The Carolina Hurricanes aimed higher than ever before when NHL free agency began Sunday -- at Zach Parise and Ryan Suter.
The Canes made offers on both All-Stars and missed on both, which was disappointing for the organization. Suter's camp informed the Canes on Monday morning that Carolina no longer was on Suter's list, general manager Jim Rutherford said today.
But even though they went 0-2 on the two biggest names in free agency, the Hurricanes were "in the game" this year, Rutherford said, adding that the Canes will keep pushing to acquire a scoring winger.
"We entered the process this year understanding we were not the only team in the game," he said. "Looking at those two players, a lot of teams were in the game. And there were some big-revenue teams that were in a stronger position to structure the kind of deal (Parise and Suter) are looking for.
"We entered into the process hoping we would have enough criteria to get one of those players to come here. And if not, we'd keep pushing. It was a different step for us, and now we'll keep trying."
The Canes signed defenseman Joe Corvo to a one-year contract Sunday and Rutherford said today he did not expect to add another defenseman in the offseason.
"We like the balance we have on defense," he said. "We're comfortable with our defensive structure."
But the Canes still are looking to pick up a top-six forward, either in free agency or through a trade. Rutherford won't mention Rick Nash by name, but the Canes are believed to one of the teams pushing hard to work a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets for the All-Star forward.
"We will continue to try and add a good forward," Rutherford said. "It may take one week, one month or it may take one year. But it's something we believe we need to be a contending team. I have no idea when we will get that forward, but we need to be prepared to do it when the time comes."
In other team business, Rutherford said the Canes would not be buying out any other contracts. The Hurricanes recently decided to buy out the contract of defenseman/forward Derek Joslin.
A Raleigh native, Chip has worked at the N&O since 1979 and is the Canes beat writer. He can be reached at
Comments
Not Satisfied
Thu, 07/05/2012 - 08:17 — hurricanes17The Canes have clearly not done enough to improve our team. Certainly, obtaining Jordan Staal was a phenomenal move, but he is only one player. It is pretty clear that Nash doesn't want to be traded here, so why spend precious time waiting for Columbus to sift through offers while other free agents are snatched up by other teams? I am concerned, too, that obtaining Nash (given the interest by other teams in trading for him) will come at a great expense that we will later regret. Losing Skinner or Faulk in the trade would be inexcusable.
JR made the comment that he is satisfied with our current situation on defense, but it appears that we have actually downgraded from last season. Losing our toughest player in Allen is something that most fans already regret; the team will have serious remorse once the season begins, and his physical presence is missing. Let's not forget that our team consistently allowed more shots on goal than our opponents last season. That is obviously a sign of a weak defensive unit, and I, for one, hoped that we would revamp our defense, and trade some of our softer offensive-minded d-men (perhaps McBain and Pitkanen) for tougher, shut-down d-men.
It will be exciting to see what Muller can do, given a full season. He is obviously moving our team in the right direction, but to become a contender in the league, we must become bigger and stronger.
I Agree
Thu, 07/05/2012 - 08:54 — CanarseThis FA season has been nothing but a PR session for Rutherford so far. They had zero shot at Parise and Suter and they knew it. They may have a very small opportunity to land Nash, but it will come at a cost. There were many FAs on the market that could have improved the Hurricanes, but Rutherford signs Corvo.
Let's look at the offseason so far.
Trade good player, Sutter, plus others for very good player, J. Staal. Upgrade.
Lose Allen, sign Corvo. Downgrade.
According to nhlnumbers.com the Canes are sitting at $49M which is $5M below the projected salary floor. Even if the Canes spend another $10M, on what I don't know, they will be no where near the cap. They may be positioning themselves for another lock-out which would likely lower the cap and floor. Either way they're still not spending squat.
Unless Rutherford pulls a rabbit out of his hat or Jeremy Welsh is a stud out of the box it looks like another year of scratching and clawing to maybe get to the 8th and final playoff spot.
There's spending...
Thu, 07/05/2012 - 09:41 — louis12580and then there's spending wisely. This year there really aren't that many "game changing" players on the UFA market. Parise is very good, but is he a game cahnger? Not in my opinion. Suter? Let's see how good he really is now that he's not with Weber. Then there's the Dennis Wideman and matt Carle contracts. $5.5M? Really! Neither are THAT great and deserving of that kind of money. If those two are worth that money, then what do you think Shea Weber's asking price is going to be? I think that Jim is looking to add players already under contract via the trade route. In this day and age of instant gratification, we all need to step back and let things play out. It's so fun reading the "experts" and how they are all saying how great the Wild are going to be. It's still the west and honestly, outside of Koivu and Heatley, who else on that team would lead one to believe that they're all that?
So as it stands now with the
Mon, 07/02/2012 - 16:51 — RonMexicoSo as it stands now with the Corvo "budget" signing the Canes have come out having to spend less money on their budget than they were when the season ended? Well done JR and PK, well done! You can sell the line you tried and struck out but good luck with that defense next season.
What?!?!?
Mon, 07/02/2012 - 16:28 — WAStout"Rutherford said today he did not expect to add another defenseman in the offseason."
So our poor defense lost a great shot-blocker and replaced him with Corvo? We missed out on a top D-man (Suter) and are going with what we got?
Yeah. Good try. Do or Do Not there is no.....whatever.
Not surprised at all
Mon, 07/02/2012 - 17:04 — louis12580Outside of Bryce Salvadore, there really aren't any defensemen worth pursuing who are UFA's. With the 6 here now and most likely Murphy and Sanguinetti taking the other two spots I think Jim's done. It there is a trade it would be for a top 6 forward. Would I like to see a Rick Nash or Ryan Suter on the team? Heck yes. Nothing leaguewide is really going to happen until Parise and Suter decide where to go. After that, things will happen.
Good Try!
Mon, 07/02/2012 - 16:26 — Caniac5I am very pleased in seeing the Canes go after Suter and Parise. We may not have gotten them but we are starting the season right by being more competitive in the trenches.
Now, we can sit back and wait to see where these two go and try and pick up a scorer from that team. We have talent on our team too and Capt. Kirk is going to get the best of everyone of them or hopefully sideline them for a game or two.
GO CANES!!!