The Carolina Hurricanes are a professional North American ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL). The team plays in the Metropolitan division of the NHL’s Eastern Conference. The franchise was founded in 1971 as the New England Whalers in the World Hockey Association (WHA). The franchise joined the NHL in 1979 as a part of the NHL-WHA merger, and they renamed themselves the Hartford Whalers. The team then moved to North Carolina in 1997 and rebranded as the Carolina Hurricanes. The Hurricanes have won three division titles, two conference championships, and a Stanley Cup championship at the end of the 2005-2006 season. Their championship in 2006 was the first major professional sports championship in North Carolina history.

The Hurricanes play their home games at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. The team shares the arena with the NC State Wolfpack men’s basketball team of NCAA Division I. The Hurricanes have had seven NHL Hall of Fame players on their team throughout their history. The most famous of these for Hurricanes fans is Ron Francis who played with the team in Hartford and in Carolina. Francis also spent 12 years as a part of the front office staff of the Hurricanes before leaving in 2018. He is now the general manager of the upcoming Seattle NHL team which will begin play in 2021.