PR - Hurricanes

HURRICANES SIGN SIMON GAGNE, JANNE NIINIMAA AND DARCY TUCKER

The city of Calgary is starting to pick up excitement once again. Fan
favorite and former TFHL Cup Champion of the TFHL12 Hurricanes is
back. Janne Niinimaa attended a press conference today along with
fellow unrestricted player Darcy Tucker. News had also arrived that
the Hurricanes had come to terms with winger Simon Gagne on a new deal
as well.

Roger Millions:
Why the old guard and why so much for Tucker and Niinimaa GM Major?

GM Major:
I think it's simple. Veteran presence. These guys have tons of
experience. I'm not sure too many teams saw this in them but keep in
mind that both of these guys had over 65 points last season with their
respective teams. Tucker would have been tied with Gagne for the
scoring leader on our team, while Niinimaa would have been the clear
top scorer. It's good to have Janne back.

Roger Millions:
The Hurricanes roster is drastically different from last year's start
of the season. How do you feel about your roster?

GM Major:
We have a lot of depth and a lot of young players this year. We've
tried to balance veterans and youngsters. Our top line is going to be
centered by our latest addition in Steve Stamkos. We're really
excited about him playing with Alexei Kovalev and Alex Svitov.
Kobasew was brought in to give us some more depth at centre and he's
going to have a chance to play with some highly skilled scorers in
Jason King and Simon Gagne. We have depth. Lots of depth.

Roger Millions:
How do you feel about the farm team?

GM Major:
They were neglected a lot the last few years but this season they will
have guys like Josh Bailey, Brandon Sutter, Jesse Joensu, Ty Wishart
to name a few. We had a lot of high draft picks this past draft and
picked up guys like Bailey, Theberge and Livingston. We have a great
future and the Baracudas will have a better season and I expect them
to make the playoffs.

Roger Millions:
Will the Hurricanes make the playoffs?

GM Major:
Without a doubt yes. We've re-built. We have 12 new faces in
comparison to last season. Our defense is completely overhauled and
we now have veterans like Johnny Boychuk, Janne Niinimaa, Mark Stuart
and David Turon. We then have two solid youngsters in Ryan Parent and
Badass Jack. Brian Boucher can't be faulted for last season. The
players in front of him were nowhere good and you can't tell me
Boucher is a bad goalie, he took us to the finals only a couple of
seasons ago.

Roger Millions:
Any final moves before the season starts?

GM Major:

Well this is open to all teams out there. Brian Campbell and Alex
Sulzer are available. We're pushing up against the cap and have
demoted these players to the farm team. I'd like to move them for
younger players. But if it comes to it they will start on the farm.



Good luck this upcoming season everyone!


Calgary Sun