Yesterday I posted a 1-question poll asking what the Canes should do to make room for Tim Gleason's return. The results were:
39%--Send Elias Lindholm to Charlotte briefly (would not need to clear waivers) to get some much needed ice time and get back up to speed.
34%--Temporarily send Kevin Westgarth to Charlotte despite needing to still pay his 1-way contract rather than risking losing a young player.
13%--Risk sending Brett Sutter across waivers to be sent back to Charlotte.
7%--Risk sending Brett Bellemore across waivers to be sent back to Charlotte and to get the defense corps back down to a more normal 7.
7%--Write in all having to do with trading someone mostly Gleason or Komisarek.
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Carolina Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford has built some really good, under the radar blue lines that have gone deep in the playoffs via exactly the same seemingly haphazard summer work like we saw this summer. The 2002 Stanley Cup finalist team was assembled by a collection of ho-hum trades to build out half the defense from scratch and on the cheap. Aaron Ward was acquired in July for a 2nd round pick. Sean Hill was reacquired in December for Steve Halko and a 4th round pick. Finally, Bret Hedican was somehow acquired as part of a salary dump/start over trade primarily for Sandis Ozolinsh in January. The blue line of Wesley/Hill, Hedican/Ward, Wallin/Malik was nothing fancy but proved good enough to make the Stanley Cup Finals.
Rutherford did it again in 2005-06. He actually did even more work at forward, but along the way he also made ho-hum blue line additions of Frantisek Kaberle and Mike Commodore who became fixtures in the top 4 on a team good enough to win the Stanley Cup.
Rutherford's thrift shop approach to building blue lines on the cheap has definitely had its downs to go with the ups with playoff dry spells between the big successes. But it also inspires hope and offers the possibility that the 2013-14 Canes blue line rebuild will prove to be another Rutherford masterpiece.
Kirk Muller astutely put arguably his 2 best defensemen together from the start and has kept it that way since. The duo of Andrej Sekera and Justin Faulk has been solid. Only playing in a small market has kept them from getting even more recognition for how good they have been. Ryan Murphy's emergence, growing comfort level and chemistry with Jay Harrison has made for a good 3rd pairing that continues to get better as Murphy makes the adjustment to the NHL level. Sure there is an occasional rookie mistake, and Murphy does still have room to round out his play without the puck/in his own end, but as a 3rd pairing where you can pick spots a bit, Muller has a pair that is good enough defensively and also brings something offensively.
That leaves the middle pairing. In short, I think Hainsey has been very good, and Bellemore has been a bit up and down. When you consider the jump that he made from playing in the AHL last season to pulling down almost 20 minutes per night against the likes of Crosby, Malkin, Kopitar, Sharp, Kane, Hossa, Zetterberg, Datsyuk, etc. he has done well. And I think he has pretty much established himself as an NHL level defenseman despite his short tenure. His performance and growing experience also makes the team even deeper in terms of filling out the defense corps especially if the team encounters an injury or 2. But I am not sure that Bellemore is an 82-game top 4 NHL defenseman. This is exactly the role that Tim Gleason was expected to hold down entering training camp before being derailed by injuries. And right now, I think it is the single and only place where the team could benefit from a modest upgrade to solidify its defense. The job description is a decent fit for him too. He has some experience playing on the right side (despite being a left shot), and his complementary style as a big, physical stay-home type should theoretically complement Hainsey well. The question is whether Gleason can refind his form as a disappointing 2012-13 season. If he does and he excels in the 2nd pairing slot next to Hainsey, the Canes are suddenly very solid 3 pairings deep on defense with 2 decent extras waiting in the wings if needed. If Gleason looks more like the circa 2012-13 version of himself and in over his head in this role, then I think it leaves a hole defensively and also creates an overabundance of 4 big physical types in Harrison, Gleason, Komisarek and Bellemore with really only 1 opening (the 1 that Harrison is in now). The number of decent options would still give Muller hope to fill that #4 slot by playing the hot hand and trying to find enough good games from the group of 3 versus just inking someone into that spot. But the situation is better and more stable if Tim Gleason fits in that role in terms of level of play and also chemistry with Hainsey.
Reports by the team from practice today was that Tim Gleason was paired with Ron Hainsey today, so it looks like we will see this tried out fairly soon. With the length of his layoff, it is important to have some patience. It is unfair to expect 18-20 minutes of polished top 4 play from #6 right out of the gate. But I will still be anxious to see how he looks early and how his development goes from there.
What say you Canes fans? Is Tim Gleason the last puzzle piece for the revamped and much-improved blue line? If not, can Muller and Lewis find the right mix and match recipe riding the hot hand to fill the spot next to Hainsey? Or...?
In a final blog for the Canes 4-day layoff that I will post either tonight or tomorrow, I will take a run through some stats/numbers through the Canes solid 9-game start to the season.
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