Isles-Canes, McAmmond going to AHL

Quick, name me as many Carolina Hurricane forwards as you can in the next five seconds!

Eric Staal....uh...Eric Cole....Eric Cartman?

That's how the Carolina Hurricanes like to operate. They are a team of relative unknowns, but those unknowns can knock in 20 goals a season and usually skate past you like a torpedo while doing it. The Canes have been one of the more intriguing teams over the last four or so years. They miss the Stanley Cup, they miss the playoffs, they miss the playoffs, they go to the Final Four, they fire a coach/rehire a coach. It's a team of seemingly infinite second chances.

"Hey Paul Maurice, you want to coach again? Yeah, come on down. We fired you cause we thought you stink, but that's ok, we're the Hurricanes!! Aaron Ward, Matt Cullen, you guys want to come back? Sure come on down. We think you guys still stink, but come on back! Hey Ron Francis, you want to play again? No, ok, maybe next year. Hey, whaddya say we all throw on some Hartford Whalers jerseys for old time's sake!"

But you have to give Hurricanes' management credit for sticking to their guns. They could have very easily hit the panic button after missing the playoffs two years in a row and tore the team down. But they held together with their core, remained patient, and reaped the benefit of it with a visit to the Eastern Conference Finals. It will be interesting to see which Carolina team shows up this year: the wicked fast, playoff round guzzling machine or the "just out-of-the-playoff" stinkeroos.


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Dean McAmmond has signed an AHL contract with the New Jersey Devil's minor league affiliate, the Lowell Loch Monsters. If the Devils' organization is trying to have the Lowell team mimic Jaques Lemaire's big club, then McAmmond should expect to never have to step over the center red line. Guess he should work on those long-range slapshots if he wants to put up points.