Bob McKenzie
9/14/2006 8:15:53 PM
Now that Frantisek Kaberle will miss most of this season because of shoulder surgery, the Carolina Hurricanes are in desperate need of a defenceman.
But it won't be Jack Johnson of the University of Michigan, who was Carolina's third overall pick in the 2005 entry draft.
For the second time in less than a year, the talented Wolverine sophomore, who shone for Team USA at the 2006 World Junior Championship, has rebuffed efforts by the Hurricanes to sign with the NHL team, preferring instead to remain in college.
And it now looks as though there's a chance Johnson may never don a Hurricane sweater.
NHL sources tell TSN that in the wake of Johnson's latest decision to stay at school, Carolina GM Jim Rutherford has begun making calls to other GMs in an effort to trade the 6-foot-1, 200-pound, hard-hitting, fast-skating blueliner.
"He's in play," a source said. "Carolina isn't going to give him away because he's a blue-chip asset, but if they get the right deal, he's gone."
The Hurricanes were miffed last April when Johnson turned down a contract offer that came with some assurances that the defenceman would get an opportunity to play immediately for Carolina, which went on to win the Stanley Cup. That led to a plethora of pre-draft rumours in June that the Hurricanes were going to trade Johnson even up to the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second overall pick and the right to draft Peterborough Pete centre Jordan Staal, the younger brother of Hurricanes' star Eric Staal.
But the deal that would have reunited U.S. prep school teammates Johnson and Sidney Crosby, as well as the Staal brothers, never materialized, in large part, it seemed, because neither Pittsburgh nor Carolina were that interested in making the deal.
But in the wake of Kaberle going down with what could be season-ending shoulder injury and Johnson's decision to not leave the Wolverines on the eve of his sophomore season, the trading of Johnson could become a reality.
It will be interesting to see if Carolina and Pittsburgh engage in any Johnson-Staal talks. And it will also be intriguing to see if the Hurricanes put in a call in to the New York Rangers, who drafted defenceman Marc Staal, Eric's other brother, in the same draft Carolina took Johnson. The Hurricanes thought long and hard which defenceman Johnson or Marc Staal to take with the third overall pick in 2005. They opted for Johnson; the Rangers took Staal with the 12th pick overall.
In any case, Johnson's name is now bound to be front and centre in trade rumours.
