Peter Koutroumpis – editor@trianglesportsnet.com
RALEIGH, N.C. – The Carolina Hurricanes have scheduled a news conference to be held at PNC Arena at Noon on Monday to announce updates regarding the team’s hockey operations.
As the 2013-2014 National Hockey League (NHL) season drew to a close, speculation grew that current president and general manager Jim Rutherford would step down from his current role at some point in the offseason.
Such a change increased the expectation that Ron Franicis, current vice president for hockey operations, would step into the lead role to guide the team’s overall day-to-day operation.
Such changes in the Hurricanes front office will complement the subtle image adjustments that have already been introduced since the team played its final regular-season game on Apr. 13 – a 6-5 shootout win over the Philadelphia Flyers.
As captain Eric Staal and goaltender Cam Ward, remaining members of the team’s 2006 Stanley Cup-winning team, have been the face of the franchise for the past five years, Carolina has now presented a future outlook that is focusing its fans on its younger players.
During his year-end press conference, head coach Kirk Muller explicitly mentioned that the team’s future would key around the increasing development of leading goal scorer Jeff Skinner, defenseman Justin Faulk, as well as recent top draft picks, Elias Lindholm and Ryan Murphy.
Published literature released by the team, including ticket brochures and the season-in-review guide, are also covered with the Skinner’s appealing smile and further enhances the team’s reimaging efforts in that direction.
As changes in jersey design and related branding took place last offseason, Carolina has continued with cosmetic marketing adjustments and will add substantial personnel restructuring on Monday as part of the process that is intended to translate into a more successful bid to make the postseason in 2014-2015 and beyond.