At this point, the best thing that can be said about the Second Mo Dynasty is that it’s over. The Carolina Hurricanes hadn’t clicked under Paul Maurice for two full seasons and they were working on a third by the time he was finally fired Monday.

If the Hurricanes had held him responsible for last spring’s collapse and hired Kirk Muller this summer, when Muller interviewed for head-coaching jobs in Dallas, Minnesota and Ottawa, maybe they wouldn’t be in this fix now.

Maurice did an excellent job fine-tuning the team that Peter Laviolette left him in December 2008, and a surprisingly good job of making adjustments on the fly in the 2009 playoffs, but given the chance to retool the team on his terms, it was back to business as usual.

Carolina Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos Jr., talking today about his 10 new investment partners, said the group took a "real leap of faith" in buying into the team.

Why a leap of faith?

"When you invest as a minority investor in a sports team where it's difficult to figure out the value of the sports team, you sort of have to have a leap of faith," Karmanos said at a news conference at the RBC Center. "They know they're not going to come in and say, 'Geez, I think it's time to trade so-and-so and have that happen, all right?"

Carolina Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos Jr. said today that an investment group of nine to 10 people is coming together that could collectively buy a 15 to 20 percent share of the hockey team.

Karmanos, in an interview, said all of the investors were based locally, although he did not name any of the individuals. In mid-February, he said he hoped to have a group of 20 or 30 investors, each investing $1 million to $3 million.

"We won't have quite that many, but the ones we will have will invest closer to the higher number ($3 million) than the lower," Karmanos said. "Things are going pretty well. We have had a lot of local people who have shown interest. It doesn't hurt that Forbes magazine calls Raleigh one of the best places to do business and live."

Carolina Hurricanes majority owner Peter Karmanos Jr. said today that an agreement to bring in as many as 20 to 30 local investors in the NHL team could be finalized and announced in the next 30 to 90 days.

Karmanos said the investors — he declined to give any names -- were willing to put up between $1 million and $3 million apiece. He said the group would own roughly 30 percent of the NHL team and that he would continue to control the other 70 percent.

"I've always felt it was important for the team to have local investors," Karmanos said in an interview. "There are a lot of people in Raleigh and the Triangle who believe the team is very important to the community."

RALEIGH — Carolina Hurricanes majority owner Peter Karmanos Jr. said today he believes he is closer to securing an investor or a group of investors in the NHL team.

"I think so, yes," Karmanos said in an interview. "It could happen in the next three to six months, but there's no rush.

"I'm taking my time to find the right one. I want people from the Raleigh area, because I think having more community involvement will help."

Canes majority owner Peter Karmanos Jr. said today the search for investors in the team continues but that he hopes to have a deal in place later in the fall or early winter.

"There's a lot of interest. We've talked to a bunch of people," Karmanos said in an interview.

Karmanos said it was likely the sale would involve a group of investors rather than any one person, with each putting in a varying amount of money.

Looks like business is better at Compuware, the Detroit-based software company founded by Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos.

According to a Detroit radio station, Karmanos' compensation more than doubled over the past fiscal year, from $4.2 million last year to $8.6 million this year.

Seeing Peter Laviolette take the Philadelphia Flyers to the Stanley Cup finals hasn't changed Peter Karmanos' feelings about his former coach. The Hurricanes' owner, who famously blasted the coach who won the Stanley Cup a month after he was fired, had this to say Wednesday:

"Our biggest problem from a business point of view is we havent been consistent, OK?" Karmanos said. "One of the reasons Laviolette now is in Philadelphia is his lack of consistency. We missed the playoffs for two years after we won (the Cup) and we would have missed the playoffs again. Paul (Maurice) came in and took us to the final four and then this year we couldn’t even finish dead last, we had to finish somewhere around 23."

Karmanos also talked about the Rod Brind'Amour situation, the chances of the Hurricanes moving up to get Tyler Seguin, who plays for Karmanos' junior team in Michigan, and his relationship with Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch.

When Peter Karmanos talks about finding a minority investor in the Carolina Hurricanes, the first reaction of many fans is to worry about the team moving somewhere else. This is natural, considering Karmanos moved the Hartford Whalers here three years after buying the franchise.

Between the team’s lease at the RBC Center, the growing Triangle market and the way the NHL would fight to keep one of its Sun Belt success stories in place, among other reasons, Karmanos on Wednesday categorically ruled out a move.

Above all else, that’s reassuring to hear. It isn’t the first time Karmanos has said so, but this is also the first time he is seriously soliciting buyers.

Even if the team is here for good, though, it’s fair to ask how good the team will be. The pressure to make the money-losing team as attractive a proposition as possible may consign it to payroll purgatory at the bottom of the NHL’s salary-cap range.

Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos Jr. wants to sell 49 percent of the team, preferably to a local investor or group of investors, and has hired a New York investment firm to help with the sale.

Karmanos said he has no intent of selling the team. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said too much is being made of ownership changes and reorganizations.

What do you think? Is there anything unsettling or worrisome about this recent development, or is Bettman right? And what are the chances Karmanos will be able to find someone or some group locally to buy into the team?

The floor is open.