The cornerstone Hurricanes are playing very well. Center Eric Staal and goaltender Cam Ward have picked up their game, giving GM Jim Rutherford full confidence they can be part of the solution as the team rebuilds.But Rutherford is busily altering the supporting cast, adding young players and prospects to expedite the turnaround.Carolina traded forward Alexei Ponikarovsky to the New Jersey Devils for a fourth-round draft pick in 2012 and defensive prospect Joe Sova, a former collegiate standout at Alaska-Fairbanks.Ponikarovsky was playing under a one-year, $1.5 million contract. The club had no interest in retaining him past this season.“He was an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, and there are other players in our system who are developing and wanted to get in,” Rutherford told the Raleigh News-Observer. “Now was the time to move him. We were able to get a draft pick and a prospect defenseman.'”Other veterans with expiring contracts inclu...
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