All-Time Teams: Hurricanes

Today's team is one of four former WHA franchises that entered the NHL via merger in 1979. Here's the All-Time roster for the Carolina Hurricanes:

Carolina reached their first Stanley Cup final in 2002, losing to the Detroit Red Wings. The 'Canes defeated Edmonton in seven games for the Cup in 2006.

1st Line

 

Left Wing - Geoff Sanderson A two-time NHL All-Star, Sanderson is seventh in Whalers/Hurricanes history with 196 career goals and ninth with 369 points. His 46 goal output 1992-93 is the third-highest single-season total in team history. Geoff's son Jake Sanderson was drafted fifth overall by Ottawa in 2020.

Center - Ron Francis "Ronnie Franchise" leads the franchise in most offensive categories including goals, assists, points, power play goals, game-winning goals, and games played. The Hall of Famer was infamously traded to Pittsburgh in 1991, whereupon he won back-to-back Stanley Cups. Francis captained Carolina to their first finals appearance in 2002.

Right Wing - Blaine Stoughton The Whalers' first superstar, Stoughton scored 56 goals in Hartford's inaugural NHL season, setting a single-season franchise record that still stands. Four consecutive 40-goal seasons accounts for much of his 219 goals for the franchise, good for fourth among all Whalers/'Canes.

2nd Line

Left Wing - Ray Whitney Well-traveled forward played for nine teams in his 22-year career, including five seasons in Carolina. His 215 assists and 0.90 points per game average rank seventh in Whalers/Hurricanes annals, and only Stoughton scored more points in fewer games for the franchise.

Center - Eric Staal The second overall pick in the 2003 draft, Staal scored more goals and points than any Carolina-only player in team history. He's the team record holder in career hat tricks and short-handed goals, and ranks second to Ron Francis in several other categories.

Right Wing - Pat Verbeek The original "Little Ball of Hate", Verbeek played slightly more games for New Jersey but had more success in Hartford. His 192 goals rank eighth in franchise history and his 522 career markers are second only to Keith Tkachuk among non-Hall of Famers who are eligible for enshrinement.

3rd Line

Left Wing - Jeff Skinner Won the Calder trophy in 2010-11 after scoring 63 points as an 18 year-old rookie, a career high he has since tied twice. The current Sabre sits fifth in Whaler-canes history with 204 career goals and seventh with 379 career points.

Center - Rod Brind'Amour The 'Canes current coach, "Rod the Bod" captained Carolina to the Cup in 2006. A two-time Selke winner as the league's best defensive forward, Brind'Amour scored 473 of his 1,184 career points for the Hurricanes - good for fourth on the franchise's all-time list. His 299 assists are the third-highest total in team history.

Right Wing - Kevin Dineen A fan favorite and two-time 40-goal scorer in Hartford, Kevin Dineen holds the franchise record for penalty minutes with 1,439. His offensive output has kept him in the team's all-time top five for goals (3rd), assists (4th), power play goals (4th), and points (3rd). He served as captain for the franchise's last season in Connecticut and the first season in Carolina.

4th Line

Left Wing - Erik Cole A key member of two Wales-winning Hurricanes squads, Cole is tenth in team history with 363 career points and fifth with 34 game-winning goals.

Center - Ray Ferraro The franchise leader in career shooting percentage, "Chicken Parm" led the NHL with a 28.1 accuracy rate in 1986-87. His Whalers total of 351 points in 442 games is a nearly identical total to fellow center Andrew Cassels. The fourth line spot goes to Ferraro for his forty-goal advantage at 5-on-5 and a better (but still negative) plus/minus rating.

Right Wing - Jeff O'Neill The fifth overall pick in the 1994 NHL Draft (which Hartford hosted, btw) O'Neill is fifth in Whalers/Hurricanes history with 416 career points. His games played, goals, assists, and power play goals totals are sixth in team annals.

 

Spares - Andrew Cassels, Justin Williams

This franchise has a fair amount of forward depth, enough that I had two tough choices to make. As mentioned above, Cassels and Ferraro were very close. I strongly considered selecting Sami Kapanen, who is ninth in franchise history with 203 assists. You won't find Williams in the team's career top ten lists but "Mr. Game Seven" means more to the franchise than what shows up on a stat sheet.

Defense Pair 1

Justin Faulk - Glen Wesley

Faulk is the leading point-scorer among defensemen in Whaler-canes history, though he's 19th overall among skaters. For those of you who value plus/minus, his -100 rating is dead last in franchise history. But, as you'll see, there aren't many options on the Carolina blueline. Wesley, a stalwart stay-at-home defenseman, is second to Ron Francis in games played for the franchise and leads all 'Canes with a 44 DPS ratings. His jersey #2 hangs from the rafters of Raleigh's PNC Arena.

Defense Pair 2

Jaccob Slavin - Ulf Samuelsson

The only current Hurricane on this roster, Slavin has scored 30+ points in each of his last four NHL seasons. He set a career high with 36 points and a +30 rating in 2019-20, earning him a fifth-place finish in Norris trophy voting. Slavin's 58 career penalty minutes pale in comparison to Samuelsson, who ranks fourth in franchise history with 1,110. Ulf's DPS score ranks second to Wesley, and his +71 rating with the Whalers is tops in team history.

Defense Pair 3

 

Dave Babych - Adam Burt

Babych had greater success in Winnipeg, but the Jets/Coyotes were loaded with quality blueliners. He ranks tenth among all skaters in Hartford/Carolina history with 196 assists, dishing out at least 30 helpers in each of his five full seasons with the team. Burt played eleven solid seasons for the franchise, placing eighth in team annals with 626 games played. His 28.3 Defensive Point Shares rating is third in team history.

Spare - Sean Hill

Sean Hill scored slightly more points for the Hurricanes than Jaccob Slavin has (so far) in slightly fewer games. He ranks seventh among Whaler-canes blueliners in points and ninth in DPS with a 21.3 rating. Add his positive plus-minus to the equation and you have the most well-rounded rearguard remaining.

Goalies

 

Starter - Cam Ward

Backup - Arturs Irbe

Ward, the 2006 Conn Smythe trophy winner as a rookie, leads Carolina goalies in games played, wins, and shutouts. He led the NHL in games played, minutes played, saves, and point shares in 2010-11. NHL Network analyst Kevin Weekes is the franchise leader in goals against average and save percentage, but he only played 119 games for the 'Canes. Irbe is second to Ward in games played, wins, and shutouts, and he's second to Weekes in goals against average.

 

Head Coach: Paul Maurice** Captain: Ron Francis

Paul Maurice became the second-youngest head coach in NHL history when the Whalers hired him in 1995. At age 28 he was younger than seven of his players (including Sean Burke - by one day.) 25 years and 1,600 games later he's the best bench boss in the history of two franchises - including his current employer.

 

**also head coach of another All-Time Team

I hope you'll join us tomorrow for our next All-Time Team, the Chicago Blackhawks.

Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

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Sports Card Tour 2018 - Charlotte

The Collector's Sports Card Tour 2018 is back on track (for now) and back in the good ol' USA. Today's stop is Charlotte.

North Carolina is one of the fastest growing sports markets in America. Thirty years ago the state had no pro sports teams, now there are three. Charlotte is home to two of them: the Panthers and the Hornets. The Panthers have played in two Super Bowls, losing both. No Charlotte-based basketball team has advanced past the second round of the NBA playoffs.

While pulling cards to scan and discuss in this post I realized that I have an above average amount of Panthers cards relative to other NFL teams. A lot of that has to do with how cool their uniforms are: the black and blue colors really pop.

Most of my favorite Panthers base cards have blue in the background, such as the Stephen Davis and Keyshawn Johnson. My favorite is the DeShaun Foster with the leather helmet. I'm not sure what stadium that photo was taken at, but it looks as old as the helmet!

Kerry Collins led the Panthers to the NFC title game in just their second NFL season. (Thankfully my Packers beat them, en route to their SB XXXI win.) Kevin Greene is the only Panther I can think of who is enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame - though his prime years were played with the Rams and Steelers. Steve Smith is arguably the greatest player in franchise history.... unless you believe Cam Newton has already earned that title.

I really want to like Cam Newton. The dude is an athletic freak, bigger and faster than almost any QB the sport has ever seen - and he can throw the ball downfield with the best of them. But I still have questions about his maturity and leadership. That bogus press conference after the Super Bowl loss still lingers in my mind.

That said I do kind of collect Cam's cards - especially those with blue or black borders. I bought both versions of this Topps Chrome RC but sold the Blue refractor on COMC during Newton's MVP season in 2015.

All of these were COMC purchases except the All-Pro Newton; that came out of a jumbo box of 2016 Donruss I ordered from Dave And Adam's. Christian McCaffrey is an intriguing prospect; he can definitely catch the ball out of the backfield but I'd like to see him run a little more (so Cam doesn't have to.) 

I used to binge watch the show Ballers when my mother-in-law had HBO, and there's a scene in one episode where Ricky wants to buy a black panther and name it Huey - but he's told Luke Kuechly has already purchased said panther. The Bowman blue foil parallel was a bargain buy - because it was incorrectly listed as Kiko Alonso on COMC.

The NBA expanded to Charlotte 30 years ago, back when teal was all the rage (they may have even started that trend.) Most of my commons are from the original Hornets franchise - which moved to New Orleans after the 2001-02 season. Perhaps they would have stayed put had they held on to their first round pick in 1996.

I'm calling you from the future. Do not trade him for Vlade Divac.

I don't remember much about the Kelly Tripucka-era Hornets, but once Larry Johnson and Alonzo Mourning arrived, the team turned into a contender. Both players were very popular with young NBA fans, especially "Grandmama" (Take that, Tyler Perry!)

The Fleer Mourning cards aren't dupes; one of them is from a set of Drake's Cakes cards my father-in-law collected.

Charlotte teams have had quite a few UConn alums- including Scott Burrell, Ben Gordon, and Emeka Okafor. Kemba Walker was rumored to be on his way out at the trade deadline. I nearly bought an Immaculate base card of Kemba on COMC; perhaps I'll grab it eventually.

Some of my more recent Charlotte cards, including the other Steve Smith and a trio of Cody Zeller cards from the big box o' basketball Jon sent me. The MKG Donruss parallel ($0.55) and Clear Vision Kaminsky card ($0.38) were part of the COMC 500. And so was this bad boy...

Still can't believe I got this for only $1.67, considering that if I bought a 6-card "pack" of this stuff at the SRP of $100+ this would be the best card I could expect to pull.

I could end this post here, since these are the only two teams in Charlotte. But there is another team in North Carolina - and I don't feel like giving my least favorite franchise its own post.

The NHL's Hurricanes are right down the (tobacco) road in Raleigh, where the former Hartford Whalers franchise has settled after a brief stop in Greensboro. Carolina's only pro sports championship belongs to the Hurricanes, who won the Stanley Cup in 2006. I really, really wanted the Edmonton Oilers to win - not just because I can't stand the 'Canes, but because the Oilers were my favorite western conference team.

That said, I do have a fair amount of Canes cards in my collection - mostly due to their origins in my home state. Former Whalers are always welcome, and I have a mini-PC of players who skated for the AHL's Beast of New Haven - a joint affiliate of the Canes and (Florida) Panthers. 

That short-lived franchise gave me an up close look at future NHLers like Marek Malik and Shane Willis, who could have been a 30-goal scorer and a guy I would have had to root for, had his career not been cut short by concussion problems stemming from a Scott Stevens hit.

Of course the Connecticut to Carolina pipeline would not be complete without the greatest player in franchise history, Ron Francis. Like the Kobe Bryant trade, many Whalers fans will say the Francis-to-Pittsburgh deal was the beginning of the end of hockey in Hartford. 

I have about two dozen "Ronnie Franchise" cards in my collection. The Whalers cards are all in an album. Here are a few from my star player box: 

I snuck in a couple other players, including Eric Staal. The Chrome RC is in my hockey hits box. Most of the higher-value Canes cards I end up with get sold or traded straight away. I pulled a Big Playmakers patch card of Eric Staal from a hobby box at my LCS; promoted the pull (and shop) on Sports Card Forum and earned a 20% off discount on my next purchase. Then I sold the Staal. 

Every other Canes card you see here was pack pulled, except the last two. I'm a sucker for anything with the 1993 SP foil design like that Elias Lindholm (I had his autographed RC from SPA and sold it) The Compendium Red was an impulse buy, and I probably could have found better ways to spend a dollar on COMC, but I wanted to support Bryan Bickell and his battle with MS (#BickellBrave)

 

Can't hate that guy - no matter what jersey he's wearing.


Favorite Panthers player: Cam Newton and Christian McCaffrey
Favorite Hornets player: Kemba Walker
Favorite Hurricanes player: Ron Francis. Forever.

Panthers card I'd like to own: A Julius Peppers refractor RC from 2002 Topps Pristine.

My nephew gifted me a Panthers mini-helmet signed by Peppers. It's buried in my closet somewhere

Hornets card I'd like to own: Another Kemba card. Or maybe a Dwight Howard base card.
Hurricanes card I'd like to own: Can't think of any, unless there's a base card of a Beast or Whalers player not yet represented in my collection.

Our next tour stop is a big one - Chicago. Before that I might have an unrelated post. Hopefully the tour will resume by the end of this week. Thanks for reading!


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