Canes general manager Jim Rutherford said today that he could not completely rule out a trade by Wednesday's 3 p.m. trade deadline, but indicated it may be unlikely.
"It's a tough thing to read, but the market is right where it usually is and the asking prices are very high," Rutherford said. "I don't believe we'll get into deals involving draft picks for rental players."
Rutherford ruled out speculation in New York that the Canes could be in play for New York Islanders captain Bill Guerin — that speculation based, in large part, on Carolina's cap space.
"There are a lot of rumors out there," he said. "Any rumor about us is inaccurate because I can say we are not in serious talks with anybody.
"There's nothing on the table, as we speak. I've talked to several people to stay up with the market, but there's nothing close that makes sense for us."
At the same time ...
"If a certain deal comes along that makes sense for our team in the last 24 hours, we'll take a look at it," Rutherford said. "As we speak, I don't sense anything happening. But in the last 24 hours, things change."
Rutherford said he expected a fairly busy Wednesday around the league, although probably not as active as last year.
"I think what you might see are one or two big hockey deals, where some big names move," he said.
A Raleigh native, Chip has worked at the N&O since 1979 and is the Canes beat writer. He can be reached at 
Comments
give em a chance
Mon, 03/02/2009 - 18:55 — toddchrissthis team never gives the young guys a chance. the only times this team has made any runs and played with some fire is when the young guys have been called up.dont turn the whole team over but give em a chance. especcially when the old guys aren t doin much. trade em and give the other guys a chance. we never have a sukper rookie on this team , they are always sent down to get more time to develope or they play on the 4th line. develope some young talent. im tired of hearing how good the rats are yet none play up[ here.
Contracts Have JR's Hands Tied
Mon, 03/02/2009 - 17:53 — galatians220The problem now & the problem this coming off-season is that due to Rutherford's decisions to give long-term deals for more $ than players are worth, he will have a very difficult time shaking up this roster. Our D is fundamentally messed up, and our goaltending is not good enough on a consistent basis to make up for it. Furthermore, we lack size & scoring up front. We have a whole host of players who are not playing up to their contracts (some of whom have no-trade clauses), and thus cannot be moved. Staal's contract has the potential to handcuff us for years down the road, so we'd better hope that he turns into Alex Ovechkin- and soon. Long-term deals to average, unproven, or past-their-prime players greatly limit the flexibility of small-market teams.
please be more specific,
Mon, 03/02/2009 - 18:19 — jgrant641please be more specific, which contracts?
Contract Mistakes
Tue, 03/03/2009 - 01:07 — galatians220The Staal contract is the one that may well hamper us for the next SEVEN years. He is a great talent, and had one great season, but since that time, he has proven himself to be a very good player ($4-5 million range), but not a great player. Under his new contract which begins next season, Staal's cap # ($8.25 million) is 4th in the league behind only Ovechkin, Crosby, & Malkin. Look at the stats- he is nowhere near the 4th best player in this league.
The Brind'Amour deal was another foolish move. Signing a 36-year-old to a guaranteed 5-year deal is never a good idea. A 3-year deal to Samsonov was a major stretch given his history as maybe the most inconsistent player in the NHL over his career. A 3-year deal to Eaves given his injury history- and again, one good season- was another reach. Finally, signing Walker, a career 3rd liner w/ a history of injuries, to a 3-year deal worth $2.5 a season made no sense whatsoever.
Let's move to defense. First of all, there are fundamental flaws in the way our D is built. If you are going to rely on Pitkanen & Corvo, you have to have some really solid positional D who are strong in front of our own net. We have none. Gleason has yet to prove himself as a shut-down defender in this league, thus a 4-year deal is an over-commitment. Kaberle received a 4-year deal after one good year, & is now a 3rd pairing guy/healthy scratch. A 4-year deal (w/ a no-trade clause!) to Wallin was a major mistake. He has been a 3rd pairing D his entire career.
Lastly, I believe we jumped the gun in committing to Cam as our #1 goalie much too soon. After a poor 1st season as a #1, we signed him to a 3-year deal making #1 goalie $. It made more sense to keep a proven veteran to challenge him until he earned the right to be the guy. He has never established consistency in this league. Even in the '06 playoffs he was bailed out by Gerber twice.
Each of these contracts alone may not seem like a very big deal, but when you add them all up, you can see that JR has put himself in a very precarious position. Small-market teams have smaller budgets, & must therefore keep their players on shorter, less-risky deals. Teams with higher payrolls can absorb a mistake or two. We cannot. Also, in my opinion, keeping a steady influx of young, hungry prospects helps keep the team fresh and the veterans on their toes. Guaranteed long-term, high-dollar contracts breed complacency. This has been proven time & time again in professional sports.
good points...
Tue, 03/03/2009 - 13:28 — jgrant641I look around the league too and see a bunch of GM's with their hands tied way worse. lou Lamerello has Broduer to thank for saving his job year after year after many failed contracts in the cap world. At the same time all Gm's are having to deal with this ever evolving cap system and all teams have at least a few contracts they would like to have back.
I don't disagree with you, but I think a few points are worth mentioning.
Brinda'mour is playing terrible this year, he is hitting not even half of his career averages. I don't think JR could be held accountable for such a drop off of this magnitude. Ideally Brinda'mours age would slow him down from 31 to 26 to 19 to... ideally 15+ goals or so this season and he is hardly cracking 10 with few games left to go. That is such a steep drop off... plus lets not forget JR front loaded Brinda'mours contract so we are paying his less over the next 2 years, assuming he hasn't retired by then. I also remember when Brindy signed the deal, generally most fans seemed to think it was fair. We all want(ed) Bridny to retire as a Cane. Your point is well taken though given his play this year, but like I said NO one saw this meltdown coming.
As for Staal, I think he is earning his contract this year. he is young, and the team in general is bad, but last spring he lead the way in Brindys absence. He is consistantly hitting 30 goals, and with almost 40 last season he is our go-to guy. I think his performance this year may not be his best but he is emerging as the real leader here and we needed to keep him around. One thing Staal has on Ovechkin, Crosby, & Malkin... a cup ring.
*note-i hate to always refer back to the cup year, but in staals case it shows his ability far beyond just being a big name.
the Eaves deal never made sense to me either, too much for a back end contract. Samsonov seemed like a lot too, I doubt Sami had many offers comparing the one we have him... I think there was a sense of urgency to sign him since he played so well for us. I don't, however, think Walkers was bad. I don't see him as a career 3rd liner, and his injuries typically are because of his gritty play, and not nagging injuries. $2.5 may have been on the giving side, but not outlandish by any means for a player who gives so much to this team win or lose.
I agree about our defense, I have never been sold on Gleason as a top tier guy. He is young and has upside, but he isnt there yet at least not money-wise. We have never had a solid 6 man defense. 06 was our closest but even then, teams werent afraid that we would shut them down defensively. The Wallin NTC always puzzled me and in my opinion Wallin has never been a top-4 d-man, but has always been paid like one. Kaberle was a lot like several players that received a post-cup bump in pay. i think we saw him fitting in a lot better but his injuries limited him quite a bit more than expected. I do however think we arent far off on defense. If we get an Aaron Ward type player we could find ourselves with the right pieces.
Corvo and Pitkan = puck moving offensive d-men
Gleason(assuming he continues to mature) and "Ward-ish-player" = grit and defensive presence
Wallin and Seidenberg = our #5 and 6 (preferably with #5,6 type pay)
Babchuk = rotating #7
I can see that... assuming they all play as each is expected to, as a tight defense.
I am, and have always been, on the fence about Ward. He is young, and has flashes of greatness, his poise in big games cannot be taught... on the other hand the Conn Smyth thing was worn off quickly and we cannot keep going back to that. Ward will be a very good #1 and I agree with you needs a bigger push for the #1 spot in a veteran talent. I think the extra $$$ he gave him is more for the fact that he won the Conn Smyth and played 2 seasons with us for $500k. I think Ward had some money coming his way. Having said that The idea with Grahame was a good one in theory, but it didnt work out. grahame never carried his weight as a backup, and Leighton isnt there either. I think Ward has played much better this year, and I personally wouldnt consider him at fault for our season being sub par. The ever glaring issue with goaltending around the league is, big money and long contracts are never a good idea... except for the Roy's, Broduer's, Hasek's of the world. A goaltender has to mature much more than any player on the ice and big contracts never work out at young ages.
I also agree about young talent breeding freshness and energy. I do want to say, as I see a lot of posts seems to mention, that the young guys aren't savoirs. Every year we see a River Rat (or whom ever is our young AHL affiliate) get called up and brings fire and energy. Then the next year they make the team and after 20 games remind us why they were in the minors in the first place. This time last year Brookbank was getting praises from all the fans, till they realized he was only a fighter. I remember Bayda getting similar praise sever years ago after his big call up and since then he has been barely a 4th liner for us with little fan fair. He still brings spunk, but isn't the future star he was made out to be. Where will Conboy be next year? I hope all the young guys make a splash and become stars for us, but realisticly the right call up at the right time can be good and will push the older guys, but long term is a different story.
A 5-year deal for any
Wed, 03/04/2009 - 12:03 — galatians220A 5-year deal for any 36-year-old, regardless of their current level of play, is a very risky move. It is a fact of life that the humans are past their athletic peak at that age, & their performance can decline very quickly. Unless you are on steroids like Bonds & Clemens, you probably aren't going to be able to sustain a high level of play around the age of 40. Now, you & I may have been so excited after winning the Cup that we would've signed every single guy on that team to 10-year deals, but we weren't being paid to think objectively & to safeguard the team's future. That was JR's job. Even given the contract that was signed, there's no excuse for allowing Rod to continue as Captain with the way the past 3 seasons have played out. This team has consistently lacked intensity & focus, and has played better for the past 2 seasons w/ Brind'Amour out of the lineup. There is a glaring lack of leadership here. I believe that any other organization would've stripped him of his Captaincy by now.
I agree with you that Staal's current contract is not out of proportion to his production. However, he has done nothing in the past 3 seasons to earn the 7-year deal that kicks in next season. If he suddenly returns to '05-06 form next year & continues that pace for the foreseeable future, I will be happy to be proven wrong. I just don't see that happening, especially w/ 2nd or 3rd line-caliber wingers on the ice w/ him.
I also disagree that our D is as close as you say. We are too weak in front of our own net to consistently compete w/ bigger, better teams. And the guy you have slated as our potential #7 (Babchuk) has easily been our best D over the past couple of weeks. Nothing against Babchuk, but if he's our one & only horse, we're in trouble.
THATS EASY
Mon, 03/02/2009 - 23:35 — DunkmeROD B... DAAA!!
I dont think when JR signed
Mon, 03/02/2009 - 23:41 — jgrant641I dont think when JR signed Brindy to a contract anyone complained. I also don't think anybody would have expected the injury or such a bad season from Brindy. You cannot predict that type of thing.
Lets not forget Staal is
Mon, 03/02/2009 - 16:33 — Canes73Lets not forget Staal is only 24 years old. They say players reach their prime at about 26 so I wouldn't give up on him just yet. Of the older forwards, I see only Walker (other than Whitney - who they should keep) as having any trade value. He has had injury problems lately but his contract is affordable and he has a gritty, playoff style of play.
On defense, Pitkanen, Gleason, and Babchuk are all still young as far as defencemen go, so I would like to see the Canes hold on to them. I'm not sure how much trade value Kaberle and Wallin have but if there is anyone interested, JR should jump at it. I like Seidenberg too but he should be more of a 5th or 6th D-man than the top 4 he has been forced into due to the Canes weak defensive core.
I'm with you on that...
Mon, 03/02/2009 - 15:03 — hockeyhick#1- Roddy already has his name on the Cup. #2-(as stated on the last post) he has some roots in the area. #3-he is obviously injured, so, not worth the risk to ANY team. #4- I doubt JR would even try to move him, unless it was Rod's request...
As for Staal-you just don't trade players like him. Remember how he played in Roddy's absence last year? C'mon! Granted, he has not really played up to expectations. But I believe that Roddy will retire after this year and the team will be turned over to Staal. It's time for the Gleasons and Staals to be given the leadership of this team.
As for trades this year: the Canes are still in the hunt, but I believe if we get blown out against Washington JR may go into sell mode. Wallin and Seidenberg should have pretty good trade value, as shut-down defensemen are always hard to come by. Scott Walker, if healthy, would be a great addition to a contender...
First...
Mon, 03/02/2009 - 14:52 — canesfan09JR and the rest of the team should apologize to the fans for a 3-5 loss in Atlanta! 3-1 going into the 3rd and blow it to the worst home record team in the NHL? Unbelievable! Then, take a long hard look at the big money that is consistently not getting the job done...I can think of 2 or 3. Voila! Seriously, I know that's overly simplistic, but we've missed the playoffs for the past 3 years. As much as I love hockey, this area will not support a team year in, year out that misses playoffs year in, year out. Look at Duke football...you can't give tickets away. This is a small market that supports winning teams, collegiate or otherwise. Just my humble opinion and chance to rant.
If Jr makes
Mon, 03/02/2009 - 13:53 — esteban1949any major moves...it will be in the his bathroom...where all the "rumor mongering" belongs...gee maybe we deal away JR for a set of young and hungry legs say from the Chicago Wolves...but one never knows where JR will pull anything from his...
Go Canes !!
No trade yet!
Mon, 03/02/2009 - 20:16 — hellfishIt is obivious by now that this team in it's current form is not a play-off team .just like last year just not hardly good enough the canes need more size among the forwards and some more finishers to go more than 1 round.
Try and
Mon, 03/02/2009 - 13:52 — Hockeydogrebuild this team. Trade Staal, and see if Brind'Amour would like to go to a contender. Get a good young player who can play now and and a pick for each player.
Wha??
Mon, 03/02/2009 - 14:41 — JRs_FaultI don't dispute the notion that the Canes need to rebuild / retool, but....
Trade Staal?.... hmmmm anybody got $8M of cap space (against what could be a decreasing Cap after 2009-10) AND the resources that would make that a decent trade?? No? Wow, I'm shocked.
Does Brindy WANT to go to a contender? He's pretty rooted in the community here w/kids in school, etc. More importantly... Hey Contenders... got a need for a $4M 4th line center with a bum knee, a year left on his contract and -29? Perhaps you can sell it on experience/leadership/faceoffs... but the way he's been playing, I think anyone really scouting him would quickly see his game is not Playoff Ready. It would be brutal, no matter whose sweater he's wearing.
Nothing against Staal & Brind'amour (in the context of this discussion, anyway), but really.... do you honestly think that either of these deals makes any sense at all??
makes sense..
Mon, 03/02/2009 - 15:07 — HockeydogNeither would be likely for sure. But Staal and Brind'Amour could fetch some pieces that could go along way towards rebuilding this team if somebody would think way outside the box. There would be takers for Staal's contract. So is it likely, no. Make sense if it could be pulled off - YES.