DaveG
Noted Jerk
Accually the Canes wanted to play him at the NHL level with all the injuries they had heading into the season and even for the playoffs last season when they made their second attempt to sign Johnson. This seasons situation is what made the Canes pull the triger on the deal though. Kaberle being sidelined was only part of the issue, the bigger part was that the Canes weren't able to re-sign Aaron Ward and that they were outbid on Danny Markov. With Wallin sidelined to begin the season as well they were in a tight spot and hoping that Johnson would be able to step in to fill the role of a physical defenseman and provide some of the offense that Kaberle did on the powerplay. He wouldn't sign so he was shiped along with the 2.5 million dollar #7 defenseman that was Oleg Tverdovsky for Gleason and Belanger, Gleason being the central point of the trade from a Canes perspective. I'm still not too thrilled with the return but the Canes were stuck in a tight spot and JR did what he felt he had to do to give the team a chance to win this year rather then in the long term.
edit: Kane is really making a statement in this tourny, could easily be a top 3 pick when all is said and done.
