Carolina Hurricanes: Did Justin Williams Re-Sign in Secret?

The Carolina Hurricanes are set to reveal their new away Jerseys tomorrow, but could there be something more attached to it perhaps the return of a team captain?

Oh Captain my Captain. Last season when Justin Williams was named the captain of the Carolina Hurricanes, I knew that something special was brewing. No longer were the Carolina Hurricanes going to be led by committee on the ice. No longer was there going to be any confusion as to who was “the man” who would take charge and send us back to the playoffs.

And back to the playoffs they went. Wherever Justin Williams surged, the team followed. Even if that meant straight into the boards. But with the offseason rapidly coming to a close (less than a month away from first preseason home game) he has yet to decide if he will be returning to lead the team for at least one more season. Or hasn’t he?

The Carolina Hurricanes may have pulled a fast one on us and have not only already have a response from Justin Williams, but already have him signed, in an unofficial capacity, to a new contract and kept it secret from us. While this would take some Disney Marvel Avengers level of secrecy to keep this spoiler from getting out, perhaps there are some clues to this.

On the 15th the Carolina Hurricanes released a teaser video for the new Adidas away jerseys that we all knew for a while now would be released for the upcoming season. With a simple date of August 20th and a “Take Warning” they dumped an 11 second teaser on us that has a lot to unpack. The most interesting takeaway comes about halfway through at the 5 second mark:

That is an outline of a Carolina Hurricanes player. A RIGHT HANDED player. There aren’t many right handed players on the team. Currently there are only FOUR right handed players on the NHL roster. All on defense. Justin Faulk, Brett Pesce, Trevor Van Riemsdyk, and Dougie Hamilton.

Could it be that one of these four fine gentlemen is the model in the video? Perhaps, but TVR is still injured, Dougie Hamilton is still a bit new to the team, and Brett Pesce isn’t part of the leadership. Could it be Justin Faulk? Perhaps. It could even be a random unfaced model. But I have a feeling that the Carolina Hurricanes want to maximize the reveal of the new sweaters with something a little extra.

That little extra would be the extravagant reentrance of Captain Justin Williams into our lives rocking the new sweaters with the “C” boldy placed on the jersey as the Carolina Hurricanes floor their fanbase with an epic one two punch. Pair that up with an official re-signing of the team captain and the fanbase will have more than enough to last them until September 15th.

Now, I know what you are thinking; “Omar, there is no way that you can make such a bold prediction from a single frame of an 11 second video.” I hear you. But allow me to finish. The rest of the proof is in what Justin Williams has publically done, or more accurately, what he hasn’t done.

He has yet to take up residence outside of North Carolina, nor has he slowed down on any of usual offseason activities, such as his youth training camps. A man seriously contemplating retirement would be setting himself up for it more. But instead, it’s just been more of the same from Justin Williams and his regiment. I think he made up his mind a while back.

My wild guess is that Waddell probably already has an unofficial agreement with the Team Captain. Tom Dundon and his crack marketing team have probably made a plan on how to proceed with announcing that return of the man who lead to the team to the promised land of the playoffs and beyond. The usual social media package is simply not enough.

So why not package it with the reveal of the new away jerseys and make it memorable? On their own away jerseys are not much of a memorable reveal. Chances are that the fans will never see them worn by the players on the ice in PNC. On their own, it will become “ho, hum” news within the week no matter how good they look. Not exactly good for sales.

But now imagine if they had the coveted captain who has for almost the entire offseason eluded the fans with the “will he, or won’t he” narrative that has constantly consumed most of the content around the Carolina Hurricanes, even here at Cardiac Cane. People will never forget the new jerseys. Sales will boom.

It is a genius move on the Carolina Hurricanes and will have the fans clamouring and adoring them until the season finally begins and the players go out on the ice, led by the man that single handedly gave the old traditionalists of hockey migraines all season long last year. With Williams back in the fold the Carolina Hurricanes will be a force to be reckoned with. Like their namesake.

Question for CC Readers: What do you think will happen tomorrow? Will it be Justin Williams skating out in the new jerseys? Justin Faulk? someone else?