The Carolina Hurricanes are the NHL's version of Rodney Dangerfield.

They get no respect.

	Will only a return to the finals prove there were no strings attached to Jeff O'Neill and the 'Canes?

Even after making it to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in franchise history, the disappointed teams that were punched out in the early rounds reacted to Carolina's success by damning them with faint praise.

For example, Boston Bruins' goaltender Byron Dafoe said losing in the first round to Montreal hurt, but what made it excruciating was how far Carolina was able to go. Rather acknowledge the Hurricanes' accomplishment, it was as if other teams felt they should've been there instead.

Coach Paul Maurice has heard what has been said about his team, and in some ways understands it.

"That sentiment is maybe part of the reason we got to where we did," Maurice said. "We were underdogs pretty much straight through. I didn't feel like that while we were playing. I thought we were a pretty good team. I'm very aware of how hard it is for our team to make the playoffs. That's not a disrespectful thing. If Washington and the Rangers missed the playoffs with their teams you would have to say at the start of the year that they were going to make the playoffs."

Both of those clubs improved over the summer, which will make the battle for a playoff spot that much tougher. Though the Bruins are without Bill Guerin and Dafoe, they still remain loaded up front. Ottawa is solid, the Islanders are a threat and Philadelphia has promised better results. Washington went out and spent $25 million on center Robert Lang in order to get more from their $70 million winger -- Jaromir Jagr. And on and on it goes. There are no nights off and unlike some teams last year, the Hurricanes rarely took one.

"It's almost a source of motivation, that line, 'Hey if they can do it, why can't we?' and they're absolutely right," said Maurice. "That should be the motivating factor for all our teams. We're not going to get a whole lot more respect than we have in the past when we hit the ice. We're going to be in the same dogfight to make the playoffs. We're in that range now, as are a lot of teams, that we're good enough to get there. If you get the goaltending and you stay healthy and play a great team game, then you have a chance."

Perhaps the most ironic twist is Maurice himself. He was near the top of the list of coaches most likely to be fired last season, as he had been for a few years running. That prognostication almost came to fruition during a particularly dicey stretch when it was widely believed a loss in Florida on December 8 would have meant his dismissal. While the media has been accused of sensationalizinng or exaggerating in such cases, Maurice said such was not the case.

"No, I think that was pretty accurate, you guys got one right," he said with a laugh. "Regardless of how serious it was, I was still getting 100 percent support from my boss. But I also knew it was a critical time. I really enjoyed coaching in the middle of December last year when things were really, really ugly. That was a good time, too. I enjoy both, the good and the bad."

His team rallied from a two-goal deficit to win the game and Maurice stayed on. After the season, he was rewarded with a contract extension. Now, with the retirement of Scotty Bowman, he's the longest tenured coach in the league. But as happy as he is, Maurice said he's never been one to obsess about job security.

"There probably came a point in time about three or four years into it that it really did stop bothering me," he said. "What was really bothering me in that stretch was I didn't think we were playing that badly. But I knew we could play a whole lot better and that's what was really bothering me.

"It's not so much that you agree with your being fired but I certainly would've understood it. I wouldn't have been in the paper the next day, saying 'I just got screwed here.' I understood what people were saying and I agreed that we could perform better. I knew we were tired and fatigued but there was something missing and it took us a while to get it back."

After ranking a distant third to NASCAR and college sports in North Carolina, the support the Hurricanes received during their playoff run was staggering to everyone.

	Paul Maurice Coach Carolina Hurricanes
	CAREER STATISTICS GM W L T OTL PCT 562 238 236 80 8 .495

"I really got a sense that we've, I wouldn't say come of age, but we really took a major step forward in our own community," said Maurice. "The fans down here feel we are now their team. People kind of watched us maybe from a distance. Even in our own community, we were in some ways maybe the Northerners coming down from Hartford and, not really being exposed to hockey, they weren't really sure what to expect and now we're their team. I think we all felt we took a major step forward."

They fell short in the finals, losing to a Red Wings team and coach -- Scotty Bowman -- that will go down as among the greatest in history. But given the difficult circumstances the franchise endured -- the move from Hartford, the two years in a temporary arena in Greensboro when no one went to see them, and the move to Raleigh -- no one can argue how far they've come.

"[It was gratifying] from an organizational standpoint especially for [general manager Jim Rutherford] and for [owner] Pete Karmanos because I think they really suffered through a lot of the transition quietly," said Maurice. "They took some heat from a number of different sources for moving, and Greensboro, and how fast you build your team, and how you build your team, but they never really ever once wavered from their game plan and that's a credit to them. I think we're all still a little bit guardedly optimistic about our team. I think we really like it, but we're still in that building process."

Led by veteran center Ron Francis, who should've received more consideration for the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player than he did, if the Hurricanes resemble any other sports team it's the New England Patriots. Francis may play like a superstar but he doesn't remotely act like one. Jeff O'Neill, who broke into the league the same year as his coach, emerged as a force and was most remembered for taking a puck in the face during a game against Toronto in the Eastern Conference finals and then going on to score the winning goal. They had strong defensive play from players such as Bret Hedican, an eye-opening season by rookie Erik Cole and strong playoff goaltending by Arturs Irbe and Kevin Weekes.

If one player stood out on a given night, the next game it was a different player ... and so on.

"We played a real good team game and people appreciated that," said Maurice. "Ronnie is such a great guy in the community and certainly he's a Hall of Famer, but he always conducted himself as a regular team [guy]. That's the only way we're going to compete. We're going to get to a point this season when things aren't going well and people are going to say, 'Maybe it was a fluke last year,' but that's our game. We are not going to get 130 points this season. But we're hoping we can get a little more than we had last year and keep getting better.

"We got labeled as this trapping team because other teams we were playing had offensive players who were getting paid a lot. But that's not our game. I think we play a pretty exciting team game because our guys work so hard. I think we still suffer from people really not knowing our team. Just because the names aren't household, we skate well enough where it's exciting but we still get labeled as a trapping team."

Maurice said the organization, which got more bang for their buck than any other team last year, is very much on the right track. As for relaxing as a result of his new pact, Maurice joked that other than being, "horribly arrogant," he's still the same.

"I thought for awhile there in the summer that I was going to be a lot more relaxed come training camp but that went out the window when the same person arrived for camp," he said. "I'm tense, I'm at the rink way too long and some things don't change."

At the final press conference of the Stanley Cup finals, Maurice said he didn't know if he'd ever get distance enough from the series to be able to enjoy the accomplishment. It turned out he did.

"It's taken a long time," he said. "When we started to go back to pull video for training camp to help our team prepare, I think that's when I started to enjoy it more -- when you watch your team play again. I didn't watch any of them really after the last game. I started to enjoy it a little more and appreciate it. And then it's gone. Training camp starts and it's a whole brand new season and it will soon be long forgotten by a lot of people."

But remembered by enough who matter.

Nancy Marrapese-Burrell of the Boston Globe is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.