Breaking: Goaltender Scott Darling is done in Carolina.

Hurricanes no longer believe in Darling.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
Breaking: Goaltender Scott Darling is done in Carolina.
Jacob Kupferman/CSM/Zuma

It appears that Scott Darling has worn out his welcome in Carolina.

What once was one of the most inspiring Cinderella stories in the National Hockey League has turned very ugly and has done so in rather rapid fashion as well. Darling would become the talk of the hockey world in 2014 when after a life long battle with anxiety and issues self medicating with alcohol, he made what can only be described as a miracle bounce back and made it to the ranks of the National Hockey League. There Darling would join the Chicago Blackhawks during the 2014 - 2015 National Hockey League regular season and it seemed like he was destined for great things.

In mnay ways he was,  Darling would go on to play in 3 seasons as a back up for the Chicago Blackhawks and although being a backup is not the most glamorous role he was tremendous at it and received the adoration of the Blackhawks fan base for his efforts.  In his final 2 seasons with the Blackhawks Darling's workload would increase significantly with him averaging over 30 games in both those seasons and recording save percentages of .915 and .924 in each of those respective seasons.

It was those performances that convinced the Carolina Hurricanes, a team that was struggling with an aging Cam Ward in net and no real heir to the throne, to take a gamble on the career backup in the summer of 2017. The Hurricanes would pull the trigger on a trade that would send the aforementioned Ward to Chicago and bring Darling to Carolina where he would receive a huge boost in his salary. The Hurricanes immediately locked up Darling to a 4 year deal that paid him an average of $4.15 million per season, a price that would have been a steal had he maintained the level of performance he showed with the Blackhawks. Unfortunately for both Darling and the Hurricanes that was not to be.

The wheels fell off for Darling almost as soon as he was thrust into the starting role. His first season with the Hurricanes saw him record an abysmal 3.18 goals against average and an .888 save percentage over the course of 43 games, but in spite of that the Hurricanes stuck with him. He rewarded them with just 8 games at the NHL level this past season where he recorded a 3.34 GAA and a .884 save percentage before being sent down to the American Hockey League. His performances in the AHL were just as bad, if not worse, with a 3.40 GAA and an .882 save percentage over 14 AHL games this past season.

It does not take a wizard to analyze just how far Darling has fallen since signing his big money deal, and it appears that the Hurricanes feel he is too far hone to continue to gamble on. A recent report from The Fourth Period's David Pagnotta has revealed that the Hurricanes intend to buy Scott Darling out of his current contract this summer, and that the goaltender is already fully aware of their intention to do so. The real question now is where will Darling go from here?


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