Don't Lose The King of Hearts

In my last post I was not shy about calling the Carolina Hurricanes out about their apparent lack of heart versus Dallas. To their credit, they played with heart today. Unfortunately, the combination of an Olympic goal tender in Jonathan Quick, combined with the mother of all "snake bit" offenses, that heart was not enough. The Canes once more came away with 0 points in a 3-1 loss versus the LA Kings. Having their hottest scorer in Alexander Semin on the bench with a lower body injury didn't help.

The good news is that Anton Khudobin was once again very good between the pipes, stopping 28 of 30 shots. He comes ready to play every time the puck drops...never a question of his heart or his intensity. The bad news is that he has been mentioned in the group of 3 possible trade options for the Hurricanes, the other two being Cam Ward and Justin Peters. Yep, all goalies. TSN's @DarrenDreger tweeted as much yesterday. With Ward having two years left on his contract and a $6.3 million salary cap hit, and Khudobin looking at free-agent status and a much more palatable $800,000 salary cap hit to potential suitors, you tell me who the buyers are looking at? Justin Peters is also looking at free-agency, with a $500k salary, but a lot less playing time will probably make him a more remote trade possibility.

But who knows? I like Justin Peters, and he held this team together when Ward and Khudobin were out. I think he has a huge upside given the right situation. But more to the point, you can bet that buyers are salivating at the notion of bringing Khudobin on board, which would be a huge blow to the Canes. Jim Rutherford would say his usual management-speak for getting rid of the brightest spot on the Canes ice, and likely come away with 2 eighth-rounders, a future consideration, and dinner at Golden Corral in return.

If we were all honest, management has not done a stellar job of building this team. The minor league is just not funneling up the kind of young talent that the Hurricanes need to be competitive again. While heart and effort have to come from the coach and the individual players, talent and building have to come from the front office. Yes there is Skinner and Semin and Eric Staal. And there are others who work hard, also. But there is a piece(s) missing.

Let's hope that come March 5th, the fans of the Carolina Hurricanes are not missing their King of Hearts, Anton Khudobin, and looking at an empty stable of future talent in return. We've tasted the fruit of a Stanley Cup win here in Carolina, and have supported this team wholeheartedly. It's time management figured out how to put a winning team on the ice again.