Don't blow it: if the Hurricanes don't win the `Southleast' division, they very well could miss the playoffs. Have they got what it takes to play in the postseason?

Sporting News, The, March 11, 2002 by Bob Sutton

When players are traded, sometimes they take shots at their former team. Ozolinsh, a week after his trade to the Panthers, wasn't one of them. "I know how good they can be," he said of his former team.

The team has been good in parts. Last year, the specialty was penalty killing; this season, it's faceoffs. Carolina has led the NHL in faceoff percentage, certainly aided by Brind'Amour's expertise in this area, plus the capabilities of Adams and Francis. All were ranked in the top 10.

Faceoff success is another one of the pieces the Hurricanes have in place. It's up to Maurice to make sure those pieces don't fly apart as the team swings toward the playoffs.

With seven years at the helm, Maurice is second in the NHL in active tenure with the same team, behind Detroit's Scotty Bowman, who has been with the Wings for nine years. Maurice doesn't have the championship rings Bowman does, but he has displayed a similar degree of resiliency.

He has guided the organization through the relocation from Hartford, Conn. (where they were the Whalers), to a temporary two-year stop in Greensboro, N.C., and then into the new arena in Raleigh. All the while he deflected criticism about his motivational tactics and his inexperience.

"I'm far more resilient as a coach and far better aware of the length of the season," says Maurice, 35. "There's a resiliency you learn."

Equally knowledgeable about the length of the season is Francis, 39, who is a pillar for the organization. Though he has more years behind him than ahead, he's a throwback only in era. Considered one of the better players in the league, Francis is as flexible as anyone on the team.

"I think you have to adapt or you get left behind ... or else you become a dinosaur, and sooner or later you become extinct out there," he says. "When you come in (to the NHL), you dream about showing you belong and that you can play at this level."

For the most part, that's the overall mind-set of the Hurricanes. They've never been accepted as a legitimate threat in the playoffs, even while occupying first place in the division.

To gain acceptance, Rutherford has addressed more pressing issues, such as the team's uncharacteristic shoddy play in its own end. He brought in Sean Hill, a former Hurricane who never found a niche with St. Louis, and Hedican from Florida.

"We weren't as good defensively as we need to be," Maurice says. "I think our defense has improved from the start of the season. I think you're going to see less of (the soft goals) with the way our defense is structured."

Hill is popular with teammates and fans. His presence in the lineup gives Tanabe more time to develop. Considered a rising star after last spring, Tanabe hasn't continued his ascension as expected.

Working in Tanabe's favor is that the organization is patient, something that proved beneficial with O'Neill and, more recently, Battaglia. The Hurricanes have waited for right winger Kapanen to re-emerge, and now he's approaching the best season of his career.

Patience can go only so far toward securing that key No. 3 seed. Maurice and Rutherford have described this as a no-excuses season, one in which it's time to make certain the on-ice part is a success.