Voting for the ‘Current Generation’ regional will kick off at 11:30am on Friday, August 28. If you are here before then, please check back.
The matchups for the current bracket is below the recaps that immediately follow.
In the ‘Founding Fathers’ regional:
–Kevin Weekes defeated Jeff Daniels to earn a second round matchup with #1 seed Ron Francis.
–Kevin Dineen barely edged out Sean Hill for the right to a second round matchup with Gary Roberts who upside Keith Primeau (guess people are still holding a grudge about his holdout and not giving any brownie points for him being traded for Brind’Amour).
–Josef Vasicek beat line mate Martin Gelinas for the right to face #3 seed Arturs Irbe who had a first round bye.
–Finally, Sami Kapanen defeated Bates Battaglia to earn a second round matchup against #2 seed Jeff O’Neill who is waiting with a first-round bye.
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In the ‘Unsung Heroes’ regional:
–Peter Laviolette bested Paul Maurice in a first round coaches’ matchup and will face #1 seed Glen Wesley in the second round.
–Bret Hedican defeated Craig Adams for the right to face Jesse Boulerice who won the ‘enforcer’ battle royale that included Kevin Westgarth, Stu Grimson and Darren Langdon.
–Kevyn Adams edged Jiri Tlusty and will take on #3 seed Aaron Ward who had a first round bye.
–Finally, John Forslund defeated Chuck Kaiton in a broadcasters’ matchup and will line up against #2 seed Ray Whitney in the second round after Whitney’s first round bye.
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Finally, in the ‘Cup Core’ regional which just ended on Wednesday:
–Mark Recchi bested Doug Weight for the best playoff reinforcements for the right to face the regional #1 seed Rod Brind’Amour.
–Mike Commodore rode a late night Twitter push to pull off a stunning upset of Cory Stillman and stake a claim to the Cinderella slipper.
–Matt Cullen defeated Martin Gerber in a battle of 2005-06 regular season standouts.
–Niclas Wallin beat Frantisek Kaberle in a battle of top four defensemen to advance to face #3 seed Justin Williams.
–Chad LaRose narrowly edged Andrew Ladd for the right to battle #2 seed Ray Whitney in the second round.
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First the matchups and seedings with links to the player write ups:
Eric Staal (1) (Coming 2nd round)
Elias Lindholm (8) / Andrej Sekera (9)
Tim Gleason (4) / Scott Walker (13)
Joni Pitkanen (5) / Dennis Seidenberg (12)
Jeff Skinner (3) (Coming 2nd round)
Tuomo Ruutu (6) / Jussi Jokinen (11)
Justin Faulk (7) / Jordan Staal (10)
Cam Ward (2) (Coming 2nd round)
And with that we move on to the bracket that looks a bit to the future. The bracket is represented primarily by 2009 playoff heroes and current players who represent the core of the Canes future. So this bracket has some wild cards where people can maybe vote for either their favorite current player who they think will be highest in a similar event in ten years.he three first-round byes for the regional are:
#1 seed Eric Staal who is already an all-time Canes great at age 30 and amongst the team’s career leaders in pretty much every offensive statistic.
#2 seed Cam Ward who has a playoff MVP, single season win record and career leading win total in addition to being a long-time fan favorite.
#3 seed Jeff Skinner who had one of the best individual seasons in Hurricanes history bursting on the NHL scene as an 18-year old and winning the NHL rookie of the year and a home All-Star game playoff berth in the 2010-11 season.
Vying to meet the three region heavyweights and competing in first round matchups are some interesting matchups:
–Elias Lindholm (8) versus Andrej Sekera (9) pits one of the most future-looking forwards against a player who contributed to the development of arguably the most future-looking defenseman in Justin Faulk.
–Tim Gleason (4) versus Scott Walker (13) pits probably the two greatest ‘hockey warriors’ (not including pure enforcers) against each other.
–Joni Pitkanen (5) versus Dennis Seidenberg (12) forces a decision between a Batman and Robin combination who played so well together in the 2008-09 season and subsequent playoff run.
–Tuomo Ruutu (6) versus Jussi Jokinen (11) forces a hard decision between two beloved Finns who were part of the magical 2008-09 team.
–Justin Faulk (7) versus Jordan Staal (10) is a battle between two young stars who are vital to the team’s future.
Go Canes!
