Hurricanes hoping to ‘learn from mistakes’ as East’s top seed in Stanley Cup Playoffs

RALEIGH, N.C. –  There is no hiding from the past for the Carolina Hurricanes.

Their inability to get over the hump in the postseason during the past seven seasons is well documented.

To their credit, these Hurricanes aren’t interested in forgetting.

The scars – inflicted on body and mind – are fuel for the present, motivation as the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs start with an Eastern Conference first-round series against the Ottawa Senators. Game 1 of the best-of-7 series is at Lenovo Center on Saturday (3 p.m. ET; FDSNSO, ESPN, SN, TVAS).

“I think you always learn from your mistakes, the things that were not the best in the past,” defenseman Jaccob Slavin said. “You take from it and you learn from it.”

Slavin has been around for every postseason heartbreak, starting with a four-game loss to the Boston Bruins in the 2019 Eastern Conference Final. There was the five-game upset by the Tampa Bay Lighting in the second round two years later and the Game 7 loss to the New York Rangers in the second round in 2022.

In 2023, it was a four-game loss to the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference Final. Each game was decided by a goal and two were won in overtime, including a four-overtime classic in Game 1. The following season was a six-game loss to the Rangers in the second round that featured two more overtime losses, and then another conference final loss to the Panthers last season, this one in five games.

Now, the Hurricanes (53-22-7) are the top seed in the East with the second highest point total (113) in the League behind the Colorado Avalanche (121) and the odds-on favorite to reach the Eastern Conference Final, if not further. The first hurdle is the Senators (44-27-11), the second wild card from the Eastern Conference. But it is also a team that is playing its best hockey.

Bring it on, says Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour, who has presided over each of the past seven playoff runs.

“We turn the page now, so everything that has been done is out the window,” Brind’Amour said, referencing this season, but perhaps also the comprehensive past. “But we had to qualify to get this opportunity and I think the guys did a phenomenal job this year. Having said that, now everyone is starting from scratch and you have to go out there and prove it.”

That has always been the test for the Hurricanes. Proving it.

There is no shame in not winning the Cup. The season starts with 32 teams and 16 earn the right to play for the trophy across four grueling series, each of which can go seven games. Injuries, fatigue and misfortune are co-conspirators against all but one team. It’s why it is the hardest trophy to win in all of sports.

The joy of its embrace once earned is indescribable. The agony of falling short when you think you have the goods is unbearable. Seven times in the past seven seasons, the Hurricanes have sat in a silent dressing room, contemplating what could have been and asking the haunting what-if questions.

Now, the Hurricanes start anew.

Are they ready?

As they ever will be.

“It doesn’t hurt when you have gone through these things, let me put it that way,” Brind’Amour said. “That pain that the guys have gone through, I don’t know if it is motivation because I don’t know how much (more) motivation you can have than what we have.

“I think, certainly understanding the ups and downs of the playoffs, they have been through it all, and hopefully that will help us.”

Let’s not forget, these Hurricanes have played in 89 postseason games in the past seven years, the third most in the League. They have won 47 of those games. Five teams have more wins in that span – Dallas Stars (54), Tampa Bay Lightning (52), Florida Panthers (52), Colorado Avalanche (50) and Vegas Golden Knights (49). Each of those teams, except for Dallas, has claimed the Cup during that time.

Carolina is an elite team any way you cut it, Cup or no.

Now they believe they are a better team because of the heartbreak.

Forward Logan Stankoven has been in the League for three seasons and has lost in the conference final in each of the past two. Last season, it was with the Hurricanes after being traded from the Stars. In 2024, it was with the Stars against the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference Final.

“I think it makes you more mature,” said the 23-year-old. "Sometimes you have to be patient. It’s a race to four wins. You obviously want to get off on the right foot, but you can’t get too overconfident or too down on yourself because things can change within minutes of a series. It’s just being more mature in our game.”

Each scar tells a story for these Hurricanes.

Defenseman Jalen Chatfield was in his first postseason with the Hurricanes when the Panthers were one goal better than his team in four straight games in the Eastern Conference Final, a series where the margins still haunt the vanquished.

“You live and you learn,” he said Friday on the eve of another journey starting. “I think it is just more experience for the group and more fuel to the fire. Getting to the conference final twice in my four years here; it makes you want it more.

“We know our group, what we are capable of doing and just go into playoffs with full confidence and just taking every day and just being blessed with the opportunity because this is a big opportunity. To make it to the playoffs makes it a new race for us and we are excited.”