This is a position that very few Carolina Hurricanes fans could have expected at the beginning of the season. Scott Darling was coming off a bad first season in Raleigh, and was still the team’s anointed starter; Petr Mrazek came in as his backup on a one-year, $1.5m show-me deal. We then saw the Canes claim Curtis McElhinney off waivers, and a goaltending circus then ensued.
Don Waddell put a stop to that when he placed Scott Darling on waivers at the end of November; since then, the tandem of Mrazek and McElhinney has vaulted the Carolina Hurricanes into playoff conversation with a series of impressive performances.