Head Coach: Peter Laviolette
Rod Brind'Amour didn't just enjoy his best offensive season in a decade with 31 goals and 70 points. In his first season as captain, he blossomed as a leader, building a foundation that would help win the Stanley
Cup.
Always one of the NHL's best faceoff men and defen- -sive forwards, he was a force on the ice and in the dressing room.
Signed as a free agent from the Thrashers, Frantisek Kaberle was a perfect fit for the new NHL. His footspeed and positioning made him effective defensively while his passing helped the power play as he recorded a career-high 44 points.
While he wouldn't make his biggest impact until the playoffs, goalie Cam Ward was the only rookie to assume a major role on a veteran-laden team.
One of only three Carolina Hurricane players to appear in all 82 games, Kevyn Adams' faceoff skill and penalty-killing were invaluable.
By the time the Carolina Hurricanes were riding around with the Stanley Cup in the first of two parades, GM Jim Rutherford had already sat down , with coach Peter Laviolette to dis-J cuss two major contract issues.
One was Laviolette's own contract, set to expire 11 days after the Hurricanes won. The other issue had to do with more than half the roster, with little time for debate.
Any team that plays in the final is going to find its off-season looming once the battle is over. The Hurricanes scrambled to keep their team together in 2002, signing Ron Francis and Bret Hedican to long-term deals in a matter of days.
This time around, the compressed time frame is even more significant.
Of the celebrants who lifted the Cup, only 10 have contracts for next season. There's a lot of work to be done to keep this team together. Fortunately, there's also plenty of money to spend. The Hurricanes turned a profit for the first time and owner Peter Karmanos is willing to put some of that back into salaries.
With an opening night payroll of around $29 million this year and at least $40 million budgeted for next fall, the Hurricanes shouldn't run , into the salary cap problems that doomed the Tampa Bay Lightning. But the Hurricanes do have to deal with the legacy of 2002, when they spent lavishly to keep that conference championship squad together, only to see it collapse the next season.
While injuries wound up plaguing that edition of the Canes, there was a staleness in training camp the next fall that never abated.
Having learned from those lessons, watch for the Hurricanes to bring in some new blood to keep the environment fresh.
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