— Cam Ward has won 318 regular season games in a 13-year career with the Carolina Hurricanes. He's taken another 23 postseason decisions, won a Stanley Cup, a Conn Smythe and was chosen as an Eastern Conference All-Star in 2011.

He's the best goaltender in Hurricanes history, and one day he'll see his number 30 raised to the rafters alongside those of Rod Brind'Amour (17), Ron Francis (10) and Glen Wesley (2).

The only thing yet to determine is when. That depends on how much longer he plays. As for which team's crest he wears going forward, that is still to be determined, too.

I spoke with Ward Monday about his plans for the future, his thoughts on the season and what the lead up was like to Saturday's season finale against the Lightning.

What was it like on Saturday, preparing for what I'm sure you knew could ultimately be your final game with the franchise?

Oh man (heavy sigh), I was nervous. Typically, on a game day, I have a pregame nap. I can tell you that I did not have a good nap the afternoon before playing Tampa. I think about my kids, too. I really wanted to win that game, partially because I wanted my son to be able to come into the locker room because I don't let him come in when we lose. I also wanted to just soak it all in. There's been a lot of good things that happened in this organization, and there's been some bad things. Because of that, you're emotionally invested and — you don't know what's going to happen. I wanted it to end on a good note. It was important to me to win that game. To win it the way that we did was nice.

Have there been any conversations with management regarding your future?

Well, I just had my exit meeting with Tom, and it's, again, it's the unknown. They obviously have some decisions to make, starting with the GM and the direction that they want to go. Because of that, it's going to take time. I've made it clear to them that I'd like to come back, and I still feel that I can be of value to this team and try to help. They're obviously going to take their time and reassess what they need to do, but I took a lot of positives from the fact that they were pleased with how I played this year, and I'm optimistic that maybe something can get done.

You went from being a back up to the starter's role. Can you explain what Scott Darling may have gone through this year -- even psychologically?

I hate talking about what other players are going through because I don't know. But, I do know the position, and there is a transition and a lot of it is mental. Just the day-to-day things. You're not used to playing every other day. It can be kind of a roller coaster of emotions, and I could imagine that it was different for him. I think Scott's a great guy and clearly unhappy with the way his first season went with the Hurricanes. It's a big summer for him.

Are you playing next year, regardless where it may be?

I think that was answered for me this year. I kind of went into this year not knowing what was going to happen. I knew my role had changed, and I was expecting to play maybe 25, 30 games. I wasn't expecting to win 23. And, the more I got to play, I proved that I could still play. But, if it's not going to be here, you kind of have to wait and see what those options will be and maybe that gets answered for me. It would have to be the right fit if it's not going to be here because I have a family involved. But, that's all speculation, we'll see what happens.

Was there something missing from this team that held it back at times?

Yeah. There were certain things, now whether I want to discuss that (publicly) I don't know. Ultimately, it is a culture. We can say we care about winning, but are you competitive about winning? There's a big difference. When we won the Stanley Cup it was a pack-of-wolves mentality. It was the little things. A Kevyn Adams blocking a shot and breaking his wrist, speaks volumes in my opinion, and they don't go unnoticed in a locker room. Whether there was enough of that, I don't know. It shouldn't be about who's getting the points and what the statistics are. It's about winning as a team and having that culture of banding together. We all love each other, but it's about what you do when you're on the ice. If there's a scrum, is everybody coming? I don't know if we had that enough.