With a busy week of headline news, a couple Carolina Hurricanes news items slipped by without making it into an article at Canes and Coffee.
If you want to catch up on the busy week or ever just need a chronological list of articles to see what you missed, you can always find that HERE.
The broadcast team returns – Chuck Kaiton, John Forslund and Tripp Tracy
Right before the free agent frenzy launched, the Hurricanes announced the re-signing of the broadcast team. Mike Maniscalco also remains part of the group as the team’s TV/Web host and part of the television broadcast team.
We, as Hurricanes fans, should be thankful that we have the best local game coverage of any team in the entire NHL.
AHL signings – Zack Stortini, Nick Schilkey and Martin Ouellette
Earlier this week, the Checkers announced the addition of three players. These players are on AHL contracts, so they are not technically in the Carolina Hurricanes organization.
Forward Zack Stortini adds a veteran enforcer to the Checkers’ roster. He of a league-leading 299 penalty minutes in 2013-14 can do do work with or without his gloves on.
Forward Nick Schilkey might be a familiar name, as he just participated in the Hurricanes’ prospect camp last week and must have impressed. Schilkey just wrapped up his college career in fine fashion finishing third in the NCAA with 27 goals. He also served as captain of his Ohio State Buckeyes twice.
Goalie Martin Ouellette rounds out the group. With veteran AHL goalie Jeremy Smith added last week to bring the group to three, to be honest I am not sure what the team is up to adding a fourth goalie. It might just be that the Hurricanes scouting staff sees something in Ouellette and used an AHL contract to get a closer look. I guess we will learn more as the AHL goalie situation unfolds.
The free agent list dwindles
Jaromir Jagr is still out there. Andrei Markov surprisingly has yet to officially return to Montreal. And I guess Thomas Vanek could provide inexpensive offense, but in general the free agent list is mostly depleted now almost exactly a full week since it started.
Yesterday, one of the players that I and others still liked as a depth forward addition was eliminated. Jussi Jokinen was signed to a bargain $1.1 million, one-year deal by the Edmonton Oilers. Paint me jealous on that one. Even in his mid-30s, I see Jokinen as a versatile player with decent depth scoring ability. I would easily add Jokinen to my ‘deals I would steal’ list from earlier this week.
We are nearing the desert of the long NHL off-season, but the ‘mug half full’ version is that we are now within two months of the start of training camp.
Go Canes!
We are fortunate to have Forslund and Kaiton call the action. Up here in the northeast, I catch all the ‘Canes games via NHL Center Ice package and during off-nights have seen almost every broadcast team out there. Call me bias, John and Chuck are class acts and truly among the elite of broadcasters. Tripp balances Forslund and the pair have chemistry. My wife and I met Maniscalco last year during a week long trip to Raleigh and he was both gracious and fun to speak with!
Agree remaining free agents are ‘meh’ at best. We’re likely 7th/8th seed on paper currently. Leafs have glut of forwards and may need to shed for some cheap help in return. Bozak or JVR would be value adds via trade, perhaps mid-prospect(s) and pick could get it done.
Completely agree with your assessment of the broadcasters. I have known Mike for years via his interview sessions called Canes Corners. If you come back next year you should time it out when there is a Canes Corner. In addition to the live interview it will mean there is a game that week, the team is local and they may be practicing at Raleigh Center Ice.
I think there is more to the Jokinen signing than the dollars, which is a low-ball number, and probably something we can’t match.
I’m still shocked that a team got the Juice for nearly the same money that we used to sign JJ (in a way they got him cheaper, because they did not have to give up a pick).
He was one of the most head scratching trade aways JR made (and he made more than a few).
The rumor of a Hossa salary cap dump from the Blackhawks to the Canes is still alive and well over on Hockeybuzz. It looks like Hossa is actually done playing (he was one of the greats, I hope he gets a hall of fame nod one of these days), and is perminatnly on injured reserve.
If we take on his 6 million cap hit Chicago is rumored to add a sweetener to the deal. The problem is I don’t really see any Chicago sweeteners out there that I think they would be willing to part with, at least no players or prospects that would help this coming season.
I actually think the Blackhawks team will barely make it into the playoffs this year .. but we don’t care about the Hawks.
Granted Chicago has been good to us in recent years and we are not likely to spend up to the cap, or even cap – 6 million anytime soon, but I still don’t see what would be in it for the Canes.
John and Trip are my absolutely favorite tv announcer / analyst team. They get the right mix of expertise, inside jokes and professionalism.
Chuck is an all time great. I admit his play-by-play style is a little too verbose for my liking at times (I love the Devils radio team and Mike Lang was fantastic for the Pens). But Chuck is a class act, is as knowledgable about the game as anybody, and should remain with the Canes organization until he retires, may that still be another 30 years.
John and Chuck are class acts. John truly is one of the best announcers in the NHL. Trip is a great complement and I have always liked Mike Maniscalco. Very happy to have them. No idea why we did not go after Jokinen. It must be something more then the money as tj said. That was a real stupid move when JR traded him away. He is still a very good player.
Good for Nick Schilkey. Comes in as invitee and gets a contract.
Chicago has been a good trade partner for us, even if their moves were necessity. I would be fine with helping them out but the thing that concerns me is Hossa’s salary cap would not be for one year. It is for 4. That could get in the way and create problems for us as our RFAs need contracts over the next 2 to 3 years. 4 years of salary cap is a big commitment and they would have to give us something VERY serious for that. Hossa could always come back but it has to be a big issue for him to miss the entire next season. I think if he retires then Chicago still gets hit with cap charges. A fair number of negatives with what appears to be not much in return. We are not talking draft picks for 4 years at $5.25M. For 1 or 2 years we could take on that cap but after that we will have our own cap issues if we did this. I do not think we would do this.
Met Chuck Kaiton in Helsinki a few years ago. His voice on the radio cures every bit of withdrawal created in July and August by the dearth of NHL news When the pre season starts, when he announces a game on the radio, I return to normalcy. John Forslund is the best NHL announcer. Period. Make a point to listen to a game on the NHL channel when he is providing play by play. He is special, Tripp Tracy is a name dropping, tag a long, with a remarkable grasp of the obvious. Worse, once he grasps the obvious, he beats the proverbial dead horse with repetitive lashings. Two out of three ain’t bad.
This post earlier this season of John Forslund-isms speaks for itself: https://canesandcoffee.com/daily-cup-of-joe/thats-hockey-baby-and-31-other-john-forslund-isms/
I’m still laughing.
Agree we are lucky! Many years ago, my son was on the same hockey team as John’s. We would spend the hour talking. What a great person…. He told the story of when he was a kid he would sit in front of the tv and call the baseball games. I forget the “real” story (so forgive me the incorrect details) but it was something like when he was asked if he had ever called a game before, he said yes (referring to the tv games) and that was how he got his job! Very good person!