Monday debate: Changes on the blue line

JR did the best he could w/ the salary restrictions he has to work w/. Pitkanen is a legit top-4 d-man w/ the potential to be a #1. When was the last time we had that? When was the last time we had a legit top-pairing(Gleason-Pitkanen)? The jury is out on how Pitkanen responds to a new system he should excel in. The rest of the D acquisitions are pretty much the best bang we could have gotten for our buck. If Babchuk has learned to hit the net w/ that cannon of his as well as hit the other teams' players, I'd feel comfortable w/ him on the 2nd pairing. Maybe a Babchuk-Wallin/Melichar pairing would work. Who knows if Wallin or Melichar is up to top 4 minutes, but someone will have to step up. I'd put Corvo-Seidenberg on the 3rd pairing. Sure Corvo is going to get his 20mins a night w/ pp time; I'd just feel more comfortable w/ him getting his ES time against the other teams' 3rd and 4th lines. Kabs hopefully will be shipped off for a pick before the season starts. A first PP unit w/ Corvo and Pitkanen on the points has me salivating for the season to start. D-men who can actually play the point on the PP! Amazing idea! The only question mark I really see is who is going to step into the top 4 out of Babchuk, Wallin, Melichar or Seidenberg?

As far as the changes that the Canes have gone through this summer, they're either going to work, or we're going to go boom and turn back into a swiss-cheese-defense.
hopefully Joni Pitkanen will adjust well to the fanbase and do really well sort of like Samsonov last season.
I wouldn't depend to heavily on miracles from Melichar or Babchuk but we shall see once the season starts. I'm excited about Corvo (think how good our power play will be) and I think Gleason will be very very exciting. I'm not very excited about Wallin or Kaberle, but hopefully we'll be able to make another deal and dump him.
Hopefully any mistakes made by the d-men will be covered up by the hefty number of goals eric staal will (hopefully) score.

I like the changes. Overall we have a bigger, younger, and faster group of defensemen. We'll get pucks out of our zone better, keep the goalie harassment level down, and improve the power play. The additions should help Gleason, Wallin, and Seidenberg also because they won't have to log as many minutes and take a beating over the long haul.

It will also help our general toughness greatly. Brookbank will have more muscle around to back him up. This should keep our forwards more healthy too. Teams won't be pushing us around this year like they have in the past, yet we've actually improved the overall team speed of a team already considered to be one of the fastest. That could be a deadly combination from our opponents perspective.

I like the Pitkanen move, but the rest of the moves feel like spare parts and some hope. I think we are missing another top 4 guy to got with Pitkanen, Corvo, and Gleason. The remainder of the guys are bottom pairing/press box guys until the prove otherwise.

I'd love to see us move Kaberle and one of the other guys for a proven, stay at home top 4 guy (probably wishful thinking)--even if he has no offensive upside.

Then, let guys like Wallin, Babchuk, etc. prove their value in a lower pressure role and push the guys to move up. Babchuk could develop still, but needs lower pressure. Same with Seidenberg. We seem to send guys from sitting in the press box to playing 20 minutes a night and then wonder why they make some mistakes. More top end quality would help with that.

We needed 2 high-end D going into the off-season. The Pitkanen deal was a really good one- he's the go-to offensive/PP guy we needed to add to Corvo. The other guy we needed was a big-time physical presence. I am not sure that Melichar provides that, as I don't know very much about him. I was never fond of Babchuk at all, & he was never very physical for his size. I would've rather had one good player instead of these 2, but I am willing to give them a chance. Hopefully at least one of them will pan-out. Assuming Frank is moved, we've got Corvo, Pitkanen, Gleason, Wallin, Seidenberg, Babchuk, & Melichar. Overall, I think we have improved. All things considered, I think Rutherford does a pretty good job doing the best he can for the $ he has. It is so easy to drool over the big names & dish out $6 or 7 million a year (deals which often backfire), but it takes a lot more savvy to build a team on a tighter budget.

Pitkanen may have "crumpled under the pressure" in Philly, but that's nothing to worry about here, our fans show a helluva lot more brotherly love than Philly fans. I think he'll do fine, he is ridiculously talented, but apparently is tough to coach. I think PL is good at getting the most out of his players so he should excel here. I have no idea if Babchuk was a good pick-up, but if he hasn't changed much since 2 years ago, it will be a disaster. Still, he is better than Wallin in any case. Seidenberg is our most underrated defenseman- no one gives him any credit but he is a solid defenseman. I really don't know too much about Melichar, but I haven't heard much good... I think as long as Gleason continues his tremendous development and Pitkanen shows up, our defense will be much better than the sorry group of last year.

I think JR did a great job, especially with the salary restrictions he was working with. We now have two top flier, young defensemen with Pitkanen and Gleason and one of the best offensive defensemen in Corvo. Anton Babchuck has enough upside to be another top notch defensemen if he matures. Thats some potential elite talent in 4 defensemen. Melichar adds great depth and is still a huge upgrade over a guy like Wesley. Wallin can still play and is a great locker room guy, and Seidenberg has the talent to start but also gives us some great depth that we haven't had in a while. Compare this defensive front to that of 2006 and I'd say JR did a great job. I can't wait.

Melichar. Please--the Hurricanes could have done better than him, IMO. And I also think that they could have and should have shelled out the dosh for Aaron Ward, but of course they decided to nickel-and-dime it again.

I reserve final judgment of Pitkanen until mid-season, but I'm also bracing for the inevitable screaming that will ensue when our defence turns out, once again, to be not so great.

I think that Jim Rutherford made the right moves in going out and getting the right guys for our team. Joni Pitkanen is an offensive weapon who struggled last year. So was Sergei Samsonov, and look what happened there. Anton Babchuck had a great season over in Russia, and he needed some serious playing time to get back on track. Josef Melichar is a depth guy with NHL experience. We also resigned Conboy, who played well last year as an injury replacement. This all would be perfect except for the fact that we did not resign Keith Aucoin. He probably would have been a good replacement for Erik Cole. Keith doesn't have the physical side that Erik does, but he has energy that the top 2 lines desperately need with guys like Brindy, Whitney, and Samsonov. Staal needs to become more of an energy player and physical to make the Cole trade worth it.

I agree with gofor, while it is hard to say what WILL happen, JR did what he set out to do and that is to change the blueline almost completely. I think overall we have a really good team and players of all sports tend to step it up when they know they have a winning product.

As for the previous comment about Cole being a hefty price to pay, i would disagree. Cole was a gonner next summer anyway and his numbers have been in decline. A souped up defense can now let the offensive lines concentrat on the attack and not having to hang back while we get scored on.

JR has tried to rebuild the blueline this summer, but the proof will be in the pudding once the games begin. Pitkanen was the guy on Rutherford's radar all along, he is young, skilled and still has plenty of upside as a top defenseman in the NHL under the right system. Babchuk has size and strength and a wicked shot, time will tell if he has matured into a regular NHL blueliner. Melichar is a wildcard with his shoulder problems, but he is not a bad option as a sixth or seventh defenseman. I think the Canes needed to swap out either Kaberle or Wallin for a bigger, stronger defensive defenseman, and a guy like Jason Smith would have been the perfect fit this summer to play alongside Gleason, Corvo, Pitkanen and company.

id say its ok.

erik cole is a hefty price to pay if pitkanen doesnt come through for us.

tim gleason is pullin through, but early on we all wondered if jack johnson was too hefty a price, jack johnson is no where near the price of Col, so who knows.

and there is a lot of melichar bashing going on out there. maybe thats bad, maybe thats good, we will see.

-chris

I live in Philly, and I can tell you that a young Pitkanen crumpled under the pressure here.  I hope the couple years have toughened him mentally, he has the physical skills to be great. Babchuk could help the power play, Melichar I expect is here for depth only, if everything goes well I think he'll be a healthy scratch. I think we've been stuck ever since Wallin signed that last contract - he's brought the unit down ever since. I think you can look for Seidenberg and Gleason to have good years, and Corvo to help, hopefully bringing Pitkanen up to his potential. I think we'll miss Hedican's skating, so here's hoping the rest of the unit contributes their share.