Carolina Hurricanes Game Day Thoughts: A 1000 Game Celebration

With the playoffs out of the reach, the Carolina Hurricanes look to keep building on an impressive March

It was fun while it lasted.  A fleeting fancy.  Stirred emotions from meaningful games played after the trade deadline.  But time, and Hurricane fandom, makes fools of us all.  The palpable excitement persisted with each added game of the streak.  It hearkened to a playoff atmosphere, that like the Carolina Hurricanes playoff chances, ultimately fell short of the real thing.  Similar to asking for Oreos and your mom brings back Hydrox cookies.

So now as the Carolina Hurricanes face the Minnesota Wild tonight, again the thoughts turn to next year and the future.  Was it worth it?  Was the run and added points worth the loss in draft position?  Some hockey analysts say yes.

More from Cardiac Cane

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• Week Two Coverage Of College Hockey In NC
• Derek Stepan Ends His On Ice Career As A Hurricane
• The Southeast Rookie Showcase Will Be a Good Look at Carolina’s Future
• Noesen Ready To Provide Depth For Canes

Kevin Allen at USA Today wrote about the lacking star power in this year’s draft.  Allen quotes TSN’s Craig Button:

"One team may think that the guy they have ranked fourth is good, but another team might have him ranked 16th.  So if you are trying to make the playoffs, you might say, ‘Wait a second, the guy we would take at five might be available at 16."

In the end, the almost playoffs draft spot will not be a huge detriment to the Hurricanes due to the draft’s lack of top end talent.  Add the team’s large stockpile of picks and prospects to the equation and the damage is lessened even more.  Ok, let’s move on to the whimsical wonders that are Game Day Thoughts.

Game Day Thoughts

• Tuesday the Minnesota Wild honors Eric Staal for his 1000th game in the NHL.  It technically won’t be his 1000th game, that was on March 19th, but the Wild postponed the celebration till the Hurricanes were in town so Eric could celebrate with Jordan.  One day after fans came to terms with how truly awful the NHL are at their job, it’s nice to see someone in the league do something right for once.
• Speaking other things people in the NHL are getting right, Tuesday will mark the return of Bryan Bickell to the Canes’ NHL roster since his Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis.  Can he actually contribute to the NHL roster?  Don’t really know, but in the end it doesn’t really matter.  It’s a great move, along with others, and shows the Hurricanes’ PR department sometimes does things right.
• In addition to Bryan Bickell, the Carolina Hurricanes recalled Andrew Poturalski from Charlotte as well.  Poturalski is 23 years old and leads all skaters in points for the Checkers with 48.  He is also tied for second on the team with 16 goals.  It will be nice to see how Poturalski adapts to the NHL game and see if he could work as a depth center next year.

Next: Saarela is Lighting Up the AHL

• As good as Carolina’s March was, the Wild have been just as extreme in the opposite direction.  5-11-2 isn’t a record any team wants to have heading into the last week of the regular season.  Especially a team considered to be a legitimate cup contender.  Some of it is a bit of bad luck and hopefully is just an aberration.  Hopefully, things regress back to the mean rather quickly or else it looks like an early exit for Bruce Boudreau.  While sad for Wild fans, it will be a boost in the economy of hot takeistry as bad writers talk about Boudreau being a bad coach because he couldn’t win “when it mattered.”