It’s been a long, hot summer without Carolina Hurricanes hockey.
The Canes came oh so close to the Stanley Cup last year, but were swept by the Florida Panthers and Sergei Bobrovsky, their brick wall of a goalie, in the Eastern Conference Finals.
The question persists in the minds of Canes’ fans – with the roster’s wide array of talent (Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov, Jaccob Slavin, Brent Burns), why can’t they win hockey’s ultimate prize for a second time in franchise history.
Carolina went out and made free agency splashes, signing Dmitry Orlov and Michael Bunting to long-term deals. The Canes locked down their two starting goalies, Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta, from a season ago.
This should be enough, right?
We’ll see when the preseason kicks off on Tuesday, Sept. 26, as Carolina hosts the Tampa Bay Lightning at 7 p.m.
With no games to currently be played, though, what have the Canes been up to in the last month?
First, they locked down an agreement with the Norfolk Admirals to continue being their ECHL affiliate. The Admirals and Canes have been partnered up since 2021. This will be crucial, since Carolina currently is without an AHL (league below NHL) affiliate.
Second, the Canes discovered they’d be playing on national TV 11 times this year. That’s just over 13 percent of their games on the big stage, a reward for consistently being one of the league’s top teams over the past few years.
Andrew Ladd, who won the 2006 Stanley Cup in Raleigh, announced his retirement. As the Canes’ number four overall pick of the 2004 NHL Draft, Ladd scored 26 goals and dished out 24 assists across 138 games in the red, white and black. Ladd later became captain of the Winnipeg Jets, but not before capturing hockey’s ultimate team prize.
In more fun news, several Canes players spent a night at the Durham Bulls game on Friday, Sept. 1. Carolina fan favorite Jordan Martinook threw out the ceremonial first pitch – he was joined by teammates Slavin, Jalen Chatfield, Tony DeAngelo, Jack Drury, Seth Jarvis and Stefan Noesen.
The Canes learned their uniform schedule for the upcoming year – the popular home black jerseys will be worn 27 times. Carolina used to sport red as their primary sweater, but that switched to black before the 2022-2023 campaign. The Canes will wear red for 13 games, celebrate Whalers night on Saturday, Feb. 10 against the New Jersey Devils, then don the white away jerseys 41 times.
Most recently, Carolina signed NHL veteran Zach Aston-Reese to a professional tryout agreement. The lefty veteran played last year with the Toronto Maple Leafs, scoring an NHL-high 10 goals in 77 games.
As you can see, your favorite professional hockey team has been busy with a flurry of offseason activities. Soon, the Canes will be busy starting their quest for Stanley Cup number two.
