Ray Whitney's north Raleigh neighborhood was easy to spot. Maybe even from space. Wearing bright neon green T-shirts with Whitney's No. 13 on them, the former Hurricanes forward enjoyed significant support in his return to the RBC Center on Wednesday with the Phoenix Coyotes.

It could hardly have gone better for Whitney: He scored Phoenix's first goal and forced the turnover that led to the game-winning goal for the Coyotes in a 4-3 win.

"I don't know about storybook, but certainly getting that first one was a relief for me," Whitney said. "Whenever you get a point, you get some confidence in your game, and it was nice to get that out of the way and move on from there."

A key member of the Hurricanes’ Stanley Cup team in 2006 and the 2009 conference finalists, Ray Whitney remains fond of this area and this franchise even after leaving as a free agent to join the Phoenix Coyotes in the summer of 2010. He watched with particular interest when Kirk Muller was hired to replace Paul Maurice on Monday, because there may be few people in the game of hockey Whitney knows as well.

Whitney played with Muller for the Florida Panthers for parts of three seasons, and the two became close friends, even taking their wives to the Caribbean together during one Olympic break, and still talk every few weeks. I caught up with Whitney late last night to talk about the Canes’ new coach.

Carolina Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford met with the agent of forward Ray Whitney at the NHL draft on Saturday, but Whitney is expected to test the free agency market, Rutherford said Monday.

The team hopes Whitney, 38, who's played in 18 NHL seasons and was third on the team in points (58) last season, still ends up with the Canes.

The NHL's free agency period begins Thursday, and Whitney is an unrestricted free agent.

"We're keeping the door open and hoping that he'll come back to us," Rutherford said

Canes winger Ray Whitney said today he has not closed the door on signing a new contract with the team.

"Never. Not at all," Whitney said in an interview. "Who knows what will happen. A lot can happen."

Whitney is due to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1 and Canes general manager Jim Rutherford said it was unlikely Whitney would be be re-signed before then. Whitney, 38, was paid $3.55 million last season.

Ray Whitney may have played his last game for the Carolina Hurricanes.

General manager Jim Rutherford said today that he has met with Whitney and that it appears the winger will not re-sign with Carolina before July 1, when Whitney will be an unrestricted free agent.

"I think it will be difficult with where he will be at, contract-wise," Rutherford said. "I expect him to go into July (and the free-agent market). It appears that's the way it's going to go."

No decisions have yet been made for next year on veterans Rod Brind'Amour and Ray Whitney, Canes general manager Jim Rutherford said today.

Rutherford said he has met individually with both forwards since the team's exit interviews and will meet with them again next month. Whitney is playing with Team Canada in the World Championships in Germany.

"We wanted to give everybody a little more time to get away from the regular season and let things settle down," Rutherford said.

Ray Whitney is headed to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

No, wait a minute, it's the L.A. Kings. Or Buffalo. Or Chicago, or ...

One thing's for sure: Whitney was at the Canes practice today at the RecZone. So were defensemen Aaron Ward and Joe Corvo, like Whitney due to be unrestricted free agents after the season and the source of endless trade speculation.

Canes general manager Jim Rutherford said today that he had fielded calls from 10 teams in the last four days about potential deals.

ATLANTA — With all the attention given Wednesday to the Canes' switch in captains, all but overlooked was Eric Staal also switching back to center.

Tonight against the Thrashers, Staal will be at center with Ray Whitney and Jussi Jokinen on the wings. Brandon Sutter will center wingers Jiri Tlusty and Chad LaRose, and Matt Cullen with Tom Kostopoulos and Sergei Samsonov.

"It's obviously more skating and a little more work in the defensive zone, but I was battling some other things and now I feel strong enough to be back in the middle and I hope to play well down the stretch," Staal said today after the morning skate at Phillips Arena.

In a season that little has gone right, not much went wrong for the Carolina Hurricanes in the early going Saturday.

But then came the third period.

Still, the Hurricanes ended a five-game losing streak with a 5-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks in front of 14,990 fans at the RBC Center.

Golf Digest released its 2009 list of the Top 150 golfing athletes, with one notable omission: Hurricanes forward Ray Whitney, a plus handicap who tried (but failed) to qualify for the U.S. Open.

Whitney's plus-1.2 index would put him at or near the top of the list if he had been included.