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GDT: Canes @ Islanders 10/11 7:00

I'd rather watch a roster full of unproven young guys who are hungry and can give 100% effort game after game...and watch them lose, than to watch uninspired hockey...where they still lose! Yes, give me Rask over Eric Staal any day.

Francis needs to clear at least $15-20 million off the payroll between now and the draft, by any means necessary.
 
TheBigKahuna said:
I'd rather watch a roster full of unproven young guys who are hungry and can give 100% effort game after game...and watch them lose, than to watch uninspired hockey...where they still lose! Yes, give me Rask over Eric Staal any day.

Francis needs to clear at least $15-20 million off the payroll between now and the draft, by any means necessary.
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Sure, clearing out 25-30% of your payroll in one fell swoop is easy. Francis can just wave his magic wand and dump both Staals, Ward, Semin, Liles, etc., without taking a crappy contract back in return or eating 30% of the contract. All while selling tickets for this season. Piece of cake.
 
TheBigKahuna said:
I'd rather watch a roster full of unproven young guys who are hungry and can give 100% effort game after game...and watch them lose, than to watch uninspired hockey...where they still lose! Yes, give me Rask over Eric Staal any day.

Francis needs to clear at least $15-20 million off the payroll between now and the draft, by any means necessary.
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Charlotte Checkers are just a train ride away, BK!
 
ThE cherkers are keeping pace with the canes and have a chance at 0-3 this afternoon.
 
SlapShots said:
Charlotte Checkers are just a train ride away, BK!
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one sketchy train station to another. its still pretty cool that we have it. I wish they would add more routes though.

I didn't get the opportunity to watch the train wreck last night but it sounds like we hit rock bottom.
 
CarolinaRedEyes said:
one sketchy train station to another. its still pretty cool that we have it. I wish they would add more routes though.

I didn't get the opportunity to watch the train wreck last night but it sounds like we hit rock bottom.
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Leave from the Cary station instead. But the other end...it's a WPA era station dropped into a freight yard. And then a cab ride to the arena.
 
andyt said:
Leave from the Cary station instead. But the other end...it's a WPA era station dropped into a freight yard. And then a cab ride to the arena.
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I actually live in Greensboro and our station is pretty nice but I didn't know Cary had one so thanks for the tip!
 
I don't mind jokes at all, but after reading the same basic joke 100 times they are no longer funny. I am fully aware that a playoff bid is very unlikely. Also I don't need to read "boy we suck" 20 times after every game.


BTW, Raleigh is getting a new train station in a few years. Pretty close to the existing station.
 
FWIW, we took the train from Raleigh to Charlotte a few years ago to see the Checkers in the playoffs. Round trip for 2 was under $100. Cab ride to and from the station was about $20 total. We stayed in downtown and walked everywhere. We avoided parking fees and the money it would have taken to go round trip as far as gas and wear and tear on our car. Taking the train just made the whole thing fun and just easy- read the paper, got out my kindle and relaxed knowing I wasn't driving. We did take the train out of Raleigh and left our car in a covered lot next to the RPD station. Overall, well worth the quick weekend away. We keep wanting to do it again-- maybe for a concert? or when a good team comes in to play the Hornets (ok- probably not an NBA game).
 
Skinner on IR, Boychuk recalled.

Peters is going to get a GOOD long look at his prospects. There should be no doubt as to what he has, and doesn't have by the time this season is over.
 
SlapShots said:
FWIW, we took the train from Raleigh to Charlotte a few years ago to see the Checkers in the playoffs. Round trip for 2 was under $100. Cab ride to and from the station was about $20 total. We stayed in downtown and walked everywhere. We avoided parking fees and the money it would have taken to go round trip as far as gas and wear and tear on our car. Taking the train just made the whole thing fun and just easy- read the paper, got out my kindle and relaxed knowing I wasn't driving. We did take the train out of Raleigh and left our car in a covered lot next to the RPD station. Overall, well worth the quick weekend away. We keep wanting to do it again-- maybe for a concert? or when a good team comes in to play the Hornets (ok- probably not an NBA game).
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I've done it a few times and probably will again for Cherkers games. Don't forgrt the 10% discount on Amtrak if you're a AAA member.
 
Thanks for the heads up about saving 10 percent as a AAA perk- just got a membership again when I started doing more work related traveling.
 
SlapShots said:
Thanks for the heads up about saving 10 percent as a AAA perk- just got a membership again when I started doing more work related traveling.
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To further derail this thread (and really, with the quality of hockey we've seen, does it matter?) the Amtrak website is a little odd. You have to specify the discount when you get the pricing, not at checkout.
 
andyt said:
Sure, clearing out 25-30% of your payroll in one fell swoop is easy. Francis can just wave his magic wand and dump both Staals, Ward, Semin, Liles, etc., without taking a crappy contract back in return or eating 30% of the contract. All while selling tickets for this season. Piece of cake.
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Obviously Francis isn't going to be able to do all that but at some point the organization needs to show a long term plan and stop worrying about every individual year in a vacuum....which seems to be the current plan. The organization seems paralyzed by short term ticket sales to make the right long term moves. As we have seen this doesn't work. He needs to start laying the groundwork (sell Staal on it, talk with other teams to establish asking price) and make the move when the time is right to bring in some young talent with promise and some draft picks.

There was enough factual evidence for Francis to start the roster makeover this year versus sticking with the same guys and hoping for better results in a new year with a new coach, system, or roster tweak. We have 5 years of declining performance. Let's face it, most teams in the league looks better on paper than on-ice results indicate. Everyone is filled with hopes and dreams to start a new year. The only good thing that can really come out of this year is finishing near the bottom and getting one of the two supposed generational talent guys to help build around.

There is a chance that Francis is more of a genius than we all think. His plan keep Staal around and "sell" the general public on the new coach, system, and established "stars" like Eric Staal could have been a last ditch effort to sell some seats this year. The real plan will kick in after Christmas when he starts to trade away some older assets for young guys, prospects, and picks and we end up falling into one of the top 2 picks. If all that happens I would be thrilled and very excited about the future of this club.
 
CarolinaPen said:
...The real plan will kick in after Christmas when he starts to trade away some older assets for young guys, prospects, and picks and we end up falling into one of the top 2 picks. If all that happens I would be thrilled and very excited about the future of this club.
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If due to injury and depth (lack thereof) we end up in clear "Sellers" mode, instead of "they might just make it" territory prior to the trade deadline, then there are a few good rental free-agent assets on board that would yield picks and some level of prospects. And that's before you consider any salary-relief moves.

Tlusty is the obvious loading-up candidate for someone that's going for it or suddenly loses a top-6 LW. But McClement will also draw interest and return at least a third-rounder. However, the real prize might be Sekera, if we dare offer him instead of extending him.

Second-rounders, to be sure, for Tlusty and Sekera, and perhaps even a first-rounder out of someone desperate enough for top-4 D or if Tlusty is hot. Auxiliary talent in the form of too-young-to-join-this-run is also available from this level of trading partner that's just flat going for it.

Let us have two swings at the first and second rounds of this summer's draft and collect a few AHL prospects from others and some of those depth concerns down the road begin to ease.
 
OK ... two games in and nothing has really changed with regard to the big picture. Yeah, even more injuries ... but really so what? This team simply wasn't going to compete for much this season so the goals are different. What we need here is for the kids to get some room to grow in the capabilities and for the vets to get their collective mess together so they are trade-able assets. As Kahuna's desire points out ... it ain't easy dumping half your roster even if you pretty much have to. So root for the Canes ... to a degree. But I really feel like we should rather quickly get over being frustrated with losing. We should be expecting that. At this point I just want all of these guys to be professional enough to stick to a cohesive style of play.

And no. I haven't seen even the smallest indication that our vets intend to do much different than what they've done for the last five years. Which in my book, is why they all have to go.
 
Sure, a sellers mode! Absolutely.
Now, let's think about it.
First, the draft is a crap shoot. How many drafted in the second round make it to the NHL?
So, trade an NHL caliber player for a second rounder?
Next, a general complaint that many have penned - bringing kids along too fast and not giving them time to mature and add skills in the ahl. If the vets are traded for draft choices, who's gonna play?

I think Francis is on the right track, but it might take several years to build a good team foundation.
Make good draft choices, let them learn in the A and when they are ripe bring them up. Trade the elders, when they become elders for draft choices.
 
For every big piece he moves, Francis will have to trust that what he's getting back is going to develop into a bona fide NHLer or is a bona fide NHLer. That player will have to carry his weight and if need be, be able to pick up the gap in ice time being left behind. Additonally, trades to unload bad contracts where we keep salary on the books is just a bad move and ulitmately robs Paul to pay Peter. JR left this organization in bad shape and RF has heavy lifting everywhere to get it cleaned up.
 
One thing to keep in mind as we already start to plan the great purge of 2014-2015:

The salary cap floor is $51 million this year. Canes current cap sits at $66.2. If the goal is to purge Eric, Semin, Ward, etc. part of any trades we make will have to be NHL players coming back to offset some of the cap hits (on both our side and the other team's side). This is where you need to be VERY careful to make clean breaks and not take on other team's contract disasters lasting longer than the remainder of this season.

MOST NHL teams that are contenders and might be willing to take on Eric Staal (or Semin) already are close to the cap. Its going to take some pretty substantial creativity to trade Eric Staal away and the return needs to be very carefully examined. Teams are going to be looking to dump NHL contracts back on the Canes. While we are thinking piles of picks and prospects other teams are going to be thinking 1 pick and a marginal prospect and a couple of NHLers that they don't want. Not to discourage Ronnie from trades, but its not exactly easy to trade Eric Staal in this cap world. What I don't want to see is us getting into the old Holmgren/Whalers cycle where every trade we made involved us trading the better player away and getting a pile of guys like Jocelyn Lemieux and Paul Ranheim in return.
 
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