December 7, 2008

A

The Carolina Hurricanes' management has definitely caused a rift with a lot of the fans this season. This week it only seemed to get worse. First, before the season began, they raised ticket prices when the economy was on a downslide. Then they raised parking by 20% because"it was easier to make change". You have players on the ice whose play is subpar to say the least. Then to top things off, you fire a coach that won you the Stanley Cup and replace him with the last guy you fired, which a lot of the fans clearly did not like. I have to admit that I can't remember attending a sporting event where the head coach got massively booed twice by the home fans before the start of the game. The only thing that didn't make that situation worse was announcing Associate Coach Ron Francis immediately before Head Coach Paul Maurice since Francis is still a legend with our franchise and the only one to have his jersey retired.

In going to the game last night and talking with some of the fans plus reading the feedback on the local blogs, I have never seen the fan base as alienated and dissatisfied as they are now. Last summer, Carolina Hurricanes' General Manager Jim Rutherford went for several months and showed no support for then Head Coach Peter Laviolette, and then later tried to make it sound like his failure to show support in the media was basically a misinterpretation by the fans. I was there to see this organization win the Stanley Cup two and a half years ago. To see them basically fall to their current level is sad. Hopefully, something will start to turn in the right direction soon. If not, it will be three years in a row with no playoff games. The Washington Capitals are currently leading in the Southeast Division. Every time this season the Capitals have slipped and given the Hurricanes a chance to gain points in the standings, the Canes have failed to show up and win. The Florida Panthers were put on notice several weeks ago, and since that time, their team has a 4-0-1-1 record. The Hurricanes are currently in eighth place in the standings with 26 points while the Panthers and the Buffalo Sabres are currently sitting one point behind with 25 points.

There has seemed to be an awkward aura around this team since the season began. The Canes have been outplayed in many of their contests. On numerous occasions, they just failed to show up for the game, or they played one solid period out of three. I think it is clear that some of the player acquisitions that were made this past summer have not worked out the way they expected. A lot of fans were not happy about the Erik Cole trade; yet, I agree an upgrade in defense was needed and Cole, due to his contract, was the odd man out. I am just not yet sold on Joni Pitkanen being the defenseman they needed particularly at $4,000,000 per year. Signing Josef Melichar to a one year $1,000,000 deal has not worked out. It has also been rumored that Rutherford is looking to move Joe Corvo, which I hope is not true.

Peter Laviolette held a press conference earlier today and expressed his gratitude to everyone. He spoke with Pierre LeBrun from ESPN this morning and stated, "A lot of times, when something like this happens, it's easy just to see and read about the bad things. I take with me so many good memories from here and from this experience in Raleigh. Friends that we've made here, things that have happened off the ice, as well as on the ice." "Obviously, the championship, and any time you can win at any level, it doesn't matter which level, it's a truly amazing and special experience. You look at it as one of the greatest experiences in your life. Once the smoke settles here and times goes on, that's exactly how I will look at this." Peter Laviolette is a class act and I will never forget the good things he did for this organization. He took this team to a level that I never thought was possible. Be sure to click on the link above to read all of his comments.

Well, the second Paul Maurice era has begun. The loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins last night shows that a lot of work will be needed to get this team on track. Is Paul Maurice the one to do that? Only time will tell... The Canes sent Pat Dwyer and Josef Melichar to the Albany River Rats (AHL) today and brought up Casey Borer and Tim Conboy, who was a big crowd favorite last season. Conboy will at least add a little toughness to this team. Luke DeCock reported in his column yesterday that Albany coach Jeff Daniels has already moved to a more defensive system where your defensemen don't pinch in as much. Luke stated the Rats had a 2-7-2-1 record before the change, and they have a 5-2-1-1 record since the change. Something of that nature here would not increase your scoring; yet, it would hopefully decrease the number of goals given up in every game. Paul Maurice was definitely more defensive oriented to a fault when he was here last so it will be interesting to see what happens if that system is implemented in Raleigh. Coach Maurice has also gone back to having a morning pre-game skate, which had been discontinued this season.

The change has been made and more changes will probably have to be made before this season is over. It will be interesting to see if the management of this team has actually given up on them or do they still believe in them and think they can make the playoffs. Only time will tell... I wish Coach Laviolette a lot of success wherever he lands and I hope Coach Maurice can revitalize this group and get them moving forward. If the Maurice experiment doesn't work out, Jim Rutherford may want to hideout for awhile because the fan base posse will be looking for his hide.

December 4, 2008