Cole comes back home

Fan favorite returns to Raleigh, this time as an Oiler

RALEIGH -- Rod Brind'Amour knows what it's like to be a part of a hockey team for many years, to feel you're a major contributor on the ice and a big part of the community off it, almost to the point you start to believe you're almost indispensable.

Then, in a flash, to be traded away. And then to return again, wearing another hockey sweater, a part of another team.

It happened to Brind'Amour in Philadelphia, where he played for nine seasons before being sent to the Carolina Hurricanes in a January 2000 trade for Keith Primeau. It was weird, he said, going back to Philadelphia, going back to his old arena to play.

"Back where it almost felt more like home than where you were playing," Brind'Amour said.

Today, it will be Erik Cole of the Edmonton Oilers who must go through such a game at the RBC Center, against the Canes.

"For sure, he'll be a little more charged up," Brind'Amour said. "You always want to prove, 'You shouldn't have moved me;' that kind of thing. That's always in the back of your mind."

Cole was drafted by the Hurricanes in 1998. He helped Carolina reach the Stanley Cup finals in 2002, then win the Cup four years later. He was popular with the fans and even more so with his teammates.

"Always a great person to be around -- very caring, a very good family man," Canes winger Ray Whitney said.

Then, after six seasons in Carolina, Cole was traded away -- dealt to Edmonton in July for defenseman Joni Pitkanen.

"I'm thankful for my time here," Cole said Friday, "but that time has passed."

Cole still wears No. 26, still has that hard-charging, power-forward style. Only with "Oilers" on the front of his sweater.

"It will be weird for everybody -- in the stands, and as players, seeing him out there in a different uniform," Whitney said. "But his speed and his skating will probably look very familiar."

Cole and the Oilers flew into Raleigh after Thursday night's 3-1 loss in Nashville. He was at the RBC Center on Friday afternoon for a team practice, attracting as much local media as a presidential candidate.

And today?

"I don't know what to expect, what the reaction is going to be here," Cole said. "I don't feel any nerves, any anxiety, right now. Maybe it will be different come game time, but I think it's going to be a lot more excitement.

"It should be a great atmosphere. It will be a fun game to play in. A lot of emotion, for sure, but hopefully a lot of energy that will come with it."

Oh, there will be cheers -- at least at first. Let Cole score a few goals or start banging, and the fans' attitude quickly will change.

"He went through a lot and grew a lot as a person and a player here," the Canes' Eric Staal said. "I think he'll have a lot of emotions coming in here for the first game.

"He's a player we need to key on and make sure he doesn't get going out there."

Last season, the Canes traded Cory Stillman and Mike Commodore -- two key members of the 2006 Cup run -- to the Ottawa Senators for Joe Corvo and Patrick Eaves. They returned to the RBC Center for a game March 16, but it was the Canes who won 5-1 as Corvo scored a hat trick and Eaves scored a goal.

Stillman? One quiet assist.

"Everybody reacts differently," Canes coach Peter Laviolette said Friday. "Sometimes you really notice a player, sometimes you don't. Sometimes he'll put up three points, and sometimes he'll slide on by and you don't really notice him that much."

Cole's season hasn't been that noticeable. He has struggled offensively for an Edmonton team that has scored the fewest goals in the NHL -- 18 in nine games.

Cole has one goal and one assist and is minus-4. But he also started the season playing on the left, where he was listed on Carolina's roster but rarely played in his six seasons. He was recently moved back to right wing and said he feels more comfortable there.

"It was tough going in and trying to learn not just the system but to be on the other side," Cole said.

Adding to his comfort level today will be having his wife and kids in the RBC Center. His parents also are in town.

Cole invited the entire Oilers team over to his house for a team dinner Friday night.

"We wanted to have the guys over to the house and cater over some food for a team meal," Cole said. "It's such a long road trip, and this is better than setting something up at a restaurant.

"We've got enough space to entertain the fellas. I figured we'd have 'em on over."

His new fellas.