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Around SBN: The Most Dangerous Division in Sports

Jim Rutherford speaks with the boys at XM NHL Home Ice and Boomer picks the Canes to make the playoffs. (Although they might pick everyone but the Rangers to make the playoffs)

Check out all the details at the following link.

XM NHL Home Ice Hurricanes Preview

over 1 year ago Cc_shieldjpg_tiny Bob Wage 17 comments 0 recs  | 

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Great interview… JR goes out of his way to mention Skinner as a possible impact player next year and further goes on to praise him as the player they wanted all along. I truly believe the Canes want him on the Roster next year… If he can prove he deserves it, we may be seeing #53 in our top-9 sooner than most thought.

by JussiJuice on Aug 27, 2010 11:55 PM EDT reply actions  

The Young Forwards

   Interesting that Jim Rutherford and the Commentators on XM Radio had great things to say about Boychuk and Skinner. Also, the Commentators listed Tlusty, Dalpe, Nash, Bowman, and Samson as players who could make the team. Great interview and commentatory and will worth listening to.

by abramsdoug on Aug 28, 2010 8:05 AM EDT reply actions  

My Take on What JR Spake: Part 1

JR always makes encouraging sounds about prospects being able to make the team, so his reaffirmation of good chances for everyone is not really news.

However, I did take away two pieces of information from this interview that I consider to be new.

The first piece of information is obvious, but it’s the first time we’ve had it confirmed, in what sounded like a no-bullshit statement that Jeff Skinner was their first-round target from the git-go. So, it’s now much easier in retrospect to see why JR was sitting pretty happy pre-draft at #7, saying that a “very good player will be available to us there”.

Although that first round didn’t play out the way anyone thought it would, I’m betting they thought that the Hall/Seguin and top three D would occupy the first five slots, with the competition for forwards beginning at pick #6.

Instead, three forwards (Johansen, Niederreiter, and Connolly) went at #4-#6, but that left two of the D-men on the table if Skinner had gone as one of those forwards, so they were indeed sitting pretty.

Again, we hear the character aspect stressed as a selection criteria, along with the considerable talent, and it is that aspect upon which JR hung Skinner’s chances of making the team this season, moreso than the skill package (“knowing his determination, it wouldn’t surprise me…”).

But, elsewhere in the interview he also mentioned in passing that he “wasn’t sure if he will make the team this season or not”, so it’s not a given for sure. He’s going to have to make a statement that he is so ready that he just cannot be denied a spot, I think, and that’s tough with a crowded roster.

Cole played his way onto the team when the org just had him in for a shakedown look-see by making such a statement at training camp, but let’s face it, those were more desperate times in the depth of the prospect field than today. We needed some help then, so anyone looking flashy in camp was going to get some attention.

However, this season we have much fewer slots than we have deserving bodies, we have a lot of prospects that are perhaps borderline NHL ready and need to be stress-tested, Skinner has a good environment and a star role in juniors waiting should we return him, and there’s a year of RFA contract status to be preserved.

It’s a much tougher audition test he’ll face than Cole passed when he came out of Clarkson.

Here we are now...entertain us.

by Elsker on Aug 28, 2010 10:15 AM EDT reply actions  

I agree, I think Skinner is going to have to knock some socks off to make the team. He would have to put some points up, at least top-5 on the team during pre-season and regular season (if he makes it that far to begin with). Competition will certainly be tough when there are only 3 spots, Skinner is an 18 year old kid, and Dalpe, Nash, Boychuk, Bowman, Osala, Dwyer, etc. are staring him down. It is in his owns hands, but I think the Canes want to give him the spot if he earns it.

by JussiJuice on Aug 28, 2010 11:35 AM EDT up reply actions  

Cole

Just to show how hazy memory can be, when I actually stop to look at Cole’s track record, I am reminded that he spent the ‘00-’01 season in Cincinnati (IHL, long story, but equivalent to AHL) before joining the Canes in ‘01-’02. And, he was coming off three years at Clarkson, so hardly a kid.

Only Eric Staal has been taken by the org as an 18-year-old and inserted directly into the NHL lineup (asterisk needed here because of the lockout "labor dispute" year spent afterward in the AHL).

So, we need to remind ourselves that Jeff Skinner is attempting something only accomplished to date by the likes of Eric Staal. And even he struggled that rookie season with an 11-20-31 record for 81 games.

Here we are now...entertain us.

by Elsker on Aug 28, 2010 1:17 PM EDT up reply actions  

It is pretty rare and takes an exceptional talent, but more Drafted players are playing in the NHL as 18 year olds recently than in the past. The NHL is in a large way going younger. John Tavares, Matt Duchene, Victor Hedman, Evander Kane, and Ryan O’Reilly all played last season for the NHL teams that drafted them.

I’m certainly not saying Skinner is a shoe in… But being that our team is transitioning to the youth, he is already filled out for his frame, and he fills a specific needs of ours (scoring) due to the loss of Whitney I think his chances are better. He would, however, also have to prove his offensive ability is better than Dalpe, Boychuk, Bowman, Nash, etc. as mentioned which is a pretty lofty goal. Only training camp and preseason will tell who trumps who to land a spot on the team.

by JussiJuice on Aug 28, 2010 1:57 PM EDT up reply actions  

laughing…yeah, I sure did.

Archaic past tense of speak…but, hey, it rhymes with take.

Here we are now...entertain us.

by Elsker on Aug 28, 2010 12:47 PM EDT up reply actions  

Question to anyone who knows… Does Skinner have to be signed to play in our pre-season games? I’m guessing he would certainly have to be signed to play in the regular season tryouts, so would his first year of entry level contract be used either way?

by JussiJuice on Aug 28, 2010 9:22 PM EDT up reply actions  

Has to be signed, but won’t count as a year of RFA as long as less than 10 regular season games are played before being returned to his junior team.

Here we are now...entertain us.

by Elsker on Aug 28, 2010 11:44 PM EDT up reply actions  

My Take on What JR Spake: Part 2

The second bit of “news” for me is perhaps better described as a revelation. But, it has opened my eyes to an aspect of our roster, and JR’s GM’ing, that I had not previously appreciated.

And this revelation for me is just how huge of a factor in JR’s contract negotiations has been the expiration of the current CBA in 2012. When the interviewer pointed out that a large number of UFA contracts were pending this coming summer, JR spun that into a plus, indicating that the org was well-poised to make any adjustments needed that season by re-signing those players or filling the roster spots from within.

But, he also mentioned that they deliberately did not have contracts extending past the CBA expiration date, in anticipation of an unknown environment beyond (my words, I think he said “we don’t know what we’re facing there” or something like that).

So, take a look at our salary chart with new eyes. Only Staal and Ward go past 2012.

Very interesting.

Here we are now...entertain us.

by Elsker on Aug 28, 2010 10:29 AM EDT reply actions  

Thanks for those two interesting and insightful posts.

by abramsdoug on Aug 28, 2010 11:06 AM EDT up reply actions  

I concur..

Both parts are right-on!
I’ve seen one practice at the “Zone”, this week, and thought the guys looked really good!! I particularly liked our potential “CENTERS” who were there: Nash, Dalpe, Matsumoto, and Dwyer! in that order… looks like it will be a good competition!!!

by randycane on Aug 28, 2010 11:41 AM EDT up reply actions  

Cole

Just to show how hazy memory can be, when I actually stop to look at Cole’s track record, I am reminded that he spent the ‘00-’01 season in Cincinnati (IHL, long story, but equivalent to AHL) before joining the Canes in ‘01-’02. And, he was coming off three years at Clarkson, so hardly a kid.

Only Eric Staal has been taken by the org as an 18-year-old and inserted directly into the NHL lineup (asterisk needed here because of the lockout “labor dispute” year spent afterward in the AHL).

So, we need to remind ourselves that Jeff Skinner is attempting something only accomplished to date by the likes of Eric Staal. And even he struggled that rookie season with an 11-20-31 record for 81 games.

Here we are now...entertain us.

by Elsker on Aug 28, 2010 1:15 PM EDT up reply actions  

Whoops! Wrong thread.

Moved this post upward to where it’s actually germane.

Here we are now...entertain us.

by Elsker on Aug 28, 2010 1:17 PM EDT up reply actions  

For my own greedy purposes of wanting to see Skinner live this year I want him on the roster. However, I can’t help but think what an extra year in the minors or juniors can do for a player before bringing him up. Staal didn’t set the world on fire his rookie year and was a beast after spending a year in the AHL. Seeing Sutter after time and conditioning in the minors was eye-opening. He was like a new man when he came back up from Albany.

I trust JR and the coaching staff will make the right decision. I’m confident we won’t need to rush him with the other young guys we have in the system and a healthy Cole and LaRose could make a world of difference.

And since I was bored, I threw together what I would like to see as the lines on opening night.

Cole – Staal – Jokinen
Ruutu – Sutter – Tlusty
Boychuk – Nash – LaRose
Samsonov- Dalpe – Kostopoulus

Corvo – Gleason
McBain – Pitkanen
Carson – Babchuk

Yeah, well, you know, that's just like, uh, your opinion, man.

by anonymousJ on Aug 28, 2010 9:20 PM EDT reply actions  

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