15. 2009-10
Once again, the most disappointing part about this season was not the outcome in the standings, but the follow-up to a great result from the season previous. In 2008-09, the Canes made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals.
After the loss in the ECF to the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Canes had trouble putting anything positive together over a long stretch of time during the 2009-10 campaign. It was an unusual combination of younger guys trying to mesh with a mixed bag of veterans.
Eric Staal, Jussi Jokinen, and Ray Whitney led the way in points. Young talents like Brandon Sutter and Zach Boychuk should have given this team hope. However, Sutter and Boychuk would not even be on the Carolina roster just a few years later.
Nothing would get much for the Canes anytime soon, as this was the time that kicked off the current eight season playoff drought that Carolina is currently experiencing.