from Luke DeCock of the News & Observer,

It’s time. There’s no other way to say it.

In this, the third season under Ron Francis and Bill Peters, the Carolina Hurricanes’ time has come.

It is not unfair, in fact it is entirely proper, to expect the Hurricanes to make the playoffs this season, or at the very least be in the race down to the final few days.

After seven years in the postseason wilderness, a streak exceeded only by the Edmonton Oilers, it’s time for the drought to come to an end. This is the season. This is the time.

Francis has been given considerable leeway from fans aware of the need for a retooling, even if Francis spent the previous three years as part of the front-office team that put the franchise in this position. He has carefully and deliberately followed that slow and winding path, waiting until the last moment to trade Eric Staal, letting contracts expire, amassing young talent, sticking with Cam Ward.

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