The Carolina Hurricanes have been an interesting team to watch over the past few seasons as we await their arrival as a contender.
Now at the quarter mark of another campaign, it’s too early to tell whether this is the year they finally make a dent in standings — though as the trends tell us, if you’re outside the playoff picture once American Thanksgiving rolls around, you might stay there come April.
“We’ve been in a lot of games — five in overtime and 14 goalies being pulled — it’s not good for the GM’s heart,” Hurricanes general manager Ron Francis said during an appearance on Hockey Central at Noon on Friday.
“I think some of it is our youth and I think through the first 20 [games] we’ve been a little bit inconsistent,” he said of his club’s 9-7-4 record, which has it sitting seventh in the strong Metropolitan division. “Some of that, I’m thinking is because of the new faces we added and adjustments to our system and structure and how we play.”
The Hurricanes brought in goalie Scott Darling, defenceman Trevor van Riemsdyk and forwards Marcus Krueger and Josh Jooris this past off-season and welcomed back veteran Justin Williams, who won a Stanley Cup in Carolina in 2006.
The Hurricanes haven’t been able to string together more than two consecutive wins this season, but haven’t suffered many blowouts, either. Eight of their 11 losses have been by just one goal.
“At times we showed that we can be the team that we think we can be and at other times we struggled a little bit,” Francis said, “So hopefully we can find that consistency sooner rather than later and get on a roll here.”
Listen to the full audio here:
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