Rutherford accepts blame for poor start

Jim Rutherford said he accepts the blame for the Carolina Hurricanes' stumbling start. With the Hurricanes 2-8-3, 14th in the Eastern Conference and winless in their last nine games, the general manager said today that he still believes in his coaching staff and players. But he said some offseason decisions and the shortening of preseason training camp was a mistake, and said he would be more actively looking to make an early season trade than in most years. "I'd like to get to the end of November and see where we're at, but it has been so disappointing in the last two home games in how we've played and how we've lost games," he said. "We have a responsibility to our fans to win games and try to win another Cup. We can't dig too deep a hole that we do not have a chance to get to the playoffs. "I will be talking to other teams more than I usually do at this time of the season, but you need to find a partner to do a deal. It'...