so it's late July now, and I think the Canes are just about done making roster moves.

And I, for one, am pretty happy with what they've done.

Let's summarize:  They resigned unrestricted free agents Jussi Jokinen, Erik Cole and Chad LaRose to two year contracts, and they signed restricted free agent Tuomo Ruutu to a 3 year contract before going to arbitration.  So the offense looks pretty good I think, especially if Brind'amour plays reasonably well.  So that gives us Cole, Staal, Whitney, Cullen, Walker, Jokinen, LaRose, Ruutu, Samsonov and Brind'amour, plus new winger Tom Kostopoulous, and our younger guys to fill out thel ineup (Brandon Sutter an the like)

Defensively, we've got Joe Corvo, Tim Gleason, Niclas Wallin, Joni Pitkanen, Frank Kaberle, plus new guy / old guy Aaron Ward, and new guy Andrew Alberts.  That's 7 solid defensemen (assuming you include Kaberle as a "solid defenseman), plus Anton Babchuk is still on the team, and new guy Jay Harrison has a two way contract.

I don't know if Babchuck will be sticking around, I suspect the Canes are going to move him somehow, and to be honest I wouldn't mind seeing them add another starting defenseman and just buy out Kaberle's contract, the guy has been worthless for 3 straight years now.

But I suspect they're already over Rutherford's desired salary for the team so we probably won't be adding anyone else.

I like it.

I think we're a definate contender, and I can't wait for the season to start!