Carolina Hurricanes: Why the Playoffs Should be Priority Number One

The True Change in Culture

The biggest and, in my humble opinion, most important gain from making the playoffs regardless of how deep a run we make, is the change of culture that surrounds this team. That comes from all the other things I spoke to earlier in this article. Culture is not something that changes overnight. Nor is it something can can make a full transition from one season to another. But one thing for sure with the Carolina Hurricanes is that it needs to change.

The team has already taken steps toward this. Ownership has traded hands, as have the General Manager and Head Coach positions, albeit it both those positions were taken over by individuals already within the organization. However, captain Justin Williams has taken it as his personal mission to force a cultural change that has threatened to rock the entire league. Of course I am speaking to the post-win celebrations that has had old-timers breaking down in anguish.

The Carolina Hurricanes have also broken an unspoken rule set by former majority owner Peter Karmanos, and broken the seal on the Whalers history, selling Whalers merchandise and even playing a few games in throwback Whalers jerseys against their old nemesis the Boston Bruins. But how does making the playoffs play into the change in culture?

The culture of the Carolina Hurricanes doesn’t start and end with the front office and their actions. It includes the players. How do they go into the game? What is the expectation of them? What keeps them up at night? Same goes for the coaching staff. Is the expectation just a “well-played” game? Is losing in overtime or by shootout an acceptable loss of a specialty point?

Or is the expectation a win? That no matter how many goals they are down and no matter how much time is left, they will at least tie it to force overtime? And is the expectation in overtime that they will be the ones that force the mistakes and take full advantage of them to bring home two points? That culture starts with the mentality of winning for the sake of winning, not for the sake of trying to make the playoffs, which should be a given side effect of winning.

That kind of mentality and culture comes from better players. Players who are not worried about the playoffs because they have no doubt that come April, there will be more hockey to play. It comes from having made the playoffs. Where players are no longer worried about the proverbial “monkey” on their backs and can play with the sheer purpose of dominating the opposing team.

It comes from a more engaged fanbase. The kind that runs opposing teams out of PNC Arena night after night. There are no opposing fans, because there is no room for opposing fans. Fans aren’t counting points between themselves and a playoff spot, they are counting on a team that will give them the entertainment they paid for. Tickets are near impossible to secure. Parents put their newborn children on the waitlist for season tickets in hopes that when they grow up their number will finally be called.

This culture change will definitely not happen overnight. A single playoff berth will definitely not make all of this happen overnight. But it will definitely be the first massive step in the right direction. The longer it takes to make this step, the more work will have to be done in order to set things right. So let’s delay it no longer. Tom Dundon and Don Waddell have to do everything in their power to get this team to the playoffs come April. The costs of doing so might be high, but the costs of doing nothing will grow exponentially with each missed opportunity.