The Hurricanes have been doubted all the way to the Eastern Conference Final

Prior to the beginning of the playoffs, many sources discounted the Hurricanes. Dom Luszczyszyn’s model on The Athletic gave Carolina the sixth-best chance to raise Lord Stanley’s Cup. That was behind the now-eliminated Boston Bruins and Colorado Avalanche and only one point up on two division rivals: the Devils and the New York Rangers. With updates made through Thursday's games, the Hurricanes now have the best odds.

ESPN’s panel of 28 hockey experts was evenly split on the opening round series of Hurricanes vs. Islanders 14-14. Then, ahead of the second round, 18 of the 27 experts picked the Devils to surpass the Hurricanes. Nine of those 18 even had New Jersey advancing in fewer than seven games and only one writer—Sean Allen—correctly picked Carolina to win in five games.

This underestimation could stem from the team’s recent consistency. Since Rod Brind’Amour took over ahead of the 2018-19 season, the Hurricanes have yet to miss the playoffs, making five straight appearances. They have won their division each of the last three seasons including 2022-23. They have topped 100 points twice and surpassed a .700 points percentage twice as well.

The Hurricanes are also not the exciting, up-side pick. In the last five seasons, they have not ranked higher than ninth in the league for goals per game and have had the second-best GAA in each of the last two seasons.

Add on the fact that Carolina has been without star forwards Andrei Svechnikov and Max Pacioretty all playoffs and Teuvo Teravainen has not played since getting injured in Game 2 against the Islanders and you get a recipe for a team getting underrated and overlooked.

Despite all of that, the Hurricanes have a legitimate chance to win the Stanley Cup this year in a field missing the reigning champions and the best regular season team of all time.