Calm down everyone!!!  Erik Cole is still with the Carolina Hurricanes, no more worrying on him for 2 years.
I'd rather have that than a year.  Making it positive!
The Hurricanes organization have agreed to a two year, 5.8 million dollar contract with 30 year old winger, Erik Cole; 2.8 million in the '09-'10 season, and 3 million in the '10-'11 season.
Cole was traded to the Edmonton Oilers during the offseason in '08 for defensman Joni Pitkanen, to the disgust of Canes fans, who found him fun and interesting; a fan favorite.  A player who had been with Carolina since his rookie year was now gone, even to the Western Conference!  Everyone stored away their Cole jerseys, all believing he would never come back.  Who would think that?
But miracles happen near the trading deadline in March, and one happened for the Canes franchise.  The Canes made a 3 way trade (L.A. Kings and Oilers) to get him back, that included Justin Williams, Patrick O'Sullivan, and a second round draft pick, all to get Cole back to Carolina. 
The team and fans were ecstatic to have Cole back on the team; Cole was known to be great friends with Eric Staal, and was Staal's winger before he was traded.  But it wasn't only Staal who had a good friendship, the whole team gladly excepted him back, and Erik even said he felt right at home.  And it showed in his first game back, a blowout win against the Calgary Flames 6-1, and a goal from Cole himself.  Cole continued a steady performance through the rest of the season, but failed to show up when the Canes got to the playoffs.  Through 18 games in the postseason, Erik was unable to get on the scoring sheet.  At the end of it all, Erik was left as an unrestricted free agent, who can freely be asked by other teams to come join if wanted... unless of course they already have a new contract with their team.  Which Cole lacked, and seemed not to be getting closer to getting a deal with the Canes.
"Not optimistic," said Jim Rutherford, general manager of the Hurricanes, on the subject of contract deals with Cole, a few days before July 1st.  “If they go into tomorrow then they’re obviously making the choice to go somewhere else,” he said (they includes teammate Chad LaRose, another unrestricted free agent). “We’ve given our best offer within our budget to try to keep them, and at this point it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen,”  To me, that struck fear for what could mean no Cole or Larose next season. 
But, on the day Erik was freed to the NHL, he signed a contract with the Carolina Hurricanes.  He was staying.
“Erik clearly had an instant impact on our team when he returned to Carolina in March,” said Rutherford after the signing. “He has been an important piece for our franchise for a long time and we are pleased that he has decided to remain at home in Raleigh.”
That made me sigh in relief.  Erik was not leaving.  He now added to the list of free agents under the Canes belt: Jussi Jokinen, Michael Ryan, and Patrick Dwyer.  Ones who have not been signed are Anton Babchuk, Tuomo Ruutu, Ryan Bayda, and LaRose.
With Ruutu and Babchuk, things have been going well.  “I had a good meeting with Ruutu’s agent at the draft,” said Rutherford on Ruutu's subject. “That process has started and we’ll see where that goes.”  So Tuomo's got something going on. 
“When he went back to Russia for the one year it really affected his status because now he doesn’t have any arbitration rights,” said Rutherford. “We want him back, we want him to continue to grow into a real solid, consistent performer and we expect him to take his qualifier," And the same with Babchuk.
But of what things have been heard by the general public, Chad LaRose is no where to be seen.  He, along with Erik and Badya, searched for any other teams to be willing for a better price.  And nothing has been heard.
We may have gotten Erik, which don't get me wrong, rocks, but there is still a long list to be checked twice by Carolina.  For LaRose, the '08-'09 season was his most stellar, notching 19 goals and 12 assists in regular season; 4 goals 7 assists in the postseason.  He has a good chance of getting a good deal around the league, but an even higher chance to stay with the Canes... at least I think.
Whatever happened to all the "I want to stay with these guys, they are lots of fun" talk?  Jussi was the only one I remember actually fufilling his talk.  Let's go back to what Rutherford said earlier in this article, "We've given our best offer within our budget to try and keep them, and at least at this point, it doesn't seem likes it's going to happen." I really hope they stay, they are just great guys and players, *sigh*, I guess we will have to wait.
So the point I want to make is, we are getting there.  We have one down, but we've got a long way to go still.  Thanks (I guess) Erik for chosing the Canes, and congrats!