It's a beautiful, sunny day in Raleigh today and even though the all-star break is in full swing here, there is still plenty of news to talk about. Carolina Hurricanes General Manager, Jim Rutherford has had two recent interviews with local sportstalk radio stations. JR basically repeated what he had mentioned in his previous interview last week. He still believes this team and these players can win.
Apparently, many of you Canes Country Blog readers feel the same way, for the most part. In our recent poll, I asked what Rutherford's primary objective should be regarding trade deadline dealing. At this point in the season, the large majority of you thought that the Canes should be buyers, not sellers and should concentrate on upgrading the defense. Only 10% thought that the Canes should be sellers and start trading for the future. For those of you who wanted an addition on defense, perhaps help is on the way?
In today's Denver Post, it's been reported that the Hurricanes were officially scouting John-Michael Liles. There has been word about this off and on for weeks now, but this report definitely confirms previous suspicions.
A new addition to the mix was former University of Denver and Colorado Rockies coach Marshall Johnston, scouting for the Carolina Hurricanes. The Hurricanes continue to be looking over Avs defender John-Michael Liles, an unrestricted free agent after this season. Carolina has made no secret of its desire for a puck-carrying, offensive defenseman. Liles, however, is suffering through the worst season of his young career, with two goals and 18 points in 48 games coming in. Scouts from the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers and Washington Capitals also were in attendance
Liles only has 18 points eh? Currently the leading defenseman on the Hurricanes, Dennis Seidenberg has 12 points. More importantly, the Canes need someone who can get the puck out of their own end consistently. I think Liles would be a big help.
In some other news, the Erik Cole trade rumors won't go away. The Toronto Sun has an article about Cole this morning. While I don't necessarily like the suggested trade of Cole for Vermette and Corvo, I'm not against trading Erik if the return was good enough.
Coincidentally enough, we talked about this exact trade scenario in Episode One of Canescast, the new podcast put out by bloggers about the Hurricanes. Episode Two, (Kaberlay), is now online and this one includes the familiar characters along with Dave from Carolina on Ice. Check it out when you have the chance and please let us know what you think.
The links to the latest Rutherford interviews are here, 99.9 The Fan and here, 850 The Buzz. I'll be back later today to start a new poll. TGIF!