Erik Cole, Chad Larose leaving Carolina

“Not optimistic,” said Rutherford, adding that he did not have meetings scheduled with the agent for either player before the end of the day.

Rutherford also reiterated his stance that today would be the final day to come to an agreement, and that he would expect both players to move on to other organizations if a deal with Carolina can’t be reached.

“If they go into tomorrow then they’re obviously making the choice to go somewhere else,” he said. “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.”

Full story here