Ten years ago, the opening-night payroll

Going through some old files today, I found my list of the Hurricanes' opening-night salaries from 2000-01, the first year I covered the team. Thought it might be worth posting just for kicks. Among the highlights: Ron Francis, Rod Brind'Amour and Sandis Ozolinsh accounted for 42 percent of the payroll all by their lonesome; Jeff Daniels and Craig Adams were the team's lowest-paid players at $275,000 each (and would go on to long careers with the club); and Jeff O'Neill scored a career-high 41 goals while making $1.5 million, or roughly $36,000 per goal. (At that per-goal rate, Eric Staal would have to score about 208 goals this season to keep up.) The full list: Craig Adams $275,000 Bates Battaglia $495,000 Rod Brind'Amour $4,250,000 Jeff Daniels $275,000 Rob DiMaio $900,000 Ron Francis $5,000,000 Martin Gelinas $1,300,000 Steve Halko $550,000 Kevin Hatcher $1,500,000 Arturs Irbe $2,100,000 Sami Kapanen $2,200,000 Dave Karpa $625,000 Darren Langdon $600,000 Mare...