A NEW DAY IN CAROLINA, ON TO MORROW

Carolina

With the acquisition of prolific goal scoring phenom Jaromir Jagr, the Canes turned their attention to another missing piece.

“We had discussed that the idea of an on ice general to lead by example would be beneficial to this team,” said head coach Joel Quenneville. “Let us be honest here. Last year, playing the Canes usually was not a hard thing. Our team didn’t come at you and we usually wound up spending half the game on the penalty kill. I wanted a guy who could play an aggressive, in your face style, add to the offense and provide us some grit and determination on ever shift. We addressed this and we went after it.”

Enter Brendan Morrow, former captain of the Dallas Stars and the newest member of the Carolina Hurricanes.

After an impressive season in Pittsburgh, Morrow found himself on a late season push by the Minnesota Wild and helped the club all the way to the conference finals. His experience and leadership will be a blessing for this club.

“Morrow is a no nonsense guy and when we found out he was available, we wanted him in the lineup as soon as possible.”

The Canes have already slotted him on a line with Mike Fisher and Michael Ryder, an aggressive duo in their own right.

“When I was told Morrow was coming to us and that the three of us would be a line, I was pretty excited,” said assistant captain Mike Fisher. “I think we have a really great opportunity to be one of those lines noted throughout the league as the line you don’t want to play. I’m looking forward to that chance.”

The Canes feel their top three lines are set for the season and barring any unforeseen acquisitions, look for the Canes to start the year with the three lines intact.