And Then There Were 42

The Carolina Hurricanes made a few more cuts today, sending 11 River Rats up to Albany. The affected players are, Mike Angelidis, Nicolas Blanchard, Stefan Chaput, Nick Dodge, Patrick Dwyer, Bobby Hughes, Harrison Reed, Ryan Weston; Ryan McGinnis, Benn Olson; and goaltender David Leggio.

That still leaves 42 players in Raleigh trying to make the big club. Many of them will get a chance to shine over the weekend as the team prepares for a home and home series against the Flyers. Saturday's game will be in the Spectrum, and (as Cory previously mentioned), will be shown live on the NHL Network. If you have Time Warner Cable and haven't signed up for that yet, now is a good time.

I don't have much to add about the preseason games so far. They are what they are. At this point, it's more important to accomplish what the coaching staff needs to accomplish as far as evaluating talent, than it is to win the games. But still, eventually this team will need to prove to itself that it can win.

Apparently, a few Capital fans were none too pleased with Tim Conboy last night. According to Japers Rink, Conboy unnecessarily slapped around Washington Captain, Chris Clark, even as linesmen were holding them apart. They have a new nickname for him now.

With all due respect to my Washington counterpart, I think that the Hurricanes could use a few more Tim Conboys. Don't get me wrong, I don't believe in illegal hits or blindside attacks. But Carolina has been known as a "harmless" team for quite some time now. Even Peter Laviolette has called them that at times. Just once it would be nice to have a opponent needing to look out of the corner of their eye, because they need to know where "player x" is on the ice. Conboy could be that kind of player.

Speaking of Conboy, he was hit with a 10 game suspension for allegedly leaving the bench to join in on an altercation during the AHL playoffs last year. (We disputed that because there was a line-change at the time) Apparently, that suspension has not carried forward to this year? I'll have to ask someone about that.

There has been no update on the injury situation. More about that later.

In other news.....

The Triangle Business Journal printed an interesting story stating that the Canes are looking to break even this year, even if they don't make the playoffs. Apparently, the team grossed $60 million during the latest nine month period. Consistently staying out of the red would be a significant step for this franchise.

Maybe that 10% ticket increase and 25% parking increase served a valid purpose afterall?

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For those of you who are keeping tabs on ex-Cane Erik Cole, there is a very good article about him in today's Edmonton Journal. The article is actually quoting information from blogs. Interesting that this publication also shows a listing of various blogs who cover the Oilers. Nice to see some blogs continuing to get respect in some markets.

(Glove tap to Brian T. for emailing me that story)