“I would say our goal this summer was to bring in at least one high-end defenseman and one high-end forward and try and shore up those groups,” Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky said. “I feel like we did that.”
With those two bold moves, Carolina made clear its intention to challenge the Florida Panthers, the repeat Cup winners who have played in the Cup Final in three straight seasons, for supremacy. The Hurricanes went into last season with similar aspirations, but they weren’t sure how good they’d be after losing nearly a third of their lineup, including key players such as forwards Jake Guentzel and Teuvo Teravainen and defensemen Brett Pesce and Brady Skjei.
Coach Rod Brind’Amour admitted as much after Carolina lost to Florida in five games in the conference final, saying, “With the pieces that left this organization, I was like, ‘I don’t think we’re making playoffs.'”
Overcoming those departures to finish second in the Metropolitan Division (47-30-5) and reach the conference final before losing to the eventual Cup champions would’ve been viewed as a success by some teams. That it wasn’t by the Hurricanes demonstrated how far they’ve come since missing the playoffs nine consecutive seasons from 2010-18.
“We have raised the bar year after year after year, and it is a really good thing to be in a place where being one of the final four teams can be viewed as a disappointment,” said Tulsky, who is entering his second season as GM after four as assistant GM. “Obviously, I’d rather get past that, but I’d much rather be here than in a place where it’s viewed as exciting if we make the playoffs and go out in round one.”
The Hurricanes’ culture of expecting to contend for the Cup and their aggressive forecheck and puck possession system were among the factors that appealed to Ehlers, who left the Winnipeg Jets after 10 seasons.
“You go to Carolina, and you know exactly that they’re going to be ready to play,” the 29-year-old said. “They’re going to come out hard and they’re going to keep stressing you out until they get the puck back, and to now be on the other side of that will be pretty fun.”
The Hurricanes haven’t been afraid to take big swings. Although their trade to acquire forward Mikko Rantanen from the Colorado Avalanche on Jan. 24 didn’t work out because Rantanen, a potential unrestricted free agent at the time, was unwilling to sign with them, they quickly pivoted and traded Rantanen to the Dallas Stars on March 7.