Hurricanes Down to 27 Players

After the team's 4-2 loss to the Thrashers on Monday night, Tuesday the Hurricanes sent down five players to the Albany River Rats of the AHL to cut down their camp roster to 27 players. Among the cuts is selection sheet hopeful, Drayson Bowman, who was one of the bright young talents at camp. So be sure not to select Bowman on the sheet now, as he won't be starting with the big club on October 1st.

As of right now, the 27 players in camp are as follows (listed by 2009 points)...

Forwards	Defense	Goaltenders
Ray Whitney	Joe Corvo	Cam Ward
Eric Staal	Joni Pitkanen	Mike Leighton
Tuomo Ruutu	Andrew Alberts
Rod Brind'Amour	Tim Gleason
Sergei Samsonov	Aaron Ward
Matt Cullen	Niclas Wallin
Erik Cole	Tim Conboy
Chad Larose	Jay Harrison
Jussi Jokinen	Jamie McBain
Tom Kostopoulos
Stephane Yelle
Scott Walker
Brandon Sutter
Michael Ryan
Patrick Dwyer
Zach Boychuk

Of the team that did exceptionally well in the playoffs last season, the Hurricanes didn't tamper with the formula too much. They've kept a good deal of their core players and moved very few in and out. Andrew Alberts (pictured) was one of their better pick-ups for the blueline, after he had a good season with the Flyers in 2009. Zach Boychuk and Brandon Sutter will look to take some good hard-working roles with the team this year, if they can survive the last cut.

The Hurricanes' 27-man camp roster does run the team over the projected cap ceiling, as they currently sit at $58.1 million against the ceiling. That puts them $1.3 million over the limit, so it should be an easy cut of four players to bring them to the allotted roster size and value. We are expected two forwards and two defensemen to be cut from this roster and I have a feeling we won't be too shocked when the cuts happen.

The additions of Boychuk and Sutter are what really make this team even more exciting (potentially) for the coming season. The Hurricanes are playing in the wide-open Southeast Division and should be able to give a good run to any team in the Eastern Conference this year. I'm not going to project big numbers for the two youngsters, as they will be used a lot for defensive and third line assignments, unless they really wow the coaching staff and/or fit in really well with some of the scoring veterans. Still, I have Cam Ward doing really well this year, as he is one of the most fundamentally solid keepers in the game and should be able to keep Carolina in every contest.