Bits and pieces on a Wednesday morning

A few Hurricanes notables floating around this week; here's an update.

1. First of all, thanks to those of you who emailed, but I'm still gainfully employed at the N&O. The shutdown of my Talking Points blog was merely administrative, and most of what I was posting there will continue to show up here and on ACC Now.

Chip, who is on vacation this week, will continue to cover the Hurricanes and I'll continue to write columns on the Canes and everything else sports-wise in the Triangle. Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

2. The Canes released their roster for their rookie camp yesterday and it has to be the strongest grouping they have ever sent to a rookie tournament, with only five tryout players to fill out the roster. (And one of them, Justin McCrae, is an unsigned Hurricanes draft pick.)

Pretty much everyone who's everyone in the Carolina system will be there, from still-eligible Brandon Sutter to 2009 first-round pick Phillipe Paradis. (No college kids per NCAA rules, of course.) Rasmus Rissanen, a 2009 draft pick from Finland, is scheduled to participate -- a really good sign for the future, because Europeans aren't always interested in coming over at that time of year. Looks like he's headed to Everett (WHL) this season, so the Canes should be able to keep a pretty close eye on his development.

The camp will be held in Traverse City on Sept. 6-10 and as far as I can tell is pretty much the premier rookie event out there. The Thrashers have been going for years and this year there's an eight-team field. That's far bigger than any Carolina has participated in before.

I attended three rookie tournaments during my time on the beat (Kitchener, 2001, Keith Aucoin; Ottawa, 2003, Eric Staal; Ottawa, 2005, Andrew Ladd) and to be honest, it was as much fun as anything I did covering the team. The hockey isn't great, but it's a great way to see the game through a scout's eyes and get a sense for who can play and who can't.

Aucoin was by far the best player in Kitchener, among a mess of first-round draft picks, but I just assumed he would never make the NHL. That, as much as anything, taught me to trust my instincts, and that I may not always be right, but neither are the scouts, even if they're right way more often than I am.

If you're thinking about going at all, go. Not only is this a great chance to see some good young hockey players, but Traverse City is beautiful during the summer/fall. There's a big casino, if you're into that sort of thing, and a bunch of wineries, if you're into that sort of thing, and a cool, old downtown that has avoided most of the Michigan malaise.

3. I got another email on the Anton Babchuk situation. I suppose there's a great deal of confusion out there regarding his contract negotiations, but I actually think it's pretty clear cut. I figured I'd post my reply to the email and open it up for discussion.

I guess it's pretty obvious at this point that I'm not a huge Babchuk fan, and if someone out there who is a huge Babchuk wants to offer a rebuttal, I'm all ears -- as long as your case is more substantial than "he scored 16 goals!" Anyway, here's the email:

Babchuk wanted to be paid like a guy who scored 16 goals; the Hurricanes wanted to pay him like a guy who's totally unreliable in his own end and not particularly good with the puck.

Throw in the Russian option -- I bet Babchuk can make the equivalent of at least $2.5 million tax free over there, at least -- and you've got a serious standoff.

At $1 million, the Hurricanes could carry Babchuk as a seventh-eighth guy and see if he develops. At $2-plus, he would have to play a top-four role, and he clearly is nowhere near ready for that at this point.

So there's no way to compromise without substantially weakening the Carolina roster (nor would the Hurricanes want to, because anything they give him this year would be multiplied exponentially when he goes to arbitration next summer). And given where Carolina's roster stands right now, there isn't room for Babchuk at anything more than $1 million, so anything else is a moot point anyway.

All this is recipe enough for a failure to find common ground even before you mention his failure to report to the AHL and decision to play in Russia two years ago.

I think someone will be dazzled by his 16 goals and give up a fourth-round draft pick for his rights when they lose two defensemen in training camp. I would guess his agent suspects that too, which is why he hasn't signed (to my knowledge) with a Russian team yet.

Personally? I think it's addition by subtraction. By the time the playoffs rolled around, every team figured out he could shoot and that if you pressured him not only could he not get off his shot but he would turn over the puck. Even if he were the greatest teammate on the planet, I'd have a hard time bringing him back after that.

4. This signing passed quietly this week, but Albany signed goalie Mike Morrison on a two-way AHL/ECHL deal on Monday. Morrison has substantial NHL experience (29 career games) and he's a great safety net for the Justin Peters/Mike Murphy situation in the minors. Don't know whether Morrison will come to Carolina's camp, but there's going to be a heck of a battle to shake out the minor-league pecking order among those three.

5. Theo Fleury: Just say no. I suppose in some alternate reality he could come in and be the skill winger to play with Eric Staal, but seriously ... Theo Fleury? No.

Let's face it: The Staal winger situation will be resolved next summer. Now, if the Canes wanted to fix it this summer, they could give the payroll a bump and sign Alex Tanguay, who I really like in that spot. But they're tapped out and Tanguay appears headed for Tampa. Vaclav Prospal, who was just bought out by the Lightning, is worth consideration, but again, the Canes are tapped out.

I'd suspect they make one more minor NHL signing, probably a fourth-line forward with faceoff and penalty-killing skills, and add a couple AHL veteran types if they think they need them. Maybe another experienced depth defenseman if there's one out there in the $700K-800K range, although I think Carson and Rodney are fine options there on call in Albany. Other than that, I think you're looking at your 2009-10 Hurricanes right now. (And the 2010-11 Hurricanes, if you want to look ahead.)