RALEIGH - To the surprise of almost everyone in the OTHL, home fans have a lot to cheer about in Carolina this year. After their 6th consecutive win tonight against the visiting Florida Panthers the Hurricanes are - for now at least - the number one team in the league. Many pundits had written them off early in the season because of their lack of depth, mediocre goaltending, suspect defence and major injuries to Justin Williams and Alex Tanguay. Players such as Sean Hill, Steve Yzerman, Rod Brind'Amour and Jeff O'Neill were shipped out in an admitted rebuilding phase. It seemed as though the team was designed to lose.
The only problem was, no one told the players.
"We were in this from Day One," claims sophmore centre Eric Staal, "we as a team decided that we weren't about to give up on the season every time a guy got traded."
The Hurricanes surprising play can be largely attributed to the play of Josef Vasicek and Radek Dvorak - currently ranked #1 and #2 in points for the league. Their success, combined with Joel Quenville's inspired tutelage plus excellent efforts from Staal and goaltender Kevin Weekes, have put them in an ideal position for the return of Tanguay and Williams - expected to be next game. In addition, after a mass exodus of talent since the pre-season, there are signs that GM Norm Donovan is cautiously looking to acquire talent that might help them maintain their success. Just yesterday the Hurricanes added struggling but dangerous winger John Leclair. While it would be foolish to assume that Donovan won't shop him around the league, the deal was structured such that the Hurricanes could keep him and still remain profitable.
What is next for the Hurricanes? Rumours abound that Donovan is keeping his eyes open for a deal to bolster his suspect blue line. Carolina defenders have done an admirable job with the talent they have, but clearly the injection of a stud dman or two would help reduce the number of shots faced by Weekes and hopefully produce more offence. The notoriously stingy Donovan however will likely wait for a deal that has a minimal impact on the club's future.