The Carolina Hurricanes have their roots in the defunct WHA. They began as the New England Whalers and their home ice travels have seen them go from Boston to Springfield to Hartford to Greensboro and Raliegh.

The origins of the New England Whalers date back to October of 1971 where Howard Baldwin and John Coburn Jr. had visions of building a hockey arena with Cape Cod as the back drop. From this modest beginning grew one of the most powerful teams in the WHA. After meetings with the league organizers Dennis Murphy and Gary Davidson, the pair were granted a franchise. Baldwin and Coburn enlisted the services of Jack Kelley, coach of the Boston University team to manage and coach, and subsequently Kelley hired Ron Ryan as assistant coach and director of player personnel. The first player signed by the Whalers was former Montreal Canadien Larry Pleau, followed by Brad Selwood, Rick Ley and Jim Dory, all ex-Toronto Maple Leafs. Ted Green was signed on July 27, 1972 and assumed the role of team Captain.

The Whaler's first home game was played at the Boston Garden on October 12, 1972 where they defeated the Philadelphia Blazers 4-3 in front of 14,442 fans. The Whalers went on that year to finish first in the league and eventually won the Avco World Cup. In their second year the Whalers began to feel some competition from the Boston Bruins and their superstars Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito. Attendance was less than satisfactory, but with Ron Ryan assigned the head coach position, the Whalers rose once again to the top of the East Division.

Baldwin however, was beginning to look elsewhere for a home arena to try and bolster attendance. Hartford, New England became the choice because they were building a new arena and a group of leading businesses were prepared to invest $1.5 million into the club. Late in the 1973-74 season the Whalers moved their home games to Springfield Massachusetts while they waited for their new home arena to be finished in Hartford. They didn't fare as well with their move to Springfield, finishing first in their division but they were eliminated from the playoffs in an upset by the Chicago Cougars.

In the 1975 season, and in their new home, the Whalers were an instant hit in the new Civic Centre selling out many times throughout the season. The season however was not without complications. In a game against Toronto, Ron Ryan collapsed en route, and later in the playoffs they were eliminated by Minnesota.

For the next 3 years the Whalers, and the entire WHA went through changes. The Whalers can be proud of some of their achievements. They brought such hockey greats as Dave Keon, Bobby Hull and Gordie Howe together on one team.

In 1979, Baldwin, now president of the WHA hammered out a merger agreement with the NHL and the Whalers along with the Edmonton Oilers, Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg Jets became NHL franchises.

By 1983, the Whalers were in need of a complete makeover of their organization. Emile "the Cat" Francis hired coach Jack Evans was the new coach. Ron Francis was their "franchise" player and despite surrounding him with talent such as Joel Quenneville and Torrie Robertson the Whalers missed the cut and went home early that year. After missing the playoffs yet again in 1984-85, the Whalers traded for goalie Mike Luit who was also Ron Francis' first cousin. Together they helped the Whalers finish first in their division which put them up against the Quebec Nordiques. The Whalers finished of the Nordiques in 3 straight and went on to face the Montreal Canadiens. The series was a closely fought battle. By the 5th game, the Habs led the series 3-2. In game 6 Kevin Dineen beat Patrick Roy to score the only goal of the game and the series was tied at 3-3. Despite Montrreal's Claude Lemieux scoring the series winning overtime goal, Emile Francis was named the Hockey News and Sporting News NHL executive of the year.

In the 1986-87 season the Whalers won their first and only Adams Division championship, but that was as far as they went for the next 3 years. In March of 1991 Whaler management did the unthinkable and traded Ron Francis to Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh won 2 Stanley Cups in the next two years and the Whalers failed to recover. The events of the next few years began to spell the end of the Whalers. Kevin Dineen was traded to Philadelphia and in a span of 3 years, 3 coaching changes were made with Jimmy Roberts, Paul Holmgren and Pierre McGuire all taking their turns behind the bench. Emile Francis retired.

The team was sold in 1994 to Compuware owner Paul Karmanos, Thomas Thewes and former goalie Jim Rutherford for $47.5 million. The Whalers also traded first round draft pick Chris Pronger to St Louis for Brendan Shanahan. Shanahan would have no part of trying to rebuild a franchise and the Whalers soon traded him for Keith Primeau and Paul Coffey.

At the end of the 1996-97 season, Peter Karmanos had made it official that the team would be playing elsewhere in the following season. On April 13, 1997 Kevin Dineen scored the last Whaler goal as Hartford defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1. Although finishing out of the playoffs, Karmanos predicted that the move Raleigh would help improve the team's standings. The prediction didn't materialize, and although the team sold over 18,000 tickets for the home opener, days later less than 7,000 seats were sold. The "Canes" were facing stiff competition from college basketball and NASCAR racing. The Hurricanes tried to lure Sergei Fedorov away from the Detroit Red Wings with a $38 Million offer, but the Canes plans fell through when the Red Wings matched the offer and the Hurricanes were now without a star center.

But a "new guard" was emerging. Captain Keith Primeau led the Hurricanes in scoring and goalie Trevor Kidd had improved his game and posted team records for goaltending. Gary Roberts was also posting some impressive numbers, as was Sami Kapanen. The 1998-99 season saw the Canes finish first in their division but they were beaten out by the Boston Bruins in the Conference Quarterfinals. The following year they finished 3rd, out of the playoffs.

Perhaps, just as in any Hurricane there is an "eye" where the storm is calm, and on the other side of the eye we simply wait for the power to surge yet again. We wait for that surge from the Hurricanes.