With a break between rounds of the NHL playoffs and a holiday weekend for remembering heroes, spending time with family and eating too much, Memorial Day weekend is the last pit stop before we push into June and the busy off-season hockey calendar that awaits.
Be sure to check in on mid-week. Once we get our head back above water after the holiday weekend, Canes and Coffee will begin its off-season coverage of the expansion draft, NHL draft and free agency in earnest and be sure to give you a chance to chime in with your opinions in the Coffee Shop.
The Monday Coffee Shop will take on a patriotic theme and take a look back at American born players who wore Carolina Hurricanes’ uniforms over the years.
Carolina Hurricanes polls
Remember to click ‘vote’ after each individual poll response.
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Discussion questions
1) Over the years, which US-born Hurricanes player is your all-time favorite? Do you have a favorite story or memory of your favorite US-born Hurricanes player?
2) Starting to look forward to what should be an eventful June, what are you most excited about – the expansion draft and the maneuvering around it, the regular NHL draft or the start of free agency? Which of these do you think Ron Francis will use most in building the roster for the 2017-18 season?
Go Canes!
The lockout year my tailgate group (who had been together and growing since ’99) was NOT HAPPY w/o hockey -and our great tailgates before every game- so we planned a tailgate for what would have been the last regular season game (if they were playing). Somehow Kevin Adams found out about our plans, and came out and talked with us (and apologized to us), telling us he was also unhappy they weren’t playing. That showed a lot of class, and confirmed my very positive feeling for hockey players!
Cool story! Kevyn Adams was a class act (like so many Hurricanes players), so that doesn’t surprise me.
I’m just looking forward to the next EVENT… SIGNING, TRADE, BLOG… whatever, I’m easy to please!!
Eric Cole would be my favorite American born hockey player. Seeing him come down the right wing with that speed he had was exciting to watch. The only time I met Eric was in an autograph line before his first season. I had seen him in the preseason drills and games. He was sitting next to Martin Gelinas. I told him if he worked as hard as Gelinas he would make the team and be a star.
As far as what I am looking forward to next, well, it’s whatever comes up involving the Canes. I’m with puckgod. I’m easy to please! (Where have I heard that? puckgod?)
My favorite memory of Erik Cole was watching him go face-to-face against Gary Roberts in 2002 ECF. Their battle was a physical war. Gary Roberts could be a nasty and intimidating force. And a young Erik Cole never backed down inside of the whistles and seemed to have the right balance of sticking around and jawing and pushing but not getting sucked into a dumb fight after the whistle.
1) I’m going to give some love to Chad LaRose. I have a certain fondness for 4th line energy guys since that was my role when I played competitive hockey. When LaRose was at his best, he was always the first to get to a dumped in puck on the forecheck. I’ll never forget the photo of him staring down (or up) Zdeno Chara during the ’09 playoffs! That was LaRose in a nutshell! Recently, I got his autograph at the Stanley Cup 10th Anniversary celebration. I asked him to sign an 8×10 picture of him, and he immediately recognized where and when the picture was taken because it was the only time he’d ever taken a penalty shot.
2) I’m most excited about the expansion draft and its effects. The Canes are positioned perfectly to benefit from other teams’ expansion troubles since they basically have 2 free slots to protect defenseman. On top of that, the Canes are deep at that position so they can easily wheel and deal to help improve the team at forward. I don’t know what’s in store (which makes it even more exciting!), but I really hope the Canes take advantage of this unique situation!
1) A current Cane–Pesce. My wife and I were visiting Hyde Park, NY last fall as I am sort of an FDR buff. On the Walkway over the Hudson I saw a man with a Hurricanes hat. When I said “go Canes” he just responded that there were a fair number of Canes fans along the Hudson. Pretty sure he was referring to Pesce.
2) The expansion. It only comes rarely. While the long playoff drought has not resulted in a McDavid, Matthews or other #1, my hope is Carolina’s position will make them the “big winner” due to other teams’ protection and cap challenges. I suspect that GMRF is diligently working of some surprises.
I didn’t follow hockey or the Canes in 2002 or even 2006 (the Stanley Cup run was just a set of headlines in a newspaper I no longer read. 🙂 ). I went to my first game in the 2006-07 (I remember Erik Cole was back) – but I was unimpressed. I didn’t go to another game until sometime in the second half of the 2007-08 season. The rest is history. I have been going to 30+ games the last 4 or 5 seasons.
All that is (more than enough) context for my answer to 1.
1) Brandon Sutter – he was the first Hurricanes player my daughter and I met (at an autograph session at the Verizon store in Brier Creek) and I was impressed by how friendly he was and how cool he was with my (then) 11-yo daughter. He was the first signature on my jersey.
2) Definitely the expansion draft. As ctcaniac said, these don’t happen often so that’s excitement enough. This year the ED rules are such that most teams have to provide one (or more) quality players – the Knights are not going to be your typical expansion team next season. And there will be some great wheeling-and-dealing – the possible trade permutations are staggering. And we have what every team wants (including Vegas which will want to stock it’s cupboard) – draft picks and prospects. I will be very surprised if we don’t do some serious dealing with Vegas (both two-way and multi-way) before and after the ED.
Go Canes!