Carolina Hurricanes
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CAROLINA HURRICANES NEWS CLIPPINGS • December 14, 2020 NHL gearing up to give 2021 season a try during the COVID-19 pandemic By Chip Alexander Canes could land in a division with Tampa Bay, Florida, Nashville, Columbus, Chicago, Detroit and Minnesota. While things can seemingly change weekly if not daily during the pandemic, the NHL does appear to be closing in on plans Making the playoffs — commissioner Gary Bettman has said for a new season. he wants to return to a 16-team Stanley Cup format — would be formidable, regardless of where the Hurricanes are Media reports have the league eyeing a Jan. 13 start and a placed. 56-game regular season, followed by the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs. Darren Dreger of TSN in Canada was the first to The Canes, in the playoffs the past two seasons, did keep report on a breakthrough in what has been something of a their team largely intact, which would help if there’s a stalemate in talks between the NHL and NHL Players’ hastened start to the season. Defensemen Dougie Hamilton Association, and The Associated Press reported Tuesday and Brett Pesce have recovered from injuries last season, that training camps could open Jan. 1. and coach Rod Brind’Amour would not have to do much tinkering — veteran forward Jesper Fast, signed in free There are still some moving parts, questions and logistics to agency, is the only new face in the mix if no further changes be handled. Will the team rosters be expanded? Will the are made. games be played in pods or all in home arenas? Will there be some outdoor games? In 2013, the Canes played their first game at Florida on Jan. 19 and started the season 3-4-0. They then went 5-0-1 in And all that with the daunting backdrop of COVID-19 and an their next six games and were in good position in the then- alarming spike in coronavirus cases in the U.S. and Canada Southeast Division until goalie Cam Ward was lost with a leg in the past few months. College basketball is grappling with injury in early March. Later, defenseman Joni Pitkanen the coronavirus issue, and there have been many suffered what would be a career-ending heel injury. cancellations. The NHL still must decide how much testing will be done and how safely games can be played. The Canes were 19-25-4, missing the playoffs for a fourth consecutive season. While mostly disappointing, the What would an abbreviated season be like? Think back to shortened season did make for a few unexpected highlights: the 2012-13 season and the last lockout, when the NHL and forward Jiri Tlusty scored a career-high 23 goals and the NHLPA haggled for months over a new collective bargaining Canes started an all-Staal line — Eric, Jordan and youngest agreement. A CBA finally was ratified and games began Jan. brother Jared — in a late-season game. 19, 2013, in a 48-game regular season. The Stanley Cup finals, won by the Chicago Blackhawks, ended June 24. By year’s end, 36 players had appeared in at least one game for the Canes. Of the 36, only Jordan Staal remains from the Carolina Hurricanes president and general manager Don 2012-13 team. Waddell turned some heads late last week when he said there could soon be an NHL resolution in plans for the 2020- A strong start and luck with injuries could be a must for the 21 season — or what could now be a 2021 season — and Canes in a sprint-to-the-finish-line kind of season. They’ll the Canes could be playing games in PNC Arena “sometime need to be fast out of the blocks and the Canes have been in in January.” Turns out, Waddell wasn’t being overly Brind’Amour’s first two seasons as head coach — 4-0-1 in optimistic. 2018-19 and then 5-0-0 last season. It’s likely there will be new divisions. Given the COVID-19 The Canes, eliminated by the Bruins in the 2020 Stanley Cup quarantines for those traveling to Canada, there could be an playoffs, have not qualified for the playoffs in three all-Canadian division and three U.S. divisions. Pierre LeBrun consecutive seasons since the move to North Carolina in of TSN and The Athletic, reported Wednesday that the 1997. CAROLINA HURRICANES NEWS CLIPPINGS • December 14, 2020 How the World Searched for the Canes in 2020 By Michael Smith • carolina hurricanes zamboni Google released its annual "Year in Search" summary, • david ayers accompanied by a video essay that always seems to perfectly encapsulate the mood of a year in a few short, yet Top related search queries included game-specific match- impactful minutes. ups - the Boston Bruins, the Canes' First Round opponent, being the top one - tickets, schedule, league information and, The driving search term for 2020 was "why," as we all of course, the Maple Leafs. wrestled to find meaning amidst a tumultuous and trying year. Rising related topics searched - those that saw the biggest increase from the year prior - included "David Ayres," "Ice "Bubble" was a popular search term, too, as the sports world resurfacer," "Morgan Geekie," "James Reimer," "Trade," came to a sudden halt in March before select leagues "Goaltender" and "Dougie Hamilton" in the top 10. The top returned later in the year with tournaments and postseasons six related topics searched included "North Carolina," staged in bubbles. The NHL, of course, completed its 2019- "National Hockey League," "Ice hockey," "Boston Bruins," 20 season with an expanded playoff tournament in two hub "Toronto Maple Leafs" and "Goaltender." cities and administered 33,394 COVID-19 tests with zero positive results over a two-month timeframe. Search interest in the Canes peaked the week of Feb. 23-29, as Ayres mania swept across the globe and a busy trade As 2020's "Year in Search" was encapsulated by "why," the deadline brought three new faces to Raleigh. Search interest Carolina Hurricanes' "Year in Search" can be summed up increased again in late July as the league geared up for its with "Ayres." 24-team postseason tournament. The week of Aug. 9-15 - The top 10 breakout search queries related to the Canes in after the Qualifying Round sweep of the Rangers and 2020 all led back to that one historic night in Toronto: heading into the proper First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs - saw the high point of search interest in the Canes • ayres hurricanes in the latter half of the year. • ayres carolina hurricanes Search interest in the Canes was international, from Thailand to Kazakhstan and South Africa and Vietnam and Australia • david ayres to the United States and Canada and Finland and Sweden and Russia and the Czech Republic. • hurricanes zamboni driver Within the United States, the Triangle was, as expected, • carolina emergency goalie most plugged into the Canes, followed by Greensboro, Charlotte and New York City. In Canada, the Canes attracted • hurricanes emergency goalie search interest from Toronto, Calgary, Montreal and more. • emergency goalie carolina What will guide Canes-related searches in 2021? Maybe it will be "Stanley Cup." • carolina hurricanes emergency goalie Search on, Canes fans. Hurricanes goaltending trade options, realignment’s impact: Bag of Jerks By Sara Civian As much as I appreciate subscriber Ross P., who asked me which Canes player would be cast as the somewhat shy Folks, can you believe the #rumblings are starting to turn into woodsman who owns a Christmas tree farm in a Hallmark #reports and we might have a real start date for the 2020-21 Movie (Sebastian Aho, hello?!) it felt good to see so many season? questions about tangible, upcoming happenings for this There are finally real questions to be asked and logistics to month’s Bag of Jerks. consider! Thank you for sticking around. It’s almost time for hockey. CAROLINA HURRICANES NEWS CLIPPINGS • December 14, 2020 Note: Submitted questions have been edited for clarity and “Maybe, maybe a little bit,” he said. “It always gets a little length. chippy during the games, too. We’re focused on what we need to do, but it’s always fun beating them … this is two Which defenseman is most likely to be picked up by teams battling hard who both don’t like each other.” Seattle? And slightly related, how would you evaluate Jake Gardiner heading into the season? — Kristofer H. Two teams that don’t like each other battling hard in the same division? Sounds like a budding rivalry to me — but the Shoutout to Kristofer H. for kicking us off with a softball, here. keyword is budding. I agree this needs to fester a few more Y’all have been asking so much about the expansion draft so years, but you have to start somewhere. It’ll be interesting to I finally wrote an actual article about it this week. If you’re see if it fizzles if the Canes and Caps are in different looking for the long answer, there you go. Short answer: divisions this upcoming season. I hope it doesn’t — it’s so Haydn Fleury, Brady Skjei, Jake Bean or Jake Gardiner. Gut fun to cover these games and I love how angry both answer: Bean. Kraken GM Ron Francis knows him and fanbases get on Twitter. I’m from Boston so I’m someone believed in him enough to draft him 13th overall, and Bean who grew up hating the Yankees more than I liked the Red has performed well enough at the AHL level to get an actual Sox.