Canes Close in on UFA Signing; Updated Draft Possibilities

Friday, 06.24.2011 / 12:16 PM / Tracking the Storm
By Paul Branecky
Before our live draft coverage kicks off from Minnesota tonight (live chat scheduled for 6:30 but could kick off earlier. Follow nhl_canes and PaulBranecky on Twitter for updates), a few news items:

Paul Branecky
Follow on Twitter
  • For the first time in a long time, Hurricanes General Manager Jim Rutherford seemed genuinely optimistic about signing one of his unrestricted free agents – a group that includes Erik Cole, Patrick Dwyer, Jussi Jokinen, Chad LaRose, Joni Pitkanen and Cory Stillman. Talks were scheduled to continue throughout the day, with news potentially coming as soon as today.

    Of that group, Jokinen and Pitkanen are most likely to test the open market on July 1.

  • After more research, I believe we can narrow down the group of players in the mix for the Hurricanes with the 12th overall pick tonight. Using the 11 players profiled on this site over the last few weeks as a base, it seems as though Sven Bartschi, Oskar Klefbom, Jamieson Oleksiak and Duncan Siemens can be ruled out. That leaves the following (in alphabetical order – click links for profiles):


    Unless something should change between now and the draft (possible) or one of Dougie Hamilton, Jonathan Huberdeau, Gabriel Landeskog, Adam Larsson or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins falls to the Canes at No. 12 – which would be quite a surprise – I believe the Hurricanes’ pick will be in that group. The Canes themselves aren’t sure who they’ll end up with, as teams ahead of them are thought to have a wide range of preferences.
I hope to see you all at the chat later this evening to further discuss. As mentioned, we’ll have quotes, reactions and updates from the Hurricanes’ pick, Rutherford and chief scout Tony MacDonald as soon as we can get them.

SCHEDULE

HOME
AWAY
PROMOTIONAL

STANDINGS

EASTERN CONFERENCE
  TEAM GP W L OT GF GA PTS
1 z - PIT 48 36 12 0 165 119 72
2 y - MTL 48 29 14 5 149 126 63
3 y - WSH 48 27 18 3 149 130 57
4 x - BOS 48 28 14 6 131 109 62
5 x - TOR 48 26 17 5 145 133 57
6 x - NYR 48 26 18 4 130 112 56
7 x - OTT 48 25 17 6 116 104 56
8 x - NYI 48 24 17 7 139 139 55
9 WPG 48 24 21 3 128 144 51
10 PHI 48 23 22 3 133 141 49
11 NJD 48 19 19 10 112 129 48
12 BUF 48 21 21 6 125 143 48
13 CAR 48 19 25 4 128 160 42
14 TBL 48 18 26 4 148 150 40
15 FLA 48 15 27 6 112 171 36
COMPLETE STANDINGS

STATS

2012-2013 REGULAR SEASON
SKATERS: GP G A +/- Pts
E. Staal 48 18 35 5 53
A. Semin 44 13 31 14 44
J. Tlusty 48 23 15 15 38
J. Staal 48 10 21 -18 31
J. Skinner 42 13 11 -21 24
J. Corvo 40 6 11 -3 17
P. Dwyer 46 8 8 -7 16
J. Faulk 38 5 10 1 15
J. Harrison 47 3 7 -10 10
R. Nash 32 4 5 -4 9
 
GOALIES: W L OT Sv% GAA
C. Ward 9 6 1 .908 2.84
D. Ellis 6 8 2 .906 3.13
FULL TEAM STATS
Chevrolet