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RALEIGH, NC – JANUARY 15: Jeff O’Neill #92 of the Carolina Hurricanes is chased by Michal Rozsival #28 of the Pittsburgh Penguins at the RBC Center on January 15, 2003 in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Penguins shutout the Hurricanes 2-0. (Photo by Craig Jones/Getty Images/NHLI) +

The Carolina Hurricanes, fresh off of what was their best season (at the time) brought back much the same lineup that had just gone to the finals. How did they follow up their surprise playoff run?

This is the sixth installment in my Rewind series, taking a look at the Carolina Hurricanes of seasons past. To check out my prior articles, click a season:

The Carolina Hurricanes took the hockey world by storm (please ignore that) during the 2002 Stanley Cup Playoffs. On their way to the franchise’s first appearance in the finals, the upstart Hurricanes bested Martin Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils before toppling both Canadian Original Six teams.

Though falling short of the ultimate prize, the team had shown cohesion and perseverance. More importantly, they had given their fans a reason to have hope. One could surmise that management shared in that hope as general manager Jim Rutherford didn’t make any changes to the roster over the summer. The biggest offseason news came in the form of drafting a young goalie from Alberta, though he wouldn’t make waves for a few years.

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The Hurricanes opened the season at home against the New York Rangers in a game that saw the visitors put up a 3-goal second period. The game also had 64 minutes in penalties, topped off by a fight between Rod Brind’Amour and New York pest Matthew Barnaby. The brawl was the result of a scrum immediately following Brind’Amour’s third period, shutout breaking goal. Barnaby earned a 10-minute misconduct penalty, however, the Rangers went on to win the game 4-1.

The Hurricanes had an uneven October, wrapping the month up at 5-4-1-1 while being outshot 28-26. November started off with something that the summer hadn’t seen: player movement. On November 1, 2002, Rutherford sent 6’6″ defenseman Marek Malik and bruising winger Darren Langdon to the Vancouver Canucks. In return, the Hurricanes received forwards Jan Hlavac and Harold Druken.

Hlavac was seen as a reclamation project, having put up 28 goals and 64 points for the New York Rangers in the 2000-01 season. Unfortunately, things didn’t pan out for him in Raleigh. In 52 games with the Hurricanes, the Czech winger only managed 9 goals and 15 assists.

Druken also had a career year in the 00-01 campaign, notching 15 goals and 30 points in just 55 games for the Canucks. The proceeding years saw him unable to maintain an NHL job, appearing in only 58 games between 2002-2004. In 14 games with Carolina, Druken tallied one assist.

So, with the early season table set, let’s take a look at the offense.