Veteran prospects Brett Bellemore, Nicolas Blanchard, Brett Sutter and Tim Wallace have never been known primarily for their scoring or flashy plays, and as such, have never been high on the list of the organization’s most exciting prospects. That said, with Carolina looking to complement their well-established skill players with others willing to do the dirty work, grinders who understand their role will be in demand.
“I know they want to get bigger and tougher, so that’s kind of my game, right?” said Blanchard, who played in the Hurricanes’ final nine games of the season, the first NHL games of his career, at age 25. “I can’t really chill out over the summer. I have to really work out and be ready for camp to make sure I’ll be on that left wing on the fourth line.”
Carolina General Manager Jim Rutherford already mentioned Bellemore by name in his end-of-season press conference as a player who seemed to be a good fit in a depth role, largely because of his knack for physical play.
“What we have to do with our defense is be tougher to play against,” said Rutherford. “You either have to be a skating, puck-moving defenseman or you have to be a physical defenseman. We have some defensemen (in the NHL) that are capable of playing physical and haven’t done it, and they have to do it if they want to play here.”
With that in mind, Bellemore picked a good time to enhance that aspect of his game, as was his plan going into this past season.
“Lately I’ve definitely stepped up my physical play, added fighting and being a little more gritty,” said Bellemore, a 24-year-old who posted a career-high 87 penalty minutes and a career-high, plus-11 rating with the Checkers. “I think that definitely helped my game and helped me feel more confident.”
Further to Carolina’s wish list are players who specialize in killing penalties, something that Bellemore, Blanchard, Sutter and Wallace all did with regularity in Charlotte this season. One of the Checkers’ strengths over the past few years was its excellent mixture of skill and grit up front, which lent itself to exactly the kind of defined roles the Hurricanes are now looking for.
“Teams have guys that that’s their pride and joy is to go out and kill a penalty and that’s their role, I don’t think we have that yet,” said Hurricanes coach Kirk Muller during that same postseason press conference in Raleigh on May 2. “We have guys capable of killing, but you need guys that are going to go every time and say, ‘I’m not getting scored on.’”
The “pride and joy” phrase was one that Checkers coach Jeff Daniels has himself used often in describing players on his own team, including Sutter, his captain for the last two seasons.
“I think he proved over the season that he improved a lot as a player,” said Daniels of Sutter, who finished as the team’s second-highest scorer after posting career highs in goals (19) assists (29) and points (48). “I don’t think he’s done growing in the sense that he has a lot of confidence he can feed off from this year. He’s a guy that takes pride in killing penalties, winning faceoffs and winning those puck battles, and all the points that he scored were a huge bonus.”
“It always helps to make your skills better, but I don’t think I’ll ever be looked at as a scorer in the NHL at any point,” said Sutter. “I’ve got to make sure I stick to the strengths in my game, being a good penalty killer, being good in my own end and being a hard guy to play against. Right now it sounds like they want hard-working, physical guys, and I think that’s something that I can bring to the table.”
Bellemore, Sutter and Wallace are all set to be unrestricted free agents but have expressed an interest in re-signing, which the Hurricanes could likely accomplish at a relatively inexpensive salary. The manageable dollar figure will be a necessity given the Hurricanes’ increased spending on high-end players, something Rutherford plans to take even further in bolstering his defense this summer. Blanchard has one year left on a two-way contract that would pay him the NHL’s minimum salary.
Depending on what Carolina decides to do with its own free agents, there may not be much in the way of established competition. Tim Brent and Chad LaRose, who have filled similar roles in the past, are set to become unrestricted free agents, as is Joe Corvo, which could open another spot on defense.
That’s just another factor in how the stars finally seem to be aligning for the experience group of rugged Checkers, three of which were sixth-round draft picks and one of which (Wallace) was not drafted at all. The next step for whichever players earn new contracts will be taking advantage of the opportunity.
“I’m at that stage that I’m not 21 years old anymore,” said Blanchard, who plans to add some weight heading into next season. “I’m going to have to have a big camp and a big summer especially.”
