The Carolina Hurricanes opened their training camp this morning with team physicals starting at 7 a.m. Six days from now the Canes will host their first preseason game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Three weeks from today they'll open the regular season against the Ottawa Senators surrounded by close to twenty thousand Caniacs packed inside PNC Arena.
This night will be like many opening nights that we have experienced over the last 25 years. Excitement for a new season will mix with the possibility of what could come. Fans have gone months without the dopamine hit that comes from watching their favorite player score a highlight reel goal. Emotions will be high as the spotlight cuts back on for another hockey season in former tobacco country.
Though there is something different in the air this year. An expectation that has never been felt in Raleigh. A pedigree that fans have long wished for. One that head coach Rod Brind'Amour has always expected his team to play at. For the first time in franchise history, the Carolina Hurricanes are looked at as an elite force capable - No, expected to be the last ones standing, raising Lord Stanley's Cup into the air.
This isn't to say that the Hurricanes haven't had the occasional national personality pick them to win it all. That's happened every season since they made the Eastern Conference Finals during Brind'Amour's first season as head coach. Nevertheless, Carolina's stature around the league to start the 2023-24 NHL is something special.
The Hockey News made its position on the Hurricanes clear on its 2023 yearbook cover. That's Carolina's Sebastion Aho standing atop thirty-one other star players from around the league. Even though they predicted the Canes would fall to Colorado in seven games.
If you go off the beaten path The Hockey Guy on YouTube has Carolina defeating the Dallas Stars in the finals. Even sports fans have favored the Hurricanes so far. As of the writing of this article, the Hurricanes are odds-on favorites to win the Cup on Draft Kings and FanDuel.
It's hard to believe that a little over five years ago the Hurricanes' future seemed uncertain. Local fans had grown tired of hoping, just to be let down in the waning days of the regular season. The franchise and fan base were facing hospice care. Fast forward to the present day and nothing could be further from the truth.
Once in financial limbo, the Hurricanes' organization is now making hundreds of millions of dollars worth of investments around their arena. Boosted by record attendance over the last handful of seasons.
Before we know it the preseason will turn into the regular season. We will get to the holiday break in the blink of an eye. Then fans will complain about the All-Star game before we get over-invested at the trade deadline. Followed closely behind by playoff races and then the quest for the oldest pro-sport trophy in North America.
All of this is to say you should soak it in. Hurricanes fans are used to not getting their time in the spotlight. That's what a decade's worth of subpar play in a "non-traditional" market gets you. But after a lot of hard work from players, coaches, and team personnel, the Hurricanes have carved out their spot on the map.
Whether it's walking into PNC Arena for the first time this season or tuning in to Bally Sports South after a long summer. Take a moment to breathe in the air from the top of the NHL as the regular season gets underway.
I am so ready for hockey season. I will be at pre-season "opening"night on Tuesday, and I can't wait. I have believed since the day Rod Brind'Amour was named head coach that he will bring another Cup to Carolina. Feels like we are going into a special year - one in whick you wrote so eloquently.