5. Bill Peters is steadily improving this team
The Canes are not a team used to getting off to fast starts. In fact, this is one of the best starts for Carolina in the past decade. Whether that ultimately means good things is yet to be seen. We’re only 14 games into an 82 game season.
Moreover, the Canes have played the least games of anyone in the NHL. That is a big reason why Carolina finds itself in last place in the division. Rattling off four or five straight wins at least would bring the Canes back into the playoff picture early in the season.
After taking over for Muller, Peters switched a lot of things around with the culture of this team. With the help of general manager Ron Francis, the Canes added a lot of young talent to build around and everything was in place for a good run deep into the playoffs.
The progression is hard to see on a nightly basis and Peters does need to continue to have his squad prepared for every game. Sometime the Canes come out lackadaisical in road contests. Most would say that is normal, though.