Time to finish shaping Hurricanes

NHL team's staff gathers this week to discuss free agency, draft, potential trades

RALEIGH -- The future of a few current players will be debated when the Carolina Hurricanes' front office gets together for four days of planning meetings this week, but the most important discussions will center on the free-agent market -- and who's out there to help the Hurricanes get back into the playoffs.

"We know if we add the right one or two players to our team, we can go right back and be in the mix with the top teams," general manager Jim Rutherford said. "And if we don't, if we make a mistake on it, we can kind of stay where we're at. There's a lot to talk about and important decisions to be made."

Rutherford originally postponed almost all player matters until now in an attempt to take the emotions of the Hurricanes' disappointing failure to make the NHL playoffs out of the equation.

Now, of the seven decisions the Canes could have made at the meetings, only two remain. The team extended contract offers to Ray Whitney, Scott Walker, Cam Ward and Glen Wesley, with only Walker turning the team down, and put Anton Babchuk on the trading block.

That leaves only the decisions on David Tanabe and Josef Vasicek, both potential free agents.

But there's still plenty to do. Though a foul up over Bret Hedican's contract deprived the team of some potential financial flexibility -- the team was unaware Hedican had exercised his option for the 2007-08 season almost two years ago -- the Canes still have about $5 million to spend on three free agents when the window opens July 1, including the critical third-line center vacancy, and potential trades to discuss.

Rutherford, assistant general manager Jason Karmanos, coach Peter Laviolette, pro scouting director Marshall Johnston and player development director Ron Francis will sit down to determine the state of the team at the NHL level. Rutherford will join the discussions Tuesday after attending today's general managers meeting in Ottawa.

Carolina's amateur scouting staff will be in town as well to prepare for the June 22-23 draft in Columbus, Ohio. The Canes have the 11th pick in the first round.

The top priority on Carolina's list is third-line center, which was a serious problem spot last season when first Eric Belanger and then Vasicek failed to fill the void left by Matt Cullen's free-agent departure last summer. Vasicek, an unrestricted free agent, may not be re-signed.

"We need more production from that position," Rutherford said. "That's not to say Joe couldn't do it, because he's done it in the past."

Stars such as Chris Drury, Daniel Briere and Scott Gomez will be far out of Carolina's price range, but Michael Peca or Todd White might fit. Michal Handzus, who missed the entire season with a torn knee ligament, would be ideal but may be too expensive despite the injury.

Other needs include a winger who brings toughness and energy to replace Walker and perhaps a defenseman as well, depending on what happens with Hedican and Tanabe. Hedican has an examination scheduled with a hip specialist Wednesday to determine whether his injuries will force him to retire. Tanabe is an unrestricted free agent who played well on a one-year contract in an attempt to resurrect his NHL career.

But with Wesley re-signing Friday, the Canes have eight defensemen under contract and don't want to carry any more than that.

"You can trade players," Rutherford said. "That's the thing. You can talk about eight defensemen, but if there's somebody the coach doesn't care for, we can trade a player and sign a different player. And then, of course, what is Bret's situation? That plays a factor in what happens on defense."