Evaluating Canes GM; Who’s on the block now?

Published: 13^th Dec 11 11:01 pm

Sterling Eby
Sterling

RANT It!

Timothy T. Ludwig-US PRESSWIRE

With another loss the Carolina Hurricanes’ season is spiraling out of control. The season is trending similarly to the 09-10 season of the Hurricanes which saw Jim Rutherford trade a number of veterans away mid-season for numerous picks and players. In that 09-10 season saw us give away:

Philippe Paradis to Toronto for Jiri Tlusty
Niclas Wallin and Cody Ferriero (via draft) to San Jose for Mark Alt (via draft)
Matt Cullen to Ottawa for Alexandre Picard
Martin Marancin to Edmonton for Riley Nash
Aaron Ward to Anaheim for Justin Pogge and Justin Shugg
Scott Walker to Washington for a 7th round pick (Ricard Blidstrand)
Ricard Blidstrand to Philadelphia for Jon Matsumoto
Joe Corvo to Washington for Brian Pothier, Oscar Osala, and (Markus Granlund)
Markus Granlund to Calgary for Tim Erixon (Rangers) for Bobby Sanguinetti
Stephane Yelle and Harrison Reed to Colorado for Cedric McNicoll and Tyler Stahl
Andrew Alberts to Vancouver for Austin Levi

Out of the players we traded away: Stephane Yelle, Aaron Ward and Scott Walker retired in the offseason. (In reality we traded away 10 players technically)

Out of the players we acquired: Brian Pothier, Alexandre Picard, Justin Pogge, and Oscar Osala are no longer on our team and we didn’t resign them.

Out of the players we traded away: Niclas Wallin, Matt Cullen, Joe Corvo are starting on their respective rosters in the NHL currently (and Philippe Paradis now starting some games for Toronto).

Out of the players we acquired: Jiri Tlusty is the only one with legit NHL experience currently playing on the Hurricanes roster

The rest of the bunch: Riley Nash, Jon Matsumoto, Bobby Sanguinetti, Cedric McNicoll are currently in the AHL affiliate Charlotte Checkers. Matsumoto leads the team in goals, assists, and points. Justin Shugg is splitting time between the ECHL affiliate and Checkers roster.

The rest of the rest of the bunch: Tyler Stahl led his WHL team last season in penalty minutes, Mark Alt is currently attending the University of Minnesota, and Austin Levi is finishing his last season with the OHL Plymouth Whalers.

WITH THAT BEING SAID: It looks like we are in a repeat of the 09-10 season, so that means most of our veterans and players that will be unrestricted free agents will be on the trade block. So lets take a look at who is left of our roster and who might be on the block during the trade deadline:

Tuomo Ruutu: An amazing two way forward is in his last season of his contract. He has a salary hit of 3.8 million. The Hurricanes are currently at the cellar door of the minimum salary they can hold on their roster. Expect the Hurricanes to rid a team of a valuable contract and a 2nd round draft pick and maybe a future pick if a team takes a run at Ruutu.

Alexei Ponikarovsky: Another two way forward who signed a 1.5 million dollar deal in the offseason. He has already passed his goal total for the Kings last season (6), currently on pace for another 15 goal season and 27 points. He isn’t a huge cap hit, expect Alexei to be an interesting last minute trade deadline decision, which could actually increase his price if a team is in panic mode.

Bryan Allen: Was acquired last season at the trade deadline for Sergei Samsonov. He has a 2.9 million cap hit, but he is an excellent defensive defenseman and a great penalty killer. For a small value could be an upside for a team at the deadline.

Tim Gleason: He won a silver medal last season at the Olympics for Team USA, and may be on the block for the Hurricanes at the deadline. A gritty defensive defenseman who also excels on the penalty kill. He has a 2.7 million cap hit.

Jaroslav Spacek: Recently acquired in the trade that sent Tomas Kaberle packing to Montreal. He is considered a savior in Carolina as he had ridden the Hurricanes of their awful mistake in the offseason of signing Kaberle. A team might want to make a deal to the Hurricanes for Spacek’s duties who is yet to win a Stanley Cup in his career at age 37. He has a 2.5 million cap hit.