Try NHL.com; I think that link has a free agent tracker that keeps track of defensemen, forwards, and goalies, whether they have signed or not and where they are heading.

Actually I like your choices Caniac1026 too, even Chelios for some depth. I don’t know if I’m just being nostalgic, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Hedican for a 1 year contract for less than 1 million. He did leave with a +16 his last year with the Canes. This is if we need depth only, not for a top 4 man.

As far as McBain, even JR has said he is ready for the NHL possibly, but he didn’t think he was top 4 as of yet. Hopefully he can show his stuff without getting too injured in the process adjusting to the NHL players.

Thanks for the links. I liked 59’s link best because you could make the list to be what you wanted it to be. It seems the names on the D UFA list that sounded familar have already been signed or traded.

I hate that Sidenberg is asking too much for JR, it would just be nicer for us if he could be signed. He did a good ‘B’ job for us last season.

I actually laughed out loud when I saw Tannabe’s name on the list as a UFA, but I won’t go there, I’m not in the mood to beat a dead horse. OK maybe just a little…his hockey days are over, I hope he didn’t lose all his past Cane money in the stock market. I mean that litterally, because I do want him to be able to take care of his family, hopefully he will find his way into coaching or something related to hockey. He was actually one of the nicest players for the fans we have ever had. I wish him well.

C

After what happened 2 years ago with the injuries and the “flu” that depleted our forwards depth where we were at a point of desperation, I’m very weary of our defensive situation now. If we don’t have our defense set up with some good depth by November then we can kiss next season goodbye. JR has said on more than 1 occasion that he will probably have a few of our AHL’s on the royster next season after camp, but they are in way ready to be top 4 liners. Lets not forget how often our defensive line is out with injuries (Gleason, Wallin), what are we going to do then? We seem to assume that our current top 4 is never going to be out for any length of periods next season. Hopefully we will have our defense in place by November.

We have a top forward line in place with some great depth (hopefully Rutuu too) and we seem to have lost sight of our pending defensive demise for next season (it sounds like Sidenberg or Babchuck are long shots for our royster) with all the talk of no more money for a good top 4 defensiveman. Your team is nothing without a top defensive line in this NHL. Of course I’m not telling JR nothing he doesn’t already know, thank the Hockey Gods he’s the GM and not me.

C

We were saying the same thing last summer about Eaves. He had an entire season and playoffs to bring it on and he didn’t. Of course that is why no other team wants him or Kaberle for a trade, they watched them play hockey too.

C

Here’s a guy who is probably outside of the team’s budget but could fit in if Eaves and Babchuk are traded (or possible Kaberle too). Not sure what he’s looking to get on the market. That said, if he could be signed for something like 3 years 10.5 million then the Canes would have Gleason, Pitkanen and Backman locked up at reasonable rates for the next few years and then could slowly work in the younger guys like McBain while keeping Wallin around on 1 year deals.

I remember hearing Backman’s name before, who did he play for CL? Hey we can’t expect to get a top D man to fit in now without paying those big bucks.

I agree that Eaves can and probably will be a talented player, I just don’t think he will be in our system. I do agree he is better trade bait than he is staying on our roster and I can see teams wanting him in their system and willing to take a chance on a deal with him. Unfortunately for us Eaves is a better package deal with Babchuck than with Kaberle for the money. I agree we are stuck with Kaberle, but hey maybe he will surprise us.

At some point I understand why the Islander’s picked Tavares with his talent and all the hype, but I agree with you CL, it made better sense for them to pick Hedman. Defensiveman in the NHL right now are like gold, forwards are like sterling silver. They should be picked up young, talented and while their affordable. They really are going to regret that move.

On Bubba’s front page Rutuu blog a poster posted a rumor that he heard of Alex Tanguay coming to Carolina, what do you all think of him? I’ve heard his name before, but don’t know anything about him.

C

Sorry, I was so focused on defense that when they were discussing the rumor of Tanguay coming to the Canes in that other blog I assumed he was a defenseman. No we definitely don’t need another forward and taking up cap space at ths time.

C

It makes you wonder just how many millions they are away.

Hmm I wonder if Seids and Commodore have the same agent and he thinks he can get what Commodore got? Who would have ever thought Commodore would have gotten what Columbus is paying him?

C