Just some random thoughts about the roster and the looming trade deadline. Let me know what you think!

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I've had a few things bubbling through my head since the Gleason signing and haven't found a good way to express them. Quite frankly they are so humongous big. There has been a discussion on the Stewart thread about if it's possible to fit Skinner and Parise in to the Canes budget. In a rare rare occurence I agreed with Doug and said it was possible. Cory disagreed, discussions were had, and I felt it better to create this area for that discussion. Since this also worked as a good way to get to some of the thoughts and help me organize them I thought I'd take that opportunity.

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Defending the Blue Line, a group that your very own Jamie McBain has offered a great deal of support to, is up for an award directly from the President of the United States, and we need votes from the people... we need votes from you. The contest was going very smoothly, until this morning. One of our competitors has made a huge push today, and is threatening to take our lead.

We don't want that to happen.

So here I am, asking for your help. The process is very simple. Go to the Joining Forces Community Challenge DTBL page and click "vote." You will need to register, but that process takes less than a minute. Once confirmed, your vote will be counted, and you will be given the chance to share your vote on Facebook or Twitter.

The voting is open to one vote, per day, per person. The voting window resets each day at midnight eastern, so if you are willing to help, be sure to go back each day and vote again.

We would appreciate any support we can get, and would love the support of the Hurricanes fan base, a group with that has shown strong support for us in the past. Would you do us the honor of casting your vote to help us out?

For your reference, you can visit Defending the Blue Line's website HERE, should you need more information.

Sorry for the distraction from hockey talk, but we really could use all the help we can get.

While waiting for the inevitable trades, I started imagining what might happen in a full house-cleaning by Jim Rutherford. I recall last season after a lackluster performance by the Hurricanes in a game against Toronto, Jim Rutherford came into the lockeroom at intermission and said he would have to blow up the team if it did not perform. To me a full bore house-cleaning is not guaranteed, but it is a genuine possibility.

I started thinking from a reverse engineering standpoint; and started to look for young prospects who could be game changers for the Hurricanes. I did not focus on the probabilities of obtaining these prospects or the cost of doing so. In terms of the draft, the consensus opinion seems to be that to obtain Ruutu, Gleason, Allen, Spacek, or Harrison would take either two first round draft picks or a first round draft pick and a top prospect. I speculate that Jokinen could be obtained for the same high price, although because Jokinen has a three year contract, I think that is less likely.

From the standpoint of adding high end, if not elite, talent to the Hurricanes, I look to future stars. In my view, Johansen, Couturier, Brett Connolly, Zibanejad, Scheifele, Landeskog, Bjugstad, and Burmistrov all fall in the category of superb prospects who could make a very positive impact on the team.

Assuming the various hockey commentators are correct that the Flyers are interested in Gleason and Ruutu, then potentially Couturier would be in the conversation. The Senators apparently are also interested in Ruutu, which might bring Zibanejad into play. Columbus is also apparently preparing to conduct a major rebuild. It is hard to envision Johansen coming into play; but then again a player like Ruutu has the character to go with Nash and help the team rebuild. I can't fathom how Columbus can weather a three to five year rebuild. Florida has Bjudstad and could potentially look toward Gleason or Ruutu as key players for a playoff run. I don't see any scenarios where Scheifele, Landeskog, or Burmistrov become available. Brian Burke is a strong-willed, self-confident, and creative GM. I could envision Burke deciding he wanted Gleason or Ruutu. In that scenario, Colborne and a first round pick might become the price. Kadri also potentially might be available depending on how intensely Burke wanted to make a deep playoff run.

The 2012 draft class is also quite strong. The various scouting services are literally all over the board in listing the order of players from #6 to #30. As a result, if Jim Rutherford goes the full rebuild route, in addition to the Hurricanes' first round pick the Hurricanes might have first round picks from trading Ruutu, Gleason, Allen, Spacek, and possibly Harrison. With five first round picks in 2012, the Hurricanes could reload the talent base significantly. It is likely the Hurricanes will have a top five draft pick, and depending on the Hurricanes luck in the lottery, Yakupov, Girgorenko, Galchenyuk, and Forsberg are likely to be available. I am leaning toward Galchenyuk or Yakupov at the moment.

Additional high impact players likely to be available for the Hurricanes if they obtain four more first round picks might include: Girgensons, Gaunce, Faksa, Kerdiles, Frk, Matheson, and Wilson, among others. From this perspective, the Hurricanes could by revamping the team dramatically increase the high end talent available at forward in the organization. In less than a month, Jim Rutherford's plans will be clear. In the meantime, the waiting is the hardest part.

Jason Shaya does a great job at the Checkers' game announcer. Last night the game was on Time Warner Cable 520 as well as AHL Live. Shaya hangs with the Twitter fans and interacts during breaks, which is missed a little bit when watching the game on 520. The resolution is much better on cable than AHL Live.

Shaya also does an excellent job in his interviews. He asks open-ended questions and lets the person being interviewed talk. Last night he interviewed Jim Rutherford during the second intermission. I got a tweet asking me to summarize the Jim Rutherford interview so here goes:

Jason Shaya asked Rutherford to give his analysis of the game. Jim Rutherford responded that he thought the Rockford game was well-played and had great pace; but that Charlotte was the better team and should be ahead by far more than it was. [Unfortunately, the Checkers ran out of gas with Dalpe being hurt, and Rockford came back in the third period to win the game].

Rutherford also noted that he liked a lot of the players tonight, and specifically mentioned Nash and Bowman. Rutherford also stated that he felt with the Checkers' players additional experience and maturity they had a chance of going even further in the AHL playoffs.

[As a sidenote, Dalpe took a dirty hit last night from Youdas and was hurt when he crashed into the boards. Bowman flew in and began pounding Youdas. Bowman is a tough kid and last night he went even higher in my view. It was a spontaneous act of leadership that had to have been noticed by Rutherford and Muller. Dalpe was reported walking around normally and had at least one Tweet so he seems ok. I'm guessing Dalpe was bombarded with well-wishes on Twitter, so his Tweet was one way of indicating he was not in the dark room isolation.]

State of the Canes:

Shaya asked Rutherford if his phone is ringing more and more. Rutherford did not respond directly, but stated that the Hurricanes started out with a bad couple of months; but over the last five or six weeks he liked how the team is playing. Rutherford said some players who weren't doing well are stepping up. Jim Rutherford also mentioned that he had meetings with the coaches, owner, and scouts. His view was that the team still have work to do but was doing better. He noted that the Canes needed to add a couple of players

Rutherford then compared the Hurricanes/Checkers to the Ottawa Senators and stated that the Senators took players from last year who did well in AHL last season, put them into games in the NHL and played them. As a result the Senators are doing well this year. [Clearly it is the expectation by Rutherford that Checkers players are going to be called up and given significant ice time with the idea the Hurricanes will be competitive next season].

For fans like me who wonder what Rutherford is thinking about Dalpe and Boychuk, Rutherford was asked whether Bowman, Dalpe, Boychuk are NHL ready. Shaya did not include Nash in that list, but clearly Shaya knew he left one guy out because he was trying to find the name in his brain when Rutherford answered. Rutherford responded that he would not say all of them were NHL ready. He said he thought that Nash and Bowman are ahead of the other two now.

Rutherford stated that the other two (Dalpe and Boychuk) are really top prospects, no question (his words); but Rutherford noted that to play at the NHL level you have to play sixty minutes. Rutherford then concluded by saying "All those guys are good prospects." Rutherford then said that the Hurricanes call up the prospects and then send them down to teach them what it takes to be an NHL player.

Rutherford then concluded by talking about how remarkable a player Faulk is and that it is really rare for a young defenseman to be able to play such large minutes and to do so well. He said that Faulk really was overlooked by the NHL media. Rutherford concluded by saying about Faulk, "Faulk has had a great year and has had a great future."

By the sounds of this interview and the body language, Rutherford seems to be happy with the progress being made by the prospects. He doesn't seem anxious over Boychuk or Dalpe. Nash and Bowman are getting praised for their consistency, which seems to be that they have excellent two way games and make very sound decisions and reads on a consistent basis. It is also my impression that there are going be quite a number of changes for the Hurricanes. It sounds like house-cleaning is a real possibility. The reference to Ottawa's rebuild approach through their AHL prospects is what Jim Rutherford has in mind.

Well since the Canes are about to potentially lose some player's like Ruutu ,and Gleason who would you replace them with keeping in mind the salary cap ,and filling the roles in that the former player(s) were used on the team ,and considering how losing Eric Cole last year cost the team how does Rutherford avoid another similar situation?

http://www.mynhltraderumors.com/2011/11/09/2012-nhl-free-agents-unrestricted/

http://www.mynhltraderumors.com/2011/11/08/2012-nhl-free-agents-restricted-by-team/

The Sharks just waived Antero Niittymaki, anyone else think he'd be worth picking up? Who knows how long Boucher will be out with his injury, and Niittymaki is UFA at the end of the season. He could be a decent rental option who could push Cam Ward. If Boucher does come back early, he can always be traded before the deadline or waived again. Charlotte's goaltending is shakey at the moment with Murphy out with an injury, and Peters up replacing Boucher. I would say claim Niittymaki, and either trade or waive Boucher when he comes back. IMO Boucher has been quite a disappointment. Peters or Murphy could have done just as good if not better. Murphy hadn't allowed a goal with the Canes yet, but wasn't given a chance to start a game.

So the All Star Game is upon us, and low and behold, only 1 Cane going. Sounds about right; this year has been among the most challenging of any in recent history for fans and players alike. The lack of spending in the pre-season, coupled with Mo talking JR into giving him another chance behind the bench in essence doomed the season before it started. But there is hope: a new coach with new ideas and positive results, two star players (12 & 30) rounding into form, a pleasant surprise on defense (28) and some young guns making good impressions all have me giddy for the rest of this year. Here are the top 10 dreams I have for the remainder of this season:

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Spacek put it all out there on his feelings about the Habs. He was honest and straight-forward - which means it came across as a bit harsh. Have a look.

Spacek Comments on Habs

By way of disclosure, I grew up in Montreal and rural Quebec as a huge Habs fan but moved back to the states 20 years ago. My allegiances now are 100% for the Canes, but I do still have a bond to my old team. That said, I have to say I agree with a lot of what Spacek is saying: that the team is way too sensitive to the local population's cultural needs and not focused enough on putting the absolute best team on the ice - including coaching staff.

I'd love to hear your comments.

Nothing up on the Ponikarovsky trade?

Per TSN:

The Carolina Hurricanes have traded forward Alexei Ponikarovsky to the New Jersey Devils for defenceman Joe Sova and a fourth-round draft pick in 2012.

Now I'm going to post this a few more times, to reach the 75 word minimum....

The Carolina Hurricanes have traded forward Alexei Ponikarovsky to the New Jersey Devils for defenceman Joe Sova and a fourth-round draft pick in 2012.

The Carolina Hurricanes have traded forward Alexei Ponikarovsky to the New Jersey Devils for defenceman Joe Sova and a fourth-round draft pick in 2012.