RALEIGH -- A week ago, Eric Staal was reflecting on the Carolina Hurricanes' season, about all that had happened since October, when so much seemed possible.
"It's definitely been a whirlwind," Staal said.
And it did seem that way. There was the 14-game winless streak early in the season. There was a broken leg (Erik Cole), two slashed legs (Cam Ward and Joe Corvo), a broken foot (Tim Gleason), a bad shoulder (Tuomo Ruutu) and a bad back (Ward). Staal had a groin injury, torn oblique muscle and torn triceps, and he had to deal with the death of his sister-in-law.
There was the change in captains - Rod Brind'Amour giving the "C" to Staal - and Olympic medals won, a host of trades and a last-gasp push for the playoffs that fell short. There also was a standing ovation from Canes fans after the last game at the RBC Center, for a team with a losing record that would miss the playoffs, amazing everyone associated with the team.
A hard-to-define season ended in a bizarre game Saturday in Boston, the Canes losing to a Bruins team that scored three short-handed goals in 64 seconds. Of the 20 players in the Hurricanes' lineup for the game, 11 spent some time in the American Hockey League this season.
No one would have ever believed that, given how last season ended, with the Canes reaching the Eastern Conference finals. Or how this season began, with a core group of experienced, if aging, veterans and Carolina thought to be a Stanley Cup contender.
But there were some doubts from the start.
"Even coming out of last year, with the year that we had and the finish that we had, you were wondering, 'How much more time do we have on some of these guys' clocks?' " Canes coach Paul Maurice said Saturday.
As it turned out, not enough. It was quickly evident the Canes were a bit too old, a bit too slow, and that the grueling 2009 playoffs had robbed some of them of too much that they could not recover.
An abbreviated training camp and paucity of preseason games didn't help. Cole was lost to the broken leg in the second game, at Boston. Ward went out in early November after being slashed by a skate, then Corvo. Staal had his problems.
General manager Jim Rutherford had said the team planned to "transition" to younger players in the 2010-11 season but had to accelerate those plans. In came Brandon Sutter, Patrick Dwyer, Brett Carson, Justin Peters, Jamie McBain, Zach Boychuk, Drayson Bowman and others from Albany of the AHL, all getting their chances to play and prove themselves before next season's training camp.
"A lot of young guys have come in and played phenomenally well," Staal said. "That's nice for our fans and for our organization, to know we've got some young guys who have really stepped up."
Sutter, who began the season in Albany but played 72 games for the Canes, served as an alternate captain for the final game in Boston. At 21, he is an up-and-coming team leader.
"Not all of these kids are going to be on our team," Maurice said. "But now you're looking at a few of these guys and saying, 'Boy, how many years can we get out of these guys?' Some of these young guys are going to be good players for 10, 15 years in our league and on our team.
"So there's a lot more of a forward-looking, positive outlook, even after this season. The direction is set. We're going to get a lot younger, but that does not mean we have to go through that five-year rebuild curve that a lot of teams do when they decide that they're going to get younger."
Where veterans such Ray Whitney and Brind'Amour fit in those plans remains to be seen. Whitney will be an unrestricted free agent after the season and may sign a new contract with the Canes. Brind'Amour has a year left on his contract but could decide to retire at 39.
The Hurricanes, who finished 35-37-10, probably need another center and a banger on defense. They must decide on a backup to Ward in goal, whether the choice would be 23-year-old Peters or Manny Legace, 37.
But it will be a less experienced, and less expensive, team next season.
Maurice said he likes the possibilities of adding the younger guys to the likes of Staal, Ward, Gleason, Ruutu and Joni Pitkanen.
"They'll be really fun to watch because of good legs and how they skate and they work, and the fans will like that," he said. "It will be an exciting game to play."
