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Carolina Hurricanes: Cam Ward’s Carolina Resume and Legacy

By Conor Power

RALEIGH, NC - JUNE 19: Goaltender Cam Ward #30 of the Carolina Hurricanes poses with the Conn Smythe trophy after defeating the Edmonton Oilers in game seven of the 2006 NHL Stanley Cup Finals on June 19, 2006 at the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Hurricanes defeated the Oilers 3-1 to win the Stanley Cup finals 4 games to 3. (Photo by Dave Sandford/Getty Images)
RALEIGH, NC - JUNE 19: Goaltender Cam Ward #30 of the Carolina Hurricanes poses with the Conn Smythe trophy after defeating the Edmonton Oilers in game seven of the 2006 NHL Stanley Cup Finals on June 19, 2006 at the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Hurricanes defeated the Oilers 3-1 to win the Stanley Cup finals 4 games to 3. (Photo by Dave Sandford/Getty Images) /
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Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Cam Ward wins 2006 Conn Smythe Trophy
Cam Ward, Carolina Hurricanes (Photo by Dave Sandford/Getty Images) /

In 2002, the Carolina Hurricanes would use their first-round draft pick on a goaltender. How would that 22nd overall pick pan out for the team?

Allow me to take you back in time to a time when there were only 30 teams in the NHL. Only the Dallas Stars had won a cup since 1994 that didn’t belong to the Colorado Avalanche, New Jersey Devils, or Detroit Red Wings. Carolina had just made the Stanley Cup Finals only 5 years after being relocated from Hartford, Connecticut.

Carolina had one major hole they needed to fill, and it was in the blue paint. You can apply this sentence to seemingly every season ever for the Carolina Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers franchise. So Carolina looked towards a goaltender from the draft when they took a young man from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan named Cam Ward.

At the time, Carolina had just made the cup finals with Arturs Irbe and Kevin Weekes between the pipes. Two goaltenders who had endured less than spectacular careers to this point. It was the teams biggest weakness, but the franchise had shown they were capable of winning without a truly spectacular talent in goal (with all due respect to Weekes and Irbe).

With Irbe towards the end of his career and a lot of question marks hanging around what Weekes was capable of, there was a lot of organizational pressure pushed onto Ward. He had a spot on the roster as soon as he showed that he was capable of playing at the top level. All that was required was for him to perform to show he could play with the worlds best.

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