The Washington Capitals beat the Florida Panthers tonight, putting the final nail in the Carolina Hurricanes’ season. While injury plagued all season, the Canes kept a decisive lead over the Southeast Division foes for almost the entire season.

With an opportunity at home-ice advantage and a playoff pairing with the slumping Ottawa Senators, the Canes needed any of four things to happen recently:

• Canes win at Washington
• Canes win vs. Florida
• Tampa Bay wins at Washington
• Florida wins at Washington

None of those things happened, leaving the Canes wondering what if… The team finished last in the NHL in shootouts with a puny 2-3 record. Had just one of those gone the other way, the Canes would be in the playoffs. They lost 9 games by just 1 goal, and lost 6 times in OT. Additionally, one game was a 1-goal game with 2 minutes remaining. That makes 16 chances they had to get the playoff-making goal, and it didn’t happen. To make things worse, the Washington Capitals won 20 times by just 1 point. That makes 36 situations where one goal the other way would have put the Canes in the postseason.

As the ice thaws we can only contemplate the future. After two straight seasons of not making the playoffs, the roster will undoubtedly be overhauled. Which of these players have played their last with the Canes?

• AGE: Wesley, Hedican, and Brid’Amour
• HEAD INJURY: Tanabe and Cullen
• UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS: Samsonov, Letowski, Aucoin, Bayda, Hedican, Wesley, Brookbank, and Grahame?
• RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS: LaRose, Ruutu, Eaves, Gleason, Seidenberg, and Conboy?
• GAME HAS PASSED THEM?? Ward and Cole

Will we get back Commodore, Stillman, Weight, or Recchi (all are UFAs)? If you want to play armchair GM, here’s a good place to track contracts in the league: nhlnumbers.com