Saturday featured game #81 out of 82 for the 2016-17 Carolina Hurricanes schedule. With the Hurricanes eliminated from playoff contention on Tuesday and playing like they knew it on Thursday, the game set up to be a great day for tailgating and saying goodbye to PNC Arena for the long off-season. But the Walk MS fundraiser held at PNC Arena on Saturday morning, Bryan and Amanda Bickell’s participation and the support of the Carolina Hurricanes team, coaches and staff made for a special day.

Today’s set of Carolina Hurricanes reading from around the internet starts with Bryan Bickell and also includes a tailgate-worthy buffet of other topics.

 

Bryan Bickell

(Reading list was included in Saturday game recap, but I wanted to also include here for those who did not read it.)

Michael Smith at CarolinaHurricanes.com wrote about Walk MS and the surprise by Bryan Bickell’s teammates. The videos are must-watch and tear jerkers at the highest level.

Not surprisingly, the team announced that Bryan Bickell had been selected as the 2016-17 winner of the Steve Chiasson award given annually to the player that best exemplifies determination and dedication while proving to be an inspiration to his teammates through his performance and approach to the game.

Kurt Dusterburg from NHL.com  followed up mid-afternoon with an article that Bryan Bickell would be retiring from the NHL after the final 2 games of the 2016-17 NHL season.

Finally and most importantly, you can find Bryan Bickell’s Walk MS donation page HERE.

 

Looking forward to the 2017-18 season

Brett Finger from Canes Country offers a nice list of positives from the 2016-17 season, most of which will hopefully carry forward to 2017-18.

Charles Taylor from Cardiac Cane writes that “Jeff Skinner Has Replaced Eric Staal as Leader of the Hurricanes.”

 

The next wave at forward for the Charlotte Checkers

The Hurricanes prospect pool below the AHL level for the 2016-17 season is heavy on forwards. With a number of them ready to move up, the organization could see as many as 6 (if Steven Lorentz also gets a contract) forwards in their early 20s move up to the AHL level next year. Already signed are Nicolas Roy and also Julien Gauthier who could play in the AHL next season despite being a 2016 draftee. The Hurricanes added Warren Foegele and Spencer Smallman to the mix with recent contracts. And Aleksi Saarela is expected to make his way to North America for the 2017-18 season. Here is a primer on the future Checkers forwards on their path hopefully to the NHL.

Matthew Barlowe from Cardiac Cane offers this scouting report on Warren Foegele.

Canes and Coffee’s ‘Midterms’ series offers a somewhat more positive view on Warren Foegele and his potential to contribute at the NHL level. (I am making a note to bet Matthew a coffee on Foegele; I have been on record for a long time as being high on him.)

Matthew Barlowe from Cardiac Cane also penned a great report on Spencer Smallman with some nice statistical data.

Canes and Coffee went to Craig Eagles who has been covering Spencer Smallman for his 5 years with the Saint John Sea Dogs.

Charles Taylor from Cardiac Cane details Aleksi Saarela’s red hot start since joining the Checkers just over a week ago.

Canes and Coffee’s ‘Midterms’ report on Aleksi Saarela offered a quick summary of his 2016-17 season in Finland and also a brief scouting report (think Sami Kapanen :-)).

Our ‘Midterms’ report on Nicolas Roy from March 24 included great analysis on Roy’s development from Steve Kournianos from The Draft Analyst.

Finally, the CandC ‘Midterms’ report on Julien Gauthier featured ‘from the rink’ insight from Scott Wheeler from Pension Plan Puppets and The Athletic-Toronto.

 

Other fun Carolina Hurricanes coverage

Cane-Alytics from Section 328 does a fun statistical dive into the past 10 years of Hurricanes hockey and pulls up names from the past (both good and bad) in the process.

Finishing appropriately on another inspirational note, Pierre LeBrun from ESPN.com interviews the ageless wonder Jaromir Jagr on how the NHL has changed, playing until 50 and other interesting topics.

 

There will be no Sunday Canes Chronicle for next week for Easter Sunday, but we will continue to provide Sunday reading over the off-season.

 

Go Canes!