Hurricanes make a deal

This just in off the sports wire:

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) _ The Carolina Hurricanes traded away one of their top prospects Friday, sending promising defenseman Jack Johnson to the Los Angeles Kings in a multiplayer deal.
The defending Stanley Cup champions also sent defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky to the Kings for forward Eric Belanger and defenseman Tim Gleason.

Now, the 'Canes just won a Stanley Cup, and they've clearly got a quality team, so adding two current NHL'ers is a good deal. But it stinks to trade away a kid who everyone believes had Norris Cup capabilities because the 'Canes had trouble signing him. The salary cap should not make it that difficult to bring people aboard. Jack Johnson had all the makings, if you believe what people say (and even Jim Rutherford acknowledged it in making the deal), of being a defensive version of Eric Staal. Which is to say big, tough and capable. And it's a shame that the 'Canes would let that get away from them.

Why no minor league hockey?

I'd like to pose a question to folks. How important is it that we have a minor league hockey team in either Winston-Salem or Greensboro to spur interest?

I think it's pretty unusual for two cities of this size to both be without some form of pro hockey for two years running. And I've got to believe it hurts efforts to draw more people to the sport, especially parents who might bring children who might decide they'd like to try youth hockey.

Seems to me when youth hockey is growing, it spurs the sport in an entire region. Thoughts?

Back to Charleston

The Tampa Bay Lightning sent goalie Sean Burke to the minor leagues today in favor of a no-name backup. For those here in North Carolina who are unfamiliar, Sean Burke was once the hero and savior of the pre-Raleigh team known as the Hartford Whalers. He had some big-time seasons for a losing franchise, and took them on a vaunted playoff run back in the mid-90s.

He struggled after being traded, suffered through injury, was resurrected a couple years ago in Phoenix, and has in recent years been the late-season veteran goalie pickup or rumor-du-jour every March-April around trade deadline.

He's a pro's pro. If he accepts the assignment to Springfield, it wouldn't surprise me to see him back in the NHL when Tampa realizes that Karri Ramo is no backup. Of course, having traded for Marc Denis as their starting goalie, Tampa probably doesn't have much need for backup. Denis is a horse.

Cue opening music (preferably Brass Bonanza)

It doesn't feel like three months since I sat in the upper deck for Game 7 and watched the Carolina Hurricanes win hockey's Stanley Cup. It was a strange feeling for me. Here I am, four years removed from Connecticut watching a team whose owner I hate win hockey's holy grail. Yet I couldn't root against them.

I'm from New York, a huge Rangers fan who semi-adopted the Hartford Whalers in the nearly 20 years I lived there as a 'second' team to root for. Then their new owner, Peter Karmanos, leaves a sweetheart deal from Connecticut for a new arena on the table and bolts for a sweetheart deal here in North Carolina (my former paper wrote extensively on the issue; you'll have to trust me when I tell you that the Connecticut sweetheart deal was slightly better than the North Carolina sweetheart deal). My son, who was 9 at the time and a youth hockey player, was heartbroken. I was not surprised.

So here we were, nine years later, both watching the game, me pulling for the Hurricanes and my son screaming for Edmonton amid the sea of red 'Canes jerseys. We both wore Hartford Whalers hats. Sports allegiance is a funny thing.

Now a new hockey season is upon us, and I think the 'Canes will be hard-pressed to repeat. Few have in recent years, other than my co-blogger's team, the Red Wings, back in '97 and '98. I'm pulling hard that last year was not a fluke for my Rangers, and that they've got a shot at getting better this year. I know I like one thing the Rangers did this off-season - steal two veteran 'Canes, Matt Cullen and Aaron Ward, as free agents.