Carolina Hurricanes: Every NHL All-Star selection in franchise history

Noah Hanifin was the 17th all-time All-Star selection for the Carolina Hurricanes, continuing the team’s appearance streak in the ASG to four years.

As the 2018 NHL All-Star Weekend came and past, it’s a great time to look at the past participants with the Carolina Hurricanes. This team had he 21-year-old star defenseman Noah Hanifin participating, as a first-time selection, there’s a lot of excitement from the fan base surrounding this year’s All-Star festivities.

Hanifin got to participate in Jan. 27 Skills Competition, in the race for the fastest skater in the league. Sami Kapanen was once a Cane that won the event, and they have a few different players in the roughly two decade long history of the franchise that took part.

In total, 11 Canes played in at least one NHL All-Star Game, since the franchise moved to North Carolina in 1998. Geoff Sanderson just missed the cut, by making the 1997 NHL All-Star Game with the Hartford Whalers.

Another recognizable Canes legend that participated in the festivities as a Whaler is current general manager Ron Francis. As an NHL legend and Hockey Hall-of-Fame inductee, Francis surprisingly never got the honor of playing in a single All-Star Game as a member of the Canes. Considering he was either selected to play in or actually suited up with four All-Star Teams, it seems off that he never had that same honor while playing in Raleigh.

The fact that the Canes have possibly the smallest fan base in the NHL, by this point, the abundance of recent All-Star selections is unexpected. Carolina is in the midst of a nearly decade long playoff drought (officially would become 10 years if there’s no playoff hockey in Raleigh by April 2019). The spotlight on the organization is much dimmer than from 2002-2009.

A good portion of the Canes on this list took part in multiple All-Star Games. With the 2018 NHL All-Star Game officially concluded after an exciting weekend, here’s every player to ever represent the Carolina Hurricanes in this historic event in the world of hockey.

As one of the first two members of the Canes to ever be selected to an All-Star Team, there’s just another reason for former standout goalie Arturs Irbe to hold a special place in the memories for the fan base.

Irbe is currently the goalie coach for the Washington Capitals, helping develop talents like Braden Holtby, Philipp Grubauer, and Semyon Varlamov. And, those are just a few of the goalie churned out of D.C. in the past eight years (a group that includes possibly the best NHL backup, a Vezina finalist, and a Vezina winner).

It wasn’t just the grit and quickness that Irbe played with that made Canes fans love him, he showed the game great respect and his knowledge is matched by very few. Caps fans get to appreciate that knowledge and overall coaching ability now. If only the Canes could snag him for the same position on the head coach Bill Peters’ staff.

Furthermore, Irbe led the Canes to a bunch of initial milestones as a franchise. He was an original All-Star representing the organization, and he played a very key role in leading Carolina to a Cinderella Stanley Cup Finals run in 2002. The 1999 selection was the second of two career All-Star appearances for Irbe, first of which came with the San Jose Sharks.

The first captain for Carolina was also in the first duo of Canes selected for the All-Star Game, alongside Irbe, during the 1998-99 season. The former star center Keith Primeau’s tenure in North Carolina is largely a forgotten portion of his career.

However, Primeau had two of his best four point totals of his 15 season career. Most hockey fans now remember Primeau as a key member of some of the skilled and deep Philadelphia Flyers teams in the early 2000s with scorers like Simon Gagne, Jeremy Roenick, John LeClair, and Mark Recchi.

Primeau was a natural leader wherever he went, also guiding Carolina to its first playoff appearance, while playing in Greensboro, in 1999. That set off a stretch of three playoff appearances in four seasons, also the best run so far for the organization.

Losing Primeau entering the 2000s did not hurt the Canes too much. Francis was a seamless replacement as a captain. And, it’s great that Primeau went on to have a largely successful career with the Flyers. He retired at 34, after two All-Star Game appearances (the other in 2004).

If only the speedy Canes former right winger Sami Kapanen was sent out of Raleigh on a positive note, when he joined the Flyers in the latter portion of the 2002-03 season. Following up on Carolina’s 2002 Stanley Cup Finals appearance did not work out so well.

Possibly the most memorable part of Kapanen’s two All-Star selections was his outing in the 2000 and 2002 Skills Competition. Kapanen rounded off with the best time in the Fastest Skater Competition in both Skills Competitions.

Only a handful of players have won multiple Fastest Skater Titles including Edmonton Oilers young superstar Connor McDavid, former Russian star Sergei Fedorov, and the talented former Capitals forward Peter Bondra. That’s a skilled list that Kapanen is included on.

Kapanen’s only two career All-Star appearances came with the Canes. His best years came between 1997 and 2002. In each of those five seasons, Kapanen never tallied less than 20 goals and 48 points. He’d be included on any list of the most entertaining Canes to watch of all-time too.

The 2003 NHL All-Star Weekend festivities were something to remember for former Canes fan favorite right wing and “the eye of the storm”, Jeff O’Neill. Yet, O’Neill received some disrespect on a few occasions, from 2000-2002.

As a major snub from the 2001 All-Star Game (registering 41 goals that year), it might have provided some motivation for O’Neill to keep producing at a high-level over a four season span. His sole career All-Star appearance came in 2003, so he definitely enjoyed the opportunity.

O’Neill was a core part of Carolina’s 2002 Stanley Cup Finals squad, along with Kapanen, Francis, and Irbe. Those star players are not names that the fans in Raleigh are going to forget anytime soon, if ever.

Of all 11 Canes selected to an All-Star Game, O’Neill might have been disrespected the most, with three legitimate snubs. He could easily have two or three more selections in the early 2000s. Carolina’s 2002 breakout largely played a factor in his 2003 selection, though.

Amassing four All-Star Game appearances during his tenure with the Canes, Stanley Cup winning center and former captain Eric Staal is widely considered the best player in franchise history, or at least the most valuable and decorated.

Much like Francis, it is a wonder why Staal’s longtime teammate and another former Carolina captain Rod Brind’Amour was not picked for a single All-Star Game. However, Staal’s consistent appearances from 2007 to 2011 eased fan’s minds a bit.

The 2006 Winter Olympics, in Torino, Italy, canceled the 2006 All-Star Game. If not for that, Staal is likely to have been a lock for 2006. Staal’s only individual season with 100 points came in the 2005-06 campaign, where he capped things off tallying 45 goals and 55 assists.

After the 2006 season, the spotlight was firmly on Staal all across the league. He’s also one of just two players mentioned here that played in the 2018 All-Star Game (also Hanifin). Yet, Staal represented the Minnesota Wild in 2018, as he was dealt from the Canes in 2016.

The next player up is back in a Canes uniform in 2018, veteran right winger Justin Williams. Spending time with the Flyers, Canes, Caps, and Los Angeles Kings during his long career, Williams is well-traveled and has multiple Stanley Cup rings.

Williams owns two Stanley Cup rings with the Kings and a single ring with the Canes. Francis made the move to bring Williams back to Raleigh during the 2017 off-season, and it’s paying dividends so far.

Throwing it back to 2007, Williams hit the ice at the American Airlines Center (home of the Dallas Stars) for an eventual 12-9 loss for the Eastern Conference. Yet, the Canes had multiple All-Star representatives in the same year on three occasions only.

Since the last of those three Carolina multi-selection All-Star seasons was the game housed at the RBC Center in Raleigh, that played in the Canes favor more so than the rest. Similar to Staal, Williams was likely to be an All-Star in 2006 if not for the Torino Olympics.

Thinking about a talented star like current Carolina right winger Jeff Skinner having his most decorated season, award-wise, coming as a rookie is hard to believe. He even set a career mark in goals, with 37, last season and did not get the honor.

However, it’s hard to top Skinner’s hardware from the 2010-11 campaign, including an All-Star appearance in his rookie year, Calder Memorial Trophy, and NHL All Rookie First-Team honors. Skinner was not able to take the momentum from his end to 2016-17 and hot start to 2017-18 through the middle of the season.

At 25-years-old, and given an improving team around him, Skinner has a number of chances to get to his second All-Star Game in the near future. He should be entering his prime production years within the next couple seasons.

Whether Skinner stays with the Canes or not does not take away from him getting to play in his home arena for an All-Star Game in his first NHL season. That’s a crazy experience for a player that had not got out of his teenage years yet.

Surging Canes goaltender Cam Ward had his peak regular season production between 2008 and 2012. Yet, Ward only received a single nod to an All-Star Team in that four season span. His biggest snub came in 2009, where he posted 39 regular season wins and six shutouts.

After leading the Canes to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2009, Ward should have been a lock for the 2010 All-Star Game, but there was no such thing thanks to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Instead, Ward got to experience the same unique honor that Skinner did in 2011, representing his team as an All-Star in his home arena. Ward, Skinner, and Staal were the last All-Stars for the Canes until the 2015 game.

The 2013 partial NHL lockout and the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics pushed aside two straight All-Star Games. However, the Canes did have a rookie taking part in the event in 2012, so the team was not held completely out of the All-Star Weekend activities for three years straight.

Canes co-captain defenseman Justin Faulk did spoil his chance at setting a record for most consecutive All-Star Game selections in franchise history. If you include Faulk’s 2012 selection to the Rookie All-Star Team, then he does own the record outright, surpassing Staal.

However, official record do not count a Rookie All-Star Team nod as an overall NHL All-Star Selection. Skinner is still the only Carolina rookie to participate in an actual All-Star Game in franchise history.

This is still a tremendous accomplishment for Faulk, to go to three consecutive All-Star Games. Faulk also participated in the first tournament style All-Star Weekend, for the Metropolitan Division in 2017.

The streak of Canes defensemen playing for their team and division is still alive as we now await the 2019 All-Star Weekend. If Faulk is still with the Canes by then, he has a huge opportunity to bounce back and compete with a possible fourth career selection.

Seven years have passed since the Canes sent a forward to an All-Star Team. Staal and Skinner, in 2011, are the last Carolina forwards named All-Stars. Second-year left winger Sebastian Aho had a good shot at getting that honor this year, but strong offensive production across the Metro blocked that from happening.

As a result, Hanifin is the only Canes player to play in this year’s contest, at Amalie Arena (home of the Tampa Bay Lightning). The Metro’s three-goal defeat in their first game of the tournament, against the Atlantic Division was by no fault of Hanifin individually.

If not for Caps star goalie Holtby allowing five goals on 10 shots against the Atlantic, the Metro could have played in both tournament matchups. While Faulk and the Metro squad took down the Pacific Division All-Stars, from the Western Conference in 2017, Hanifin’s group did not have the same luck.

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The Pacific Team got their revenge and won the 2018 3-on-3 All-Star Tournament, by defeating the Central Division and Atlantic by a combined six goal margin. All three of the games in the tournament were decided by three goals. Hanifin and Brian Boyle, of the New Jersey Devils, were the only two Metro All-Stars held without a point.