We are getting to the end of the NHL season now, so we should reflect on the year so far before we jump onto the NHL money lines to place our final bets for the season. However, there have been many successful teams this year, and out of all of them, the Hurricanes haven't done too badly.
Besides brutal defeats by the Ducks and the Golden Knights, they have done well, beating the lightning quite brutally 6-0 on March 5th, and then rinsing the Canadiens 4-0 on the 7th.
However, things can always change, maybe as the season ends they boost their game some more, or maybe it drops. Whatever the case, let us consider the Carolina Hurricanes’ success over time.
Let’s learn all there is to know about Hurricanes.
About The Carolina Hurricanes
The Hurricanes started out as the Whalers in 1971 with the WHA. However, they joined the NHL in 1979 as part of the merger, and became the Hartford Whalers, in 1997, they moved to North Carolina and finally advanced to the Finals for the first time ever in ‘02, where they lost.
They won one Stanley Cup in 2005-2006, and have 2 conference championships and 5 division titles under their name.
History Of The Franchise
Once upon a time, the Hurricanes were the New England Whalers, back in 1971 when the WHA awarded a franchise to play in Boston, Massachusetts. However, eventually, they moved to Hartford and became the Hartford Whalers.
The team peaked in the mid-late 80s, winning their only playoff series in ‘86 over the Nordiques before they bowed out in the second round to the Canadiens.
For years the Whalers maintained many connections with its off-ice personnel, as well as many members of the executive management broadcasters, and coaching staff, all moving to North Carolina with the team. However, eventually, Forslund and Kaiton left the franchise.
Moving To North Carolina
The Whalers were plagued for a great deal of their existence with limited marketability, being the smallest American market in the league and on a traditional dividing line between NYC and Boston team territories.
Eventually, they moved to North Carolina, it was a fast move due to limited time.
For the 1998-1999 year, the Hurricanes curtained off a majority of the upper deck, lowering the Coliseum’s listed capacity to 12,000. Attendance still lagged, however.
In spite of moving to a new arena in Raleigh the following year, they still played lackluster hockey and failed to make the playoffs again. It was marketed by an untimely mid-season trade which saw Primeau traded to the Flyers in exchange for Brind'Amour.
Slow Starts & Stanley Cups!
Eventually, they made waves in the playoffs of 2002, they survived a late charge from the Capitals to win the division, however, expectations were low, entering when they went against the Devils in the conference championships.
They managed to defeat the Devils in 6 games, however, shocking everyone. However, they matched up against the Canadiens and eventually won on an overtime goal.
In the conference finals, the Maple Leafs, and succeeded only to face the Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Finals, however, the Red Wings triumphed.
Champions!
Only a few years later the Hurricanes made NHL rumors and news when they finally saw yet another Stanley Cup Finals game, this time against the Oilers.
It was in game 7, they won 3-1, after a rocky series of games, where they finally sealed their first-ever Stanley Cup championship.
This was also a marker for the first major league pro sports title for a team from North Carolina as well!
The Slump
According to the Hurricanes, a championship does not come without a following slump. They were not able to follow up on their success in years to come. They lost 4 players to free agency in the off-season, and 222-man games to injury in the #06-'07 year.
Things did not get much better over time. In fact, after 2006 they did not see another championship of any kind until 2020-2021 when they finally made a division title again.
In fact, their regular season win-loss record never went above 45-30 for many years, with a low point in 2012-2013 where their record was at 19-25. Ouch!
Rumors & Decline
In 2014, they gained a new coach, Bill Peters, and they still did not break their playoff drought. , in 2014-2015, they did not make the playoffs for the 6th season in a row.
Eventually, Eric Staal was traded to the Rangers. However, things still did not get better.
The “Bunch Of Jerks”
While they still have not gone beyond division titles since 2006, the Hurricanes at least made a division title in 2020-2021 and 2021-2022.
In 2019 the Hurricanes won 3-1 over the Devils getting a spot in the playoffs. During their stretch run, they got noticed for their celebrations on ice, which led Don Cherry of ‘Hockey Night in Canada' to refer to them as a “Bunch of Jerks”.
Overall
Whether they appeared as a bunch of jerks or not to Don Cherry, we hope that this is a sign of their comeback and that they can finally win another Stanley Cup Championship soon!
