Carolina - the Canes

[claremont]

Just looking at a competitive assessment for the future of the Canes and what Waddell has to work with - comments as follows;

Looking at Cap Friendly, the Canes have 11 forwards, 5D, a backup goalie under contract with forecasted cap room of $24.12M. However, one could easily add back "filler" playoff support players of Ryan Suzuki, Rees, Ponomarev and Drury and they would only have 7 forwards, and cap room increased to $27.54M left to fill out say 6 forwards (13), 2D (7) and 1 premier goalie as a minimum to 22 man roster albeit 23 man roster is preferred

They have 1 RFA to extend which is Puljujarvi - I doubt he gets a qualifying offer as he played 17 games with the canes - 2 assists and 1 playoff game - 1 assist. Their 2 RFA's on their D - Coghlan and Lajoie are not noteworthy and may get minor league minimums for burial purposes. 

The Canes Prospect pool is weak. RW Noel Gunler is the only notable but hasn't done much in the AHL so far. Canes do have all their draft picks. If you look at the Canes Needs - another Centre to take the load off Aho and KotKaniemi - maybe Necas can play some centre but he's predominately RW. At LW Svechnickov, Teravainen, and then Martinook for 3rd or 4th so LW could use a better player. At RW, big hole if Necas plays RW as only have Seth Jarvis. On Defense their top 2 pairings are set but they could use a better LHD. They have a need for a top goalie as both Freddie Andersen and Raanta are UFA. 

IMO this team is setup for either free agency acquistions given their cap room, or to make trades with their picks as a basis for improvement.What does this mean to the Habs - perhaps Canes have some interest in Eddy. At RW, Josh Anderson would really add some punch. Unfortunately the Canes have lower first round picks and not much to offer for Josh. LW for Hoffman - he would have to likely be subsdized on retention and not get much back. I fully expect Waddell to be active in free agency to buy some players, but traditionally they have not been active in free agency.