August which is the slowest hockey month of the year is officialy behind. September with training camp is officially underway. October if FINALLY just around the corner. Yay for NHL Hurricanes hockey!
One of the things I hope to add at some point (probably start of season) is a “Weekly reading list” type of blog that points CandC readers to other good Canes reading. I am considering adding volunteer or two who are well-read across the volumes of stuff these days, so that this list is top notch. (I sadly am reading less than I would like because of volume of other moving parts running the site.) If you know anyone who reads everything Canes anyway and might be willing to help a bit, please point them to me.
For anyone who checked out completely but wants the Cliffs Notes version or an approved reading list, here is a decent start including both external articles and a few of our own:
This is a decent summary read, but more significantly it is a starting point. If you have the time, Brett has quietly churned out a great reading list of individual player blogs for most of the Canes prospects. If you start from this initial read and work through his backlog from August, you can find pretty detailed profiles for Brett Pesce, Roland McKeown, Haydn Fleury, Justin Shugg, Sebastian Aho and just about everyone else you would expect to find there.
2) ‘NotOpie’ at Canes Country also looked at the future of the Canes in this pretty detailed view of the Canes youth at the forward position. Craig (the real person behind not being Opie is fairly new at Canes Country and adds to a pretty deep bench of writers over there.
3) From a less analytical slant, Brian LeBlanc at Canes Country posted a great read that is sort of “a day in the life” of John Forslund and shares the details of his work preparing game-by-game to be one of the absolute best in the NHL broadcasting business.
4) The team itself also made a number of ‘off ice’ announcements that will impact 2015-16 and beyond. You can find the NHL Hurricanes news roll here and pick and choose which articles you want to read.
The menu includes:
–Addition of Ray Whitney, Jeff Daniels and two others to professional and prospect scouting team. With Greg Stefan gone, the net was a gain of three. Again, I think these relatively low-cost investments can make a huge difference.
–Addition of Eric Tulsky as a full-time analyst. He was basically the secre, ‘shhhhh’ stats guy last year and is now onboard full-time and more officially. It is increasingly important to be competitive in this area to win hockey games, so what looks like a behind the scenes move for some is much more important if you ask me.
–Addition of Michelle McMahon to replace Chantel McCabe on the broadcast team. My initial impression of her is incredibly positive. At a very basic level, she just seems active (social media, community, fan outreach) and energetic. She comes with a strong resume working for Big Ten Network which is important too, but I think the foundation of energetic and engaged is vital to be great in her role.
From Canes and Coffee itself, let me suggest a few August reads if you are new here and/or catching up:
5) Improved scoring for the Canes requires better play/more goals from the forwards. Correct? Here is an alternate viewpoint that suggests that the greatest upside might actually be driven by the blue line.
6) If you missed the annual summer fire storm about Peter Karmanos is selling the team and then the leap to ‘Could the Canes move?’, you might just want to skip it altogether. But if you dare to dive in, please read this CandC blog that includes the long and detailed history that usually gets omitted from the annual circus event.
7) Finally, if you are just finding us and catching up (first WELCOME!), Canes and Coffee is running an NCAA tourney-like bracket event that pits Hurricanes greats against each other with games being decided by fan voting.
The main page including the 4 regional brackets for the event is HERE.
The players are starting to fill up the informal skates at RCI. Training camp is less than 3 weeks away. REAL CANES HOCKEY IS NEAR!!!
Go Canes!
