Could This Finally Be The Hurricanes’ Year?

The Hurricanes' 2-0 lead, against a Flyers squad that might be the weakest link of all the second-round contestants, means fans are allowed to start figuring how they might match up with Montreal or Buffalo in a conference final. If they're thinking about that, they might as well wonder if this is finally the year that Rod Brind'Amour's boys slay their conference demons to earn a shot at the Cup. Only the Lightning and the Avalanche own longer active playoff streaks than Carolina, who've made it to every postseason since 2019. But Tampa and Colorado have hoisted Stanley, and the Hurricanes, in all their appearances, have only tallied one lonely conference final game victory across three trips, for an overall record of 1-12. Why do they keep stalling out? Like with any NHL playoff question, you can blame some bad luck. But it's also true that the Canes are a team that gets their results by outworking lesser squads and sticking to a smart game plan, minimizing variance. When they've run into starrier rosters like the older Bruins teams or the more recent Panther iterations, they just haven't been able to produce goals at a high enough rate to exceed what their opponents' top lines could do. So much consecutive playoff disappointment would drive some franchises—Toronto—absolutely up a wall. But something to appreciate about Carolina is that they've stayed clear-eyed about their weaknesses and taken steps to address them. Last season, they tried to acquire their big-time supernova scorer when they traded for Mikko Rantanen, who topped out at 55 goals for the Avs in 2022–23. But Moose, as they call him, was taken aback by his sudden ejection from his career-long NHL home, and his relationship with Carolina just never got off on the right skate. Rather than stubbornly stay in an unhappy marriage, the Canes swapped him after just 13 games, making a bet on some draft picks and a much younger player, Logan Stankoven, who seems like he's developing into a long-term cornerstone.