offseason is still relatively new, we have already experienced plenty of rumors involving our Hurricanes. Jim Rutherford has pretty much stated that Canes are looking for a top line player and are willing to do whatever it takes to acquire this talent. Darren Dreger said via Twitter that he expects the Canes to be strong bidders for Zach Parise & Ryan Suter. Bob Mackenzie tweeted that he wouldn't be shocked seeing Jordan Staal ending up in Carolina. And even our own C-Leaguer has suggested a potential way for us to get the #3 overall pick & Scott Gomez. We also still have the #8 overall selection in this year's draft and depending on who we select, maybe they will turn into another Jeff Skinner.

So my question for you is: Which one scenario would positively impact the Canes the most, both short-term and long-term? Would signing Zach Parise to big money finally give us a legitimate 1st line and put us over the top? Would signing Ryan Suter improve what many consider is the weakest part of our game, defense? Would trading for Jordan Staal make us a Playoff team and serious contender? Would trading for the #3 pick & Scott Gomez set this team up for the future? Or should we just stay the course and select the best player available at #8? I'm not saying any one of these things will happen, but I'm asking which one would have the most impact to this organization if it did happen. I will give a few more details about each scenario after the jump.

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