When it all started before the draft weekend, my shopping list for the Carolina Hurricanes was as follows:
1-Top 4 defenseman.
2-Top 9 2-way center with enough offensive ability to support a line that scores some.
3-Top 9 right wing ideally with size.
4-4th-line center.

So far the Canes have added only the 4th and lowest priority player in Jay McClement. I like the McClement signing, but I think the holes above his slot on the roster are the bigger issue. And the other 2 additions (Gleason and Malone) are also bottom 3rd of the roster additions.

At least in terms of my needs assessment, the work is incomplete. But 2 things on that:

1) It is premature to judge the summer moves. There are still a number of good players available, so thinks could still look quite different before September.

2) While I do think the team still needs to add a player or 2, the biggest improvement from 2013-14 to 2014-15 will need to come through some combination of a new coach and a new start yielding much more production from the top half of the roster.

But as I noted above, there are still some good players available and just maybe, the prices will start to come down as the summer wears on.

My “like” list is obviously much shorter than it was July 1, but there are still decent options for most of my identified Canes’ needs:

1-Lee Stempniak. He is just a pretty good right wing minus any of the flash, flare of huge production of the superstars. He has pretty consistently scored at a 40-45 point pace in the NHL across a number of different teams/situations with a few runs to suggest there is a little bit of potential upside from there. And while not a pure shutdown defender, he is an okay 2-way forward. If the Canes go Skinner/EStaal on the 1st line, he should bring enough offense to participate but not in the form of an offense only RW which might be perfect. If the RW opening is on JStaal’s 2nd line and it continues to take all of the toughest defensive assignments, the wing on this line must be up to the task of lining up against the likes of Nash, Ovechkin (depending on where he lines up this year), Malkin, etc. And if the Canes try to balance 3 lines offensively and put Skinner on a scoring-focused 2B line with some offense at center (see below), an offensively capable but accountable RW might again be the need. But Canes fit aside, he is just a quiet but solid player.

2-Derek Roy. If the Canes want to take my tact and guild a predatory offensive 2B line around Jeff Skinner, Roy could be a decent playmaker to complement Skinner and has enough wheels to skate with him. In an ideal world you would want a big RW to complement this pair. I guess stature-wise newly added Brad Malone could fit the job description stature-wise, but I am not sure he brings enough offensively.

3-Michael Del Zotto. He was on my original list. I described him as probably the highest risk/reward option on defense. He is coming off year in which he struggled enough that Nashville chose to not qualify him. And despite the shortage of defensemen in this year’s free agent crop, he is still available. I still like him for the right role, but I fear that the Canes filled that slot when they brought Tim Gleason back. My ideal scenario had Del Zotto sitting on the market unsigned long enough that his price worked its way back to a $2-2.5M/year range over a reasonable 2-year timeframe. He might actually be headed there. For this price, I was hoping that if they were not going to swing a trade for a true top 4 that they could wedge this salary into the structure as a #5ish defenseman with top 4 skill if he could clean up the defense part. At a price like this, he is only about $1M more than Tim Gleason with (in my opinion) 3X the upside potential.

From the beginning, I said that likely the only path to land another top 4 defenseman to pair with Hainsey was via trade, so I guess that option is still out there.

I like the idea of adding 1 more top 9 forward and still swinging a trade for a top 4 defenseman (still like Harrison+ for Coburn for a Flyers salary dump).

What say you Canes fans? Do you think Canes GM Ron Francis has at least 1 more move left in him? Of the gradually shrinking options, who do you like? Am I the only 1 interested in high risk/high reward play on Del Zotto if the price comes down enough? Or do you think any chance of that sailed when the Canes brought back Gleason?

Twitter=@CarolinaMatt63

Go Canes!

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