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“No-Name” Hurricanes?
by Mike Chen on 05/08/09 at 12:10 PM ET
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Saw this today courtesy of the boss, and somehow I think the Boston media is overlooking the fact that the Carolina Hurricanes have a pretty good team.
The B’s can talk all they want about execution. But their problem in losing the last two games was that the relatively no-name Hurricanes looked like a team that wanted to win more.
Forgive me if I’m taking this out of context, but I’m constantly confounded at the lack of respect the Hurricanes have received this playoff. Did any of the Canes’ critics watch Carolina down the stretch? For a while, they were the hottest team in the league, and Cam Ward was one of the hottest goalies in the league.
Let’s look at this “relatively no-name” squad, shall we?
-Eric Staal: Former 100-point player who popped in 40 goals this year. Oh, an ex-EA Sports cover boy to boot—generally, you have to be a “name” to get that.
-Rod Brind’amour: Ageless captain who once played a pretty prominent role on the Philadelphia Flyers and is generally well known throughout the league.
-Ray Whitney: The ageless Wizard who scored more than 60 points in eight times since the 97-98 season (and was on pace to do it several more times except for injuries).
-Cam Ward: Won something called the “Conn Smythe” trophy a few years back.
-Sergei Samsonov: Not that he had that great of a season, but shouldn’t the Boston folks know this guy?
If you want to charge Carolina with having a no-name defense, that’s reasonable: Joe Corvo and Anton Babchuk don’t really have a reputation that strikes fear in the heart of forwards. But to dismiss the Hurricanes as a lucky bunch of little-engines-that-could is somewhat misleading.
Here’s another way you can look at it. Yes, Carolina isn’t a traditional hockey market, but they pull in pretty decent attendance numbers. Still, if this team was cut-and-pasted into Toronto, how many times would the guys mentioned above be the subject of media worship? Ok, maybe not Samsonov, but at least Staal, Brind’amour, and Ward. If you’re looking at “name” in terms of on-the-street recognition, then it’s all contextual. If you’re looking at “name” in terms of the quality of talent, then the Hurricanes definitely aren’t the rebirth of the blue collar 1996 Florida Panthers.
I said it at the beginning of the playoffs and I’ll say it again. If you looked at teams playing down the stretch, if you looked at the parity throughout the league, you could have argued for just about any playoff team winning a series except for the Montreal Canadiens. Had the Habs won, that would have truly been an upset; otherwise, the reaction should have (and has) ranged from “They weren’t really an underdog” to “That’s a little unexpected but not too surprising.”
The Carolina Hurricanes just happen to be a pretty good team. Losing to them isn’t exactly something to be ashamed of.
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