I do not mean to write an epitaph, but I am willing to admit that the chances for the 2015-16 are becoming slimmer by the game.

At this time, I think is important to remember some of the good stuff in a season that has been a huge success overall especially as relates to building for the future.

With that here are just a few nuggets from the 2015-16 season (roughly in chronological order):

A reason for optimism for the future at #5

The nearly unanimous reaction when Noah Hanifin fell to the Canes at #5 in the draft was joy. After another tough campaign the previous season, the addition of a promising young player in Noah Hanifin gave Canes fans reason to look forward not backward.

The fun kids come to Raleigh over the summer

In a perfect storm of on ice and off ice moves, the Caniac community adding a bunch of new fun people during the summer. Eddie Lack, Kris Versteeg and James Wisniewski all rate highly for personality and Eddie Lack’s personality alone was enough to bide time during the slow days of August. The addition of Michelle McMahon to the broadcast team added another fun personality and presence on social media for the team.

Justin Faulk rising

After taking a huge and somewhat unexpected (for me anyway) step forward offensively in 2014-15, who would have guessed that Faulk would do 1 better in 2015-16. His power play scoring pace that saw him reach 14 goals before the midway point of the season and at the time sit atop the league for power play goals and defenseman goals was an absolute blast – literally.

The kids on D

This continues to be my favorite story of the season. It just keeps giving and giving. First, we had 18-year old Noah Hanifin make the NHL team out of training camp. Then we had Brett Pesce step almost seamlessly into a top 4 role replacing James Wisniewski and jelling instantly with mentor John-Michael Liles. Next we had Jaccob Slavin do a short stint in November and lead the charge when GM Ron Francis shook things up in early December by recalling 3 players from the AHL (other 2 were McGinn and Di Giuseppe) on the same day after a bad stretch for the Canes. And it just kept giving when Jaccob Slavin stepped into Justin Faulk’s slot on the top pairing without a hitch and Noah Hanifin continued his incredible development offensively.

Jeff Skinner’s surge and overall progress

The headline of Jeff Skinner’s season is his incredible scoring run in November when he scored an unheard of 9 goals in only 6 games. Less exciting but arguably more noteworthy has been his significant improvement in other areas of his game which bodes real well for the Hurricanes future.

Jordan Staal’s rising

After some challenges acclimating to a new team and a different role and then an injury setback, Jordan Staal found the level that Canes fans dreamed of when he was obtained via trade. From depths of another season about to end real early in the first week of December, the Canes dug down and rose up. Jordan Staal was the unmistakable leader of the surge that lasted not just a few weeks but multiple months and saw the Canes playing hockey games that mattered into March.

The Stanley Cup 10-year anniversary celebration

What a cool weekend that brought back all kinds of memories. The weekend in total was fun, but the best part for me was seeing all of the players on the ice together in the ceremony before the Saturday game.

What else did I miss from a 2015-16 season that has offered more positives than negatives thus far?

Go Canes!