At least until the Hurricanes make a move, this post can serve as The Coffee Shop for debate related to the start of free agency on Friday?
1) Who, if anyone, do you think the Hurricanes should pursue in the free agent market?
2) With limited cap space, do you think the Hurricanes will make a move (or more)?
Go Canes!
I believe I heard that Johnson from TB is a free agent now and could be a good pickup! Is his first name Tyler?
Senior moment…!
Yeap, Tyler it is. It wouldn’t hurt to have a strong Johnson down the middle, though it is not necessary. 😉
He’ll be picked up off waivers by someone.
Pieterangelo and Hall still to be signed, then maybe the Canes can get a forward(Toffoli, Wallmart).
I don’t see a significant signing happening in the next couple of days.
The Johnson flopped around unclaimed and is back home now.
There have been a few deals I would’ve been interested in as a Canes manager, no absolute steal though. Wish the Canes could’ve sold the Flames on Gardner, they signed Tanev for something like a 4 X 4.5 mill deal, once a great defenseman but now his best years lie well behind him.
Kyle Clifford would be a good and affordable signing.
The Canes signed long-time Ranger Victor Fast, 3 X 2 mill. He is a bit of a JW replacement, right wing, team guy, hard worker, but he does not have the knack for coming through in a playoff clutch, like JW did.
He looks a lot like another hard working 2-way guy, and the team already has a decent volume of those, McGinn, Vogele etc.
He is popular with the fans.
On HB discussion boards the consensus seemed to be that getting him resigned for 3 X 2.5 mill would be good value.
From that perspective, the Canes are getting at least fair value.
I never noticed him on the scoresheet in all the games we lost to the Rangers (and there are way too many of them), which does concern me. I just never really noticed him.
Of the forward deals that have gone down, I would rather have signed Craig Smith (who went to Bos).
But, hey, Fast is a good guy, a good teammate, and a solid hockey player who cares about his team and knows how to be a leader.
For my part I gladly welcome him to the Canes nation.
Smith, also an RW, signed 3 X 3.1 mill deal in Bos (I think, maybe it was 5 X 3.1). He’s scored over 20 goals in 5 of his last 7 seasons. Again, that looks like a way better signing at the level I was looking at it, (which was definitely a pretty comfy armchair level).
But, ’nuff of that, let’s Fast forward to getting the season started. Still hoping for one more trade or signing.
So Taylor Hall signs for one year @ $8M with BUF. Wow. I would have done that. I was advocating for something like that.
I guess we’re having trouble trading away salary (like everyone else).
We dug outselves a salary cap hole, for sure.
Taylor Hall has developed a terrible reputation in the NHL. Plenty of talent, but how typical that Buffalo pays the guy…for one year at least.
By the end of next season Buffalo will still stink and their fans will spend all their time blaming their defensemen, when it’s an amazing collection of forwards who won’t backcheck or support the D that keep them from winning. It’s like their trying to corner the market on forwards that won’t play D!