Kaberle’s shoulder has Canes on edge
BIGGEST NEED While the Hurricanes struggled to score early before righting the ship, they don’t expect offense to be a persistent problem, not with players such as Eric Staal, Erik Cole and Justin Williams in the lineup. A bigger concern is on defense, as Frantisek Kaberle may miss the season after shoulder surgery. The Canes have a regular top five, but are searching for a fit in the sixth and seventh ‘D’ spots. David Tanabe, Andrew Hutchinson and Anton Babchuk have all been given a chance in that position, but none have taken hold of the job – perhaps because all three are predisposed to offense first. The problem was bigger before. The Hurricanes attempted to address it by trading Oleg Tverdovsky and prospect Jack Johnson for defenseman Tim Gleason and center Eric…
The Hockey News Archive, a searchable database of every issue since 1947, is for subscribers only. Subscribe today for less than $2.50 a month to gain access to this extraordinary resource.