Rewind: Revisiting the 2000-01 Carolina Hurricanes
Following a disappointing first season in Raleigh, the Carolina Hurricanes came into training camp with a slightly retooled lineup. The goal? A return to the postseason.
This is the fourth installment in my Carolina Hurricanes season-by-season retrospective. If you missed any of the prior installments, you can find them here:
After giving fans their first taste of the Stanley Cup playoffs in 1999, the Carolina Hurricanes struggled to maintain their momentum. As such, they missed the 2000 NHL postseason by one point. With the top-six forwards set, general manager Jim Rutherford went in search of depth to augment the roster.
With this goal in mind, Rutherford added role players Rob DiMaio, Darren Langdon, and Scott Pellerin. The GM also wanted to shore up the defense, signing veteran blueliner (and five-time All-Star) Kevin Hatcher. Rutherford knew that Hatcher could contribute but, at 34 and on the downside of his career, wouldn’t be enough on his own.
On June 24, 2000, Rutherford sent Nolan Pratt and a package of draft picks to the Colorado Avalanche for offensively-inclined defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh. Ozolinsh, who had racked up four 50-point seasons in Colorado, was brought in to spark the power play. While he did deal with a knee injury, the Latvian defender did cobble together a decent offensive season for the Hurricanes.
The biggest loss came with the loss of Gary Roberts. The physical winger, who had rejuvenated his career with the Hurricanes, signed as a free agent with the Toronto Maple Leafs after a 23 goal, 53 point campaign.
With the core set and complementary pieces in place, the question became whether the Hurricanes could make a return trip to the postseason.
The Offense
The Hurricanes finished the 1999-2000 season with the 18th ranked offense, their 217 goals coming in below the league average. Rutherford didn’t directly replace the output of Gary Roberts, counting instead on his veterans to be consistent and the youth to continue their progression. Winger Shane Willis, in his first full season, hit the 20-goal mark and finished with 44 points.
Despite playing in more games than the prior season, Bates Battaglia had a rough season. Despite hitting a roadblock, Battaglia did finish with 12 goals and 27 points in 80 games played. Rookie center Josef Vasicek chipped in 8 goals and 21 points. The new additions (DiMaio, Langdon, and Pellerin) added 6 goals (all from DiMaio) and 31 points.
The biggest offensive story was Jeff O’Neill‘s breakout season. The winger, in his sixth season, had a career year in which he posted 41 goals and 67 points. Captain Ron Francis and Finnish winger Sami Kapanen continued their solid play and Rod Brind’Amour acquitted himself well in his first full season with the Hurricanes.
While they boasted five 20-goal scorers (O’Neill, Kapanen, Brind’Amour, Willis, and Martin Gelinas), the Hurricanes actually finished with fewer goals scored (212) than the prior season. Their power play did show improvement, finishing 8th in the league (18.85%) and nearly 2% above the league average. O’Neill scored 17 of his tallies on the man advantage while Francis picked up 26 of his 50 assists on the power play.
On the blueline, newcomer Sandis Ozolinsh picked up 12 goals and 44 points while sophomore David Tanabe added 7 goals and 29 points. While Glen Wesley saw his offensive production continue to decline, the veteran did put up 5 goals and 21 points. Marek Malik also hit the 20 point mark, adding 6 goals and 14 assists.
Through the course of the season, the Hurricanes scored 5 or more goals on 11 occasions (all wins), including a 7-3 rout of the Florida Panthers.
The Defense
So we’ve established that the Hurricanes scored fewer goals than the year before. Not great. To add to their troubles, they also gave up more goals (225), placing them 16th in the league. Ten defensemen saw action in at least one game, though the top-six consisted of the usual suspects: Wesley, Ozolinsh, Malik, Tanabe, Karpa, and Hatcher. This season also marked the rookie campaign of Niclas Wallin, who dressed for 37 games.
Plus/minus, while not a perfect stat, was not pretty for the Hurricanes. Point of fact: take a look at every defender who suited up in 2000-01:
Ouch. That’s a combined -78. No matter what your opinion on plus/minus may be, that is ugly. One bright spot on the defensive side was the penalty kill. The Hurricanes finished second in the league, killing 87.18% of the penalties they were assessed.
Despite the defensive woes (more on that in a second), the Hurricanes held their opponents to 2 or fewer goals in a staggering 42 games (28-7-7). Now, Arturs Irbe deserves a ton of credit here, and he’ll get it, but not until the next page.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Carolina surrendered 5 or more goals 12 times, losing all but one (a 6-5 overtime win against the Tampa Bay Lightning). Out of that bad batch were 4 games in which the Hurricanes gave up 7 goals. No, that’s not a typo. They gave up 6 on 3 more occasions. I think it’s best we not talk about those.
Instead, let’s take a look at time on ice and a few key defensive categories and how the Hurricanes ranked:
Meh. Aside from the penalty kill, that’s really all there is to say. The Hurricanes had an off-year defensively, but they had an ace in the hole in net.
Arturs Irbe
Now, I usually label this section ‘The Goaltending’ but, if I’m being real, Irbe was the bottom line for the Hurricanes in goal. The diminutive Latvian played in a career-high 77 games, winning 37. With Eric Fichaud and Mark Fitzpatrick gone, Rutherford hit the free-agent market to land a new backup.
On August 9, 2000, he signed Tyler Moss, ex of the Calgary Flames. Moss was coming off of a two-year stint in Calgary behind some bad teams. In 11 appearances for the Flames in 1999-2000 he posted an unimpressive 3-7 record, however, both his goals-against average (2.51) and save percentage (.922) were very respectable.
So, nobody will deny that Irbe was a workhorse for the Hurricanes (he averaged 52 starts over his six-year stint in Carolina), but what about Moss? Well, I’ve always been told that it’s better to hold your tongue than to spew venom, so let’s just take a look at the goaltending stats:
You can see why my focus is on Irbe. Not only did he carry the load, but his six shutouts tied him for the sixth-best mark in the league. His goals-against average put him 22nd in the league among goalies who played at least 25 games. More impressive (though not for the defense) is the fact that he led the league in both shots faced (1947) and saves (1767).
Thanks in no small part to Irbe’s heroics, the Carolina Hurricanes made a return to the playoffs. Awaiting them was a first-round matchup against the defending Stanley Cup Champion New Jersey Devils.
A Return to the Playoffs
Despite the defensive woes and inconsistent offense, the Carolina Hurricanes squeezed their way into a playoff berth. Their prize for a hard-fought season? A first-round matchup against Martin Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils.
The first three games offered little hope for the Hurricanes as they dropped each game, getting outscored 11-1 in the process. Adding to that, Devils were outshooting the Hurricanes 89-52 during that span and the situation became much direr.
Game Four was a back-and-forth affair with each team trading goals. As regulation ended, each team had netted two goals, with Kapanen and Tanabe tallying for the Hurricanes. As overtime began, tensions ran high with the ESA crowd (I say that as someone who was there).
At the end of the night, the anxiety proved to be unwarranted. Rod Brind’Amour beat Brodeur just 46 seconds into the extra frame giving the Hurricanes much-needed life in the series.
With Game Five shifting back to New Jersey, the Hurricanes came out flying. Josef Vasicek and Sami Kapanen tallied first period goals and Jeff O’Neill picked up the game-winner in the third period. Arturs Irbe made 37 saves and Carolina was back in the series and heading home for Game Six.
Unfortunately, the sixth game was never in doubt. The Devils carried a 3-1 lead into the third period, picking up two more en route to a 5-1 victory to end the series. For the Hurricanes, the game was a dud. Their offense was never able to get any rhythm and New Jersey dominated shots to the tune of 39-15.
It was a disappointing end to a disjointed season, though it did herald the promise of better things to come.
Let’s take a look at the Hurricanes top playoff performers:
The Carolina Hurricanes had a very uneven season and were handily outclassed by the defending champs. All was not lost, however, as the areas of opportunity were clear and another playoff run, albeit short, gave the team and its fans a reason to hold out hope.
Okay, longtime Caniacs, what are your thoughts on the 2000-01 Carolina Hurricanes?
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