RALEIGH -- You didn't have to know any of Jeff O'Neill's personal history to see the highlights of his first goal of the season and know it was something special.

But if you knew the story, knew who O'Neill was honoring as he thrust his fist into the air and screamed at the sky, there was nothing left to be said.

It was a powerful moment, a younger brother's poignant salute to the departed sibling who meant so much to him, a goal dedicated to his brother Donny, killed in a car accident in July.

O'Neill scored it on Oct. 11 on his new home ice in his hometown of Toronto, a change of address engineered in the days after Donny's death at age 33. If the Carolina Hurricanes hadn't agreed to trade him to the Maple Leafs, O'Neill says now, he would have taken the season off entirely to be with his family, his parents and middle brother Ryan.

"It's just good peace of mind for me and my parents," O'Neill said. "If I want to go and see them, they're only 35 minutes away. If I had to go far, even to Carolina or Washington or whatever, I probably wouldn't have played this year because I wanted to be close to them."

The Leafs' visit to the RBC Center tonight is O'Neill's first trip back to the arena where he scored so many goals and played so many games. He was the "Eye of the Storm" who helped carry the Canes to the Stanley Cup finals in 2002 -- and picked up a nickname earned for his one-eyed game-winner in the conference finals against these same Leafs.

So much of this franchise's history has O'Neill's fingerprints on it. Only Ron Francis, Glen Wesley and Kevin Dineen have played more games for the franchise than O'Neill, and only Francis and Dineen recorded more points.

O'Neill is the franchise's leader in games, points, goals, penalty minutes and power-play goals since the 1997 move to North Carolina, and his 41-goal season in 2000-01 is the gold standard of the post-Hartford Whalers era.

His tenure with the team may have ended this summer anyway. He missed the end of the 2003-04 season after deciding to have surgery on a shoulder that had bothered him for years, and the Canes were debating whether to bring him back this fall at the $2.8 million they would have had to pay him.

A drunken-driving arrest in March -- O'Neill pleaded guilty in September, receiving a year of probation -- cast further doubt on his situation.

After Donny's death, O'Neill's father, Paul, asked Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford if he'd be willing to work out a deal to bring Jeff home to Toronto; Rutherford agreed, giving the Leafs permission to negotiate with O'Neill.

A week after O'Neill wore Donny's junior hockey jersey to the funeral, the Leafs signed him to a cut-rate two-year contract worth $1.5 million per season and gave the Canes a conditional draft pick in return.

"With the tragedy in his family, even before he ever went there, we expected it," said Hurricanes captain Rod Brind'Amour, who sat next to O'Neill in the Carolina locker room for years. "I thought everybody involved did the right thing, and it's rare in sports that people care enough to do the right thing."

It turned out to be the right thing for the Canes as well. With the financial flexibility gained from O'Neill's departure, they brought in two players to replace him. Cory Stillman is second on the team in scoring with 14 points; Ray Whitney has 10 points in his first five games with the franchise.

With them, the Canes are off to the best start in franchise history with eight wins in their first 11 games. Undefeated in five games at home, a win tonight would set a franchise record for a home winning streak.

The situation isn't quite as rosy in Toronto, where the Leafs are just above .500 and fourth in the Northeast Division with several new players -- O'Neill, Eric Lindros and Jason Allison among them.

"He plays tough and he's got one of the best shots in the NHL, and quickest releases," Leafs forward Matt Stajan said. "He's scored a lot of goals for us and every time he's out there he's a factor."

Playing on a line with Lindros and Alexei Ponikarovsky, O'Neill has four goals in 10 games after missing two games earlier this season with a bruised shoulder. With nine points, he's tied for fifth on the Maple Leafs, but he's minus-8 -- only five NHL players are worse, although three of them are his teammates in Toronto.

"I'm still trying to get in a groove," O'Neill said. "I'd like to start to feel real comfortable. I had a good start and then I'm kind of little bit of a slump here now."

He isn't complaining. There's no place he'd rather be. When he walks into the RBC Center tonight, he doesn't know how the fans will react but he's grateful for their support during his time in Carolina.

"I played a long time there, and to walk into that arena and hang a left [to go to the visiting locker room] instead of a right, it's going to be really different," he said. "Every time I see my name associated with the Toronto Maple Leafs, I have to give my head a shake. It's still really different to hear."

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