Hurricanes moving forward after eventful offseason

-- Finding one word that accurately sums up all that happened during the offseason for the Carolina Hurricanes isn't easy, but let's try "eventful"."I don't think any team in the League in the offseason was talked about more than us," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. [RELATED: Hurricanes season preview] The most important steps so far were going 46-29-7 last season to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2009 and reaching the Eastern Conference Final, when they were swept by the Boston Bruins. But we made the playoffs the last week of the season, and every team is getting better, so we had to try to make some additions to try to make our hockey club better and we feel pretty good about the additions we made."Although the off-ice activity often received more attention, the players say they ignored most of it."Sometimes there's more drama in the media than there actually is," Aho said.Having spent enough time around Tom Dundon since he took over as Carolina's majority owner Jan. 11, 2018, Brind'Amour said he was never worried."There's a plan," said Brind'Amour, who is entering his second season as Hurricanes coach after seven seasons as an assistant. That includes Faulk's situation, which could carry into the season.Faulk said he's approaching it as if he'll remain with the Hurricanes and Waddell acknowledged that is a possibility."We've been talking to teams, but we think that Faulk's got good value, and if he stays with us, we can fit him in the [NHL salary cap] for this year," Waddell said. Regardless, the Hurricanes say they have enough leaders to carry on the winning culture Williams helped establish last season if he doesn't return."You don't lose guys like that every year, but it happens, and the team needs to continue to form an identity and move on," Faulk said.