It’s been a while since we updated the Unofficial Canes Killer team -- like eight years. The recent exploits of John Tavares against the Hurricanes certainly are cause for re-examination and re-evaluation.

It’s decision time on defense for the Hurricanes, and it won’t be an easy one -- for them, anyway. For anyone who has watched this team this season, the choice is simple.

Joni Pitkanen, who has been out for two weeks with a lower-body injury, is close to returning, perhaps as soon as tomorrow’s game at the Ottawa Senators. When he does, someone is going to have to come out of the lineup.

Will it be the little-used Derek Joslin, who has only played in five games this season?

Or will it be the astronomically compensated Tomas Kaberle, who has only generated five points this season?

If this were strictly a hockey decision, there’d be no debate at all.

It’s Joe Corvo’s good fortune that after saying he wouldn’t mind a trade, Tomas Kaberle was still available five days into the NHL’s free-agent market, because the Carolina Hurricanes were able to sign Kaberle, offload Corvo for a fourth-round pick and make everyone happy.