To Canes Fans

I think about the playoff losses a lot. It hurt then, and it hurts now. Each one of them stays with me. It stays with us. We have scar tissue. That’s the honest truth. There’s no point in lying about it. It’s there. And it’s a part of who this team is, of who we’re going to be. And I’m thinking about it now, not because I’m taking the regular season for granted, or because we’re already thinking ahead. It’s actually the opposite of that. This year's team, we don’t want to just be talented, or a tight group, we want to have a real identity. Something that we can rely on, no matter what happens during a month, or game, or series. Something that we know is us — something that is true to Hurricane hockey, through and through.

And that thing is simple: Hard work.

I don’t care at all if you think it’s a cliché.

We’ve come up short six years in a row. And each year we try to learn from it and make changes and do something different. Sometimes maybe we’ve tried to be things we aren’t. It happens. And there are teams all around the league who have certain styles of play, or things they’re great at. And so do we. But what I want is for us to be the hardest-working team in the league. The team that doesn’t leave a stone unturned. First ones in, last ones out. That type of stuff. Because when we break through, when we finally lift the Cup, it will because of all the reps before that moment. All the hard work. That’s the way through.

Everybody is a loser until they’re a winner.

And I know we’re winners.

I know it.

And if you don’t mind, I want to shout out Coach for a second here. Roddy. Nobody gets what it means to wear this sweater more than him. He’s got this connection with fans, man…. It’s crazy. He’s a legend. I remember being eight years old and watching from Finland when Carolina won in 2006. I can still see him and Cam Ward skating around with the Cup above their heads. I got to know Roddy during my rookie year in 2016. He was the power-play coach. I didn’t know him that well and I remember so many flights where it seemed like he never looked up from the film on his computer. He’d spend hours and hours trying to figure it out, trying to put us in positions to succeed. And when he became head coach in 2018, we all got to see another side of him.

He’s an incredible speaker. He just has this way of connecting with the guys that’s completely genuine and honest. He feels like a teammate. Like he’s in the battle with you. And he sets the bar so high. He’s the hardest-working guy every day. In the gym, in the film room, he is the culture. And I wanted to talk about him because I know Canes fans appreciate him. I see the jerseys. I hear the roar when his name is announced. But maybe people around the league look at Carolina and think, How did they build that unique culture down there? Roddy is a huge part of it. 

And I thought about that a lot when I was negotiating my contract in the summer of 2023. When you have the opportunity to be a free agent, it’s a massive moment in your life as an athlete.

But every thought I had that summer led me back to one thing: Canes fans.

I saw the way Roddy was treated, the love he had for the city. I wanted that. My wife and I love living in Raleigh. This is our place. This is where we’re supposed to be. And also: I’m a bit stubborn. I’m not giving up until we win. I promise that. I think I’m a Hurricane for a reason. I know what that reason is. And I will do everything in my power to make it happen.

I think sometimes there’s this misconception about European players. That we don’t care as much about the Cup as Canadians or Americans. I can’t speak for everyone when I say this, but for me, that couldn’t be further from the truth. I watched the Cup final almost every year growing up. I remember after the Canes won, the Ducks won it in ’07. I stayed up past midnight to watch Chris Pronger hand the Cup to Teemu Selänne. I was nine years old at the time, but I knew how important that moment was. The NHL seemed far away, but I knew it was the pinnacle. And I got it in my head that that’s what I wanted. To be a champion — to share that moment with a city. 

And so I’d watch YouTube for hours and hours. Pavel Datsuyk and Patrick Kane were two of my favorites. I was kind of mesmerized by their hands, by what they could do with the puck. As a teenager I’d get out on the outdoor rink with my friends, and it’d be colder than you could ever imagine, and we’d do one-on-ones and two-on-twos until we couldn’t feel our feet.

In Oulu, my hometown, we have so much pride for Finnish hockey. I think my very first hockey memory is being in the Kärpät dressing room with my dad, Harri, and his teammates when I was three or four years old. I remember his D partner cutting a down a stick for me to use. Those vibes in the room after they’d win … it was just really incredible. It felt like a big family to me. There’s something about being with the guys after they’ve given everything out there. I don’t know. That’s just something that I’ve always loved.

I cherish every win we get here in Carolina. We know how hard it is to win in this league. And every time we get one, and we share the moment together, I’m reminded of my childhood and why I play this game. 

That first playoff run we had in 2019 was special for a lot of reasons. That was the first time I saw the real Raleigh. It had been nine seasons since the team had been in the postseason, and I remember before Game 3 of the first round, the city was just alive. When I was drafted a few years before, people told me, Oh, it’s not a hockey town. It’s a football state. It’s a basketball state. All sorts of stuff like that. I don’t know, man. You come to our rink and you tell me if it’s a hockey town. I’ve played all over the world in almost every big rink. And I’ve never been in a building that was rocking like ours was before we got on the ice against the Capitals in 2019. Never. I was standing in the tunnel and I was in the zone. I was focused. We were down 2-0 but both games were close. I felt confident. I was getting ready to get on the ice, and I could hear the crowd, but I couldn’t really hear it, if you get that? Like I’m so in the zone that there’s no noise. But I could feel it. In my legs, in my chest. There was just this thunder going through the place. I can still feel it when I think back on it.

That series, man, beating the Cup champs in Game 7, in double OT…. Awesome. And then we swept New York in the second round and it felt like we were on top of the world. I really fell in love with Raleigh that summer. Like, I got it. I understood what hockey meant to everyone

And that's why it sucked so bad that we couldn't get it done against Boston. That was such a low, after such a high. To get swept.... I'm still pissed about it. 

Honestly, every series loss since then has been brutal. We've gotten so close, and built something special year after year, but close isn't good enough. 

Close sucks. 

But we understand the nature of hockey. Only one team can win the final game of the season. It’s the hardest trophy in the world to win for a reason. The only thing you can do is use the heartbreak as motivation. And so we keep going, we keep giving it our all. And this is where I really need to shout out our fans, because a lot of you have been showing up since the dark days, when we were rebuilding. The cool thing about our building is it's almost like a neighborhood. You come to the rink, and you see the same faces during warmups. The same families. You guys are a part of our group, and you keep us going. 

So we’re here again with a pretty darn good hockey team. I love this group. I really do.

We’re led by our Captain, Jordan Staal. He might not be on the scoresheet every night (he has been lately!!), but he’s our engine. When there’s a big draw to take, or penalty to kill, he’s just got this other gear. When I was a young player in the league, I’d look at him as somebody to be. That effort is how you win in the NHL. The goals and the points and all that, it matters. Don’t get me wrong. But when spring comes around, and the game changes a little in the playoffs…. It’s the stuff you can’t write down that makes the difference. Our captain is that guy.

And we’re a group that’s full of strong individuals, full of fighters. Freddie came back the other week and, man, it’s really inspiring to see how hard he’s worked to get himself back to the level he’s at. It’s brutal to see your brother go down like he did, and all the health stuff he’s had to overcome, he’s been through hell. But he never gave up. I’d see him in the gym all the time and you knew how much he was giving to get back to help us, to be there for Raleigh.

Now we’ve got some new faces in the building, and it’s an exciting time to be here. From the front office down, I think we all want the same thing. That’s a good feeling. It’s never easy seeing friends go. But that’s part of the game, part of life. We’ve got to keep going here through the end of the season and try to finish as strong as possible. We’re taking it one game at a time, doing every little thing to get better and better. And when the time comes, and the building gets even louder, and the games matter even more, I can promise you one thing, Raleigh: Close isn’t good enough.

Thanks for all the love. Let’s make some memories.

—Sebastian