Anyway. I had hoped not to turn my contributions to this blog into solely Carolina Hurricanes opinions, but there's not much else going on that I feel qualified to talk about. So, here goes.
GM Jim Rutherford has told the media that strengthening the defense would be among his chief goals over the offseason; with free agents Anton Babchuk and Dennis Seidenberg both having career years, it's likely that they will seek some sort of pay raise and Carolina is probably not the organization that's going to give it to them. Both are good, young defensemen that I, as a Carolina fan, am sorry to see go. However, neither really has shown at this point that they are true standout top-pairing D-men, and that is the type of player that Rutherford has gone on record as being in the hunt for. If he were to accomplish the task of bringing in a serious stud defender to play top minutes with Joni Pitkanen, Carolina probably would not miss Babchuk's 16 goals from last season. A legitimate one-two punch on defense has been something that Carolina has never really had since relocating from Hartford, and even before that the "Forever .500" Whalers rare flashes of success were usually carried by their offense.
In order to make this happen, Rutherford has expressed interest in trading a forward along with, most fans assume, Anton Babchuk. Babchuk is a restricted free agent, so his rights still belong to Carolina, though both he and Rutherford seem to agree that Raleigh is not the best place for him next year. Babchuk's tenure with the Hurricanes has been stressed ever since he was sent down to the minors in 2007 and failed to report to the team. He was then suspended and played for a year in Russia before returning to Carolina where he won over some fans this past year by leading the team defensemen in goals with 16 (a number that was fourth highest in the NHL among defensemen) and holding a +/- of +13, second only to Pitkanen. However, he straight up disappeared in the playoffs, with only one assist and -5 in 13 games, plus being a contributing factor to the goal in game 4 of the Pittsburgh series that put the Pens in control for good. Check out 2:05 of this video:
The only thing more painful than watching that happen was hearing Pierre McGuire say 'OMG' during a broadcast. What a tool.
Anyway, since Babchuk will probably be packaged with a forward to bring another defender to Raleigh, the question is, which one? My money is on Patrick Eaves, a winger who once scored 20 goals in a season with the Ottawa Senators, but has been relegated to playing mostly fourth-line duty in Carolina. Eaves is a good hockey player, fast, smart defensively, and with a really quick wrist shot; I just don't see him really working out in Raleigh being so far down the depth chart. Would Babchuk and Eaves together be enough to seal a deal for a big-time defender? A team that's in danger of running over the salary cap might have to give one up, and neither Babchuk and Eaves are making superstar money. Babchuk and his agent would of course need to work out a deal with his new team and they've shown that big money is what they are interested in. I worry that those two players alone won't be enough, and that Rutherford will be tempted to deal another restricted free agent in Tuomo Ruutu.
Ruutu set career highs last year in goals, assists, points, and ice time per game, playing most of the season on the top line with Eric Staal, but has yet to re-sign and has filed for salary arbitration. While this doesn't necessarily mean that he is on his way out (Chad LaRose filed for arbitration last year and reached a new agreement before the arbitration hearing even happened), the uncertainty there may open the door for other teams looking to sweeten that Babchuk deal. Trading him would be a big mistake in my opinion, as he, along with Erik Cole, add a physical dimension that many of Carolina's other forwards are lacking. After his first game in a Carolina sweater, Ruutu looked like this:
That's the face of someone who lays it all on the line, and Carolina fans have recognized that and salute him for it with loud 'RUUUUU's at the RBC Center. Unless Rutherford could get someone like Scott Neidermayer in return, I doubt that getting rid of Ruutu would go over too well with the fanbase, not to mention the hole in would leave in the forward corps.
In short, well, there wasn't really a point to all of this, other than to voice my opinions. Rutherford has shown that he's pretty good at this general manager thing, keeping the Hurricanes competitive even under a budget that never spends all the way to the salary cap ceiling. The race for the Southeast Division title will probably have two horses in it, the Hurricanes and the Washington Capitals, and I predict it will be a tight one.
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