The Canes Fell Short of the Goal
By Glenn Brewer
The ultimate goal of the Carolina Hurricanes at the start of the season was to win the Stanley Cup. After a second-round exit, the team was ready to take a step towards the title. Unfortunately, we are upon another off-season without the Stanley Cup.
Falling 8 wins short of their goal, the Canes did advance to the Eastern Conference Finals unlike the year prior but that does not feel like much of a victory today.
Some teams take time to build up to the ultimate goal and in that case, Rod Brind’Amour’s team is taking steps towards the cup. It is too bad that it is taking much longer than desired but that could be for many reasons.
Whether or not the front office and the coaching staff remain intact for the next season will remain to be seen.
It is not breaking news to reveal the injury situation that fell upon the Canes with the fall of leading scorer, Andrei Svechnikov and the cup of coffee newly acquired Max Pacioretty got in Carolina.
If these two players would things have been different enough to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals? Unfortunately, we will never know but it adds to the frustration of this end to the season.
Did the referees make it nearly impossible to win some playoff hockey games? Again, we cannot know for sure despite the questionable job done by the zebras this season in general.
Ultimately this team has a core that was built to win a Stanley Cup and they did not come through in the most crucial moments of the season. No one is saying that this team played poorly against Florida but the job was not done.
Brind’Amour’s post-game rants were taken by the national media as over the top but everyone truly understands what he was getting at. This series was far closer than a sweep in so many ways.
This does not take away Florida’s achievement but it is not crazy to say that the Canes were the better team in over 50% of each of those four games. Again, this does not help or feel better today but it is something to remember heading into the offseason.
Like every offseason, this team has many important decisions to make and potential moves to improve this club. One player falling to an injury cannot derail a contending team if that indeed was the case.
It doesn’t feel good thinking about the next game being played in October but remember that the NHL draft is next month followed by the free agency period. The road to winning the cup has already begun and Caniacs better be ready for a busy summer.