I will save the Brett Bellemore signing for tomorrow or Monday. Aside from the usual good/not good debate on any signing, I think this signing is interesting on so many deeper levels. We have Ron Francis as a GM, we have Bellemore's role with the Canes versus his worth across the league and we have what it means for next year's team.

But today, I wanted to put forward my thoughts on Bill Peters' interview with John Forslund today (have not checked to see if the Canes posted it on their site) and also my thoughts on the Canes' prospects.

The Peters' interview had its share of "we need to get better," "we need to be a hard-working team", etc. He said all of the things that any coach would say, so I will skip all of that. Here are the few tidbits that were most interesting to me (note that I am NOT quoting, so this my paraphrased version and sometimes interpretation):

--He said something along the lines of wanting Skinner to score 40 as much as Skinner probably wanted to score 40, but that he needed to do it as a plus player. It will be ineresting to see if Skinner is ready and if Peters can help him find it because I just have not seen stepwise progress in that direction.

--He mentioned having 6-7 metrics (that wasn't the word he used) to "measure" work ethic. I think it is interesting to try to turn this sometimes more intangible thing into more what sounded like stats. He later mentioned things like backchecking/back pressure, finishing checks the right way and for the right reasons and pointed at odd man rushes against as an important thing to track.

--He mentioned using Semin on the point. I like the idea and questioned why Muller never tried this for as much as the power play struggled. Semin can playmake from up there, has a decent shot and has good enough straight line speed to retreat if necessary. I am not certain it will work, but I like the idea of trying it. The Canes are short on defensemen who can fill this role, so why not at least try a forward.

--When Peters talked about leadership, his order of mention name-wise was Eric Staal, then Justin Faulk, then Andrej Sekera and Jordan Staal (can't remember the order on the last 2). To be clear, he was NOT ranking leaders for the team, but I still found it interesting that Faulk was the 2nd name out of Peters' mouth.

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Quick hitters on the prospects:

--Local flavor: How cool is it that the Canes have a Raleigh kid in the system in Wesley and also that Logan Halladay and Bryan Moore got to participate. For those not keeping up with Canes prospect stuff, Halladay is a junior Hurricanes product from Cary (next town over from Raleigh for out-of-town readers) who will play at the University of Minnesota. I would not say he was phenomenal, but he looked like he belonged. Bryan Moore (from the Charlotte) area showed pretty good hands and skill.

--The big news is of course 2014 1st-rounder Haydn Fleury. It is impossible to get a read on where he is in terms of readiness from a week of mostly drills with 18-19-year olds, but it was still interesting to get a read on style of play. After watching him Thu, my initial impression was that he reminded of the young Jay Bouwmeester who developed playing in the NHL for Florida when they were in the Canes division. Like Bouwmeester, Fleury is already a pretty good size NHL defenseman who get even stronger over the next few years. He has that effortless skating that you see in all of the big minute-eating NHL defensemen. He never really looks like he is working that hard in terms of the pace he is churning his skates, but when you see him in some of the line drills with quicker forwards next to him, you can see that the look of it is misleading in terms of how quickly and easily he covers ice. Like Bouwmeester too, he does not come in with the looks of a 55-point scorer, but making final judgements on scoring upside is premature for an 18-year-old.

--Phil DiGiuseppe. He has good skill and great hands. This could project him on a path like Boychuk and Terry who are real good AHL scorers but need to round out their game a bit more to play at the NHL level.

--Hope for Canes-developed defensemen? Only Fleury is highly touted, but the Canes have gradually built some depth/options for homegrown defensemen over the next few years. Ryan Murphy, Justin Faulk and Brett Bellemore have already played roles. The Canes have Trevor Carrick and Jaccob Slavin from the 2012 draft, Tyler Ganley and Brett Pesce from the 2013 draft and Josh Wesley (to go with Fleury) from the 2014. At 6'1" to 6'3", all of these players have the physical frame of normal NHL defensemen if they can match it with weight/strength. If Fleury can grow to be a minute-eating top 4, Ryan Murphy can continue his development and a couple other players can at least provide depth, the Canes could finally have a path to being less dependent on hunting trades and free agency each summer to fill out the blue line.

--Brendan Woods. If you wanted to pick a real dark horse for the 2014-15 season, he might be it. He would not figure to be on the radar in terms of the depth chart entering training camp. And odds would have him as part of the early cuts to head back to Charlotte. But the Canes are real light on forwards with size and bang, and he easily fits the bill. To climb into the mix, he would need to do 3 things. Bang stuff in a way that makes him a factor every time he is on the ice. Prove capable of being sound defensively on a 4th line. And most importantly, prove that he can play at an NHL pace from end to end and through the middle of the ice. I asked him at the autograph table if his knee was 100%. He said it was much better but not quite and that he expected it to be 100% by the start of training camp. In the scrimmage, he seemed to struggle a bit during a couple long shifts. That would make sense. As for a big guy in late July when he has probably been more rehab/readiness focused (versus being all the way there conditioning-wise), he probably has a ways to go before late Aug/early Sep. In the first scrimmage, I get a real quick read. Can he keep up with the pace and play the full rink or does he look more like the big, mobility-deficient big forward? Does he look sound defensively? If he fails either of those 2 tests early, I write him off. But if he can find the higher gear skating-wise and looks okay defensively, just maybe he fights for a wing spot on the 4th line next to McClement.

--Still light on system depth. From the players in prospect camp this week, my wild guess would be that only Fleury and McGinn will be in the mix for roster spots on the big club come October with Woods as a possible dark horse only because you have to figure that the team would like to find a way to get a little more size in the lineup.

Who else made it to prospect camp either today or during the week? I would be curious to hear others' impression of Fleury and the other kids in the system.

Twitter=@CarolinaMatt

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