So it’s only been a month since the end of the season for the Hurricanes. We’ve had many things still going on in the Caniac nation though.

• Sergei Samsonov was re-signed for three years after putting up 32 points in 38 games here in NC.
• Tuomo Ruutu, Eric Staal, Cam Ward, Dennis Seidenberg, Niclas Wallin, and Tim Gleason are all playing in the IIHF Championships for their respective countries
• JR is working on getting our RFA’s re-signed starting with Ruutu and Gleason as the top priorities.
• The jury is still out on whether Peter Laviolette will still be behind the bench for the Canes for the 2008-2009 season. Karmanos is expected to sit down and talk with Lavi sometime in the coming week since JR’s thoughts remain the same on the situation.
• The most exciting news from my perspective comes about the open position to back-up Cam Ward. JR indicated that Michael Leighton, our AHL wonder who recently made 98 saves in a 50T loss, is the strongest candidate and stated: “Michael Leighton is in the strongest position of anyone with the year he’s had. He’s done what he needs to do. We’ll wait until June because somebody else may have some thoughts on somebody we haven’t looked at or considered, but we won’t leave it until July 1.”

I will update more when there is something to share. Until then enjoy the Conference Finals!