Kaberle to miss camp .... again

On Monday, the Raleigh News and Observer reported that Frantisek Kaberle has undergone knee surgery and will be out of commission for four to six weeks.
Luke's blog broke the news that Kaberle had surgery on Saturday to replace torn cartilage in his right knee. Training camp officially starts on the 14th, but most players have been taking part in the volutary "Camp Brind'Amour". While this surgery is not as dramatic as last summer's shoulder surgery and the recovery time is not nearly as long, this is the second summer in a row that the defenseman has had surgery just before the start of camp.

Using the six week model, Kaberle will be back in the second week of the season, but he'll have missed all of camp, which will set him back a bit. In addition, the status of Bret Hedican's hip is uncertain, which leaves the Canes with only five blueliners who are "good to go" on opening night.

Scott Cason and I have both suggested that the Canes take good looks at their young prospects such as Casey Borer, Noah Babin (who has turned a lot of heads already) and Brett Carson in camp. One of them may be forced into action.
I have thought all summer long that the Canes need to re-sign David "Snuggles" Tanabe. Now this is even more of a pressing issue, and I think the Canes might have to consider asking Hedican to retire so they can sign a free agent such as Brent Sopel.

Last fall, Carolina got off to a very slow start mostly due to a struggling blueline. Nobody wants to see a repeat of that.