11 Wins in 13 Games: Inside the Hurricanes' Late-Season Dominance

The Carolina Hurricanes are surging at the perfect time, riding an impressive 11-3-0 streak over their last 13 games to climb to second place in the Eastern Conference. What's driving this late-season dominance? Erin, Katie & I break down how the new acquisitions are transforming the team's identity and playoff chances.

• Taylor Hall making immediate impact with seven goals in his last eight games
• Mark Jankowski surprising everyone with his offensive contributions on the fourth line
• Logan Stankoven finding chemistry with veterans Staal and Martinook
• Frederik Andersen dominating in net with perfect 6-0 record and .940 save percentage in last six games
• Sebastian Aho and the top line finally coming alive at the perfect time
• Russian contingent (Svechnikov, Orlov, Kochetkov) showing flashes but needing more consistency
• Alexander Nikishin signs with Quartexx agency, fueling speculation about NHL arrival

Subscribe and hit the bell button to be notified of future stormTRacker episodes as we continue tracking the Hurricanes' journey toward the playoffs.

Send us a text

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Well, the Carolina Hurricanes continue their
red-hot play, winning two of thelast three on the current
homestand and 11 of their last13 games.
The Canes now sit in secondplace in the Eastern Conference,
just nine points back of theWashington Capitals.
For sure, there's lots to thegood.
The new guys have made animmediate impact.

(00:23):
The Ajo-Blake Blake Jarvis lineis heating up.
And how about Freddie Anderson?
He's been lights out in netJoining me to talk about this
and a lot more.
Storm Tracker Insiders AaronManning and Katie Bartlett.
Ladies, hi there Evening, hey.

(00:45):
Ladies, hi there evening, hey,so, uh, the canes have been
playing tremendous hockey.
I mean, you think about the onegame that was a bit of an
outlier, seven, nothing with thelos angeles kings.
Um, if you look at the othergames, like during that, uh,
that stretch, they could havewon them all.

(01:05):
They won 11 of them.
They could have won the one inin, uh, in Nashville as well, um
, unbelievable play.
And you know I was looking atthe newcomers in particular to
kick this off, and I wasthinking about Taylor Hall.
You know, hall came in.
He was kind of under the radarin the big deal with Nico Rantan

(01:27):
and in fact some people thoughthe was just there to kind of
make the cap work right.
So this is Eric doing some goodwork and they throw in Taylor
Hall.
Hey, that's fine, he might beable to help a little bit.
Turns out he's been doing agreat job.
In his last eight games he'sgot seven goals, three assists,
he's got a couple of power playgoals and a power play assist

(01:50):
and he's been kind of helpingthat get started and overall
he's got 17 goals and 21 assistsnow.
So he's starting to make thisseason look interesting and he's
been off to a great start withthe Canes Otts.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
I'm really encouraged , particularly on the power play
end of things.
I mean, yes, he's looked goodfive on five on that line and is
starting to develop chemistrythere.
But I think that the main thingthat he has brought to the
power play is that he movesaround and, as we've talked
about in past episodes, that hasbeen the biggest problem with
the Canes power play in 2025 isthey've just been too static.

(02:28):
They've been too content tostand around in their spots and
pass around the umbrella andmaybe take a shot from distance,
but not do anythingparticularly dangerous.
And he is.
He is changing up that equationquite a bit.
He's finding the spots, he'smoving around and his movements
are forcing the other players todo some forechecking and to

(02:49):
also adjust their positioning.
And you think about one of themost recent power plays, that
the most recent power play goalhe scored where Blake had to get
below the goal line and makethe defender's answer to him,
which gave Hall just enoughspace to get open so Blake could

(03:10):
feed him and he could snap itover the goalie and into the
goal.
I mean that was just completelyset up by Hall and then Blake's
hard work behind the net.
It was fantastic.
So I think that's what I reallyappreciated is that Hall has
helped to rejuvenate that powerplay and it's looking like it's
not quite so soft as it wasbefore.

Speaker 3 (03:32):
I would agree with that.
And since you took the powerplay, I will talk about a little
bit about their five-on-fiveplay, because the line that Hall
has been on has gotten a lot ofattention for how well they've
been doing.
There have been two mainversions so far.
We've seen Hall with KK andJackson Blake and then more
recently Hall with KK and JackRoss, and I like that.

(03:55):
There's strengths andweaknesses, I think, to both of
those combinations.
It may come up later down theline when we start talking about
playoff lines and you know,does Jackson Blake stay on the
top line or not?
I think we have that coming up,you know.
But both of those lines haveworked really well in different
ways.
And one of the things that I'venoticed with the power play
that you said, katie, you knowHall's had a lot of chemistry on

(04:16):
the power play with Blake.
So I think if they were to puthim back on that line at 5-on-5,
it would be really interestingto see how that would look now,
because they've been developingsome very natural chemistry
there.
But what I like about the lineat five on five is that Hall has
been, you know he's slottedright into how Rod Rendemore
wants his forwards to play.
He's not a defensive liabilityat all and I think there were

(04:36):
people who thought he would be,because Chicago being what it is
right now, it's hard to tell.
It's really hard to tell who canor can't play defense in
Chicago, because no one seems to.
So, honestly, it's been reallyenlightening to see how well he
thinks the game, you know, andthat he's seeing those pass
opportunities opening up and or,you know, with the scoring

(05:06):
opportunities that other playersmaybe don't see, some of the
goals that he has scored haveinvolved him driving the net at
the last second and just takingthe goalie completely out of the
play.
I mean, that's that's not justa high skilled play, it's having
the vision to see that that'seven possible.
And you know, I think, thatthat there are a lot of Canes
players who can do that, but forwhatever reason within the

(05:27):
system, they don't seem to.
So it's nice to see someonewho's playing fully within the
system, playing very responsibly, playing defensively, but still
able to get those breathtakingmoments of, you know, getting a
goal or at least getting areally exciting chance, because
we've missed that, I think, inrecent months, and it's good to
see.

Speaker 1 (05:46):
Well, for sure, and I think Paul is showing some of
his skill that he demonstratedcertainly, you know, in past
years with his MVP year and soon.
He was a great player and youknow he suffered injuries for
several seasons.
We saw that he had missed a lotof action over three or four
years.
That's tough and it seems thatthis year he's come back healthy

(06:10):
, you know, and playing for theBlackhawks again.
That's a tough situation and heimmediately upon, you know,
joining the Hurricanes.
You know you could see him witha much bigger smile on his face
and feeling very, very goodabout things.
And he's definitely.
He's made a huge difference.
And you know, if you look atthe power play and you see the

(06:30):
confidence now starting to build, you see he's been leading the
way, sure, with a lot of hisgood play.
And then you know ShaneGossespierre jumping in and
starting to play the way he can,and now Sebastian Ajo being the
guy that's firing away on thatright side and getting the huge
opportunities over there as well.

(06:50):
So again, I think he'sdefinitely leading by example.
He's a hard worker, he skateshard, he's involved both ends of
the rink and you're right, Erin, he's not a defensive liability
at all.
I think he's a great player andright now, well, he's making
that trade look a lot better byhis play, certainly at this

(07:12):
stage and hopefully into theplayoffs, and he's got a lot of
playoff experience.
That should help too.
So good stuff with Taylor Hall.
Mark Jankowski scores againagainst the Islanders.
You know Jankowski, it'sinteresting.
We talked a little bit abouthis past.
You know he was a first-roundpick.

(07:33):
He had some good years withCalgary Flames.
His early stage into the leagueScored 17 goals one year, and
you might not know this, butlast year with Milwaukee.
So he went back to the AmericanHockey League and he had 47
points in 40 games, Okay, and itwas a plus 29.
So he dominated in the AmericanHockey League and I think what

(07:58):
you know, what we weren't quiteaware of, was he does have some
offensive acumen and, you know,for whatever reason, he's
getting a chance to show that ona regular basis, and I think
part of that is the fact thatEric Robinson has teamed up with
him on a just incredible numberof great plays.

(08:18):
Some turned into goals, somedidn't.
But what are you thinking aboutJankowski right now?
Is he for real?
Some didn't, but what are youthinking about?

Speaker 3 (08:25):
Jankowski right now.
Is he for real?
Well, I think you know I didn't.
I didn't see the results afterlast night's game, so I don't
know what, but before lastnight's game he had a sixty
three point nine, I believe,percent shooting percentage.
So that tells you.
You know for real?
Yes, but that's not sustainable, obviously.
Sustainable no, so he's notgoing to keep scoring goals like

(08:46):
he is, unless there's, you know, some magic at work here that
we don't know about.
But really it's incredible tosee that he's got having this
kind of impact, becauseobviously that's exciting for
the Canes right now.
I think that his broader impactas a center on the fourth line
is going to be just his bigphysicality, the fact that he's

(09:11):
not, you know, in any way easyto push around.
You know he's certainly strongin those areas as well.
That line has put up greatpossession numbers so far.
You know he's certainly he'severything you want in a 4C
going into the playoffs,Absolutely everything.
So will the scoring continue?
No, but will it?
I mean that doesn't mean thatthere won't be opportunities,

(09:33):
because, as we know, in theplayoffs a lot of times it's a
fourth line that scores thereally impactful goals when they
can take advantage of thosematchups, when they can get out
there and just dominate theother team's fourth line.
So I'm excited to see him in theplayoffs.
That's, I mean, I know, asexciting as it is right now.
I'm really excited to see whatMark Jankowski will bring in the
playoffs.
I think it's going to be atreat, so it doesn't have to say

(09:56):
63% scoring.

Speaker 2 (09:59):
But the one thing, the one thing that's encouraging
, where I do think that it'srealistic to expect him to still
contribute on the score sheet,is the ways that he has scored
these goals.
It's not just a particular style.
He's had some coming in on therush, he's had some dirty work
around the net.
I think he even has a tip orsomething along those lines.

(10:22):
I mean, the one last nightagainst the Islanders was just
such a fantastic play by all ofthem because Jost chips it up
out of the zone so he makes areally good play to move it up
to Robinson.
Robinson brings it down the iceand Jankowski sees him and just
makes a beeline straight forthe net and gets there and
Robinson gets the pass throughperfectly, which Jankowski just

(10:45):
taps home.
And so it was a wonderful playfrom all three of the forwards
on that line that Jankowskifinished off.
And that's the sort of impactthat they can have and the type
of goal I see him being able tocontinue scoring is he's still
going to be coming in with thosesniper goals.
I mean maybe, but most likelyit's going to be those sorts of

(11:07):
hardworking, good vision typegoals that catch the other team
a little bit off guard, becauseyou just don't expect a team's
fourth line to be that fast andthat quick with their play, and
Jankowski and Robinson togetheras a duo definitely are.
And then I don't think itreally matters who you put in as
the third winger, whether it'sJost or someone else.

(11:30):
It's going to be somebody whocan work hard and help get pucks
and get them up to those guysto create chances, and so that
line is a threat.
The other team can definitelynot sleep on that line or
they're going to end up givingthem a bit of a handful for sure
.

Speaker 1 (11:48):
Yeah, and you know what I mean.
That goal yesterday was a veryI mean it was a slick goal by
him too.
That's not an easy play.
Going at speed he was able to,you know, redirect the puck, get
it into the net quickly.
You know, he seems to havepretty soft hands and that's

(12:10):
something that I think issurprising a lot of us.
He's, he's definitely good withthe puck, he and man I don't
know what to say about Robinsonthat we haven't said already.
He's just, he's a guy that'sout there, he's, he's one of
those lunch pail guys that justgets it done and he has amazing
speed and, and that is, we seeit regularly and that changes
the rules quite often.
So I'm really delighted to seethis.
I think it's, as you say,rightfully too, Katie.

(12:33):
These guys are going to,they're going to contribute,
there's no question, and it'llbe interesting to see who ends
up with them.
And that's one of themillion-dollar questions these
days is who's going to bepatrolling the wing with those
two fellas.
But I'm excited about it.
We haven't had a fourth linelike that I don't know if I can
remember one With two big guysthat can move and, you know, can

(12:56):
put the puck in the net as well, and both of them playing at
the top of their game.
So very exciting.
We'll keep an eye on Jankowskiand I'm sure he'll score another
goal before the year's overmaybe two, he knows but he's
definitely having a tremendousimpact in his short time with

(13:18):
the Canes.
You know you go back to and itleads into the next guy as well,
but you go back to the summer.
We talked a lot about the movesthat eric tolsky made and you
know he made a lot of noiseabout the fact that, hey, we
handpicked these folks to behurricanes, right.
So you know we went out and,yeah, they're not the biggest
names around and and you knowsome of them we signed the

(13:40):
long-term deals and all kinds ofthings.
And and again, you know,looking at the players that he
brought in, he was very clearthat he wanted Taylor Hall.
He was a player he wanted to goafter, and this is before the
deal was done or anything else.
And also, again, he wantedJankowski.
He said that his group hadtheir eye on Jankowski for a

(14:02):
while.
So you know you really got tobe impressed with, you know,
that team of folk that aresitting in the back room and up
on the whiteboard and whateverthey're doing, coming up with
these players because they'recoming in and playing quite well
for the Hurricanes.
You know, and you go back tothe summer when some folks,
crazily enough, said you know,this was a transition year for

(14:23):
the Hurricanes and you know, ifthey make the playoffs, that's
great.
Maybe get a round or two.
How?
things have changed.
So again, I give a lot ofcredit to Eric and his group.
I think they've again they'vedone a really nice job.
And that leads us to the thirdpillar of the new guys, and of
course that's Logan Stankoven.

(14:44):
And Logan, he's playing underthe radar a little bit more and,
yeah, that's not a pun, butanyway, he's definitely a guy
that's out there trying to getit done.
It was again a nice goal.
What did he do?
He's hardworking, he's gettingin front of the net, he's
pushing and shoving, trying toget something done and the puck
ends up in the net.
So that's again how he playsand I think he's starting to,

(15:09):
you know, have his impact inplaying with the dads.
That's always an interestingone.
But what are we thinking aboutLogan these days?

Speaker 2 (15:17):
I love his energy, I love his bulldog mentality and I
really love him with the dads.
I get grouchy when I see Jarvisor Svech end up there because I
just think it's a mismatch oftalent and ability.
Not that Svech and Jarvis aremore talented than Stahl and

(15:39):
Martinuk, they're just adifferent kind of talented and
Stahl and Martinuk.
They're just a different kindof talented and I think that the
talents that Stankhoven has arethe ones that complement Stahl
and Martinuk a lot more than theother two, because the other
two are a little bit more slickand he's a little bit more, you
know, get to the dirty areas alittle bit more blue collar

(16:02):
lunch pail, just go to work.
And he is definitely not afraid,because I think is it pretty
much every goal that he scoredfor the canes been right there
in front of the crease you know,there's the tip power play goal
.
And then there was the one lastnight where I mean it was right
next to the crease.
He just got down there andmartinook fed the puck out front
and he was able to find it.

(16:22):
And if there's one thing thatstall and martinuk are good at,
it's having possession of thepuck and getting it to the front
of the net.
The two of them just aren'tvery good at putting it into the
net piece and that's wherestankovin compliments them so
well, because he likes thatfront of the net area and he is
good at cleaning up, uh,whatever rebounds or or small
passes are put there for him.

(16:43):
And I think the more time hegets with those two, the better
he will get at it, because hewill get there more frequently
and he will know what to belooking for from them so he can
get his stick on the ice andconnect.
So, whatever happens with thelines as things move around, I'm
really hoping that Rod leavesthat particular line alone,

(17:04):
because I just think they'regoing to keep getting better and
Stankoven is going to be theone that will help them convert
those possession numbers intoactual, to more scoring numbers
as well.

Speaker 3 (17:17):
I think you could very well be right with that,
katie.
The one thing that'sinteresting about Logan is that
he has said a few times in mediainterviews that you know he
still very much feels like he'skind of feeling things out.
You know that he's still tryingto figure out the system, he's
still working on it.
He sees the flaws that he.
You know we're all reallyexcited because we see him

(17:38):
contributing and that's great.
That's great.
But when you look a little bitinto the stats, you do see that
the one area where I think he'sstruggling to reach the level of
most Canes players is thepossession numbers.
He's not as hard as he worksand as much as he battles, he's

(18:00):
not able to have those higherpossession numbers just yet.
I don't think that has anythingto do with his size as a player
, because certainly he's playinglike somebody who's a lot
bigger than he is.
But I think it does have to dowith the fact that you know,
something we've always talkedabout is that for forwards, and
especially for forwards thataren't veterans, to come in and
learn this system is really,really hard because of
everything that Rod Rendemoredemands from his forwards.
So I do think that there's roomfor improvement and that's

(18:22):
exciting because he's such ayoung player.
Obviously, you know he's goingto get better and better and so
you know we're seeing suchpromising flashes right now.
We're very excited about it.
I think all of us are on thesame page with that, you know.
But he's going to get evenbetter and he's going to start
putting up bigger numbers andhe's going to have a bigger
impact.
And he's going to start puttingup bigger numbers and he's

(18:46):
going to have a bigger impact.
I know, you know I'm not tryingto run this one into the ground
too much, but it was kind offun to see him on the same ice
with Brendan Gallagher the othernight when the Montreal
Canadiens I didn't bringGallagher, into this.
And.

Speaker 1 (18:55):
Gallagher's playing great hockey right now.

Speaker 3 (18:58):
He's playing wonderful hockey right now.
When Gallagher was playing someof his best hockey in Montreal
and Katie might find thisamusing he was playing on a line
with Tomas Tatar and PhilippeDeneau and, as you know, deneau
is another one of thoseincredibly talented shutdown
centers.
Yes, it was always thecomplaint in Montreal because
before Nick Suzuki came along,deneau was the top center and

(19:20):
they were basically playingsomeone like Jordan Stahl,
someone who kept that, you know,was great at shutting down
other guys but didn't do a wholelot of scoring himself as their
1C, you know.
So that was not always ideal,so, you know.
The interesting thing is thatyou've made that comparison, or
you've made that comment, thatLogan Stankovic is doing great

(19:42):
with Stahl and Martinuk.
It's that same kind ofmentality that you know, the
smaller player who is not at allafraid to rush to the front of
the net and just, you know,grind it out and get those goals
that the other two are creatingthe opportunities for.
It to me that there is aparallel there, because I see
that same energy, I see thatsame scoring touch, I see that
same, you know, heart and soulplayer.

(20:03):
I'm going to do everything.
I mean same scoring touch.
I see that same, you know heartand soul player.
I'm gonna do everything.
I mean he's, he's delivered.

Speaker 2 (20:09):
Hits on guys.

Speaker 3 (20:09):
You know that you think, okay, how can you?
But but when you've seen ithappen before with another
player of a similar size, you'relike, yeah, it's it is.
It's not the size of the dog inthe fight, right, we all, we
all know that one yeah um, so,so yeah, it's very much a
similar kind of a thing.
So that was fun to see, becauseI think that that is the kind of
player you know.
I think that Logan willprobably end up being a more

(20:30):
talented scorer overall, yeah,because he has a higher pedigree
, but I also think that smallerplayers along the way have
opened that pathway, becausethere was a time when you
wouldn't have drafted a playerof that height Correct?
Oh for sure, you know.
So that's one of those things.
I mean, the Canes have a couplecoming too.

Speaker 1 (20:47):
Yeah, we've talked about Justin Poirier and Justin
Robita.
Oh yeah, yeah, just a quickcomment.
I think you're right, erin.
Just a quick comment on thisguys is that?
I mean Stankoven, we know hethrough the roof.
I mean he has torn up everyleague he's been in.
He's a guy that you know, oncehe figures it out, he's deadly.

(21:08):
And one thing I've been havingfun with has been that you know,
you watch him with Martinuk andStahl and he looks like them,
just a smaller version, likehe's going in, he's trying to do
the same kinds of things, andso I think you're right, katie,
he's a great fit on that lineand and I hope they leave him
there too, because he's a littlebit sheltered that's great.

(21:29):
I mean, they've got obviouslythey're doing the heavy lifting
defensively, and so he, you knowhe can, he can kind of find his
way, as you say to Aaronlearning man.
I think he's going to be agreat player over time.
You know, the cool thing is theCanes don't have to rush it
Like, they don't have to put himinto a situation that is going
to be difficult for him.

(21:49):
They can put him with theveterans and help him kind of,
you know, mature his game withthem.
And I think that's againanother fortunate thing the
Canes have is that they haveenough depth that they can do
these kinds of things.
So good stuff with Stankoventhat they have enough depth that
they can do these kinds ofthings.
So good stuff with Stankoven.
I think the new guys.
I don't know what we couldexpect more than what they've

(22:10):
delivered.
Goodness.
They've just all really made adifference to the Hurricanes and
I think they're all lookinglike Carolina Hurricane-type
players.
So good stuff, and kudos toEric and his team for bringing
these guys in.
That's great.
I want to mention someone that'sbeen around for a little bit of
time as we talk about kind ofthe general discussion of the

(22:30):
play of the Canes, and this guyhas been lights out for a while
I mentioned in the start, andthat's Freddie Anderson.
You know, freddie.
You know we watched as Piotrwent crazy for an 0-9-6-0 save
percentage .99 goals against.
That was insane, right.
We're all going crazy andmeanwhile Freddie was, you know,
doing his thing and he'scontinued that.

(22:52):
That's the difference.
Piotr's had a few challenges,whereas Freddie's just continued
.
Freddie, in his last six gameshe's won all six.
He's got a 1.5 goals againstaverage and a 9-4-0 save
percentage.
I think that's pretty good.
He's got a 1.5 goals againstaverage and a 9-4-0 save
percentage.
I think that's pretty good.
So I'm a big fan of Freddie's.
What are we thinking aboutFreddie these days and how this

(23:14):
plays out as the season goes on?
Erin, why don't you take thatone?

Speaker 3 (23:21):
I was waiting for Katie because she's the goalie
person, but I think that it'sbeen noticeable how calm he is
in that and how that translatesto a calmness among the group.
You know, I think I'm not oneof those people who thinks that
goaltending can't be.
You know that the wholegoaltending is voodoo kind of

(23:42):
thing.
I think there are measurablethings, but when it comes to
these things that are notmeasurable, having a goalie
who's just very calm, veryfocused, very, you know, even
keel in net, it does make adifference when you have a group
that maybe isn't quite asdefensively structured the way
that they were in the past.

(24:02):
you know, and that's somethingthat we've talked about with the
Canes from the beginning thatthe one thing they did lose this
season a little bit is thattheir defensive core is not what
it was in previous years, whenyou had the Shea and Pesci
pairing on the second line.
It is still doing incrediblywell.
I'm not knocking our defense atall.
You know there's there's beensome ups and downs, but they've.

(24:24):
You know they're still doingincredibly well and overall the
forwards have been doing theirjob defensively more often than
not, and that's getting betteras time goes on too.
So it's not like the teamdefense hasn't completely
collapsed around them oranything.
But at the same time you haveto have that awareness that says
, yeah, the goalies are for theCarolina Hurricanes.

(24:45):
They either look way betterthan average because the team
defense is so solid, or if teamdefense has a bad night, the
goaltenders can suddenly looklike.
You know the old Swiss cheesejokes, you know, so it's one of
those unfortunate things,because when the Canes do start
having a bad night defensivelyand they have I think we can

(25:05):
talk about the LA Kings game alittle bit, although I don't
really want to but when theCanes have a bad night as a
group defensively, it justhighlights anything that's going
on in goaltending, because theytend to give up more high
danger chances, they might notgive up many chances at all.
You might look at the end of thegame and say, how did they get
seven goals on however manyshots?
It's not right.

(25:29):
But that's because the shotsthey're giving up tend to be
those incredibly high dangerones, and if the goalie's
already a little bit in his head, that's not going to be a good
scenario.
So you look at Freddie in netright now and you say he is
somebody that even when he's hadstretches of time where he's
struggled, he never shows thatreally in game.
His temperament isn't like that, he just goes okay, we'll get

(25:52):
the next one, you know, andthere's that.
You can tell that that's themindset.
So I think that right now, withthe group being, you know,
incorporating new players andgetting everything else up to
speed, they will rely a lot onFreddie's calm temperament in
these games.
And so you know I I'll leave,but I'll leave the more
statistical stuff to Katie.

Speaker 2 (26:14):
I don't know that I so much have the statistical
stuff for Freddie, but just heis so positionally sound, which
is nice because you know we'llget to him later.
But the one of the biggestcriticisms of peter is just that
he gets himself out of position.
He's too deep, he's too far.
One side, the other side, andthat's not something you have to

(26:34):
worry about, freddie.
He is always where he needs tobe, in his crease.
His angles are good.
He, when he needs to move, hegets there quickly and
efficiently and he just has icewater running through his veins.
He doesn't ever do more thanwhat he has to do.
You don't see him flailingaround, you don't see him

(26:54):
dropping his stick, you don'tsee him going on wild trips
around the ice, he's just steady, not usually, and that's I
think that's goes back to whatAaron mentioned with the defense
and the team around him, justknowing that, look, I'm going to
do my job, I'm going to do mybest, but if they get past me or
if the shot gets through, Iknow that Freddie's there and

(27:17):
he's got my back and he's goingto be good to go and we're going
to keep firing and keep going,because the the biggest Achilles
heel right now for the Canes isthat they're not good when
playing from behind, whenthey're chasing the game, and
they end up making a lot moremistakes in that particular

(27:37):
scenario.
So with Freddie and Nett, it'smore often than not that they
actually have the time to getthe lead and not have to play
from behind, or if they do playfrom behind, they know that well
, one more mistake isn't goingto dig us a deeper hole, that
he's going to keep us where weneed to be and give us the
confidence that we can moveforward and get this game
knotted and then move ahead atsome point.

(27:59):
So, yeah, he has just beenfantastic.
His ceiling is not as high as Iwould like it to be.
I do think that, even though hehasn't shown it recently, he
can let in a soft goal sometimes, but when he does, he doesn't

(28:19):
spiral, he gets past it, hebrushes it off and he moves on
and he gets right back to thejob that needs to be done.
So that's, that's anotherfeather in his cap as well.
So lots, lots to love with whatfreddie's doing right now.
Definitely lots to talk aboutin the future as far as he's
concerned when it comes toplayoffs.
But for the time being, allgood to go and I can't wait to

(28:43):
see how the game goes againstthe Capitals on Wednesday
because I expect him to start.
That's a big, high-powered team, lots of offense, lots of
storylines around that team, andI can't wait to see what kind
of game he brings forward,because it should be quite the
battle between the two teams.

Speaker 1 (28:59):
Yeah, and we'll talk a little bit more about that as
we kind of round up today.
I do want to talk about theupcoming schedule and We'll talk
a little bit more about that aswe kind of round up today.
I do want to talk about theupcoming schedule and there are
two games in the next fiveagainst the Caps, so we're
definitely going to see you knowhow the team works.
But on to Freddie, just for asecond.
Again, I think your commentabout you know he's able to put
a goal behind him regularly.

(29:20):
Yeah, he might have the odd onethat he'd like back, but, boy,
he tightens it up in a hurry andhe's playing with confidence.
Right now you can see that.
I mean, you look at the save hemade against Anaheim, against
Olin Zellweger, who came in, andit was just a gorgeous save.
I mean he's made a number ofexcellent breakaway saves and so
on, and he's just quiet, as yousay, quiet in the net, just

(29:43):
makes a save and carry on and dothe next thing.
So I think the Canes are inpretty good shape with Freddie
right now.
Again, he hasn't had a bigseason, like.
He's missed a lot of games thisyear, so he should be fresh,
which is great, and he's beenalternating with Piotr.
So hopefully, as we headtowards the playoffs, we're
going to see a rested orcertainly ready to go Freddie,

(30:06):
which would make all thedifference in the world, I think
, for the Hurricanes.
So pretty cool stuff.
So one of the things I wanted tojust touch on again,
surprisingly, the big line hasstarted to come together.
We've watched it kind of, youknow, a little bit here, a
little bit there, but in thelast couple of games they've

(30:27):
been dominant Five goals and sixassists in those two games
collectively.
Jackson Blake continues to showsome interesting things.
Of course Ajo, Sebastian Ajo,starting to kind of get going
again, and he was in thatskirmish a couple of games ago

(30:48):
and that seemed to be a wake-upcall for him and he's played
great ever since, so maybe heneeds to get in more of those.
And of course, seth Jarvis, whocontinues to, you know, amaze
us with some great play andcertainly scored a beautiful
shorthanded goal as well.
So is that line ready to go orare we going to see some more of
this up-and-down type play withthe top line?

(31:09):
What are we thinking about thisbig line as we go through the
next number of games, Katie?

Speaker 2 (31:15):
I certainly hope this isn't a fluke.
We have been waiting all seasonlong to see Sebastian Ajo start
to look like Sebastian Ajo, andthey had been building up to
this before the previous twogames, but it feels like they
finally broke through with theselast two games and it has been
a wonder to behold.
I mean, just in the Islandersgame, Ajo had three points and
one of them was a power playpoint, One of them was a penalty

(31:37):
kill point and one of them wasa five-on-five point.
So I mean, that's what you'relooking for.
That is Sebastian Ajo hockey,right there.
And of course, Jarvis wasinvolved in two of those.
So it is definitely what we'relooking for.
This is a great time for themto finally be finding their
scoring touch.

(31:57):
I don't know why it's takenthis long, I don't know.
You know, is it just time tobuild chemistry with all of the
different linemates?
He's had all of the drama withthe trades and that sort of
thing.
Who knows why.
We're at the end of March,going into April, and Fishy's
finally found his scoring touch.

(32:20):
Because he you know a lot of alot of the numbers he was
putting up were concerning Like,for example, only 40% of his
points were five on five.
Yeah, that's 67% of his ice time, two-thirds of his ice time and
only 40% points.
He's got to produce more andyou know he was just as culpable
as anybody in the power playbeing bad, and thankfully Hall's

(32:43):
starting to wake that up andhopefully it'll get Ajo to wake
up as well.
The other thing is is he wasn'tshooting much.
Last night he had six shots ongoal, and that's what we need.
He has such a good shot and hejust doesn't play.
He wants to be the playmaker.
He wants to be the one to setthe other guy up.
We have plenty of those guys onthe canes.
We need guys to actually scoreand aho aho has a good shot.

(33:08):
It's not the most amazing elitesniper shot in the world, but
it's a good shot and when hegets all of it it's a heavy shot
.
And so if he can find thatbalance where he can shoot, he
can play, make, he can be on thesame page with Jarvis and Blake

(33:30):
and they can really startgetting the ball rolling
downhill with some force behindit, then we should be in a good
place, because the Canes are notgoing to go far in the playoffs
if Ajo's line is quiet.

Speaker 1 (33:44):
Well, you know, katie , you did a detailed analysis on
this and it's a great articleover on StormTracker23.com and I
think you know you reallypeeled the onion back and it's
interesting that you highlighteda number of areas that
Sebastian was coming up a littlebit short.
It just seems like the lastcouple of games I don't know if

(34:06):
he read that and thought, gee, Ibetter get going here or what,
but certainly he started to dosome of the things that you
talked a lot about.
I mean, he was struggling to doanything outside of his points
on the penalty kill and a fewother areas.
And again, he's the top paidguy, he is the number one player

(34:29):
on the Hurricanes and that'snot the kind of behavior you're
looking for.
Were there any other thingsthat you saw when you put that
article together that youthought were relevant regarding
Sebastian?

Speaker 2 (34:41):
I think that the stat that blew my mind and I don't
know that it's going to changemuch, since he had yes, he had
the power play goal, but he alsohad the shorthanded assist.
So it's going to keep thosenumbers in about the same
ballpark, but as of a couple ofgames ago in 2025, so starting
January 1st in 2025, he wasrecording one power play point

(35:05):
for every almost 22 minutes ofpower play time that he put in.
That's terrible.
That is terrible.
And yeah, the goal, the goalwas not nice last night that
they didn't change the math much.
I don't believe in 2025,.
On the penalty kill, he wasrecording one point on the

(35:27):
penalty kill for every 18minutes of penalty kill.
So one point for every almost22 minutes of power play time
and one point of almost every 18minutes of penalty kill time.
So much more efficient down aman than he was when he was on
the ice and the Canes were up aman.
It's just absolutelymind-boggling that that was.

(35:50):
I mean it shows how elite he andJarvis are on the penalty kill
but, also shows just how poorlythe power play overall and him
as really one of the keys, ifnot the key player, on the power
play.
We're we're not clicking, so wedefinitely need to get that
power play to trend upwards.
He should be scoring more oftenon the power play than he and

(36:13):
he is on the penalty kill, but Imean, that's just kind of been
2025 in a nutshell, for not justhim, the canes as a whole, yeah
and and again.

Speaker 1 (36:24):
Uh, we talked about Ajo so much this year, just not
being the dominant player thatyou know he has been in past
years and he's starting to youknow this last series of games.
He's starting to show some ofthe kind of play we expect from
him and we just have to hopehe's ready to continue with that
.
He's going to be critical, ofcourse, as the Canes go into the

(36:46):
playoffs.
He's going to be a verycritical member for the
Hurricanes.
The other guys in that linedidn't want to spend a lot of
time on them.
Probably Jackson Blake deservesa minute or two.
I think Blake has done all youcould ask on that top line and
one thing we've talked a lotabout with, uh, with jackson is
is that he, um, he has noconcern heading into those dirty

(37:08):
areas and and it's led to goals, it's led to all kinds of great
opportunities.
Um, you know he'll, he'll makethings happen out there and he
is incredibly good with the puck, like it's sometimes it looks
like it's on a string.
You know the stick.
I mean, he's just always gotthat puck and he'll go in the
corner with three guys in thereand somehow, you know, blake
comes out with a puck.

(37:28):
It's kind of astounding for arookie to be delivering this
kind of play and you know, Ithink as we watch him he just
continues to grow and in termsof his complete game and the
contribution he makes, erinthoughts on this young man.

Speaker 3 (37:50):
I think it's funny because you know there was a big
burst of conversation on Xabout his production level.
You know right before he hadthat three-point game.
So you know anybody whoseproduction level you're
concerned about please bring himup on X and rag him a little
bit, because that seems to work.
No, I'm kidding.
But seriously, though, I thinkthat the production question was
simply the fact that, like Ithink Katie and others had
pointed out, he's getting a lotof top line ice time right now,

(38:11):
and his numbers, I think he'strending towards almost 17
minutes a game, which is a lotfor a rookie.
Over the last I don't knowexactly it was either 15 or 20
games.
It was either 15 or 20 games.
So he's getting more and moreice time, even though his
overall ice time average for theseason is still not extremely
high, because back in thebeginning he was playing fourth
line minutes, so he hasn'tbalanced that out yet.

(38:33):
But with all that ice timecomes a lot of responsibility to
produce, and especially on thetop line, because the top line
is the scoring line.
We joke around a lot about thefact that the Canes have a first
line and then three third lines, because they don't really have
a fourth line that you wouldexpect to be a fourth line.
We've talked about Jankowskialready in his Jan Gretzky

(38:54):
scoring stretch, but it's truefor the other two lines as well.
The other two, the second andthird line, are pretty much
interchangeable most of the time, but that just adds extra
pressure on the members of thefirst line to produce.
They have to produce becausethey are the Canes scoring line
and you know you can have a teamthat's going pretty far with

(39:16):
one scoring line.
I mean again I'm coming back tobecause we just did see them,
the Montreal Canadiens, theother night they have one
scoring line and the Canes wereextremely good at shutting down
that one scoring line and that'sone of the keys to how they won
that game, the way that theydid the Habs for those who don't
know then went on and playedthe Panthers yesterday and they

(39:38):
beat the Panthers, you know,which is pretty, pretty
incredible, because the Pantherscould not shut down Suzuki's
line.
So it's all about whether youcan shut down that scoring line.
So if Ajo and Blake and Jarvisare the Canes scoring line, that
production is really important.
Well, that three-point gamefrom Jackson Blake shows that he
is starting to go beyond justexpected goals, which is what

(40:01):
you need him to do.
So we have too many Canes asKatie has pointed out many times
that just stand at the top ofthe charts and the expected
goals measure, but the actualgoals are behind.
So seeing that from him wasgreat.
I want to see a lot more ofthat from him and I also think
that just briefly, since yousaid you wanted to stay briefly

(40:22):
on these guys I think a lot ofthe Ajo reawakening has come
about when Rod finally didsomething Katie's been asking
for for months, which is to puthim back with Jarvis.
He has incredible chemistry withJarvis.
They should not be separated.
Whatever else you have to do,if they decide they have to move
Blake because of the size issuein the playoffs, they should

(40:42):
still not separate Ajo andJarvis.
They need to play together andI think that was honestly kind
of one of those things in thelast playoffs that you know they
did.
They moved Jarvis for sizereasons and I don't think that
that line was the same withouthim.
So I really think that it needsto be Ajo and Jarvis from here
on out.

Speaker 1 (41:00):
Yeah, and one comment just before, katie, if you have
something to add.
But one more comment I justwant to make is that Seth Jarvis
is doing that as a left wingerI mean, this is the interesting
thing.
So he's playing his offside andhe is incredibly effective over
there, and so, you know, itgives them a little bit of
flexibility.
But I agree with you 100%.

(41:22):
I think that Katie had it right, as she usually does, and said
hey, get those two togetherAbsolutely, and finally they do,
and of course it works well.
So, yeah, I think the top line'sgot to be the top line.
We've talked so much about it.
Nice to see them.
You know feast on a couple ofteams.
Hopefully they can continuethat.

(41:43):
You know it's all aboutconfidence in this game.
Once they get a few, you know acouple of good games behind
them, we can expect them tocontinue.
So that's good stuff.
A lot of great things happeningwith the Canes.
If you've won 11 of your last13, and a lot of, I don't think
a lot of folks really know thatthey've done that I mean that's
insane.
That's fantastic performance.

(42:06):
Quietly going about theirbusiness and just playing.
Well, there have been someplayers who haven't quite been
on their game and it just turnsout that the Russian contingency
there's some players in thatgroup that we really want to see
kind of get to the next levelwith their games.
And you know I thought we'dkick it off with the forward
side and Andreas Vesnikoff We'lltalk for a few minutes about.

(42:28):
Svac Scored in his first gameback from injury.
That was great, but again, nota particularly good game against
the Islanders and the questionswe keep asking is where does he
slot in?
I mean, you know there's a lotof different moving parts here.
He started on the fourth line.
He's moved around.
What are we thinking about itwith Andrei Sveshnikov?

(42:50):
Do you want to kick that off,katie?

Speaker 2 (42:53):
Sure, I've been trying to puzzle out Svesh for a
while now and I think part ofit is that he has a bit of an
identity crisis at the moment onthe canes is who is he supposed
to be?
And it's because of thebattling with injuries you can't
find consistency there but alsowith all the movement up and
down the lineup Is he supposedto be the scoring forward?

(43:15):
Is he supposed to be more of apower grinder when he's with the
stall line?
Is he the playmaker?
Is he the sniper?
Line is?
Is he the playmaker?
Is he the sniper?
He?
He doesn't know the answer tothat question, which makes it
very hard for the coaches towork with him, which makes it
hard for him to to perform.
And with the coaches moving himaround, it's almost like they

(43:38):
haven't even decided really whatthey want out of him or what he
can be.
And there's the question as wellas far as the possession
numbers.
Aaron alluded to it before thatwherever he gets moved around,
that line tends to end up havingthe worst possession numbers,
because and part of that isbecause svetch is still

(43:59):
searching, but also part of itis because svetch's game is less
about possession and more aboutcreating opportunities, whether
it's through the pass or theshot, and so in some ways I'm
less concerned about thosepossession numbers and more

(44:20):
concerned about what Svetch thatwhen he has those opportunities
on his stick, they slip away,because that moment of
indecision loses him theopportunity to create a play or
to get the puck on net for ascoring chance.
So you know there's thatbalance.
Svetch needs to decide who heis going to be when he plays and
the coaches need to helpcommunicate their expectations

(44:43):
and what they want out of him aswell.
He needs that clarity from themand that freedom to be able to
then go pursue that identity tothe maximum potential, even if
he does take a stray penalty inthe offensive zone or loses
possession and it goes back theother way.
So we'll see how he goes, but Ijust have the feeling that

(45:04):
Svetch is going to be super keyin this playoff run, and as he
goes, so the Canes will go.

Speaker 1 (45:11):
Now, erin, you put together a fantastic article
again over on StormTracker23.com, rushing to the playoffs, and
you talked about Svetch.
You talked about some otherplayers who we'll get to in a
minute.
What were you thinking aboutwith Svetch?
You talked about some otherplayers who we'll get to in a
minute.
What were you thinking?

Speaker 3 (45:26):
about with Svetch.
I think that, first of all, oneof the things that I've noticed
, I've heard a lot of negativityabout him and around him on the
various social media platformsand one of the things I think
people don't realize is that,like Katie said, there is
something of an identity crisishere.
But I think part of the reasonthere's an identity crisis here

(45:50):
is that the player he is mostnaturally trying to be or trying
to become has been the playerit's been the hardest for him to
figure out how to do on thecanes, and I would say that he
is a power forward and he needsto be a power forward, he needs
to embrace that 100%.
The problem is, you know, likewe've both, we've both talked to
, or you guys have both talkedabout his penalties, right?
Yes, power forwards tend totake penalties.

(46:10):
They do from his same draftclass.
Um, we know the example is BradyKachuk.
Everybody loves Brady Kachuk.
They love his physicality, theylove his feisty nature, the
fact that he takes, you know,fights at the drop of a hat.
You know he, everyone lovesthat.
Everyone wants that on theirteam.
There are so many teams thatthat that you know, create, you

(46:32):
know fans will create these wildscenarios about how their team
can get Brady Kachuk.
What they, what people whodon't look at the stats don't
know about Andrei Svechnikov isSvech is what Brady would be if
Brady played for Rod Rendemore.
Because yeah he has very similarstatistics.
His, his goals are very rightup there.
He was like three assistsbehind and you know, and this is

(46:54):
with with a lot fewer gamesplayed, because, uh, he has had
more injuries Svec has, you know.
So he's he's very, very closeto being that kind of player.
The biggest difference is, Ibelieve the last time I checked,
I think Brady has close to 300more penalty minutes than Spets
does.

Speaker 1 (47:12):
That would make sense , yeah.

Speaker 3 (47:15):
In fact, I think Brady has more penalty minutes
than anyone all the way downthrough.
I think you have to go back to2013 to find anyone who has a
similar number of penaltyminutes.
His brother, matthew, used tohave more, but Brady has passed
him, so that tells you what kindof a player a power forward is.

(47:35):
They get in trouble because ofhow they play this hard-nosed,
aggressive, driving-the-netstyle.
You're going to take somehooking calls every now and
again.
You're going to take some stickinfractions every now and again
.
I think that he needs thefreedom to understand that
that's going to happen and notnecessarily try to stifle
himself every time that it does.

(47:55):
Yes, the team doesn't want himtaking a lot of those straight
penalties, but, like Katie said,do they want him to be a power
forward?
If they don't, what is he doingon the canes?
Because a power forward isincredibly important to have,
especially in the playoffs.
Half of the ways you scoregoals that involve nice fancy

(48:19):
shots from a distance get shutdown.
Game one round one, and you'vegot to have guys that are
willing to lower the shoulderand drive the net like he does.
So I get frustrated because Isee the value in the kind of
player that he is and I don'twant him stapled to the dads.

Speaker 1 (48:34):
No, and you're right, and we've seen Svetch when he's
on his game.
He is a player that can make adifference in a big way and I
think it's all about confidencewith him.
He's got to.
You know he needs to have alittle bit of success.
You know he's definitely.
He's got all the tools.
He's a guy that's shown upnumerous times.
He is the right kind of profilefor playoffs.

(48:55):
You know he's a big body.
He likes to go in and lay onthe hits and make things happen
and of course, he's got a goodtouch around the net.
I things happen and of course,he's got a good touch around the
net.
I don't know how many times wesaw him make outstanding plays
to set up other goals.
So he's definitely a player wewant to see on top of his game
and hopefully, as he gets moreplaying time, he's again coming
back from injury.

(49:16):
We'll have to see how thisplays out, but he's going to be
critical On the blue.
You talked about Dmitry Orlov,which is interesting.
So Orlov is a guy that I think,when we look at the Russian
side again plus 14 on the yearyou know he seems like most of
the time he's getting it done,but he has this unbelievable

(49:37):
habit of every once in a whilehe'll make a play that you just
shake your head and say what washe thinking?
And you know, I watched him theother night.
Interestingly enough, he didthat and I watched him over on
the.
You might've seen him in thebroadcast sitting on the bench
going you know.

Speaker 3 (49:53):
Yep, Like this, you know, and you're kind of, I
think.

Speaker 1 (49:57):
I think he's figured it out.
I think he's understood that.
You know, something isn't quiteright, katie Dimitri Orlov.
What's he got to do to get backon track?

Speaker 2 (50:08):
I think the main thing is is that he's just got
to be a little bit moreconservative.
Yeah, he's excited, he looksfor that play, he takes that
high risk pinch and or trying tokeep the puck into the
offensive zone at the blue lineand it just doesn't work out and
the other team's able to tap itpast him and he just doesn't
have the foot speed to catchback up.
A lot of times Chatfield bailshim out, because Chatfield does

(50:31):
have the foot speed to get backand cover, but too many times
that hasn't worked out.
And so I think, moving into theplayoffs, I think I think orlov
should be fine as long as heplays a more conservative game,
stays up at the blue line, uh,airs on the side of caution when
it comes to the puck, comingback up towards him and just not

(50:54):
letting players get behind him.
If that that's the case, he'llbe fine Because, as you
referenced, his play has beenvery solid as of late, other
than those gaffes, and thosegaffes have been spectacularly
bad and have ended up in theback of the net way too often.
But it's not like they'rehappening every other shift.
They're happening once, maybetwice a game.

(51:17):
So just back off a little bit,play a little bit more
conservatively and he'll be fine.
Because how quick are we toforget that Orlov and Chatfield
were the dominant defensive duolast playoffs.
Because other teams wereavoiding Burns and Slavin.
They didn't want to have tohave their big guys go against

(51:38):
that duo, and so it was Orlovand Chatfield that were getting
a lot of those matchups withteams, top line or lines, and
they were great.
They were really, reallyeffective because with Pesci out
, that fell on their laps andthat was their responsibility
and I don't see why that duocan't have a repeat performance

(52:00):
come this playoffs.
Just need to be a bit moremindful, a bit more conservative
in the decisions made in theneutral zone and in their own
zone.

Speaker 3 (52:12):
Agreed, agreed, and I think that the last couple of
games we saw two of the biggestreasons why we want Dmitry Orlov
in the playoffs that huge hipcheck on Josh Anderson against
Montreal and the booming shotagainst the Islanders and a very
critical goal at a time whenthe team definitely needed him
to score.
So those are the things hebrings that outweigh all that

(52:33):
other stuff a lot of the time,and I think that, like you said,
katie, it's a matter of playingmore conservatively and also,
just, I think that to me, thefunny thing about those gaffes
is that he does, like Tom wassaying, he instantly knows, he
reacts, he knows he's donesomething, but it's almost like
they happen because for just asplit second he forgets that
there's other guys on the iceand you know, I think that

(52:56):
that's just a matter of finetuning, that awareness of what's
going on around him before he's, because he's thinking about
his play I'm going to get thepuck here, I'm going to go there
and he's not thinking about thefact that the opponents are,
you know, clogging those lanesand getting in the way.
So if he just has a little moresituational awareness, which I
think that that's just a case of, I mean that could even just be
the fatigue at the end of along season.

(53:17):
You know you tend to lose someof that when you're a veteran
player.
So a little situationalawareness, a little backing off
of those more aggressive plays,he'll be fine.

Speaker 1 (53:26):
Well, and I think you're hitting something here as
well.
Now, he did take a few gamesout.
He was out for a little while,but don't forget, he's playing
probably a couple of minutes,two to three minutes more this
year.
You know he's playing in allsituations and it's a much

(53:46):
heavier workload for him.
Now, interesting thing I wasthinking about Some people
probably thought that AlexanderNikitian boom was already with
the Canes with that hit thatOrlov put on that guy the other
night and then scored on thatbullet goal they were like, oh,
we got him, that was a great hit.
He was a precursor to what we'regoing to see with McKeishen.

(54:09):
But, yeah, excellent play mostof the time.
You see him doing a lot ofheavy work on the PK, which is
one of the best in the league.
So, yeah, it just has to staywithin your game and
everything's going to be cool.
Another guy that you talkedabout in the rushing to the
playoffs as well Aaron and boy.

(54:31):
He was on that tear for a whileand seemed to have.
He lost his confidence.
The LA game and then thePredators and the Islanders not
particularly great games forPiotr Kochatkov.
He's got to find his game.
What are we thinking about withPiotr Erin?

Speaker 3 (54:49):
I think that you said it when you said confidence.
That is, I think, the biggestissue and it is something that
players at any age can gothrough, and Piotr is still
pretty young, so I think that is, I think, the biggest issue and
it is something that playersyou know at any age can go
through.

Speaker 2 (54:58):
And.

Speaker 3 (54:59):
Peter is still pretty young, so I think that that's
not a surprising thing to havehappen.
One of the funny things aboutgoaltenders to me is that,
especially when they're in atandem, is that you know, I mean
this is true for all players.
We all tend to look at playerswhere they are right now, the
snapshot of right now, you know.

(55:21):
Take Jankowski for anotherexample.
I'm just going to keep throwinghim in there, but I mean, if
you only saw Jankowski's lastfive, 10 games, you would think
he was one of the best scorersin the NHL.
And if you only saw Kachetkov'slast two or three games, you'd
think that he was one of theworst goaltenders in the NHL.
But we just finished talkingabout how great he was in a
stretch of games prior to that.
So with goaltending, I thinkit's more, it's magnified.
You know when they're great,they're the next, you know, star

(55:42):
goaltender in the league, andwhen they're less than great, I
mean, one of the examples I canuse here of this it's really
funny is that you know, igorShcherkin, there are people who
will?
come out of the woodwork tocomplain every time he has a bad
game about the exact dollaramount of his contract.
They forget that the reason hehas the exact dollar amount of
that contract is because for somany more games he's good and

(56:05):
he's stellar and he's elite.
So for Kachukov, I think it'sjust a matter of getting back to
basics, getting grounded,getting back to you know that,
and I liked what I saw when inthe Islanders game, things were
not going well for eithergoaltender in that game.

Speaker 1 (56:22):
Right.

Speaker 3 (56:22):
I liked what I saw in the third period.
I felt like he turned a littlebit of a corner in that third
period.
He started to lock it down.
He made a couple of crucialsaves towards the end of the
game.
That's what it's going to takeA couple more moments like that,
a couple more games like that,and he'll just be able to build
back, because I don't think thatthere's anything wrong with him

(56:44):
as a goaltender.
I don't think that.
You know, I think people thathave these doom and gloom takes
about well, that's it.
He's not going to work out.
I mean, come on, it's a coupleof games and you know what I
mean, katie.

Speaker 2 (57:00):
I just think that this is the reality of Kochakov.
It's who he's been the entiretime he's been with the Canes.
Now, granted, you can perhapssuggest that in the past few
seasons he's had more of thelong good stretches than he has
had with the inconsistent play,but it's still in there, he's
still very good.
The inconsistent play, but it'sstill in there, he's still very
good.
It's still awesome that we haveFreddie in order to be the the

(57:23):
steady even keel to Piotr's alittle bit more adventurous self
, but that we still have a gemin Kochekov, and I think he has
plenty, plenty to give and somemore opportunities to get
himself situated and ready to gofor the playoffs, because we
know that the canes are going tobe flirting with disaster If

(57:45):
they try to go just to Freddieand leave.

Speaker 3 (57:47):
Piotr sitting cold on the bench Piotr's got to play.

Speaker 2 (57:50):
And it's not just for Piotr's sake that he has to be
more involved in the playoffsthis year, it's for Freddie,
because Freddie will not hold upunder that kind of demand in
come the playoffs.
And I don't know if that'sstill.
They maintain the tandem ofevery other game, or if it's two
games for Anderson or one gamefor Kochaka.
Whatever it is, they can't lethim sit and get cold.

(58:13):
For what was it?
Two and a half weeks last yearbefore they put him in a game?
But?
And by that time, what was it?
Two and a half weeks last yearbefore they put him in a game?
But?
And by that time it was toolate.
People keep saying, oh, he wasawful, he's terrible, he was
fine, he got to, he got the teamto overtime, but he could have
been better.
He could have had that extrasave if he had been a little bit
more sharp because he'd beenplaying.
So I think that it's.

(58:33):
You know, we've got to wait andsee.
We've got to see how he's doingheading into the playoffs.
We've got to see how Freddie'sdoing heading into the playoffs.
But he's good and I'm willing,with this team, to trust him and
to move forward and to expectgood things from him.

Speaker 1 (58:51):
Yeah, I mean he was smoking hot.
So I mean, clearly this guy canplay and you know his record
he's had 26 wins, 13 losses, sohe's definitely a guy that you
know he's going to give you agood performance, more nights
than not.
So again, confidence he'll getit back.

(59:12):
And the luxury, as youmentioned rightfully is we do
have Freddie Anderson.
And the luxury, as youmentioned rightfully is we do
have Freddie Anderson.
So it's not like, well, youknow, before we were trying to
put in Spencer Martin or DustinTarkarski and hang on to your
hat, you know, like this kind ofstuff.
Anyway, final person you talkedabout in rushing to the
playoffs was the wildcard guyWe've talked so much about him,

(59:33):
alexander Nikitian, and lots ofnews lately on Nikitian.
I'll just bring us up to date onthat.
You know he signed with Cortex,of course, which was a big move
.
Cortex handles a number ofcanes Jalen Chatfield, taylor
Hall, william Carrier so severalcanes are already in that
Cortex grouping.

(59:55):
That's good news and thatcertainly would probably not
happen if there's not a plan tobring them over to North America
.
Second of all, we did hear fromMark D'Amico.
He writes for the Canadiens.
I guess one of their beat guyswho said Nikitian will be
released by SKA at the end ofthe season.
So he had information fromsomewhere, I'm not sure where,

(01:00:17):
but that's great stuff.
Right now, nikitian, of course,and his SKA team are deep in a
playoff run.
They're up against Dynamo Minsk.
They played three games.
Minsk has won twice, so they'resitting behind the eight ball a
little bit Now.
Nikitian was out the first twogames.

(01:00:38):
As we know, he did return todayand scored a goal, so he's
having an immediate impact.
He scores and they win, so notsurprising with the role that
Alexander plays.
So, just on the calendar side,their game seven in that series
is April 8th.
The last game for the Canes isApril 17th.
For anybody that's trying tofigure out, you know, could this

(01:00:59):
possibly work?
We don't know anything morethan that.
It sounds like he's going tosign with the Canes.
We don't know when he would getover here if he does, but he
would be an interesting ad forsure.
And you talked about him aswell, aaron.
What were your thoughts onAlexander Nikishin?

Speaker 3 (01:01:16):
Well, I think my thoughts are the same as every
Carolina Hurricanes.
We're just so eager to have himhere.
Every fan, every Canes fan, issaying the same thing we want
him here, we can't wait to gethim.
I hope he knows and has heardfrom enough sources that Canes
fans are more than eager toembrace him as a member of the
Carolina Hurricanes organization.
I mean, he's going to be asignificant piece of this team

(01:01:39):
and I think he's going to be asignificant piece for the next
decade.
You know if they, you know ifeverything all plays well,
contract wise and everythingelse, you know he's just a
highly skilled defenseman who isgoing to bring so many elements
of that.
You know the power of his shot,the power of his hits, like you

(01:02:00):
pointed out, the fact that he's, you know, just such a solid
player in every facet of thegame.
Now, as far as can he get herequick enough to play in the
playoffs for the Canes?
That question's gone back andforth.
A lot of people have talkedabout it.
It really is kind of a whoknows situation right now.
We don't have any way ofknowing for sure until his

(01:02:22):
current team gets eliminatedfrom their playoffs and we don't
know if and when that willhappen.
So the hope is that he would beable to come sometime
relatively soon to North Americaand get here.
Whether that means he comes intime to play or not is you know.
There's so many moving piecesso I don't think anyone can say

(01:02:42):
for sure.
But you know it's.
There's nothing but positiveswhen it comes to Nikishan.
So you can't, you know, even ifhe can't play in this year's
playoffs, that doesn't changethe fact that he's just such an
exciting piece for the future.
What do you think, katie?

Speaker 2 (01:02:57):
Yep, I agree, who knows, as far as this year's
concerned.
That would just be gravy on topof everything else.
But regardless, it'll just benice, after all the talk and all
of the speculation, to finallyget a contract signed, if and
when it gets signed, thespeculation to finally get a

(01:03:18):
contract signed, if and when itgets signed, and then I think
that's when I'm finally going tostart getting my heart rate up
a little bit more Absolutelythat it, once it becomes
official, provide I meanassuming it becomes official
then we'll have a clearerpicture as far as when he's
going to start playing hisimpact, the way that he looks

(01:03:41):
alongside the other Canes, howhe meshes with the forwards, how
he communicates with thegoalies, that sort of thing.
But I mean just super excited.
It's going to be fun once hegets here.

Speaker 1 (01:03:55):
no matter when, that is yeah, and he's arguably the
top defenseman outside of theNHL right now.
That's what a lot of folks aresaying.
He's going to have a transitionperiod.
Look, he's going to have tolearn that Kane system, which is
not probably anything similarto what he's doing with SKA, I
can assure you, but he's a guythat you know.

(01:04:18):
Yeah, we're all looking forwardto it, and what I'm thinking
these days is we're hearing moretowards the positive side that
he's coming to North Americathan not, and that's a good sign
.
So when that is I'm like you,katie as soon as we hear some
good news, we're going to be allover it and we'll continue to
update on Nikitian, becausethere are a lot of folks

(01:04:39):
interested in what happens toAlexander and we should
definitely continue to trackthis as close as we can.
So good stuff.
All right, let's wrap it upwith some closing thoughts.
We've got a very interestingschedule coming up, including,
as I mentioned earlier, a coupleof games against the Capitals
in our next five.
What are we thinking?

(01:05:00):
Erin, you want to kick it off?

Speaker 3 (01:05:03):
I think that this is the time of the year when it
gets really difficult for teamswhose playoff position is more
or less set, and the Canes arein that position.
It's not that, you know, theCanes come out every night
playing hard and wanting to winthe game, so there's no question
.
But it's really hard mentallyto stay that sharp and that
focused when you're playing andthere's just really nothing much

(01:05:24):
at stake anymore.
I mean, they're not going tocatch the Capitals on the one
hand, they're not going to loseposition to the Devils on the
other.
At this point it's just amatter of getting through the
rest of the regular season and,honestly, I think the funniest
thing to me is that we alwayshave that attitude as much, if
not more, from their coach.
I think Rod Brindamoreabsolutely detests these last
nine or eight or nine games ofthe season because there's

(01:05:46):
nothing at stake anymore and youjust want to get through it,
make sure the guys stay healthy,make sure everybody's getting
some reps before the playoffs,but their mind is, I mean I know
they stay focused on one gameat a time.
I know that's the mindset ofthe Canes.
We're only interested intoday's game, you know.
But it's really hard not to belooking to the playoffs at this

(01:06:06):
point, and we all are too,aren't we?
You know, I mean there isn't, Ithink, for the Caps game, the
only thing was well, we reallydon't want Ovechkin to break
that record against us, and it'slooking like that's unlikely,
because he's still what?
Five away.

Speaker 1 (01:06:26):
I think he's four behind right now, isn't he?

Speaker 3 (01:06:29):
He'd have to have a heck of a night against the
Canes for that to happen.
Well, he could do it.
On the second one, though, thesecond game that we played, him
he could do it.

Speaker 1 (01:06:35):
So five games out, he could do it.
On the second one, though, thesecond game that we played him,
he could do it.
So five games out, he could doit, that's true.

Speaker 3 (01:06:42):
That's true, but apart from that, I don't think
that there's a big sense of anyof these upcoming games being
critical or crucial like theyhave been, and at the same time,
the Canes have had to playteams that are in the position
where those games are critical.
So I just want everybody tostay healthy and get to the

(01:07:02):
playoffs.

Speaker 2 (01:07:04):
I think, the biggest thing for me.
I mean, I agree absolutely witheverything Aaron just said, but
I would like to see themcontinue to build consistency
and chemistry, because therehave been so many mix-ups,
especially on the forward line.
The defense has been veryconsistent.
The only time the defense hasbeen messed with has been
because of injury.
But on the forward lines we'refinally starting to see the

(01:07:26):
fruits of chemistry between Ajoand Jarvis and now, you know,
with Blake on that group.
We're seeing good chemistrywith KK and Hall, we're seeing
Stankoven start to develop thatchemistry on the line with Stahl
and Martinuk and we're seeinggood chemistry between Jankowski
and Robinson.
So where the other wingers slidearound in there, where Svec

(01:07:48):
ends up, where Rasevic ends up,how Jost contributes Carrier
when he comes back, how thatlooks is to be seen.
But I really think thatchemistry is going to play a big
part in how well the team doesgoing into the playoffs,
especially on the scoring end ofthings.

(01:08:10):
And that's what I really wantto see them hone in on for these
final handful of games is justdeveloping that chemistry, that
anticipation of where the otherone's going to be, to keep to
their, to their lane, to their,man to their, to their systems
and, like Aaron said, healthyand firing on all cylinders and

(01:08:31):
being ready to give the devilsand whoever else they might face
in the playoffs a heck of a run, because I think the Canes can
go pretty far.
I think they have a path infront of them that they could
take advantage of.

Speaker 1 (01:08:46):
Agreed.
I think you're right and Ithink you know.
Interestingly enough, we'reseeing Jordan Stahl sitting out.
I think if it was a toughsituation, they'd probably play
him.
I don't know if it's thatserious.
So we're starting to see someof that.
Last year, remember, they hadthe collegians that came in at
the end of the season and theyhad some different things

(01:09:07):
happening there.
The only concern I have aroundthis stretch is that the Canes
are much better at home and themore they can be in front of
some of these teams, like ifit's going to be the Panthers,
if it's going to be you knowTampa, or if it's going to be
you know Toronto, you want tohave that home ice advantage and

(01:09:29):
that's the challenge, becausethese guys are all really close
right now, not so much worryingabout.
You know the Devils andcertainly you know it looks like
the Capitals are a stretch.
So I think that's the onequestion I have in my mind as we
think about okay, yeah, let'ssit down with some of these guys
and rest them.
I would like to see themwinning these games, because
they've got to definitely havethat home ice advantage for sure

(01:09:52):
.
And you also want them goinginto the playoffs firing on all
cylinders.
And if you start mucking aroundwith the lineup again, you know
how that goes.
So I think I'm hopeful they'llkind of keep as much of this
together as possible and keepplaying hard, you know, because
it's going to be important tothem and we'll see how it plays

(01:10:12):
out, but anyway, lots to talkabout as we get closer to the
playoffs.
Looking good right now, as Istarted this whole thing off,
they're playing well and let'ssee how they carry on this week
playing the Caps on Wednesday.
That'll be interesting.
We saw the Caps get beat uppretty good by the Buffalo
Sabres yesterday, so that's kindof fun to watch, I'm sure.

(01:10:34):
In any case, ladies, it wasgreat to talk, as usual, about
the Canes and some of theplayers that are going to be
critical and some of the folkswho are doing so well right now.
We'll pick this up very, verysoon, I'm sure, and continue our
discussions on the Canes.
For those of you who have beenwatching or listening, as always
, we're delighted that you couldspend time with us.

(01:10:55):
If you have any comments orquestions or you just want to
reach out to us, please do thatin the comment section down
below.
If you like this episode,please press the like button,
and if you want to be alerted offuture episodes of Storm
Tracker, please press thesubscribe and the bell button
and you'll be alerted just assoon as those are available.

(01:11:16):
Bell button and you'll bealerted just as soon as those
are available, as always.
Thanks so much for spendingtime with us and we'll look
forward to getting together withyou real soon, right here on
Stormcracker.