The team formerly known as the Hartford Whalers, now called the Carolina Hurricanes, have one too many starting goalies on their roster.

That’s a problem.

The Hurricanes, who moved to Carolina from Hartford due to a lack of fan support and significant losses of funds, don’t have many fans at their new (temporary) home in Greensboro, North Carolina.

That, too, is a problem.

But management hopes that by the start of the regular season at least one of the two problems will be corrected.

The goaltending situation seems to be the easier one to fix. Because of the Andrew Cassels trade with Calgary that brought Gary Roberts and Trevor Kidd to Carolina, the Hurricanes are left with two No. 1 goalies in camp. Sean Burke is the returning starter, but he becomes an unrestricted free agent after the season and will command a lot of money. The Hurricanes know they won’t be able to keep him, so they’re trying to trade him now to the highest bidder.

Kidd has been the Calgary Flames’ starting keeper off and on during the past couple seasons. But the heir apparent to Mike Vernon never lived up to the expectations Flames fans had of him, so they shipped him to Carolina where he gets a second chance to earn the starting nod.

Rumors have circulated for some time about Burke being shipped to the Philadelphia Flyers, a team desperately in need of a strong money goalie. However, the longer the Flyers wait on Burke, the less likely it will be that they’ll acquire him. The Flyers could play rent-a-goalie this season by making an offer to the Edmonton Oilers for Curtis Joseph, who is an unrestricted free agent after the year, then go after hometown goalie Mike Richter, who will also be a free agent, during the off-season.

In any case, the Hurricanes do have a goaltending problem. But it’s a problem that can easily be corrected. The other problem, attendance, might be a lot harder to overcome.

If the NHL hasn’t figured it out by now, the Carolinas aren’t exactly known for having strong appetites for hockey action. Put Keith Primeau in a 1997 Ford Thunderbird and sent him out onto an oval racetrack at 100 m.p.h. and people will love him. Stick him on ice and...well, people won’t know what to do.

Hockey is really unfamiliar territory for people in the area. Actually, ice itself is seldom seen, except in glasses of Country Time lemonade. It's going to be interesting to see if sports fans will like hockey as much as they love their racin' and football.

At last count, the Hurricanes had sold 3,000 season tickets for their first of two seasons in Greensboro before moving to their permanent home in Raleigh in 1999. That’s right, 3,000 season tickets sold for the Greensboro Coliseum, which holds 21,500. The Hurricanes season ticket drive has been stuck at 3,000 since early July.

The Hurricanes better hope that hockey will sell itself in North Carolina, because if it doesn’t, the team will be hard-pressed to find enough cash to keep the team competitive.

Does this sound familiar? It’s basically the same situation the team faced in Hartford -- only there the season ticket base was about 13,000.

The Hurricanes are by no means the same team that took the ice at the Mall in Hartford. There were some key additions added to the roster over the off-season that could make an impact this year. The other player picked up in the Trevor Kidd trade was Gary Roberts. Roberts is a risky acquisition due to his year of retirement following several neck surgeries, but if he can stay healthy, he is a potential 50-goal scorer. Fifty-goal scorers don’t come around too often.

At the moment Roberts is penciled in at left wing on the first line with Big Keith Primeau at center and Sami Kapanen on right wing. While Roberts and Primeau will be counted on for most of the scoring, Kapanen will be needed to do his job in his own end, and only then think offensively.

The trade of Cassels to Calgary paves the way for Jeff O’Neill to take over the second line centering duties. Only problem with that is no one knows if O’Neill is ready to do it. The former first-round pick scored just 30 points last season and was a -24. That’s not good, but the 21-year-old showed a lot of promise -- promise that might or might not turn into more this season. O’Neill will be flanked by Geoff Sanderson on the left side and probably Nelson Emerson on the right.

The remaining forwards are somewhat small and average at best. They lack the scoring punch needed to contribute night in and night out, but seem to be aware of their own end and tend to take care of it. Veteran right winger Steve Leach was acquired from St. Louis for defenseman Alexander Godynyuk. His offense and defense should be a welcome addition. Pylon Troy Mallette was invited to camp, as well.

The Canes look pretty good defensively, which is very encouraging if they want to have a competitive season. With the trade for tough guy Enrico Ciccone over the off-season, the blue line appears solid.

The power-play specialist, Jeff Brown, says he’s completely recovered from back surgery that kept him out of action practically all of last season. With Brown in place to provide offense, the rest of the defensive unit can concentrate on playing within their reach. Curtis Leschyshyn, Glen Wesley and Steve Chiasson are all capable veterans who would find a place on any team’s roster. Kevin Haller, who was acquired from Philadelphia in the Paul Coffey fiasco, has some problems and should be used sparingly. Youngster Nolan Pratt could see some action with the big club this season.

So with a solid defense, a crowd of No. 1 goalies in net and Roberts bringing his leadership and goals to a young offense, the Hurricanes have a good chance of finishing high in the standings. The Canes have an especially good shot since they’re playing in the very weak Northeast Division.

The action should be exciting down south, but one question still remains. Will anyone in North Carolina care to watch?

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