Editing Carolina Hurricanes (section)

===New England/Hartford Whalers (1971–1997)===
{{Main|Hartford Whalers}}
{{More citations needed|section|date=February 2021}}
The '''[[Hartford Whalers|New England Whalers]]''' were established in November 1971 when the [[World Hockey Association]] (WHA) awarded a franchise to begin play in [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]]. For the first two years of their existence, the club played their home games at the [[Boston Arena]] and [[Boston Garden]]. With the increasing difficulty of scheduling games at Boston Garden (owned by the NHL rival [[Boston Bruins]]), the owners decided to move the team to [[Hartford, Connecticut]], beginning with the [[1974–75 WHA season|1974–75 season]]. While waiting for the completion of a new arena in Hartford, the Whalers played the first part of the season at [[The Big E Coliseum]] in [[West Springfield, Massachusetts]]. On January 11, 1975, the team played its first game in front of a sellout crowd at the [[Hartford Civic Center Coliseum]], and would maintain its home there through 1997.

[[File:Hartford-Whalers-Logo.svg|thumb|220px|Hartford Whalers logo.]]
As one of the most stable WHA teams, the Whalers, along with the [[Edmonton Oilers]], [[Quebec Nordiques]] and [[Winnipeg Jets (1972–96)|Winnipeg Jets]], were admitted to the NHL when the rival leagues merged in [[1978–79 NHL season|1979]]. However, under pressure from the extant NHL team in the [[New England]] area, the Boston Bruins, the Whalers were compelled to rename the team the '''[[Hartford Whalers]]'''. The Whalers were never as successful in the NHL as they had been in the WHA, recording only three winning seasons. They peaked in the mid-to-late 1980s, winning their only playoff series in [[1985–86 NHL season|1986]] over the Nordiques before bowing out in the second round to the [[Montreal Canadiens]], taking the Canadiens to overtime of game 7 in the process. The [[1986–87 NHL season|next year]], the club secured the regular season [[Adams Division]] title, only to fall to the Nordiques in six games in the first round of the playoffs. In [[1991–92 NHL season|1992]], the Whalers made the playoffs for the final time, but were bounced in the first round in seven games by the Canadiens. Two years later, the team hired [[Jim Rutherford]] as [[General manager (ice hockey)|general manager]], a position that he would hold within the franchise for twenty years.

For years, the organization maintained many Whalers connections among its off-ice personnel; in addition to many members of executive management and the coaching staff, broadcasters [[Chuck Kaiton]], [[John Forslund]] and [[Tripp Tracy]] (at the time a minor-league player), and equipment managers [[Wally Tatomir]], Skip Cunningham and Bob Gorman all made the move to North Carolina with the team. Finally, the old goal horn from the Hartford Civic Center remains in use at Lenovo Center. Kaiton and Forslund would both eventually leave the franchise; Kaiton in 2018 and Forslund in 2021.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.newsobserver.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/luke-decock/article214456059.html| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180725033727/https://www.newsobserver.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/luke-decock/article214456059.html| archive-date =July 25, 2018| title = Chuck Kaiton out as Carolina Hurricanes radio broadcaster, Luke DeCock column, July 24, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.newsobserver.com/sports/nhl/carolina-hurricanes/article248773645.html| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210218223700/https://www.newsobserver.com/sports/nhl/carolina-hurricanes/article248773645.html| archive-date =February 18, 2021| title = Ex-Hurricanes broadcaster John Forslund joins Seattle Kraken}}</ref>