So who's gettin' traded?

I think you hit on the most likely players that would draw some interest and some return. I would hope he can package a deal for that first line winger for Staal now since I am not sure he will have the needed assets after July 1. Not even really sure he has the assets now to do that unless he flips picks he picks up in the next couple of weeks with a prospect and roster player or some combination. I would hate losing that 1st round pick so if he uses it it has to be a block-buster deal in my view.

I see a deal for Larose.. he has been scoring a bit and a team in a playoff push may want him…

Gleason: likely to be traded; fighting injuries last season, probably banged up this season; Canes need fresh blood

Allen: likely to be traded; but I hate to see him go if Gleason is traded; I hope Rutherford exercises restraint here

LaRose: for all the reasons discussed, he should be traded; too expensive for a team looking to be economical and not enough upper end skill despite the innumerable positives with respect to intangibles

Ruutu: as an UFA he is on the block; it’s a huge, huge mistake; take the harm losing Cole did (without a replacement) then multiple it by 1,000; hopefully Rutherford has learned his lesson and will pay FMV to keep Ruutu; it’s a market, players have certain values

Jokinen: I hate badly to see Jokinen leave; but with young forwards knocking on the door, my spidey senses say Jokinen and not Ruutu will be traded – the same senses that said Rutherford would work a miracle an trade Kaberle (foolish trade by Montreal)

Harrison: more spidey senses; no reason other than instinct; the way Harrison continues to improve, looks like a mistake to trade him as far as I am concerned; and I did not begin being a Harrison advocate, but am now;

Ponikarovsky: I think Rutherford will get a good enough offer on Ponikarovsky to trade him; I think Ponikarovsky could work well for the Hurricanes under Muller; and want Rutherford to exercise restraint;

In summary, lots of defensemen will go. Two forwards have to go to make space for two top six forwards. LaRose is the most likely candidate because he is up on his game heading toward a 20 goal season and did not make a splash in the top six. Some other forward has to go to make space for another top six forward.

1.Timmy G
2.Allen
3.Rosey
4.Poni
5.Ruutu(rental)

Jokinen like Ruutu have been slumping since Skinner has been out and that line has arguably been the best since last season ,and if you trade Jokinen or Ruutu JR is back with the “who’s gonna come in and replace them?” question that what UFA would be out there as a replacement?…This year probably NONE as the UFA pool is scarce at best next season ,but i do see Ruutu as a rental this year for some team ,however to a team that would only use him as a rental as imo JR will attempt to bring him back.

The fact that JR is trying to move a Dman for a forward ,so if that were to happen along with Rosey and Poni i see the forward coming in to play on Staal’s line ,and with Dalpe/Boychuk ,and Brett Sutter being called up to play in the spots where Poni ,and Rosey/Ruutu were ,but who knows right now ,however with Rosey scoring it’s time to move him while his stock is high.

I can agree with virtually everything above. My two provisos are: (1) If you give up Ruutu you better be ready to replace him with someone who brings all the qualities he does. If it were me, I would be resigning him now if I could. (2) Any of the other moves are totally dependent on who or what we get in return. I don’t want a slew of draft picks from teams that are finishing in the top 8 of each conference unless they are #1 or #2 picks. If we are going top take lower picks, then let it be for players who we KNOW will not fit with us. In other words, for a player like Gleason for example, if I can’t get a 1 or 2 I keep him unless it appears can’t resign him. My other thought is we play the rookies for the rest of the season as soon as we can make room for them (Boychuk, Dalphe, Matsumoto, Bowman, Samson, etc.). To make room I would put veterans we do not intend to keep and who we do not expect to get a top 1 or 2 draft pick for (or something better) on waivers. If we lose the, so be it. If they are not claimed, to the AHL they go. I realize this will cost the team some money by paying extra players, but how much. Not much as all of the callups would have close to minimum NHL pay for the balance of the year. My thought is I want to know NOW and as SOON AS I CAN which one(s) of these phenoms is going to turn out to be phenomenal in the NHL.

Keepers:
Forwards:
Staal
Ward
Skinner
Sutter
Ruutu
Bowman
Stewart
Nodl

Defense:
McBain
Spacek
Faulk
Gleason

Value on the block:
Pitkanen…..trade for forward talent with expiring contract and 1st rd draft pick
Larose…draft picks
Tlusty
Pony
Allen
Joslin
Dwyer

Staal will not be traded anytime soon. If ever till the end of his career.

Since Ruutu is on one hell of a streak right now; should JR try to resign him during the season to a Cane friendly deal or try to trade him while his value is at a high?

One of the key reasons to trade LaRose is to be able to use his salary of $1.9 million to pay Ruutu a fair market value salary. For example, wouldn’t the team be better off to bring up Dalpe and pay him his salary and have Ruutu paid $4.25 million to $4.5 million than to have LaRose at $1.9 million and Dalpe? The idea is to put the best players for their positions out of the ice; and if the choice is between two equivalent players, such as LaRose and Dwyer, do with the younger, cheaper player.

Given the phletora of Canes forwards who play quite well on the third and fourth line, there is zero loss to the team in skill, and frankly there is an improvement in the skill level, by trading LaRose. It’s also an important statement to the team that a new sheriff is in town and that the rule of accountability applies to very player, even the ones beloved by the fans, organization, and owner.

I agree ,also while Rosey has been an offensive threat lately his stock can’t get any higher ,and can only get lower since he will cross the age 30 barrier in march JR needs to trade him while he’s hot ,or risk his stock dropping ,and LaRose fans will just have to look at reality ,as he was a good energy player for the Canes for years ,but the reality is you can’t keep players around like old furniture when his spot can be filled with younger more talented player’s for less money which would go toward signing a top 6 forward and resigning Ruutu in a year with a thin UFA pool.

I would keep Ruutu and trade Jokinen at this juncture.

I see a lot of talk about people wanting to keep Ruutu & Jussi. If the Canes do that, where is the money going to come from that allows us to add another top 6 forward?

If we let our 4 other UFA’s go (Poni, Gleason, Allen, Spacek); that’s roughly about $10 million. If we resign Ruutu for $5 million (expected salary with the weak UFA market), that will eat up about $1 million in cap space. McBain, Tlusty, & Bowman are RFA’s, so they would be required raises if we kept them (lets say that just $1 million more). A lottery pick is going to be around a $3.75 million cap hit and we would still have to sign or trade for a top 4 shutdown defensemen (assuming that would cost us at a minimum $3 million). So that would account for over $8.5 million of that $10 million. PK is not going to go increase the budget after a year in the “RED”. So where is the money going to come from to improve the team? If we just depend on the prospects to improve the team, we are most likely going to be in the same spot again next season. The only way to improve the team is for someone like Staal, Ruutu, or Jussi to be moved; so their salary comes off the books and is replaced by some other player that is expected to be more productive.