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Wait another injury!?

Yesterday many people said (via twitter) that the Hurricanes had one of their toughest practices (after only registering nine hits against the Nashville Predators.) Practice was so intense that forward Chad LaRose went crashing into the side of the net resulting in an undisclosed injury that forced him to leave early. Today it’s being reported that LaRose suffered a hit to the head, and the team has it listed as an upper body injury.

In 43 games played LaRose is third among Hurricane players in goals (with 11) fifth in assists (10), first in hits (88), and tied for first for game winning goals (3.) LaRose is currently on pace for his best statistical season and barring any type of long term injury (which many think this won’t be) it’s very possible that LaRose will finally hit the 20 goal plateau.

Charlotte Checkers Jerome Samson received his first call up of the 2011 – 2012 season and is salivating at the chance to impress the Hurricanes.“The last few years in the ‘A’, I’ve been a guy that Jeff Daniels has relied on to put the puck in the net, I’m looking forward to the game tonight and the third line. [Hopefully] I’ll have more ice time than I did last year and show a little more.”

Report Card

When you see a grade of “D” naturally you want to get defensive, but after some thought and consideration I’d have to agree with ESPN on this one. This team was 1 point away from the 2010 – 2011 playoffs and instead of going out and getting more established players (especially after they lost one of their best forwards) they brought in guys who could “potentially” improve the team. With the Hurricanes sitting in 14th, that potential to make this team a playoff caliber team has obviously failed, and not by a small margin.

While I do agree with the grade I don’t agree with the little blurb about Kirk Muller having his hands full going forward.This team still has Jeff Skinner, Eric Staal, and Brandon Sutter (who I feel is getting very little talk about even though he’s having a much better offensive season) as established forwards going forward. Drayson Bowman, Zac Dalpe, Jerome Samson, Riley Nash, Victor Rask, and Jon Matsumoto are some of the teams up coming forwards, and the Hurricanes are looking at a top 5 pick who could also be injected into the lineup. The backend may be a little more shaky; but even so you have Jamie McBain, Derek Joslin, and Justin Faulk as established young guys with Bobby Sanguinetti, Brian Dumoulin, and Ryan Murphy up and coming.

This team has a lot of bright spots (more then ESPN is giving them credit for) moving forward, with a little more money spent the Hurricanes could be a top 5 team in the Eastern Conference in the next couple years.

Power Rankings

I’ve posted power rankings from three well known websites (TSN, ESPN, and the Hockey News) but I’d also like to hear what you have to say. Do you think the Hurricanes are being ranked correctly, if not where would you sit them?

Tidbits

Minnesota Wild Tuomo Ruutu

Tonight (one of my favorite) former Hurricane Matt Cullen will play in his 1,000th NHL game. Cullen was a member of the 2006 Carolina Hurricanes stanley cup winning team and was traded in 2010 for Alexandre Picard and a second round draft pick (which in the end ended up sending Riley Nash to Carolina.)

Jeff Skinner