They should also have a chip on their collective shoulder, seeing that their play in recent years led to two coaching dismissals and Jim Rutherford’s "retirement" as general manager, plus the across-the-board projections that Carolina is much more likely to land Connor McDavid than flirt with Lord Stanley. If luck goes their way and Peters can mold all these things into one cohesive, inspiring message, the Hurricanes could max out as a middle seed in the Eastern Conference. After five years on the golf course instead of in the playoffs, you can bet everyone in Raleigh would take it.

What if new coach Bill Peters’ message sinks in? How about if Cam Ward or Anton Khudobin — or both?? — prove to be reliable, top-10 NHL starters again? And what if Eric Staal rediscovers his game, perhaps even with Alexander Semin and Jiri Tlusty on the first line that was so good two seasons ago? If all that happens, Carolina should have no issue returning to the postseason. But those are a lot of ifs. The Hurricanes are a young team and are hungry for a playoff trip from top to bottom, and a new voice — and strategy — behind the bench should help.

Worst case scenario

The worst case for the Hurricanes this year, you ask? Hoo boy, where to start. The worst case scenario starts with the budding goalie question marks between Cam Ward and Anton Khudobin turning into a full-fledged goalie controversy, with Khudobin outplaying Ward who makes no secret of his displeasure. Ward proceeds to form a faction in the locker room that turns against Bill Peters from day one. Ron Francis, trying his best to play the United Nations between these two warring sides, calms everyone down and makes a not-so-veiled threat that everyone had better be singing from the same hymnal post haste...or else.

This uneasy truce holds for a month or so, when one of the Canes' big guns goes down with a season-ending injury. Peters does what he can to juggle the lineup, but it blows up in his face repeatedly as no lines can find any chemistry. Stuck in the Metro Division cellar at the end of January, Francis goes into fire-sale mode, but then finds that he can't move any of the Canes' big-money contracts. Eventually, one of those contracts moves for sixty cents on the dollar, and with the Charlotte Checkers contending for an AHL West Division title, Francis is reluctant to call up any of the players having success in Charlotte and throw them into the burning pit of fire that is the Canes' season, so by the trade deadline the first line consists of a leftover contract Francis couldn't trade, a waiver claim and Chad LaRose. Khudobin demands a trade, fed up with having to look over his shoulder and be second-guessed, but knowing that the Canes have no upper hand in any trade negotiations, he's traded for next to nothing.

The Canes are eliminated from the playoffs in March, but go on a mini-run to end the season that somehow ends with them finishing with the fourth-worst record in the NHL, and the only thing it accomplished is giving them worse odds in the draft lottery. By some miracle, the Canes win the lottery, but Connor McDavid pulls an Eric Lindros and refuses to play for the team. Francis drafts him anyway, but then is forced to trade him. The ticket sales department quietly shakes their head, unsure how they're ever going to sell a season ticket before the 2015-16 season.

Oh, and Jim Rutherford wins the Stanley Cup with a 116-point season.