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The Canes have a decent team. That's it. Decent. They have forwards who can put the puck in the net, led by Eric Staal, Ray Whitney, Williams, BrindA'mour, Cullen, Samsonov, Walker, Eaves and even young Brandon Sutter who'll get a chance somewhere in there.
But injuries have plagued the Canes for the last two seasons and if they want to make it back to the post-season, they'll need a little luck. This forward group is deep and talented - and should score enough to do the trick.
On defense, the Canes already acquired Joe Corvo from the Sens last year, but they weren't content to let it end there. They traded Erik Cole to the Oilers for enigmatic power play specialist Joni Pitkanen - who had a horrible, injury plagued season last year. They also imported Anton Babchuk and Josef Melichar from Europe to go with a long term contract that they gave Gleason.
So:
Gleason - Pitkanen
Corvo - F.Kaberle
Melichar - Babchuk
Not great to be honest. Really, really small with a couple of exceptions and that will lead to a tremendous amount of pressure on Cam Ward.
Now, about this Cam Ward fellow. I wouldn't trust him in the least if I were Jim Rutherford. He had an awesome junior career and an awesome playoffs, but he's not gonna be more than an average starter in his NHL career. That's what I think is the Canes problem. Mike Leighton could be a very busy man. Not that that's a particularily good thing either, but he did rock the AHL last year.
No dice. Too much offense and not enough attention to defensive and goaltending detail.
Team Grade: C
Prediction: 11th in the East.
But injuries have plagued the Canes for the last two seasons and if they want to make it back to the post-season, they'll need a little luck. This forward group is deep and talented - and should score enough to do the trick.
On defense, the Canes already acquired Joe Corvo from the Sens last year, but they weren't content to let it end there. They traded Erik Cole to the Oilers for enigmatic power play specialist Joni Pitkanen - who had a horrible, injury plagued season last year. They also imported Anton Babchuk and Josef Melichar from Europe to go with a long term contract that they gave Gleason.
So:
Gleason - Pitkanen
Corvo - F.Kaberle
Melichar - Babchuk
Not great to be honest. Really, really small with a couple of exceptions and that will lead to a tremendous amount of pressure on Cam Ward.
Now, about this Cam Ward fellow. I wouldn't trust him in the least if I were Jim Rutherford. He had an awesome junior career and an awesome playoffs, but he's not gonna be more than an average starter in his NHL career. That's what I think is the Canes problem. Mike Leighton could be a very busy man. Not that that's a particularily good thing either, but he did rock the AHL last year.
No dice. Too much offense and not enough attention to defensive and goaltending detail.
Team Grade: C
Prediction: 11th in the East.
