Cardiac Cane
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Carolina Hurricanes: The day that Gave the Franchise a Face

By Jeb Bohn

RALEIGH, NC - JUNE 10: Center Ron Francis #10 of the Carolina Hurricanes looks on against the Detroit Red Wings during game four of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals at the Entertainment Sports Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina on June 10, 2002. The Red Wings defeated the Hurricanes 3-0. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images/NHLI)
RALEIGH, NC - JUNE 10: Center Ron Francis #10 of the Carolina Hurricanes looks on against the Detroit Red Wings during game four of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals at the Entertainment Sports Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina on June 10, 2002. The Red Wings defeated the Hurricanes 3-0. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images/NHLI) /
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Ron Francis of the Carolina Hurricanes
Ron Francis, Carolina Hurricanes (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images/NHLI) /

The off-ice impact

It’s no secret that the Hurricanes’ arrival in North Carolina came under less than ideal conditions.  With their eventual home in Raleigh breaking ground, the team spent their first 2 seasons playing in the Greensboro Coliseum, 75 miles west.

Residents of the Gate City were hesitant to adopt the team knowing that their stay was only temporary.  Fans in Raleigh were faced with 2 1/2 round trips down I-40 at a time when games started at 7:30 and lasted a minimum of 3 hours.

All of this showed during their inaugural season.  After drawing a sellout in their home opener against Pittsburgh—a game that featured 115 penalty minutes, including 3 fights, 2 misconducts, and 3 game misconducts—attendance took a nosedive.  Over their next 10 home games, the Hurricanes averaged just under 7200 tickets sold, finishing the season with an average attendance of 9106.

The team had young, offensive talent in the likes of Keith Primeau, Sami Kapanen, and Jeff O’Neill.  There was the story of Gary Roberts and his return to hockey after a pair of surgeries to treat degenerative nerves in his neck.

Unfortunately, there were plenty of questions surrounding a team that struggled to draw fans in a—wait for it—non-traditional market.  Would the team survive?  Would the league’s top talent laugh off the idea of signing with them?

There had been the Sergei Fedorov offer sheet saga, a ploy that failed to bring the Russian superstar to the Old North State.  The move garnered headlines throughout the hockey world but it failed to net any on-ice help for the Hurricanes.

Then, just over 4 months later, Francis signed with the franchise that he had broken into the league and blossomed with.

You can argue that he was well out of his prime, and I won’t argue that, but Francis was still a capable player and one of the best playmakers in the history of the game.  More than that, he was a big name free-agent and he had signed with the fledgling Hurricanes, a move that gave the team an air of credibility.

It also gave Carolina a pretty good veteran center to help improve their performance.

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