"Eric Staal of the Carolina Hurricanes has twice scored 40 or more goals in a season, but can he do it again? Jussi Jokinen scored a career-high 30 goals last season for the Canes but what about this season? In Anton Babchuk's last season with Carolina, the defenseman had 16 goals. But that was two years ago. What about now? And let's not forget Erik Cole. He scored 30 goals in the 2005-06 season when the Canes surged to the Stanley Cup. Is the power forward capable of doing it again at age 31? Cole, for one, believes he can answer that last question. "You know what, I definitely think I'm capable of that," he said Wednesday. "If I can play a consistent brand of hockey and play to my capability, I don't think there should be any reason I shouldn't be a 30-goal scorer." The Hurricanes, in a year of transition, may need the production - from Cole and everyone else. Carolina was a respectable 13th in the NHL in scoring last year at 2.76 goals a game but has since lost such veterans forwards as Ray Whitney and Matt Cullen and will have new faces in the lineup. Whitney scored 21 goals and assisted on 37 last year, and Cullen had 12 goals and 28 assists before being traded to the Ottawa Senators in mid-February. That's not a huge loss, but someone has to score goals, and consistently, if the Hurricanes are to be a playoff-caliber team." http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/09/23/697662/canes-look-for-goals.html
