Catching up...

Well, I decided to take a week off from the blog and it turned into a month...go figure.

Fortunately not a whole lot going on in the meantime. Here's some late summer house cleaning as we get ready to head into training camp. September cannot get here fast enough.

*****************************

Jeff O'Neal invited to camp. Former Hurricane Jeff O'Neal, who "retired" at the end of the '06/07 season after two somewhat lackluster campaigns in Toronto, has been offered an invitation to attend the Canes training camp. At the moment, no contract has been offered, but conventional wisdom is that if O'Neal shows flashes of his once immense potential, he could be offered a two-way contract between Carolina and Albany. Always a lightning rod during his previous stint with Carolina/Hartford (as demonstrated by the comments section over at Lord Stanley's Blog), O'Neal always had immense talent coupled with sometimes questionable work habits. He was Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford's first ever first round draft pick (Hartford Whalers - 1994) and currently ranks third in franchise history in points (416), fourth in games played (673) and goals (198) and fifth in fifth in assists (218). He posted 41 goals for the Hurricanes in 2000-2001, a number that has been topped only once since (Eric Staal - 45 - 2005/2006). O'Neal was traded to the Maple Leafs in August 2005, not long after the death of his brother - a traumatic event that led Jeff to consider retiring back then. His two seasons with the Maple Leafs were largely uninspiring. During his Hurricanes tenure, O'Neal seemed to enjoy the local nightlife a bit more than he did practice, leading to several run-ins with then head coach Paul Maurice (who, ironically, was also his coach in Toronto). But Jeff was a always talented player, whose apparent battles with a few personal demons sometimes affected his performance on the ice (or so the story goes). All in all this seems like a no-lose situation for the Canes. They invite him to camp without a contract and see if his skills are still there, and his head is in the right place. If so, they sign him for depth. If not, no harm done, and you've done right by giving a former player a shot.

***************************************

- Lord Stanley's All-Time Hurricanes. All summer Luke DeCock of the News & Observer has been opening up the discussion every Monday on his Lord Stanley's Blog to topics suggested by readers. It has been incredibly successful based on the number of contributions/comments. Recently the topic was selecting an All-Hurricanes team based on the franchise's history in NC (all-time great Whalers were excluded). Here's what the readers came up with:


First Team:

C Ron Francis
LW Sami Kapanen
RW Erik Cole
D Glen Wesley
D Aaron Ward
G Arturs Irbe

Second Team:

C Rod Brind'Amour
LW Ray Whitney
RW Jeff O'Neill
D Sean Hill
D Bret Hedican
G Cam Ward

Honorable Mention: Kevin Dineen, Martin Gelinas, Sergei Samsonov, Ray Sheppard, Eric Staal, Niclas Wallin, Justin Williams

Pretty tough crowd putting Eric Staal on the honorable mention (though obviously Francis and Brind A'mour are tough competition if you are selecting by position) and Cam Ward on the second team with a Con Smythe (but I guess if you go by overall career so far, Irbe is more solid than Ward, who is still growing into an everyday goal tender). Overall I think the second team could definitely give the first team a run for it's money. This week's debate/topic is "What Made You A Fan", so join in if you are so inspired.

***********************************************

Ron Francis NHL Insider Interview. Ronnie Franchise recently did a Q&A with NHL.com that, while not featuring any breaking news or saucy tidbits, was an interesting read nonetheless. Two things that relate to the Hurricanes immediate past, present and future:



NHL.com: It’s been two straight seasons now that the Hurricanes have missed the playoffs. What has to change this season for the team to get back?


RF: “I think there is so much parity in the League now and it’s so tough to get from October to April and accomplish what you want to do. We got off to a tremendous start last year and we struggled through November, December and half of January. That is ultimately what cost us, but along the way we also lost Rod Brind’Amour, Justin Williams, Chad LaRose, Matt Cullen and numerous other guys. We used 40 different guys on the roster last year and it came down to losing the last game of the season to miss the playoffs. Our goal is to win the Stanley Cup and anything short of that is not successful. We feel we got better on the blue line, where we needed to get better. And, we have enough firepower up front to score goals and our goaltending is good. At least on paper we’re comfortable where we’re at.”


NHL.com: People want to know if Brandon Sutter is going to make the team. Do you think he will?


RF: “I think he can do it. Whether he does or not, we’ll have to see that at training camp. He is an exceptionally smart player. His hockey sense is tremendous and he’s played at some pretty high levels at the World Junior Championship and in the Canada-Russia series last year, which was pretty unique. He stepped into Albany after his junior season was done and looked like he had been there all year. He worked hard to put some muscle on. He’s up in the 180s. We think he’s big enough. He’s gotten strong enough. We think he’s ready.”

-m