Thank You Sir, May I Have Another

Nice to see a complete effort last night in Toronto as Cam shutout the Leafs on 35 shots and the Canes end a 5 game losing streak. See the game video highlights on NHL.com here:



With goals from Corvo and LaRose and Cam "standing on his head", hopefully the team will have some of that missing MOJO I talked about yesterday going to Pittsburgh tonight.

Canes @ Senators - Will Uh Oh Corvo strike again?

Tuesday night has the Canes finishing up a brief, three game road trip in Ottawa before a home game against the Leafs on Thursday. Not to pile on, but in case you didn't already know - Ottawa isn't very good this year.

Okay, they're terrible.

After a dominant run through the 06-07 playoffs that ended with a defeat to Anaheim, they mother-trucked their way through the first half of the season compiling a franchise best winning streak at the start last year. Then, they started to slide. They made the playoffs last season (largely in part because the Hurricanes shit the bed didn't) but were easily swept by the Penguins.

This season, the slide continues as they currently sit 29th out of 30 NHL teams just above the Drive-For-John-Tavares NY Islanders. Fans are calling for GM Bryan Murray's head. They're calling for Coach Craig Hartsburg head. Amidst all this clamo(u)r - the Senators bloggers have been keeping us all entertained.

Where the Hurricanes have been using the team slogan of "Our Team. Our Tradition.", if you visit the Ottawa Senators front page, you see "A Force United". With the disappointing play over the past year - the Sens Army has formed an underground rebellion of sorts titled "A Farce United".Above is friend to COI, Senators Lost Cojones, seen shortly after drowning his sorrows in his bitchin man room. SLC runs the hysterical blog, Five For Smiting. SLC was kind enough to give us a bit of a scouting report on his favorite team of underachievers:

"we're a mess. We can't score, can't stop getting scored upon, the goalies can't be trusted (Young Master Elliot aside), the coaching staff have no clue how to fix it, the GM just sits there and scowls, the playoffs are nothing but a pipe dream, and the howling mobs are so discouraged, we've put away the torches and pitchforks and pulled out the "Welcome John Tavares!" banners. I think that just about covers it. Good luck on Tuesday. Please be gentle."

Thanks for stopping by SLC, and may Joe Corvo & Patrick Eaves haunt your soul both score hat tricks give you a big high-five!

Ottawa has all the talent needed to win on any given night but hasn't. Carolina could easily be walking into a trap here. We'll see what happens I suppose!

Go Canes!

Canes in mid-season form already?

Mid-season as in December through January of last season where they couldn't score a goal or put up a consistent nightly effort? Well, no.

But the pre-season opener last night against the Caps certainly reminded me of that horrible stretch. Can't hold the puck, can't play D.. can shoot the puck on net all night but never generate any solid chances...

Thank goodness that one didn't count. A few notes:

-Pitkanen (if he can stay healthy) is going to have a tremendous year for Carolina. He was a beast pretty much all night.

-Corvo paired with Pitkanen working the points on the power play is rather lethal if they're in the offensive zone. However, having two offensive-minded defenseman during a potential short-handed breakaway (especially Corvo) may not be the best idea. Carolina allowed way too many shorties last year.

-Petruzalek had a great 1st period. If he buries all of his chances, we're talking about a whole different outcome.

-on Bowman & Sutter - meh. Poor B-Sutt couldn't win a face-off to save his life but otherwise showed decent awareness around the puck. Bowman is fast and he will be a sniper, he just looked flat like the rest of the team last night.

-Nic Wallin. Dude. Did you get hammered before the game or something? Get a clue.

-Ward. Mmm, yeah he was already in mid-season form. Allowing 2 goals on the first 3 shots. The first you couldn't really fault him for. The 2nd was mostly Joe Corvo's fault - but he's gonna have to learn to handle those breakaway chances playing this Hurricane style of hockey where that door is occasionally left open.

-Justin Peters - Hey guy, you're supposed to have your butt facing the net - not vice-versa as you were when you gave up your first goal.

-Jeff O'Neill & LaCouture - not real impressive. O'Neill was playing just OK, I barely even noticed LaCouture.

It was outstanding to be at the RBC Center. It was outstanding to tailgate. It was outstanding to finally meet some of my blogger co-horts, David Lee of RBH fame & Beth from the Sliding Pokiecheck. Not such an outstanding game to watch as a Canes fan, but that's what the pre-season is all about. Get out the kinks and move on.

Karma comes back to bite Bryan Murray

Ottawa Senators GM/Coach Bryan Murray sent off Joe Corvo with a few choice insults during his trade to Carolina earlier this year. It was well documented throughout the MSM and blogosphere that he was being a bit of a bush-leaguer with his trash talking of former players. Now granted, Joe Corvo's performance in Ottawa was deserving of some criticism - but the way Mr. Murray skewed things in the press afterwards was just plain wrong.

“People like to talk hockey here and they live hockey. They don’t talk (hockey) in Raleigh very much. He’ll probably thrive in that environment and I like guys who thrive under pressure.”
(This isn't the first time the Senators have played that somewhat-odd card. Ottawa coach John Paddock has repeatedly mentioned that Martin Gerber flourished in Carolina because "they only have one beat writer.")

With his team coming off last year's appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals, the Sens steamrolled to start the year going 15-2 with a team record opening win streak. As they began to slowly decline with inconsistent goal tending and on-again/off-again performances from their heavy hitters, Murray had to fire his coach John Paddock and "assume the position" back behind the bench. It did little to no good, as his supposedly brilliant (at the time) acquisitions of Mike Commodore and Cory Stillman only continued their downward spiral in Ottawa.

Though they at least made the playoffs, most people saw what was coming to them. They were stomped by a talented Pittsburgh squad this week in a 4-0 sweep. It could have been a lot worse from game to game if Martin Gerber hadn't of been standing on his head most nights. I did feel sorry for old friend Gerbs this week as he got little to no support from his teammates. I'm also extending the shoulder to cry on to our Sens friends Senators Lost Cojones & Sherry up at Scarlett Ice. I'll miss seeing their game recaps of doom this season.

At any rate I don't foresee Murray getting canned this summer by Ottawa ownership, but if the Sens come out flat next season, expect him to be on a very short leash.

Here'a a little something extra to cheer Murray up.

Joe Corvo's Carolina-fication

Heeding the advice of CasonBlog, Joe Corvo has quicky relinquished the "gay viking raider" look in favor of a more conservative, less flashy do.

He's been nothing short of spectacular here in his dozen or so games with the Canes. Granted, the entire team has been firing on all cylinders but Joe has certainly lived up to the potential. It has been well documented that Stiller & Commie are not fulfilling their end of the trade with a floundering Ottawa club. There have been very few signs of the Joe "Uh-Oh" Corvo that our Sens friends warned us about. He's been defensively sound and responsible playing the point on a potent power play unit.

All reports on Joe say that he is shy and soft-spoken. He's been letting his play speak for him. That's good, as we wouldn't want him cracking under the pressure of a bush league coach or media, would we?

Thick skin or not, your opportunity is there as a Carolina Hurricane

As Cane newbie Joe Corvo came in this week from the Senators, much was made about his departure and the defenseman not being able to "take the pressure" in a Canadian NHL market.

Senators GM Bryan Murray:

“I don’t know whether it was the pressure or never having a life away from the building, but he felt that Joe would enjoy going to an American team,” Murray told the Ottawa Sun. “He wanted to play where there was less scrutiny. He just couldn’t handle the pressure here."

So be it. An unwanted player left a team for a patch of greener grass in Raleigh, not to mention from the sub-zero tundra to the 60 degree February days of NC. Who knows how Joe "Uh Oh" Corvo may end up playing with the Canes. Although he may not be the savior to Carolina's defensive woes, chances are he will flourish in Coach Lavi's system.

The soul searching and confidence boost that comes with joining a new team may be all an athlete needs to jump start his game.

Exhibit A. Look at Mark Recchi (sans his manboobs), who left his long time home in Pittsburgh this year to the (at the time) lowly Atlanta Thrashers. Be it spite or having the drive - guys like him can benefit from being out of the limelight in major hockey towns.

Exhibit B. - Mr. Sergei Samsonov. People can remember when he was "the next big thing" as a Boston Bruin. A former rookie of the year, he struggled mightily in Montreal, had a stint in Edmonton and signed a lucrative deal with Chicago. He had constantly been turning the puck over this season with the Hawks and had a whopping 4 points until he was claimed off waivers by Jimmy Boy and the Canes. Now? He's been consistently one of Carolina's best players using his nifty puck handling skills to chip in offensively at almost a point a night average.

So I say let them talk all the trash they want to about Big Joe Corvo and whether or not he could "handle" things up there. While they chase their players away, just remember there will always be a place down South for them to flourish, thick skinned or not.

A/V Delight: Having A Lookie See At Corvo & Eaves

Here's big Joe Corvo:(Canada.com)

Did we just sign a hockey player or the lead singer of Buckcherry?
Here's Mr. Patrick Eaves:

(BC Eagles)

Now is it just me or does the look on his face say: "I WANNA GO TO HAWAII YEA!" ? No? Perhaps there's something going on outside the view of this frame, maybe an Eagles cheerleader is tickling his undersides, Dunno.

Here's Corvo breaking the hearts of Buffalo last year in the playoffs (well, then, Welcome to Raleigh!)

And here's Pat Eaves showing off what he can bring

Bring it on gentleman! Tattoos, goofy-faces and all!

Hurricanes and Senators exchange a forward and a defenseman

Shocking news out of the Canes camp today, as Jimmy Boy has shipped out Cory Stillman and Mike Commodore to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for D-man Joe Corvo & forward Patrick Eaves. Funny how things work out sometimes. I was just reading Forslund's blog today about how JR likes to pull the trigger well before the trade deadline. This is most definitely the biggest pre-deadline deal that the NHL has seen, and with this happening we can expect many more dominoes to fall.

That "popular player" that he said would have to be traded earlier? Yep, it's Commie and Stillers. Both guys were at the end of their contracts this year with Carolina. Commodore would have been getting quite a raise after his time here and Stillman has been rumored as trade-bait for months now and has been on a cold streak as of late.

I'll have more on this later, but for now I'm pretty pleased with this trade. Jimmy Boy finally gets himself a "puck-moving defenseman". Hallelujah.