A few thoughts after another week observing at the RecZone:
Joni Pitkanen is listed at 6-3 and 215 pounds but looks bigger. The defenseman has broad shoulders and a big frame. He's a smooth skater and does move the puck well.
Questions about Rod Brind'Amour coming off the knee injury? Forget it. He's his old snorting self, barreling around the ice with that wide-eyed intensity and controlling the puck.
For the first time since the big trade, Joni Pitkanen put on a Canes sweater today and took the ice with his new teammates at the RecZone.
Pitkanen, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound defenseman who came to Carolina in the deal that sent popular forward Erik Cole to Edmonton, said he arrived in Raleigh on Wednesday night. He said the reception today from the other players was "really good" and that he was eager to get started.
I assumed it was merely an oversight yesterday, but here we are 24 hours later and it hasn't been fixed yet: On the Hurricanes' roster page on their Web site, Josef Melichar is listed as wearing No. 2.
Given that the nameplate over Glen Wesley's locker is barely gone and that the Canes intend to retire that number this season, it seems odd they'd be handing it out to a new guy.
I wasn't going to make a big deal out of it yesterday, but I've asked the team for clarification this morning.
Pitkanen will wear No. 25, at least according to the same roster. Looks like Staal and Whitney will wear the As as well.
UPDATE, 11:17 a.m.: A Hurricanes spokesman said Melichar's number was generated by the NHL, which hosts Carolina's Web site, and he would not be wearing No. 2 with the Hurricanes.
Negotiations with Joni Pitkanen didn't take long. The Canes and the restricted free agent defenseman acquired in Tuesday's trade for Erik Cole agreed to a three-year deal worth $12 million on Wednesday.
Pitkanen will make $3.5 million this season, $4 million in 2009-10 and $4.5 million in 2010-11, making him Carolina's highest-paid defenseman by a wide margin.
The Canes now have seven defensemen under contract and one restricted free agent, Dennis Seidenberg.
They're also over budget at approximately $46.7 million for next season for 21 players, which makes a salary-dump trade of a defenseman all the more likely.
In one of the least surprising trades in recent memory, the Hurricanes have traded Erik Cole to Edmonton for defenseman Joni Pitkanen.
The Canes hope Pitkanen, a 24-year-old restricted free agent, will give them another puck-moving defenseman and were willing to move an important forward to get that player.
Cole, in the final year of his contract, was the most expendable -- and marketable -- of Carolina's forwards, but his departure deprives the Canes of his unique set of skills.
(updated, 6:52 p.m.)
