If you partook in online gambling during the NHL Playoffs then you know the Carolina Hurricanes were one team that did not come remotely close to winning the Stanley Cup. In fact you would have to go back 7 years to see a Hurricanes team in the playoffs. After winning the franchise’s first Stanley Cup back in 2006 Carolina has been unable to find even the most modest success. In 2007 year they became the first NHL team to win a Stanley Cup without making the playoffs the year before, or the year after. Although they did make it into the playoffs in 2009 they have failed to do so since then.
Carolina was performing so poorly that in May, 2014 they decided to do a coaching overhaul firing head coach Kirk Muller, and assistant coaches John Maclean and Dave Lewis. In Muller’s place Bill Peters was hired to help lead this team in the 2014 season. Peters had been coaching in the NHL since 2011 when he took up the mantle over in Detroit for the Red Wings. His first year with Carolina was shoddy at best posting only 30 wins, 6 fewer games than Muller had won the year before. This wasn’t a surprise as no one in the online gambling community expected the Hurricanes to have a standout season.
Last year was equally disappointing for Carolina fans. Even though they did pick up five more wins, Peters has still been unable to surpass Muller’s 36 wins in his final year. The Hurricanes are infamous for having slow starts to their season and last year was no exception. Opening the season against the Nashville Predators didn’t help, but neither did Carolina’s poor excuse for an offense. The Hurricanes had a 16.8% power play success rate ranking 24th in the league. They also ranked 27th for goals scored with 196, just 3 spots away from being dead last in the league. If Carolina is looking to be part of this year’s online gambling playoff season, then they better figure out their offensive woes.
The offseason would be the time to do it and with only 2 players on the Hurricanes roster attending the World Cup of Hockey, it seems they’ll have more than enough time to get to work. Teuvo Teravainen and Sebastian Aho are the two players who have received the call to represent their country in the tournament. Both players are Finnish so they will obviously be representing Finland. Losing so few players is a good thing for Carolina as it gives this young squad ample time to get acquainted and figure out their offense.
While Carolina will only have to part ways – for a brief stint – with two players their head coach will also be participating in the World Cup of Hockey. Peters has been the head coach of the Canadian’s men’s national ice hockey team for quite some time now and this position will force him to spend some time away from his NHL team. Most teams do have to part ways with several stars, so hopefully Peter’s offseason absence will not be detrimental to this team. After all the Hurricanes have a long way to go before they become favorites for anyone’s bet on NHL futures.
