Carolina set the league on fire two seasons ago, then fell apart last season.
By DAMIAN CRISTODERO
Published October 10, 2003
[AP photo]
Hurricanes center Ron Francis says, ‘‘This is a new start for us. We’re not going to look back.’’
When the Hurricanes came together for last season's training camp, the mood was almost festive. The defending Eastern Conference champs figured they were about to take the next step to a Stanley Cup title.
Carolina took a step all right, right off a cliff. In one of the great collapses in NHL history, the Hurricanes, with 61 points, finished last in the 30-team league.
No surprise the mood at the start of this season's camp was more subdued, not only because of where the team finished but because jobs are on the line.
"There wasn't necessarily the reunion feeling that there was at the start of camp last year," coach Paul Maurice said. "I think there is a bit of tension built on by the competition."
Said captain Ron Francis: "When you have the season like we had last year, you hope that guys respond by coming back ready to go. This is a new start for us. We're not going to look back."
The Hurricanes' story should be must reading for the Lightning. Not only because the teams are Southeast Division rivals but because the circumstances of their success are so similar and Tampa Bay must guard against their mistakes.
It also is a cautionary tale about how tenuous success is in the NHL, and about how things out of one's control, specifically injuries, can mess up the best laid plans.
The Hurricanes won the division and conference in 2001-02 with a low-payroll team made up of overachieving players who scrapped and fought for everything they got. The Lightning won the Southeast last season and advanced to the East semifinals with the same formula.
The Hurricanes entered the next season with huge expectations. Tampa Bay does likewise this season. It didn't take long for reality to punch Carolina's players in the face.
You never get a night off when you're the defending champs. Teams play you tougher, meaning you have to bring playoff intensity every night.
There were dropoffs from key players such as Sami Kapanen and Bates Battaglia, both 20-goal scorers who went through long dry spells. Goalie Arturs Irbe went from solid rock to Swiss cheese.
Remember how difficult it was for the Lightning to win when Nikolai Khabibulin was struggling? How far do you think the team would have gotten if Martin St. Louis and Vinny Lecavalier were as well?
Finally, there were the injuries.
Carolina lost 290 man games in that way, 218 in the second half of the season. Tampa Bay lost 143.
Goalie Kevin Weekes missed three weeks with a concussion. Francis struggled with a torn back muscle. Defenseman Bret Hedican sustained a concussion in December.
Center Rod Brind'Amour, the team's best faceoff man, was lost for the season when in January he shredded a tendon in his right hand. And wing Erik Cole snapped his right fibula during a Jan. 30 game against the Lightning.
The Brind'Amour and Cole injuries did in two-thirds of the famed BBC line. And with Battaglia faltering, much of the offense disappeared.
As if that wasn't enough:
After Weekes tore a ligament in his right thumb, backup Patrick Desrochers played two games before breaking his arm during a pregame skate. Rookie wing Jeff Heerema scored three goals in his first nine games and then broke two bones in his right wrist. Rookie Damian Surma scored in his debut but injured his shoulder while celebrating.
When the season ended, 11 players were injured. Brind'Amour, Cole and Weekes had offseason surgery. It's enough to make the most hardened veteran shudder because it illustrates how success can turn on circumstances beyond a team's control.
"Guys know that last year is something we all want to put behind us," Hedican said. "And the best way to put something like that behind us is to get back to where we were before."
Hence the mood of this season's training camp.
"I just see guys are hungrier," Hedican said. "I can sense it. As quickly as we fell, I think we can do it as quickly going the other way."
