Cam Ward made the rounds yesterday apparently telling everyone and anyone who would listen to him that he's better and he will be ready to play on Thursday night in Carolina's next scheduled game against Washington. He did interviews for local radio stations 96 Rock and G105, as well as local TV station WRAL. On top of that, NHL Live interviewed with him as did ESPN.com. Finally, he made a 2 hour appearance at a local Alltell cellphone store where he signed autographs and recorded voice mail messages for fans. Quite a day off for the injured goalie! As we reported yesterday, call up Craig Kowalski was re-assigned to Florida on Sunday, so management is ready for Cam to be able to play. I would expect that John Grahame will still be the starter against the Capitals though. It would be risky to throw Cam back to the wolves too soon, and Johnny has been playing well enough.
The rest of the Canes took a well deserved 2 day vacation, but will return to practice this morning. The somewhat new lines of Staal, Stillman, Cole - Brind'Amour, Whitney, Williams - LaRose, Walker, Ladd - and Vasicek, Adams, Carter all looked great on Saturday, and I would expect them to stay together for at least another game. The defensive pairings of Wesley - Commodore, Gleason - Wallin, and Kaberle - Tanabe, have also looked solid, and I would be surprised if they insert Hedican back into the mix anytime soon unless there is another injury or series of defensive breakdowns. Bret can take his time and get back to being 100% healthy, something he reportedly has not been yet this entire year. There are plenty of healthy scratches behind Hedican who have been itching to get to play, but I wouldn't expect to see Andrew Hutchinson, Dennis Seidenberg, or Anton Babchuk, anytime soon.
There's not much more to report today. Have a good one!
Humble Pie