SUNRISE, Fla. -- Carolina Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos likes this year's hockey team. And not just a little. A lot.
Karmanos even brought up 2006 in talking about this year's team.
"I'm perennially the optimist," Karmanos said in an interview Saturday at BB&T Center. "I feel like we are a Stanley Cup contender. We're going to win an awful lot of hockey games. I'm as optimistic as I've ever been."
SUNRISE, Fla. -- The lineup is set for the Carolina Hurricanes' season opener. The only thing left is to drop the puck.
Canes coach Kirk Muller will use Zach Boychuk on the top line with Eric Staal and Alex Semin. Zac Dalpe will open with center Jordan Staal and Jeff Skinner. The third line, as it has been most of training camp this week, will have Jussi Jokinen centering Jiri Tlusty and Chad LaRose.
One of Muller's final decisions was on the fourth line for the opener. He will go with Tim Brent at center, with Drayson Bowman and Pat Dwyer on the wings. Kevin Westgarth and Jeremy Welsh will be healthy scratches.
Defensively, the Canes will sit Jamie McBain tonight against Florida. Tim Gleason will be paired with Joe Corvo, Joni Pitkanen with Justin Faulk and Jay Harrison with Bobby Sanguinetti.
"Just judging on the game and looking at tonight's game, I think having four lines ... is important," Muller said. "We'd like to think we're ready to go in terms of conditioning, but with the bad ice I think it's nice to have four lines ready. I think that fourth line gives us a good skating line."
The Canes on Friday made a few final roster moves, recalling forward Jeremy Welsh from the Charlotte Checkers (AHL) and assigning defenseman Ryan Murphy to his junior team, the Kitchener Rangers (OHL).
Forward Tim Wallace, placed on waivers Thursday by the Canes, cleared waivers Friday and was reassigned to the Checkers.
Canes coach Kirk Muller said some decisions had been made for the season opener Saturday against the Florida Panthers, but that he might wait until after the morning skate Saturday to make some others.
Attention hockey fans: if you read The News & Observer print edition on Friday, you'll be seeing an apology from the National Hockey League.
The NHL, following a long, frustrating lockout that lasted 113 days, realizes it strained the loyalty of its fans. That's why it is placing advertisements in several U.S. and Canadian newspapers in NHL markets -- including The N&O -- telling fans the league is "committed to earning back your trust and support."
The NHL season, reduced to 48 games because of the lockout, begins Saturday.
The Canes now have 23 players on their training-camp roster after placing forward Tim Wallace on waivers.
Wallace, if he clears waivers by noon Friday, will be reassigned to the Charlotte Checkers (AHL). Forward Andreas Nodl and Brett Sutter, put on waivers Wednesday, were not claimed by any other NHL team Thursday and were sent to the Checkers.
Canes coach Kirk Muller could not say Thursday if he planned to take a 23-man roster to Florida for Saturday's season opener. That's just one of a few decisions still to made, along with some line combinations.
"As coaches, we obviously like the numbers, but we'll see how it unfolds," Muller said.
The Canes continued to pare down the training camp roster Wednesday, placing forwards Andreas Nodl and Brett Sutter on waivers. That left 14 forwards and eight defensemen in camp, along with goalies Cam Ward and Dan Ellis.
That also means that Zach Boychuk, Zac Dalpe, Drayson Bowman and Bobby Sanguinetti are still in camp, not headed back to the Charlotte Checkers. Boychuk was on Eric Staal's line Wednesday with Alex Semin, and Dalpe on Jordan Staal's line at left wing opposite Jeff Skinner.
Sanguinetti made a change today, working with Jay Harrison as a defensive pair. That was a subtle change that could have larger ramifications, especially for Jamie McBain, who had been with Harrison but was paired Wednesday with Ryan Murphy.
"After these last few days, he's making it tough (and) pushing to be in the top six," Muller said of Sanguinetti. "There's still a decision to me on the fifth and sixth defensemen."
The Canes originally were scheduled to play eight preseason games, giving coach Kirk Muller and his staff more than enough time to make personnel decisions.
Because of the lockout, Tuesday's team scrimmage will have to do.
The Canes held the scrimmage at Raleigh Center Ice and it wasn't lacking anything. There was hitting, scoring, skating. The Red team, with Dan Ellis in net, bested Cam Ward and the White 5-2, but the scrimmage was more about taking a look at different players and different combinations.
(UPDATE: The Canes reassigned centers Jeremy Welsh and Riley Nash back to the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL).
"The pace and the tempo and the energy of the guys was better than we were expecting, so that's a nice sign," Muller said."
One benefit of a shortened season for Canes fans is that all 48 of the games will be televised.
Fox Sports Carolinas confirmed today today announced that all games of the Hurricanes’ 2012-13 season will be televised. Of the 48 games, 45 games will be carried on FOX Sports Carolinas, while three will be carried on FOX Sports Carolinas’ sister station, SportSouth.
John Forslund again will handle the play-by-play duties and Tripp Tracy will provide analysis. Starting this season, Forslund and Tracy will be joined by sideline reporter and host Chantel McCabe. Each of the team’s games will be preceded by the network’s 30-minute pregame show, Hurricanes Live.
The Canes recalled forwards Zac Dalpe, Riley Nash and Brett Sutter on Monday from the Charlotte Checkers (AHL).
The three will join the Canes for a team scrimmage Tuesday at Raleigh Center Ice. The scrimmage, initially scheduled for 11 a.m., will begin at noon.
Dalpe, 23, leads all Checkers skaters this season with a plus-14 plus/minus rating, and is second on the team with 28 points (13 goals, 15 assists).
Nash, 23, ranks tied for sixth among Charlotte skaters with 21 points (7 goals, 14 assists) and is tied for second among team forwards with a plus-8 plus/minus rating.
Sutter, 25, is serving his second consecutive year as the Checkers’ captain, and currently ranks fifth on the team with 11 goals and eighth on the team with 20 points.
Kevin Westgarth made a quick turnaround, flying from Raleigh to Los Angeles and then quickly back to Raleigh in a matter of days. That's a lot of miles -- not that he minded.
Traded Sunday to the Canes by the L.A. Kings, Westgarth lives in Raleigh in the offseason. His wife, Meagan, is the daughter of former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher. He also spent much of the NHL lockout skating with the Canes group at Raleigh Center Ice, getting to know Eric and Jordan Staal, Jay Harrison, Joe Corvo, Cam Ward and others.
Westgarth put in his first Canes practice Monday at PNC Arena, on the second day of training camp. He was on a line centered by Jeremy Welsh, with Drayson Bowman on the left side.
"It's great not to be coming in blind," Westgarth said. "There are a lot of places, you don't know anybody. I've played with one organization my entire career, so it was great to have a base here."
