First Place Doesn't Feel Safe: What's Wrong With the Hurricanes

Fourteen games in 28 days can make a great team look ordinary fast, and that’s the tension hanging over the Carolina Hurricanes right now. We’re sitting in first place, but the wins and losses have turned into a pattern and the “Canes hockey” identity is showing cracks at the worst possible time.

Erin, Katie & I talk through what we’re actually seeing on the ice: stretches where the forecheck is not arriving with the usual bite, more rush chances against, and a defensive game that feels a step less connected. At the same time, we dig into the evolution Carolina has been chasing all season, adding more transition offense and controlled entries so the scoring isn’t dependent on a perfect cycle. That balance matters in the NHL playoffs, where elite teams break forechecks and punish mistakes.

Special teams get a full checkup. We break down the power play with Alex Nikishin quarterbacking versus what Shane Gostisbehere brings when healthy, plus why teams are starting to cheat toward the shot threat. We also get into the penalty kill slide after the Olympic break, how a condensed schedule limits practice time, and how lineup availability can scramble the usual PK pairs. Then we tackle the hard topic: goaltending. The numbers are under .900, the chances are too dangerous, and the team still needs that one extra save that swings a game.

On the bright side, we spotlight the forwards fueling real confidence: Andrei Svechnikov’s surge as a true power forward, Nikolaj Ehlers creating offense out of nothing, and the Stankoven line bringing electricity and depth scoring. We also look ahead to playoff matchups and what Carolina can do right now to finish strong and stay healthy. If you enjoyed the conversation, subscribe, share the show with a fellow Canes fan, and leave a review with your take on the biggest fix before the postseason.

Highlights:

condensed schedule pressure and the importance of building momentum
• why Carolina’s forecheck and shot volume are slipping some nights
• balancing transition offense with five man team defense
• unforced penalties and the need for discipline
• defense pairings, heavy minutes, and what Gostisbehere’s return changes
• power play adjustments with Nikishin versus Gostisbehere
• penalty kill drop after the break and the impact of limited practice time
• goaltending concerns under .900 and the need for timely saves
• Svechnikov’s surge as a true power forward on the top line
• Ehlers as a game changer and a driver of power play creation
• Stankoven line growth and playoff matchup questions on the road
• fourth line options including heavier looks for physical opponents

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Transcript

Condensed Schedule & Standings

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Well, the Carolina Hurricanes have their work cut out for them with 14 games in the next 28 days to finish out the 2025-2026 regular season. The condensed schedule has shown no mercy, and since returning from the Olympic break, the Canes have won six games and they've lost four. A strong stretch before the break has become a seesaw of wins and losses, and on some nights, the Canes haven't really looked like themselves. After Wednesday night's win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Canes hold a slim two-point lead in the East on the streaking Buffalo Sabres. And the Tampa Bay Lightning are just six points behind with two games in hand. What are we seeing from the Kanes these days? Can they get back on track and finish strong atop the Eastern Conference? What are the challenges they face as they try to make that happen? Joining me as always are hockey savants, Erin and Katie. Ladies, hi there. Hello! Okay. So how are the Kings doing? It's kind of, you know, it's the up and down of the season, right? They win one, lose one, and then, you know, all kinds of crazy things are happening in these games. In fact, Katie, you were at the game last night, and that's probably one of the craziest we've seen. So they've uh they've blown leads in five of their last six games. They're just it's uh it's interesting to be sure. Katie, what are your thoughts?

SPEAKER_02 2:06

Oh, last night's game was pretty typical of what we've been seeing from the canes for the through the first two periods. And then it's like all the rules went out the window in the third period with the penalties and the breakaways and the turnovers and the change of momentum just back and forth and back and forth. At no point in the game did either team have more than a one-goal lead. So it was it was tight and it was a lot of back and forth, and it was super entertaining. Um I don't expect we'll see another game like that from the Canes the rest of the season because it's very against their typical game plan. But uh it was definitely good that they were able to pull out the win and stick with it and end up uh extending their lead in the metro, even if it was just by a little bit over the Penguins.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Well, one of the interesting things we've talked about in the past, and it's certainly something we're seeing a lot of these days. The Canes struggling to get to their game. You know, historically they like to get in hard in the forecheck, they like to get in lots of shots. They're actually lately have been getting outshot in some of these games, and they're not getting that fore check going. Aaron, thoughts?

Penalties Start Handing Out Chances

SPEAKER_00 3:20

Well, I know that it's been a cop topic of conversation for a while that the Canes did need to improve some of their transition offense and generating chances off the rush because when it comes right down to it, that's how a lot of the scoring happens in the NHL. And the Canes have fallen behind as far as um other teams, you know, when it comes to doing that. So that has been part of the plan, I think, since they started adding certain players to the roster. I would point to Keandre Miller as one of the players who's very good in uh rush uh transition game. And and uh I think that we all know that um that second line um Logan Stankoven is very good at his as at carrying the puck, and he's very quick, you know. So um being able to get in with possession is something I think that they've been trying to do, and it's been part of their strategy. But like you said, it doesn't look like a typical Keynes game when they're doing that more than they are uh dumping the puck in, forechecking hard, you know. So you still need both. You still need both. You have to do it both ways. You can't um rely 100% on one or the other way of generating um offense, especially in this day and age, and especially as we get to the playoffs. If there's anything that's been holding the canes back in the playoffs, it's that the forecheck method of scoring, for check and cycle, it's very hard to set up a scoring cycle when you're playing a playoff game and when you're against top teams that are really good at breaking those up and getting the puck going the other way. So it's good that they're doing these things, and it's good that they look a little different. But there's been a weak spot there, and that is that the team defense has tended to come down a little bit. They're not getting um the solid defensive play that we've seen. Um, you know, and that's across the board. It's it's all of all five players on the ice, you know, they're they're not getting it. Um, but I think that that's something that they will have to iron out as they go forward.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

Well, what do you think about the some of this penalty uh challenge they're going through right now? They're getting all kinds of uh unforced penalties, uh offensive zone penalties, you know, just trying to figure out what's what's causing that. Katie, any thoughts on this penalty surge? We saw four minutes uh twice for uh for Seth Jarvis, yes. Seth Jarvis, yes. Just thinking about something else. Seth Jarvis, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 5:39

You know, I'm not sure that I can put my finger on any one or two particular causes. I just think that some of it is lack of luck. I mean, Jarvis hadn't had any penalty minutes pretty much the entire season until that one game where he ended up with two, like you said, two double miners. So sometimes that's just how it goes. You you get stretches where you take more than not. But the discipline really does need to become a focus for the canes. They need to be playing in such a way that they're not giving away free opportunities to the other team. And it's, you know, it's a uh it's a hobby on Canes Twitter to complain about the reffing and talking about well, they shouldn't have made this call, but they should have made the other call. And I think every team's fan base engages in that particular conversation. So you know, it's just they they gotta they gotta mind their P's and Q's, they've gotta take care of their business and understand that sometimes the calls just aren't gonna go your way. And once you're on the penalty kill, you just gotta do your job.

SPEAKER_01 6:47

Well, it's interesting because it kind of plays into some other thoughts we're hearing uh fairly frequently right now, which is that almost the dog days of the season. So the canes are sitting there in pretty good place in first place. They've got some room, uh, they're waiting for the playoffs, so to speak. Um, and you know, how do you how do you motivate yourself to get up for all these games and continue to play at the level you have, you know, all season? And there's a lot of folks asking that question is that part of what's going on with the canes right now? They show up for one game, then they don't show up the next game. And is is that related to this timing? Is it something related to where we are in the season? Aaron?

SPEAKER_00 7:25

Well, it has been a really condensed schedule, and as you pointed out in the intro, it's going to keep being just as condensed with games practically every other day. Um, from a statistical sp of course, they're clustered together differently. But um I I also think that the Olympic break may have caused more of a break in the rhythm than we're used to from the All-Star break, because it's a much longer break. And, you know, you know, take some players had time to travel home internationally to see family and friends. So it, you know, it you come back and you're you're almost in early season mindset in terms of you know how where you feel like you are. You don't in those early season games, you know, there's a little bit of adjustments going on, you're we're you're figuring things out. And when you look back at how the Canes early season went, they really didn't get that this year because there were so many uh injuries to the D-course. So they did not get that time in the early part of the season to play and solidify and get all of those details down. So I'm not sure that we're not just seeing a little bit of that going on behind the scenes. That they have to, with very few practices and very little time off, they have to kind of get together and get everybody on the same page. And it this is not the time of the year that you would usually do that. But yeah, over their last six games, it's been one win, one loss, one win, one loss, all the way through six games. So we would like to see the canes start to string some wins together, you know, prior to the end of the season, prior to when you get to that point where you're playing, you know, our AHL guys are playing their AHL guys. We we want to see them have some good, solid, canes-like wins and and string a few together. And I think that once they get to that point, it it's gonna be very noticeable.

Defense Pairings & Minute Management

SPEAKER_01 9:00

Yeah, and that's key. The key thing is, of course, you want them going into the playoffs with momentum. So, you know, we don't want them continuing this uh kind of you know win-loss type of uh approach that they've been in. You know, one of the areas that I think has has been getting some criticism, and certainly is an area we've looked at a lot too, is the decor. And you know, it still seems like a work in progress to me. Uh, you know, there's there's things that you like, and then there's things you're not so keen about. Um, one thing I've really noticed though is some of the minute uh per game numbers that uh these folks are playing seem very, very high to me. Uh Jalen Chapfield as an example, he's averaged over 20 minutes a game this year. Uh two years ago, he was just at 15 minutes a game, so this is a massive jump for him. And he's gone from the third pairing a couple of years ago to the first pairing with the Kanes right now. Um that's that to me is is uh is something for discussion. Uh also, of course, uh we have to look at you know what's happening with the third pair. Uh Gostus Bear has been out for a while. We've had Mike Riley sitting in, so lots of things happening on that side. Katie, what are you seeing with the D Corps?

SPEAKER_02 10:14

Well, I went and I used natural stat trick to look up a bunch of the numbers on the defensive side of things, just completely ignoring offense. And um, of pairs since we got back from the Olympic break that have played at least 50 minutes. So it's a 111 different pairings, so plenty of other uh V pairs to compare them to. The Canes have still been pretty good in limiting the chances against, but once those chances get through, they end up falling behind a lot of the other top teams when it comes to scoring chances, high danger chances against. And the weakest pair by far on the canes has been the Riley-Nikesian pairing. Even to the point that their strongest D pairing before he got hurt was Nikesian and Gosses Air. And then it's fallen off that much with it being Riley and Nikesian. And I think a lot of that just has to do with the kind of player that Gosses Bear is, the kind of situations in which Brindamore would deploy that particular pairing because of Ghost skills where he wouldn't be using that pairing in those situations. Um Ghost has also really improved his defensive game. It's not just his transition ability and uh those sorts of characteristics that he has. So when you look at these numbers that um that I put together in this chart, it seems like a lot of what's been they've been struggling with will get balanced out simply with a ghost returning to the Keynes lineup, because then Rod can deploy his group a little more evenly. That's where the time on ice, like you mentioned, with Chatfield having uh so much more uh even on the top line. I mean, those will get used as the defensive shutdown pairing. But being able to have ghost indication operating at full strength will mean that they won't have to do it as much as they have been. Um Miller and Walker have been an interesting mixed bag. There have been times that they have been absolutely fantastic, like in the Pittsburgh Penguins game. They were phenomenal, creating all sorts of chances all over the ice, each of them coming up with a goal. It was wonderful to watch him. But there have been other games in which they have struggled. So a lot of a lot of their success comes with their matchups, comes with the the game situation in which they're in. So Brendan Moore's really gonna have an interesting balancing act to move forward because we know him. He is not he is a creature of habit. He is not going to just put his D pairs into a blender if he can help it. And he is going to move forward with these pairs. I just don't see them changing as much as we would all like to see what Nikitian looks like with Slavin or what ghost would look like with Slavin or something along those lines. I I just don't see Brenda Moore going against his nature with that. Once ghost is ready to come back, he'll just slap right back in next to Nikitian and move forward, they will go.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

Well, it's interesting because um, you know, that you look at the pair of Slavin and Chatfield, and they are challenged to do much offensively. Uh and and I I think it actually hurts the Keynes at times because you know, they're if you had someone that had a little bit more offensive acumen, and that's historically been the case with Jacob Slavin, he had Brent Burns for a long time, of course he had Tony D'Angelo, those guys were given the green light to make things happen offensively because of course Jacob could cover. I'm finding that's a shortfall of that pairing. And I know they're a shutdown pair, but boy, uh you know, Slavin can cover for anybody that you put out there with him, and you know, that's something that I think needs to be a consideration. Something else that I looked at was uh I'm watching closely, Alex Nikishan's playing time. And uh if you look at kind of some interesting numbers, in October he was 1917 average per game, November 1917, December 1915. Um January was a little bit lower at 1641, February at 1512, and he's 1631 in March. But he's had some gains in the 13 and plus minute uh kind of range. Just trying to figure out what you know what's going on there. Um his lowest time this season was 1314 on January 31st. His biggest uh minute time was October 28th against Vegas, 2733.

SPEAKER_00 14:53

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

So this guy can play big minutes, and we know that he came from playing big minutes where he was in the KHL, he averaged probably close to 25 minutes a game. So he's a guy that uh thrives, I think, in big playing time. And you know, he needs to see more ice. And now maybe part of it is as you mentioned too, that uh, you know, the pairing with Mike Riley, uh, you know, although you listened to Trip Tracy last night and he, you know, he said, I think Riley's doing an incredible job. So I don't know how to how to how to take that, uh, given the stats that you presented tonight, Katie. Um, you know, again, Nikishan is a key player, he's a guy that can do a lot more, and particularly as they get into the playoffs, a big player that can lay on the body, that's going to be crucial. And again, I'm wondering about him on his offside, and that's something that again, with um with Gosta Spare returning, Shane can uh play the offside, and that would allow Nikishan to get back to his normal uh left side position, which I think will help. Have you got any thoughts on this, Aaron? What are you thinking about the decor?

SPEAKER_00 16:04

Well, I think that um you guys have covered pretty much most of what I would say, but I would add, you know, just I do think that you're on to something when it comes to the the minutes uh being reduced. It's been primarily since um Jacob Slavin returned, you know. And obviously when Slavin was out for that long stretch of time, everybody was eating more minutes because they had to. So I think it's a great sign of you know how well Nikishan was trusted and to to take on those minutes. Um I think that's a good thing. Um and I also think that in a way, I mean, it kind of did force Rod Brindemore's hand a little bit because he does like to bring his kids along slowly, so to speak. You know, he likes to give them the easier matchups and the easier deployment to start out. Um we've seen that with some of the younger guys on the team so far this year. Um and even though Nikitian isn't quite as young, he is certainly still a rookie in this league. And I think that that would have been um Rod Brunamore's uh preference would have been to start him playing those 13, 14, 15 minute third pairing minutes, you know, for October, November, maybe a little bit more in December, maybe a little bit more. But because of the injury situation, we had almost a reversal of that. And as long as that's being communicated well to Nikitian, that he isn't losing ice time because of anything he's doing. He's not losing ice time because he's playing badly. And I I mean I hope that they're communicating that really well with him because it is important. It's important for him to know that he's doing a good job and they like how he's playing, that it's just the situation right now of not having um Gustavus Burr healthy and Mike Riley, you know, like you said, Trip Tracy is a great one for pumping the tires of the people that don't necessarily get that treatment a lot, you know, and then you love Trip for that. It's like you love him for that, you do. You know, because these guys, Riley is not an NHL regular and he's never, you know, gonna be that. So it's it's good for for the team cohesion, it's good for the team's identity, for everybody to feel like they're appreciated when even if they only make it in here and there on these games. So, but realistically, Rod cannot put that pair out there for 17, 18 minutes a game. It's not it would be a disaster for the Kanes. So I hope that all that's been communicated really well to Alexander Nikeshin so that he knows that he will get those minutes, he will get those opportunities. Like you said, especially in the playoffs, when um on the road in the playoffs, they're not gonna have as much control about which pairs are out with which with which matchups. So he's gonna have to step up and be ready for that, and I'm pretty confident that he will be.

Power Play Finds New Angles

SPEAKER_01 18:30

Yeah, and I mean he, along with uh Shane Gossespare, formed quite a duel. Uh as we'd mentioned earlier, that uh Shane's defensive game has improved. Katie was uh helping with that, and and I think again, uh, you know, those two guys on the points, boy, I don't know. If I was the other team, I'd be I'd be a little concerned because they're both uh you know extremely talented offensively and can make some things happen out there. So I'm really looking forward to that duel getting back together, and I think that's gonna help the Keynes a lot. And they'll be able to drive their minutes up, and hopefully uh folks like uh Kayandre Miller and Sean Walker can see a few more minutes. They played a lot of minutes this year, so we want to see those guys get a little bit of a break as well. So, talking about the Kation, then I thought we'd segue into the a power play discussion. And you know, we've talked about the power play a lot, and we look back and we kind of laughed because on December 5th they were 30th at uh 13.7 percent and then went on a tear, just a tear, for a period of time. And we we looked at their their numbers over that time. In October, they were 9.7 percent, uh 16.7 in November, so a little bit better, but then December 24.4, January 30.6. Now they've softened a little bit in February at 26.7, and then March it's been affected again with Goss Despair being out, I think, and they're at 23.8 percent. So they have really seen their numbers decline since uh Ghost went out. In fact, they're five for twenty-one on the power play since he left on March 7th, so uh not nearly as good as what they've been. We knew they'd cool off a little bit because they were smoking hot for a period of time, but they've really started to struggle. What are we seeing with the power play, Kay?

SPEAKER_02 20:23

Well, as you mentioned, having Niketian as the power play quarterback versus Gosses Bear are two different types of uh setups that you have. Um it started off relatively strong. Nikitian has been out there on the ice for three power play goals, four since Ghost went out. Um, but other teams are starting to key in on him and the type of shot that he has and where his his threat is. He's not the playmaker the same way that Ghost is, and so it's a little bit easier to play him straight up and cheat on his shot. And I think the Kanes have done a decent job responding to that as far as how they move the puck around and use him kind of as a decoy to open up the coverage a little bit more and create looks. And they have created a lot of looks. The the success might not have been there the way that it had been in January, but they are definitely dangerous, they're definitely threatening, and they um they really make the PK for the other team work and earn their penalty kill if they end up getting it, because they they just they don't stand still. And that's that is something that has carried over whether it was ghost to and then non-Aquisian, is the Keynes power play, it moves and it uh it is dangerous because of it.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

Well, and and Ghost has a bit of a different style. Uh he'll traverse the blue line quite a bit, uh, more so than than Alex does. And that seems to help them uh in finding you know open spots and he can get some shots through and so on. So I think they're both different looks. Um, and as you say, they're really trying to stop uh Alex from shooting because when he shoots, it's it's usually gonna end up somewhere that uh the other team doesn't like for sure. Um I think uh another another piece I wanted to talk about while we talked about the power play, and I think he's this gentleman has been outstanding, and that's Nikolai Ehlers on the power play. He's a guy that continues to impress me virtually every game with some of the plays he'll make. He he can make plays out of nothing, and he can do some incredible things. What are you seeing with Nikolai Ewers?

SPEAKER_00 22:34

Well, I think you know he's he's got that speed, which I think is incredibly helpful for the Kanes when they're getting in. Um, especially um I would say that you know, when you're talking about Ghost versus Nikitian on the power play, one of the biggest things that I think Ghost does better than Nikitian right now is um regaining the zone if they happen to lose the puck and it gets shot down the ice. That's that that transition to get the puck back into the zone if they, you know, because you know, we all know how crucial Stahl was in becoming the face-off winning guy, you know, because winning the face-off starting with possession, that has been a huge help. But when they lose that possession, I really miss Ghost being able to get that puck back in because he's very, very good at that. Now Nikishan isn't terrible at it, but it's something that I think it takes a little time to learn how to do that with your with your teammates and so on. Um but as far as Ealers is concerned, when when when they have lost the puck on on a on a power play where he's out there, um he's got that same ability that Ghost does to just get it up fast, and he doesn't always carry it in himself, but he does see the open man and his passing is excellent. He's always very good tape-to-tape passing. So that helps them tremendously. And then, like you said, the plays that come out of nothing, the you think the power plays over and Ehlers manages to get a chance either for himself or someone else. And even if it doesn't go, you're you you're aware how close they were to getting a goal, so you feel like it was a successful power play because the other team then has to regroup a bit, you know. So he's been tremendous on that. And I think that he's gonna continue to be a huge force for them in the in the playoffs on the power play.

Penalty Kill Slides After Break

SPEAKER_01 24:09

Yeah, and you know, he fills a role that uh Marty NH has filled, I think, quite nicely in terms of getting the puck up the ice quickly. He can really really move and motor. And uh we see him frequently taking the puck into the offensive zone and starting uh starting the power play uh in the O zone. So it's great. Um so the power play still okay. They're sitting at 12th, so they're pretty well where they were uh the last couple of months, uh, haven't really fallen much, but not quite as sharp. And I think as as you mentioned as well, that uh that we'll see you know Shane Gosses Bears' uh contribution will really help with the power play. But I think the area that I was more kind of perplexed by though is the penalty kill. The hurricanes have historically been one of the top PK teams, in fact, for several years under Rod Brindamore, that's been their calling card. Um, and this year it's really been up and down. In fact, sitting right now at 15th at 79.3 percent, and that's that's nowhere near where we normally see the hurricanes. Looking at the monthly performance, I thought this was kind of telling. Uh they started off October, they were 82.1 percent, so that's great. Uh in November, 77.1. Hmm. In December, uh they had uh 78.8. Okay. January 84.8. So they had a great month in January. That's great. I'm not sure what changed, but things are looking good. Yeah, and then February and March were not good at all. February 70 percent, March 73.3. And the most perplexing thing to me about March, that's games with Jacob Slavin back. So, Katie, what are we seeing with this PK? What is going on?

SPEAKER_02 26:03

Well, January was when Slavin came back, so I think we when we've talked in the past, um, leading all the way up to the Olympic break. I think you know, I think you could really have to kind of dismiss February because there's pre-Olympic break February and there's post-Olympic break February. So they were really strong, it was going well, they had their system. And that's also when Bussy was hot and Freddie was heating up. And so you got the good goaltending to go along with the good PK work. Um since the break, obviously, there have been struggles both with the coverage. I mean, the PK itself seems to be a little wonky. Some of that I think is the fact that it has been a lot of our PKers who have ended up in the box. And so that throws the groups and the systems out of whack a little bit as far as which D-Man is paired is paired with another D-Man, and maybe it's not their normal partner that they've been playing with recently, or one of the forwards isn't there. There are a couple of different instances I really remember going, why were the two of those forwards out there together with each other when they get scored on? And it's there was some sort of miscommunication that happened. So there's that, and there as well, there's been the the goaltending that just has not been as sharp since we have gotten back from the break. And I think that's um that's also contributed to the lower success rate of the penalty kill.

SPEAKER_01 27:27

Well, since uh since the break, the kill the canes have killed 24 of 33, just 72.7 percent. So yeah, goaltending plays in that for sure. Um, you know, I look at the decor though, and this is something that I was kind of pondering recently. If you look at the crew that did the heavy lifting last year on the D, so you had uh Jacob Slavin and Brent Burns. Uh they were tremendous on the PK. Um and then you came back with uh Dmitry Orlov and Jalen Chatfield, and they were they were heavy out there, hard to play against, they were making things happen. And I think that's a difference now. When you put the uh Kandre Miller Sean Walker duo out, they're not heavy. They're not a heavy pair. And there's there's a little bit more room for teams to kind of you know work their their magic, so to speak. And that's an area that I'm kind of wondering about because they do use that pair a lot. Uh Rod really trusts those guys a lot on the PK. And you know, that's that's a concern as we kind of move into the tougher games and into the playoffs. Uh, because again, uh these teams are playing heavier, they're harder to play against, they're more focused, and so on. So, you know, I'm wondering how this all plays out. Aaron, what do you think about this in terms of you know, those D pairs? Are you comfortable with those guys back there?

SPEAKER_00 28:52

Well, I think that um at this point of the season, again, we're talking about, you know, Rod being very comfortable himself with these pairs. Um, I think that it's more a matter of, in all honesty, this is where not having practice time in this kind of a condensed schedule is really, really difficult for the teams, you know, when it comes to these special teams uh usages. And that's true for the power play as well, but power play can kind of hum along and do its thing and you know you you don't have to worry that much. But on the on the penalty kill in particular, you need to be practicing with different people. Like Katie said, sometimes the guy you kill penalties with is in the box, you know, and then that also impacts other decisions. For example, um the the PK against Columbus was was having some some issues, you know. Um they were um B Seth Jarvis was, like Katie pointed out, one of the your regular um PK guys was in the box. Yeah. Ordinarily, in situations like that, who does Rod Brindamore call on? He usually puts uh Eric Robinson out there because Robinson doesn't kill penalties all the time, but he certainly can, and he'll put Robinson out there to kill a penalty with the other forward. But Robinson wasn't playing that night because they decided to bring in Nick Delore and give him that first view of Kane's hockey. So those are the kinds of decisions that are gonna be looked at really closely down the line. You know, as much as everyone clamors to have, you know, the fighter in the lineup, it does impact these things because then suddenly you're scrambling with a forward that maybe doesn't usually practice the PK taking on that duty while someone like Jarvis or Otto or, you know, even Jordan Stahl the other night was in the box, you know. So if if if someone who's a relied upon first or second unit penalty killer can't be available, then you've got to make sure you get your cast of your supporting cast of I also like this guy, I also like this guy, you know, they've got to be available. So it's gonna be a big calculation going forward. Um as far as uh Walker and Miller, I think that they can be very capable PK guys, and they have been, but I think that they need to lean into a little bit more of their identity as a PK pairing, you know, because they they have a lot to offer that isn't the physicality. The stick work is really good when they're on, um, and their speed is really good when they're on to get that puck out of the zone. And I'd I'd actually like to see um uh Keandre Miller do a little bit more of the trying to spring somebody on a breakaway because he's got that again excellent passing. He's really good at that. So instead of just shooting the puck down the zone, I'd love him to to work with getting the forwards in position to take that puck and go off with it because we know that that's been fun. Certainly Martin Nook's short-handed goal was a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01 31:34

So no, and I think uh I mean K Andre Miller has been sensational this year. I mean, he has just been incredible. And you know, again, he plays a lot like Jacob Slavin. He likes to use his stick to break up plays, and he's not a hit heavy hitter or anything like that, but he's very smart out there. And and boy, I I don't think you could question the work and and play of uh K Handry Miller. You know, you mentioned uh subbing in uh some players for the PK. Well, it turns out that Nick Delorier even got a few uh a few reps the other night. I was shocked. He's out there killing the belly.

SPEAKER_00 32:08

I must have missed that. I must have missed that one.

Goaltending Needs Timely Saves

SPEAKER_01 32:11

Oh no, it's amazing. I just about fell out of my chair, so it's great. Um okay, so you talked about something which you know we we have been concerned about on and off this year, which is the goaltending situation and how that's affected certainly the power play or the PK side particularly. Um looking at Frederick Anderson, Freddie won last night, and again, uh a lot of goals being scored. Uh his last 11 games, though, he's only lost one in regulation. He's 7'1 and 3, so his record's uh a little bit better. Goes against average of 284. Again, they're giving up a lot of goals uh for the Canes. Safe percentage, still well under 900 at 880. So, you know, he's he's been playing better, I think, but we're still seeing soft goals. We're seeing goals that we think somebody could save. Um, and you know, we used to see some of those saves from Brandon Bussey, but I'll move on to Brandon now, and he's really struggled. So he has lost his last three games, he's 2-3-0 his last five, and he's got a 4-0 five goals against average and 8-3-5 save percentage in that period. He has really struggled. And he's making plays that are getting him into trouble. Uh, somebody called him a uh it was a um uh Kochekov. Kochekov played last night when he went behind the net, went down, and of course they scored. Um, even though Alex Nikisha made a great save on the first shot, but uh he couldn't get the second one. But but the goaltending numbers are not that great, and and both goalies under 900 on a save percentage. In fact, Freddie's at 872 for the season. These are not great numbers. Um, Katie?

SPEAKER_02 33:54

Well, I mean, I I'm gonna give the goalies a little bit of a pass on a few places because the canes are not making their life easier, especially recently. So many of the chances against our grade A chances, they're on rush chances against um not blocking their man on rebounds, stuff like that. So not all of this by any stretch of the imagination is on uh Anderson or Bussy. But the problem is, like you said, when you need a save, when you need them to step up and make that big game-changing play, it just hasn't been coming the way that they needed to it. Now, again, props to Freddie. Last night he let in four goals in the third period, and it looked like it was gonna be over for the Canes. Like he his confidence was shattered, but he stayed dialed in and focused. And once overtime started, he made he made that save that we have been needing from him in regulation, but he made it in overtime. He had some very, very important saves in order to give the canes a chance to finally regroup and get down the ice and uh win the game with under 30 seconds left to go. So um much credit and much love to Freddie for doing that. But if he had come up with just one more save, one of one of the two breakaways that he let a goal in, if he had just made a save on one of them, or then it would be a different story. Then we'd be talking about it looks like we have Freddie back in form, that Freddie's gearing up for the playoffs, that he, you know, the canes have confidence in him because it is a two-way street. If if they're struggling, if the if if the goalies are struggling, then it the the rest of the players are gonna be in their head a little bit as well. So just they gotta figure something out at both as a as a as a defensive unit and then the goalies as well, playing together to limit those chances and limit those goals.

Forwards Surge Led By Svechnikov & Ehlers

SPEAKER_01 35:58

There's an interesting stat that uh the Athletic put out today, which I thought was quite uh quite telling. And they were looking at uh percentage of games that uh goalies had played that they had over a 900 save percentage. Okay, 20th in the league was 37.8 percent of the games. The canes are below that. So they they stopped at 20. We don't know where the canes ended up, but they're below that, which is not a great number. So again, uh they've got to find their game. You know, the first couple of periods last night, I thought Freddie, boy, he he's looking like the Freddie of old. And he's done this the last couple of games where he starts off great, you're feeling comfortable, he looks sharp. Uh, you're saying, oh boy, Freddie's back and good timing. Um, and then, you know, kind of the wheels fall off. And and he and Bosse lately, as I mentioned, are giving up goals that they just can't afford to give up. And this is uh, I think you're right, Katie, it affects the confidence of the team for sure. And uh they need to get that back. And you know, Brandon, we knew he was gonna have some challenges. Goodness, he was he was being unbelievable for a period of time. Um, and you knew he couldn't continue to do that. We just need to know that he's gonna be able to find a midpoint here and get back to being able to play solid hockey for the canes because if he doesn't, it's gonna put them in a very tough position for sure. And um I feel comfortable he will. Uh, you know, we expect, as I mentioned, that he would have some challenges. And and you know, the other thing too is opposing teams are uh getting the book on him. You know, this is what they do. Uh they play him two or three times, and all of a sudden they realize if I shoot like this or if I put it behind the net, he might get himself into trouble and we'll get a goal. So uh so for sure, uh they're doing the homework, and and uh the canes have to, you know, they have to do their work. Paul Schoenfelder and the rest of the crew have to, you know, help these guys get their game back in gear. So, again, work in progress, I think, for the goaltending. Um, and of course, we hear every once in a while a little tidbit that uh Piotr Kochekov may uh may surface at some point, which would be, I think, a very welcome thing as well. Um so let's keep our fingers crossed on that one. Um couple of minutes on the forwards, and and this was mostly, I think, some kudos um and you know some uh some uh some good words about some forwards, and I thought we'd spend a few minutes and talk about a couple of guys, and one of them is Andre Svetnikov. Svet since January 15, 21 games, has 13 goals and 11 assists, and he scored a beauty against Columbus the other night. I mean, he's he's doing some wonderful things. Aaron, what are you thinking about with Andre?

SPEAKER_00 38:43

Well, I think he's finally looking like the power forward that they wanted him to be all along, and I think that when you look at his path of development, um, these guys that were drafted in, I mean, he was 2018, I think some of the guys that were also drafted in the 2019, it's been kind of a similar thing. The COVID scheduling had a huge impact on these guys and their development. And I think we're only now starting to see that with some of these players as, you know, at 25, 26 years old or 24 for the 2019 guys, you know, they're suddenly starting to look like the player everybody thought they would be all along. And it's not just um Spechnikov, I think there's several others that you could probably put in that category. They miss a lot of time, and a lot of that was development time that would have been used, you know, early on to help them get to where they they wanted them to be. And then in Spech's case, you have the unfortunate reality that he also missed a huge amount of time with that um serious injury that he had, the ACL tear and the surgery. So once you set all that aside and look at where he is right now, this is the player he was always going to be. And he's on a career high pace for points and for goals and points, I think. Um he's he's looking like the player that's gonna have that kind of impact on games, you know, and and he needs to stay on that top line with uh Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis. They need him, they need his size, they need his ability to, you know, get up in people's faces. The little interchange with Crosby last night was so fun, even though they both ended up going to the box for it. But you know, you want that. You need that fire, you need that because Aho's line is being tasked with at least the second hardest matchup, if not the hardest matchup lately. So you can't remove Svechnikov from that line and still have the kind of defensive impact, let alone the offensive impact. So, you know, it's working out well, and you know, for once, I think you can look at our top line and say, this is the top line for the Carolina Hurricanes. It shouldn't be changed unless somebody's out with an injury. You know. So he's been fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 40:47

I agree. And and you know, the the interesting thing with with uh Andrey Svasnikov is we've seen his uh ability to set up goals that just I think it's elite. Um he just makes plays that you know you just watch and go, you gotta be kidding me. Uh and he does it with regularity. Uh and now he's he can do some of this, you know, these goals where he likes to you know put the shoulder down and go in in front of the net and and just uh tap it in the corner, and he does that extremely well because he can skate so quickly and he's strong. He has when he's happy playing his game the way he can, he's as good as it gets as a power forward in the NHL. Absolutely. There's nobody better than him. And he has played this, he's played well for a long time. So it's not like you know, he's got a nice run right now. He's been doing this for for a good part of the season. And I think uh that's a real harbinger for the playoffs because you know he had a great playoff last year, so he's gonna be a guy that uh when you get into the heavy going, he's gonna be somebody you can count on. So I'm really excited about what what Andre Sweschenkoff is doing. And you know, when you talk about players that are really doing well and on on uh a path to actually exceed their previous highest point totals, that would be Nikolai Ehlers. And that's interesting because Ehlers, as you recall, he started slowly for the Keynes. He's been just incredible. And he, like uh Svechnikov since January 15, he's been going well. He's got nine goals, 13 assists, and 21 games. And he's a guy that uh three assists last night, he's just he's just getting it done, right? And and he's making plays all over the ice, and he's also extremely responsible defensively. Um, and so you know, you start to look at the decision and the ability to get Nikolai Ehlers, and he is a game changer for the Hurricanes, no question. Katie, what did you see with Nikolai last night? Oh man.

SPEAKER_02 42:45

Well, the best part for me last night with Ehlers was the fact that he was so shifty. You never knew exactly where he was going to end up on the ice. He took whatever space was available, whether it was a lot or not much at all, and either went to it or got the puck through it to his teammate. Um, my favorite goal from or my favorite assist from him was the one that he had on the power play because he ducked back in behind the goal and he drew not just the defenders but also the eyes of the other PKers, including the goalie to himself, which allowed him to find Stankhoven alone. And so I mean, Stanko was able to just tap that goal in, just a little bit of elevation to get it over the pad, and it was a done deal. And it it was just so special because of how Ealers just shifted the weight of where everybody's attention was and allowed that play to develop and then finished on it. He didn't just kind of throw the pass out nowhere. He got it right on Stenkoven's deck for the easy goal. It was a thing of beauty. And I know a lot of us out there keep wondering, well, when is he gonna get moved off the dad's line? When is he gonna have, you know, be able to play with more skilled forwards and probably don't know, but he's I think Rod likes that line. And again, once once Brenda Moore is happy with a combo he has, he's reluctant to go away from it for sure. But it gives that line, regardless, more pop. The other teams have to pay more attention, they have to take him seriously in their own zone because Ealers will create from anywhere, he will shoot from anywhere, he actually has some of the best finishing on the team. If you look at the um hockey visit chart for him, there's a lot of red for him with his finishing. So it would be nice perhaps if there's one suggestion is for him to shoot a little bit more because he's got a really good shot and it is quite effective and would love to see a few more goals from Fly. But other than that, no complaints. He's been doing great.

SPEAKER_01 44:53

Well, you know, you talk about him with uh the Jordans, uh Martinook and Stahl. Uh Jordan Stahl having his best year scoring uh in many, many, many years. And watching uh the shorthanded goal by Jordan Martinouk last night, I don't think he's got a problem scoring. Good grief. So uh so definitely a line that because they are the number two line for the Canes and they do play heavy minutes, I think it's great they have Nikolai Ehlers on there because it certainly does give them a little bit of offensive punch. And uh and he's continue, of course, as I mentioned, he's a 200-foot player, he's a guy that's gonna be right there defensively with those guys as well. So I just am absolutely ecstatic. And the other thing I've noticed with him, and I don't know if you saw this as well, when he was uh one of the stars last night, he actually threw the puck to a little child that was in the crowd. And and the bigger thing that I was interested in was just the the glow on uh on uh Ealers. He just it looks like he's loving being a hurricane, he's loving playing in in Raleigh, and and uh he's made the transition uh from uh from many years of Warner Cleague, he's now a full cane, so it's great. And uh look forward to his continued contribution for sure. You know, you mentioned Logan Stankhoven, and I wanted to spend just a few minutes on the line that uh Stankhoven, Blake, and and Taylor Hall. Um you know, Stankhoven, you know, I'm a big fan of uh Logan, I think he's great. Um he goes in the dirty areas, he scored that goal, he was right in there, okay? So he doesn't mind. He gets knocked down by Taylor Hall, he had a smile on his face, that's fine, he gets up and goes again. He's uh he's a guy that uh you gotta love him. And you know what I've noticed lately? He's winning more face-offs. He's getting a lot better in the face-off dot. Uh the other night he was four for four, last night he was uh 56 or 7%. He's starting to become uh very capable in the dot. And he's growing into his role as uh as a center, and defensively we know he's rock solid. So, you know, I really like what he's doing. You know, Blaker hit uh 20 goals, so I mean, what can you say about that? And Taylor Hall just continues to deliver. Aaron, what are your thoughts on that line?

SPEAKER_00 47:08

I think that line has been really good for the Keynes, and I think that you know they're gonna get better as they get older, too, because there's plenty of room to grow. Um one of the things I noticed about, you know, with Stenkhoven is that his contributions offensively last night has pushed him into the 40-point projected pace now, and now it's of course that's just projection. You don't know for sure how that'll all work out. But it does push him ahead of Jordan Stahl, which is interesting because you were talking about Stahl having a great year scoring. That's kind of cooled off a little bit. Um, but uh but as we would expect, obviously, with the defensive matchups, that line has to have a handle. Um, but uh but for him to be on you know a 40-point pace in his first year as an NHL center is quite good. And um, you know, uh I think that um when you look at the ice time too, um he's getting about 15 minutes and you know, 15 or 20 seconds of ice time um as a as an a as a center on that line. And uh he's actually about a minute and 15 seconds less than stall, you know, so he's getting less ice time and he's producing more, and that's always a good sign for a young player. You know, he'll he'll uh he'll probably outproduce stall by the end of the year. So um I know that people are worried about that with the production on that line. Obviously, the big step will be whether he can uh build on that next year because you want to see those numbers pushing 50, you know, and 55 and somewhere in there. Um you know, with the Keynes, you don't really expect a second line center to start hitting 60 or 70. It's just not usually how they do it. But um, but for him to be there is really good. And then he's obviously impacting what his linemates are doing. Um I think that uh Jackson Blake is on pace for about 51 or 52 points right now, which is excellent for his sophomore season as well. So they're they're an offensive threat. Um defensively, like you said, they're very good, but they're not being given tough matchups, and that is something um I think we're gonna need to look at as they go into the playoffs because on the road, it's gonna be harder to shelter that line. And we saw in Columbus, they were not really an effective line and they were getting pinned in the defensive zone quite a lot. So we may see some little adjustments in terms of how often they're on the ice and against you know which kinds of situations. Um, I think uh in the playoffs, I think Rod will probably want to put that line out in some really good offensive zone situations, such as a face-off after an icing, you know, let them take advantage of that kind of situation where you've got tired players on the ice and they can maybe get something going, but you're not gonna want them out in situations where that's gonna be you know exposed or or where they're gonna be ha having to handle a tough matchup. But uh other than that, though, I mean you need that line, you need their scoring. Um, I think that uh the way that they like to talk about the lines these days, at least from I think Adam Gold, is that you know you have your first and second matchup lines in Aho and stall, and then your site your first, you know, your secondary scoring line in in terms of Stancoven's line, and then you know we'll get to that fourth line in a minute. But uh for sure.

SPEAKER_01 50:10

Well, Katie, you saw them last night up close and personal because they were just getting so many chances. They were stealing the puck regularly, they were getting great opportunities. You know, they're I don't know how many shots Logan Stankoven had five shots or so. He was firing at everything. And I thought it was uh it was just uh it was appropriate that he uh he ultimately scored. But that line, when they're going, uh boy, they can make things happen because Blake, of course, he likes to get into the dirty areas, he'll take the puck anywhere. He doesn't care. Um, sometimes to his own detriment, but uh that's okay. I'd rather have him going in there trying to do something than sitting on the on the fringe, which is uh quite often the case. What did you say with that line last night? What did what really jumped out at you?

SPEAKER_02 50:56

I think what jumped out at me is just how the entire atmosphere in the building from the ice up through the fans changed when they were out there. It just truly became electric because you knew that they were having one of those games and that they were going to do something exciting when they were out there. And each of them ended up with a goal last night. They each had one and they all had multi-point nights. So it was just a fantastic, hardworking, high effort, high-energy game with them. And they particularly were really effective and dangerous when they were out there with Miller and Walker. There was something about that five-man unit where Miller and Walker would do a great job keeping the puck in, keeping it alive, creating those third, fourth, fifth chances. There was one time that line just had the penguins ghast because they could not get the puck out of the zone and they would just reload and come back at it. It was fantastic to watch that line doing what it can do when it's at its best. Like Aaron said though, I still have my reservations for matchups when they're against bigger lines. There's not the advantage of last change, but last night that wasn't an issue. Rod deployed them to perfect faction, and it was the best I have ever seen them play. And I'm not just talking in person, I'm talking, period. It is the best that line has played ever together.

SPEAKER_01 52:32

Well, you know, as we go into the playoffs, you know, the a lot of uh success for playoff teams is with their third and fourth lines. And you know, the Canes they put together a fourth line. Uh it you know, Mark Jankowski has uh really taken control of that center spot. Uh you've got uh Eric Robinson on the right side, and you've got William Carrier on the left. And of course, Carrier was hurt last year, so that was a bit of a problem. This line is interesting. Uh one of the things about Jankowski, we he did it last year when he first joined the Canes. He went crazy and scored a whole bunch of incredible goals. Um and he did that against the Blues the other night. He showed that uh that ability to just go in and put the puck and as a beautiful goal, and it was all on him. So he's got that ability, but do we think this line is good enough to get it done in the playoffs? Do we think they're gonna be able to match up against some of the other top fourth lines? And there's some good ones. Aaron, what are you thinking about with the fourth line?

SPEAKER_00 53:37

Well, I love how they've been looking recently, um, for sure. I think that they that they all you know gel together really well. And I was um intrigued, and I I I know you're you're probably gonna want to talk about this a little bit, but I was intrigued by the the addition of uh Nick Delorier in place of Eric Robinson against the Columbus Blue Jackets, because uh that is exactly the kind of heavy physical team where you do want, you know, somebody out there that can can maybe set the tone for that physicality and say, okay, we're not gonna let our guys get pushed around. Especially since, you know, my my I know my biggest concerns going into Columbus was not about the fact that they didn't ultimately end up losing the game, but I was worried about an injury because that has happened historically late in the season. We've played Columbus and someone's ended up injured. And it's sometimes been very bad. So having that option to put somebody out there and say, we're not gonna put up with a bunch of uh cheap shots and trying to run over our players, we're gonna have somebody out here that's gonna tell you no, you're not gonna do that. And so between, you know, both Will Carrier and Nick Tuluria, you have a very heavy, heavy line. So they have the um option, of course, to go to that when they need to. I think primarily they're gonna stick with Robinson on that line because he provides the scoring, really. I know Jankowski, we all joked about what the Jan Gretzky phenomenon at the end of the season. But realistically, uh Mark Jankowski is not a goal scorer. He does not just pull goals out of his hat all the time. So um you do want Eric Robinson because he has got the best chance of scoring on that line, especially if they can manage once again, um, like we've been talking about that transition play, getting in the puck, getting him in on a breakaway. Um Robinson has scored some lovely goals that way this year, and just and in his time with the Kanes in general. So I think that you have a line that's gonna match up well with other teams' fourth lines on any given night, because against some teams you're gonna want the heavy physicality and the, you know, we're you we're probably going to hurt you, so get out of our way. And on other nights, you're gonna want Eric Robinson with his speed and his ability to score. So they can do it either way. You know, they're when you look at the teams that they might face in the in the playoffs, you know, there are teams out there that have a very skilled fourth line, and there are teams out there that have very heavy fourth line. Yeah. So they're able to go back and forth with these these different groups and and go ahead and and match ups. And and that's something they've lacked in the past. So it's really good to see.

SPEAKER_01 55:58

It you know, you talk about Will Carrier and uh Nicholas Delaurier, the Smash brothers, right? So they could really they could really uh cause some havoc out there. Um, you know, I I it was Nick's first game, so you're trying to figure out is he gonna be able to skate with the guys? Is what's he gonna do when he gets out there and so on? And he seemed fine. Um, and of course he got into a scrap with uh with Olivier, but I think the bigger question for him is is not so much the scrapping, he's it's laying the body on, you know, making himself heavy out there. I think that's the key role of a fourth line in the playoffs, is they've got to be heavy. And uh, of course, Carrier is when he's on his game, he's as good as it gets. Um and the Cades missed that last year for sure. So I'm kind of with you. I think the line's gonna be fine. Uh one of the things that I really like is that uh Mark Jankowski has been really strong in the face-off dot, and that's huge. Um in fact, Rod he trusts them quite frequently to go out there and take serious and important draws. So um I like that about Mark. Um he's not a heavy player, particularly. He'll hit the guys once in a while, but but he's definitely a big player and he can uh he can uh be imposing out there. And boy, he'll make some plays that sometimes you look up and say, Is that Mark Jankovsky? Um but don't forget he was a first-round pick when he was drafted by Calgary, so he's definitely a player that at some point folks had uh some pretty high expectations for. So, fourth line, I think they're fine, I think they're gonna be great. Um, and again, uh Eric Robinson started very, very well this year. He's uh of course had some injury problems, but he's a guy that can chip in some offense as well. I wanted to uh to segue from that into kind of spending a couple of minutes on the playoffs. Uh where we sit today, there's 14 games left, uh, getting closer to uh playoff time for sure. Uh as we look at it today, in the brackets, the Hurricanes would be up against the Detroit Red Wings. So uh that would be an interesting one. Uh but don't forget, there's a lot of battling going on for those last uh you know playoff spots and certainly the wild cards. So this could change dramatically, and there's several teams kind of in the mix right now. When we look at this, uh how are we feeling today? You know, do we think any of the teams that we see below us are gonna be a concern, or are we feeling pretty comfortable? Okay.

SPEAKER_02 58:32

As far as the Metro is concerned, I think the Canes are sitting pretty that we're comfortable. We it it it's just such a toss-up of who that second wild card is gonna be. It's not worth really theorizing too much about that right now. There's gonna be a lot of changes that happen between now and the end of the season here in about a month. So I think the canes just need to focus on keeping their position in the metro strong and secure, of tightening up some of those uh struggles that they've had that we've been talking about uh previously in the podcast. And also perhaps staying on their toes well enough that they can be competitive for first overall of the east. Because with those matchup concerns we mentioned at various points along the way, it's obviously to the Cain's benefit and um and uh ease of playing their game if they have more games where they can control the matchup, especially those first two where they get to set the tone and hopefully take control of whatever series that they're playing in and give themselves um the ability to be in an advantageous spot moving forward before they even play their first road game.

SPEAKER_01 59:41

Well, as we look at that crew that's battling for uh final position in the playoffs, the one team that concerns me is the Columbus Blue Jackets. Um I think the Canes can beat them, not concerned about that, but I think it could be a very tough series. Aaron?

SPEAKER_00 59:56

Well, like we s like I was just saying, it's always a heavy physical game against the Blue Jackets. And you know, um we do we do have a fourth line that's ready to take that on, but you know, you look at lines one through three and you have to say, okay, we don't have the biggest guys. We don't have the the you know, um you know, ever every line has a big player on it. Let's just put it that way. You know, you have Svechnikov on the Aho line, Taylor Hall on the Steckhoven line, Jordan Stahl, of course, on his own line, you know, but uh his wingers are are not big guys either. And then, you know, the like I said, the fourth line is the line that could be the heaviest line on the team if they want to configure it that way. So a long series against Columbus.

unknown 1:00:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:36

I think the Keynes would probably win. Yes. But my concern is at what cost? Right. How many do they lose some guys to injury? Do they lose some key pieces, and then they go into the second round of the playoffs already the walking wounded? Because we don't want to do that again. We did that last year. It wasn't fun. Um, they managed to get through that second round anyway, but then they ran into the Panthers and did not have a chance, um, really, because of all of the injuries and all of the people that were missing. We don't want a repeat of that. So from that perspective, the Blue Jackets would not be my favorite first round matchup.

Finish Strong & Stay Healthy

SPEAKER_01 1:01:11

Yeah, I that I they're the only team that kind of and you know, we saw them the other night, they look pretty darn good. I'm not sure they're like that every night, so it's not, you know, that's not something you have to just expect, otherwise they'd be much higher in the standings. But they are a team that definitely is on the rise, and they've got a lot of depth. So we'll have to be uh mindful of that. Um okay, so uh 14 games in 28 days. Okay, this uh this is a busy, busy, busy schedule. And they've got uh coming up, of course, they've got the Leafs uh tomorrow night, and then uh Sunday they've got uh Pittsburgh again. So they they're gonna get tired of playing the Pittsburgh Penguins. But uh as we look ahead, Katie, what are your thoughts?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:55

I think they just have to play the game that they're in. They need to not look too far ahead and get too uh distracted by the playoffs coming up or whoever or even who their next opponent is. They just need to focus on the game they're in now and playing the being the best version of themselves that they possibly can be. And that will be the um give them the best chance for success to finish out the season strong.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:21

Aaron, closing thoughts?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:24

I think that looking at that schedule, you know, their their next three games, of course, are a road trip, and then they come home and have you know three days off before a back-to-back weekend game set at home. So that is a two different sets of challenges. You have three games on the road, you have a little bit of a break for the first time in a while, they will need that practice time, they will not be taking those days off, and then you know, a back-to-back weekend slate. So my biggest concern is don't relax too early. You know, we we know how important, like Katie pointed out, that that Eastern uh conference position is gonna be if they can be in the first, and if they can stay there and and get those advantageous matchups all the way through the Eastern Conference Final, that's gonna be a big deal this year, I think. So if they start falling off too early, I think that's where you have to look at it as from the coaching perspective, and I hope they're already having these discussions. Do they start resting guys a little bit early?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:20

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:20

You wouldn't normally do that because you want to stay on the gas and you want to get through this this part, you know, within the next, I think it's like I I don't remember, it was like seven or eight games, they could clinch, you know, so that they're not they're not in any danger of of having to stay this way all the way through the the remainder of the 14 games. But if players aren't being able to bring 100%, and if there's too many people kind of taking nights off out there, maybe go ahead and and rotate some guys in, you know, bring Delaurier back in, you know, but move out a different winger or something like that, you know. Just just do what you need to do to keep everybody focused because it I think it's too easy to get complacent right now when they're you know, from their perspective, maybe there's not quite as much to play for. So I want to see them come out and play every game to win it, and I really want to see them put together a winning streak of more than that.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:12

So I do have very kokanami who uh is available. So yeah. It's okay, Aaron.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:20

I had to further in the I know, I knew you were going to. That's all right. No, I mean, but seriously, though, they could see him.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:27

Yeah, we may see him.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:29

You could bring him in in for a game if somebody you know needs a night off. But I think that's where it's gotta be a whole lot of communication between the coaching staff, the players, and the medical staff because I know some of these guys are playing through things right now. They have to be, you know, and with 14 more games coming up in another really condensed schedule, there there's gonna be some bumps and bruises, the kind of thing that you would normally just play through, but this close to the playoffs. You don't want to make that mistake of pushing guys through things that you know a couple of nights off would be all the difference. And and then, you know, if you don't do that, they may end up on the injured list to start the playoffs. You don't want that. So I hope they're doing all that.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:07

They've got players in Chicago that could certainly come in for a game or two. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:12

Well, we'd love to see, wouldn't we love to see Bradley Nadel? I mean, wouldn't we love to see him come up first?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:19

You know, even Felix Unger Sorm, who's had a sensational this year. Any of those guys can come in, they're not gonna hurt you, and uh, and it'd be fun for them to get some playing time as well. So, yeah, uh interesting as it goes forward, a little bit of a road trip. We'll see how it uh fares. We've got to see them get back to consistency, we've got to see them get back to their game. Uh, and they need to do that before the playoffs, and that's gonna be kind of what we'll be watching together very closely and and monitoring. And of course, uh, we'll be back in a few weeks and we'll talk uh a little bit more about what we're seeing, and and as we get closer to the playoffs, what we think might be uh the situation in terms of who the Kings might face and so on. So, anyway, always great to talk hockey, ladies, and uh we could keep going, I'm sure, for an extended period, but uh but we'll wrap here. And uh for those of you who've been watching or listening, of course, Aaron Katie and our delight who spent time with us. If you like this episode, please press the like button. And of course, if you have comments or questions, please leave those in the comment section as well. And finally, if you want to be alerted of future episodes of Storm Tracker, please press subscribe and the bell buttons, and you'll be alerted just as soon as they're available. As always, thanks so much for spending time with us. We'll get together with you real soon, right here on Stroke.