Paul Branecky of ch.com spoke with Jim Rutherford today and apparently there is little progress in the signing of any of the Hurricanes unrestricted free agents. The closer to July 1st it gets, the more complicated things get, for both sides of the negotiation. While Rutherford certainly has a budget to adhere to, there has been no mention of what the Canes budget will be this year. Is it the same as last year? Higher? Lower? One would assume that because of the deep playoff run and the fact that the franchise was in the black this past season, the budget might be a bit higher than last year's 49 million. But you know what they say about assumptions. edit- Rutherford states in this interview with 590 The Fan that he would like to be at 50 million this coming year. He repeats that he would like to bring the same team back for next year, "but agents are throwing goofy numbers around." 590 the fan interview