# 2011–12 Carolina Hurricanes season

The 2011–12 Carolina Hurricanes season was the 40th season for the franchise, 33rd in the National Hockey League (NHL) dating back to June 22, 1979, and 14th season since the franchise relocated to North Carolina to start the 1997–98 NHL season.
The Hurricanes failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs for the third straight year. The last time the team made the trip to the playoffs was in the 2008–09 season.

## Regular season

On November 28, 2011, the Hurricanes replaced head coach Paul Maurice with Kirk Muller.

## Playoffs

The Hurricanes failed to qualify for the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs.

## Standings

Southeast Division :
| Pos | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | y – Florida Panthers | 82 | 38 | 26 | 18 | 32 | 203 | 227 | −24 | 94 |
| 2 | x – Washington Capitals | 82 | 42 | 32 | 8 | 38 | 222 | 230 | −8 | 92 |
| 3 | Tampa Bay Lightning | 82 | 38 | 36 | 8 | 35 | 235 | 281 | −46 | 84 |
| 4 | Winnipeg Jets | 82 | 37 | 35 | 10 | 33 | 225 | 246 | −21 | 84 |
| 5 | Carolina Hurricanes | 82 | 33 | 33 | 16 | 32 | 213 | 243 | −30 | 82 |
Eastern Conference :
| Pos | Div | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | AT | z – New York Rangers | 82 | 51 | 24 | 7 | 47 | 226 | 187 | +39 | 109 |
| 2 | NE | y – Boston Bruins | 82 | 49 | 29 | 4 | 40 | 269 | 202 | +67 | 102 |
| 3 | SE | y – Florida Panthers | 82 | 38 | 26 | 18 | 32 | 203 | 227 | −24 | 94 |
| 4 | AT | x – Pittsburgh Penguins | 82 | 51 | 25 | 6 | 42 | 282 | 221 | +61 | 108 |
| 5 | AT | x – Philadelphia Flyers | 82 | 47 | 26 | 9 | 43 | 264 | 232 | +32 | 103 |
| 6 | AT | x – New Jersey Devils | 82 | 48 | 28 | 6 | 36 | 228 | 209 | +19 | 102 |
| 7 | SE | x – Washington Capitals | 82 | 42 | 32 | 8 | 38 | 222 | 230 | −8 | 92 |
| 8 | NE | x – Ottawa Senators | 82 | 41 | 31 | 10 | 35 | 249 | 240 | +9 | 92 |
| 9 | NE | Buffalo Sabres | 82 | 39 | 32 | 11 | 32 | 218 | 230 | −12 | 89 |
| 10 | SE | Tampa Bay Lightning | 82 | 38 | 36 | 8 | 35 | 235 | 281 | −46 | 84 |
| 11 | SE | Winnipeg Jets | 82 | 37 | 35 | 10 | 33 | 225 | 246 | −21 | 84 |
| 12 | SE | Carolina Hurricanes | 82 | 33 | 33 | 16 | 32 | 213 | 243 | −30 | 82 |
| 13 | NE | Toronto Maple Leafs | 82 | 35 | 37 | 10 | 31 | 231 | 264 | −33 | 80 |
| 14 | AT | New York Islanders | 82 | 34 | 37 | 11 | 27 | 203 | 255 | −52 | 79 |
| 15 | NE | Montreal Canadiens | 82 | 31 | 35 | 16 | 26 | 212 | 226 | −14 | 78 |

## Schedule and results
### Regular season

Win (2 points)  Loss (0 points)  Overtime/shootout loss (1 point)
2011–12 Game Log :

## Player statistics
### Skaters

Regular season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Eric Staal | 82 | 24 | 46 | 70 | −20 | 48 |
| Jussi Jokinen | 79 | 12 | 34 | 46 | -2 | 54 |
| Jeff Skinner | 64 | 20 | 24 | 44 | −8 | 56 |
| Jiri Tlusty | 79 | 17 | 19 | 36 | 1 | 26 |
| Tuomo Ruutu | 72 | 18 | 16 | 34 | -3 | 50 |
| Chad LaRose | 67 | 19 | 13 | 32 | −15 | 48 |
| Brandon Sutter | 82 | 17 | 15 | 32 | −3 | 21 |
| Jamie McBain | 76 | 8 | 19 | 27 | −7 | 4 |
| Tim Brent | 79 | 12 | 12 | 24 | −8 | 27 |
| Jay Harrison | 72 | 9 | 14 | 23 | −10 | 60 |
| Justin Faulk | 66 | 8 | 14 | 22 | −16 | 29 |
| Anthony Stewart | 77 | 9 | 11 | 20 | -2 | 30 |
| Tim Gleason | 82 | 1 | 17 | 18 | 12 | 71 |
| Joni Pitkanen | 30 | 5 | 12 | 17 | −15 | 16 |
| Alexei Ponikarovsky$^‡$ | 49 | 7 | 8 | 15 | −12 | 26 |
| Bryan Allen | 82 | 1 | 13 | 14 | -1 | 76 |
| Drayson Bowman | 37 | 6 | 7 | 13 | 2 | 4 |
| Jaroslav Spacek$^†$ | 34 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 4 | 6 |
| Patrick Dwyer | 73 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 0 | 23 |
| Tomas Kaberle$^‡$ | 29 | 0 | 9 | 9 | −12 | 2 |
| Andreas Nodl$^†$ | 48 | 3 | 4 | 7 | −4 | 6 |
| Jerome Samson | 16 | 2 | 3 | 5 | −3 | 8 |
| Derek Joslin | 44 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −15 | 35 |
| Brett Sutter | 15 | 0 | 3 | 3 | −1 | 11 |
| Zac Dalpe | 16 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −3 | 4 |
| Zach Boychuk | 16 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −3 | 0 |
| Riley Nash | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Bobby Sanguinetti | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jeremy Welsh | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |

### Goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; OT = Overtime losses; GA = Goals against; GAA= Goals against average; SA= Shots against; SV= Saves; Sv% = Save percentage; SO= Shutouts
Regular season :
| Player | GP | TOI | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | Sv% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Cam Ward | 68 | 3988 | 30 | 23 | 13 | 182 | 2.74 | 2143 | .915 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Brian Boucher | 10 | 546 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 31 | 3.41 | 260 | .881 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Justin Peters | 7 | 387 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 16 | 2.48 | 233 | .931 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mike Murphy | 2 | 36 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 9 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
$^†$Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Hurricanes. Stats reflect time with Hurricanes only. $^‡$Traded mid-season Bold/italics denotes franchise record

## Awards and records
### Awards

Regular Season :
| Player | Award | Awarded |

### Milestones

Regular Season :
| Player | Milestone | Reached |
| Justin Faulk | 1st Career NHL Game | October 7, 2011 |
| Tim Brent | 100th Career NHL Game | October 8, 2011 |
| Jamie McBain | 100th Career NHL Game | November 4, 2011 |
| Anthony Stewart | 200th Career NHL Game | November 11, 2011 |
| Jussi Jokinen | 300th Career NHL Point | November 12, 2011 |
| Jeff Skinner | 100th Career NHL Game | November 14, 2011 |
| Justin Faulk | 1st Career NHL Assist 1st Career NHL Point | November 20, 2011 |
| Tim Gleason | 500th Career NHL Game | November 27, 2011 |
| Joni Pitkanen | 500th Career NHL Game | November 27, 2011 |
| Mike Murphy | 1st Career NHL Game | December 6, 2011 |
| Justin Faulk | 1st Career NHL Goal | December 9, 2011 |
| Jussi Jokinen | 200th Career NHL Assist | December 13, 2011 |
| Riley Nash | 1st Career NHL Game | December 21, 2011 |
| Riley Nash | 1st Career NHL Assist 1st Career NHL Point | December 23, 2011 |
| Cam Ward | 1st Career NHL Goal | December 26, 2011 |
| Eric Staal | 600th Career NHL Game | December 31, 2011 |
| Tuomo Ruutu | 500th Career NHL Game | December 31, 2011 |
| Jerome Samson | 1st Career NHL Goal | January 10, 2012 |
| Eric Staal | 300th Career NHL Assist | January 12, 2012 |
| Alexei Ponikarovsky | 600th Career NHL Game | January 14, 2012 |
| Jussi Jokinen | 500th Career NHL Game | January 14, 2012 |
| Jiri Tlusty | 200th Career NHL Game | January 23, 2012 |
| Tim Gleason | 100th Career NHL Assist | January 31, 2012 |
| Patrick Dwyer | 200th Career NHL Game | February 4, 2012 |
| Justin Peters | 1st Career NHL Shutout | February 20, 2012 |
| Cam Ward | 400th Career NHL Game | March 3, 2012 |
| Derek Joslin | 100th Career NHL Game | March 6, 2012 |
| Brandon Sutter | 100th Career NHL Point | March 6, 2012 |
| Jeff Skinner | 100th Career NHL Point | March 7, 2012 |
| Cam Ward | 200th Career NHL Win | March 15, 2012 |
| Jay Harrison | 200th Career NHL Game | April 3, 2012 |
| Bryan Allen | 600th Career NHL Game | April 5, 2012 |
| Jeremy Welsh | 1st Career NHL Game | April 7, 2012 |

## Transactions

The Hurricanes have been involved in the following transactions during the 2011–12 season.

### Trades

| Date | Details | Details |
| July 5, 2011 | To Boston Bruins Joe Corvo | To Carolina Hurricanes 4th-round pick in 2012 |
| December 9, 2011 | To Montreal Canadiens Tomas Kaberle | To Carolina Hurricanes Jaroslav Spacek |
| January 18, 2012 | To Florida Panthers Mattias Lindstrom Jon Matsumoto | To Carolina Hurricanes Evgenii Dadonov A. J. Jenks |
| January 20, 2012 | To New Jersey Devils Alexei Ponikarovsky | To Carolina Hurricanes Joe Sova 4th-round pick in 2012 |
Lost via retirement
Player
Player signings
PlayerDateContract terms
Tommi KivistoJune 1, 20113 years, $1.695 million entry-level contract
Mattias LindstromJune 1, 20113 years, $1.72 million entry-level contract
Jay HarrisonJune 16, 20112 years, $1.4 million
Patrick DwyerJune 28, 20112 years, $1.25 million
Joni PitkanenJune 28, 20113 years, $13.5 million
Chad LaRoseJune 29, 20112 years, $3.4 million
Jussi JokinenJune 30, 20113 years, $9 million
Jiri TlustyJuly 1, 20111 year, $525,000
Brett BellemoreJuly 8, 20112 years, $1.05 million
Derek JoslinJuly 8, 20112 years, $1.4 million
Brandon SutterJuly 13, 20113 years, $6.2 million
Brett SutterJuly 15, 20111 year, $525,000
Bobby SanguinettiJuly 15, 20111 year, $600,000
Ryan MurphySeptember 16, 20113 years, $2.4975 million entry-level contract
Victor RaskOctober 20, 20113 years, $1.95 million entry-level contract
Tim GleasonJanuary 30, 20124 years, $16 million contract extension
Tuomo RuutuFebruary 22, 20124 years, $19 million contract extension
Austin LeviMarch 16, 20123 years, $1.65 million entry-level contract :

## Draft picks

The 2011 NHL Entry Draft was held in St. Paul, Minnesota.
| Round | # | Player | Position | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
| 1 | 12 | Ryan Murphy | D | Canada | Kitchener Rangers (OHL) |
| 2 | 42 | Victor Rask | C | Sweden | Leksands IF (Swe-2) |
| 3 | 73 | Keegan Lowe | D | United States | Edmonton Oil Kings (WHL) |
| 4 | 103 | Gregory Hofmann | C | Switzerland | HC Ambri-Piotta (NLA) |
| 6 | 163 | Matt Mahalak | G | United States | Plymouth Whalers (OHL) |
| 7 | 193 | Brody Sutter | C | Canada | Lethbridge Hurricanes (WHL) |