Canes general manager Jim Rutherford said today that a decision has been made and that the team will go with Justin Peters as the backup to Cam Ward in goal next season.
Rutherford had said either Peters, 23, or veteran Manny Legace would be No. 2 goaltender and that the team would not look to sign or trade for anyone else.
"We've told Manny's agent that we will go with Justin," Rutherford said. "It's the right time for Justin in the process of his development."
Talk about blindside hits. Canes goalie Manny Legace said he has never been hit as hard in a game as when the Caps' Alex Ovechkin crashed into him Thursday night.
With eight minutes left in the second period and the Canes leading 2-1, Legace was positioning himself in the crease for a shot from the slot when Ovechkin swung from behind the net and put his shoulder and elbow into Legace's helmet.
"He hit me hard," Legace said today. "He came in and boom. He's like a freight train."
Carolina's string of injuries continued today when goaltender Manny Legace left the Penguins game with an apparent knee injury.
Legace was injured 6:43 into the second period after a scrum in front of the Carolina net. The Pens' Tyler Kennedy fell on Legace's left leg and was penalized for goaltender interference. Legace stayed in the game briefly, then left for Justin Peters.
"We think he's going to be OK," Canes coach Paul Maurice said after the 3-2 overtime win. "It's not significant. I would think he'd be in position to back up the next game. That's the best-case scenario."
Manny Legace is always the life of the party. Or, at least, the life of practice.
The Canes' goaltender is always "chirping," as he puts it, with the forwards when they try to score on him. It's good-natured stuff and keeps things loose, Legace said, but also is done with a purpose.
"Guys can go through the motions at practice and it's a long year," Legace said Tuesday. "The more they get mad at me, the more they want to score. The more I challenge them, the more it keeps me interested."
Canes coach Paul Maurice said today that Justin Peters would start in goal Saturday against the Florida Panthers, with Manny Legace in net Sunday in Atlanta against the Thrashers.
The Canes' seven-game winning streak has come with goaltender Cam Ward sidelined with a back injury. Legace picked up his fourth win in the streak Thursday as Carolina topped Ottawa 4-1.
BUFFALO — At a little after 10 a.m. Friday, the Canes' Cam Ward took a cab to the airport, headed back to Raleigh with an injury.
At a little after 7 p.m., Manny Legace took a slapshot in the throat at the end of the pregame warmup at HSBC Arena. He was knocked to the ice, then needed help from trainers to get back to the bench and to the locker room.
For a few fleeting seconds, it appeared Justin Peters might get his first NHL start a lot sooner than anyone expected -- against the Sabres. Peters, called up Friday from Albany
(AHL), may start Saturday against the New York Islanders, but he almost had that moved up a day.
Then again, as Legace later put it, "It probably would have taken a bullet between the eyes to keep me out."
Manny Legace's first start in goal for the Hurricanes will be in his first game with the Hurricanes.
Canes coach Paul Maurice said after practice today that the decision had been made to start Legace on Wednesday against the L.A. Kings, ahead of Michael Leighton. Legace was signed Monday to a one-year contract and has put in two practices with his new team.
Why Legace and not Leighton?
They were once teammates on the Detroit Red Wings -- Manny Legace, Aaron Ward and Ray Whitney. Now they've been reunited again with the Hurricanes.
Legace and Ward have known each other since their days in junior hockey in Canada. Whitney has been both teammate and pesky foe. And Legace, with a laugh, said he has known the Canes' Scott Walker "since he was a defenseman."
A crisis situation has put them in the same room again: Cam Ward's leg laceration that will sideline him for at least a month. Legace, signed Monday to a one-year contract, will team with Michael Leighton to try and stabilize the goaltending situation until Ward returns.
"In Detroit we had a good team and he was one of the big reasons why," said Whitney, who played for the Wings in 2003-2004. "We had Curtis Joseph and (Dominik) Hasek both out and he carried the load for three months and he did a good job.
"He plays the puck well. He's competitive, he's fast. He's streaky."
Carolina's emergency signing of Manny Legace to fill in while Cam Ward is out is interesting on a number of levels.
Sure, it's easy to look at a goalie who couldn't make Atlanta's roster and scoff, but he's also a veteran with tons of experience. The Hurricanes need a stable hand at this point as much as they need a quick one. Legace should be able to provide that, at the least.
As expected, the Hurricanes have signed a goaltender and it is veteran Manny Legace.
Legace, who has 177 NHL victories, was playing for the Chicigo Wolves (AHL) after a preseason tryout with the Atlanta Thrashers.
Legace was signed to a one-year, two-way contract that pays him $500,000 on the NHL level and $105,000 on the AHL level.
"It's too good of a team to be struggling," Legace said today after his first
practice. "You look at the team, you look at the way they played last year, it's just bounces. You see some highlights and just weird stuff is happening.
"But if they keep working as hard as they did out there today, it's going to turn."
