It’s possible that Ward is the most polarizing Carolina Hurricanes player since the 2006 Stanley Cup win. Ward has a way of creating a cavernous divide between fans’ opinions of him and his future with the team, not because of anything he does off the ice (where he is, without question, an exemplary representative of the organization) but rather because of his performance on it.
There are the predictable few with nostalgic ties to the netminder responsible for the club’s first Stanley Cup, and there is something to be said for loyalty. But the fact of the matter is that Ward is getting worse, not better.