When One Finnish Star Leaves, a Hobbit Shall Rise

After the drama of Mikko Rantanen's departure and trade to Dallas, the Hurricanes have emerged with a revitalized team chemistry, having won five of their last six games while integrating key deadline acquisitions Logan Stankoven and Mark Jankowski along the way.

• Rantanen's camp never acted in good faith, affecting team chemistry and Sebastian Aho's performance
• Logan Stankoven brings an impressive pedigree as former CHL Player of the Year and brings much-needed net-front presence
• Mark Jankowski made an immediate impact with two goals in his debut after being acquired for just a fifth-round pick
• Current Hurricanes roster benefits from improved morale and restored team identity
• Goaltending tandem of Andersen and Kochetkov showing ability to steal games
• Power play remains the biggest concern, operating at less than 10% efficiency since January
• Carolina sits third in the Eastern Conference with 80 points and a playoff spot nearly secured
• Potential playoff matchup with New Jersey appears favorable if standings hold
• The Canes' fourth line now has size and scoring potential, critical for playoff success
• Possibility of Alexander Nikishin joining the team after his KHL season ends adds intrigue

Send us a text

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
The trade deadline has passed and the ongoing saga
of Mikko Rantanen is finallybehind us.
Did Eric Tulsky work his magic?
Are the Canes better preparedfor a long playoff run now than
they were before?
Did the Canes do enough to stayup with the other cup
contenders in the arms race?
Lots of questions to ponder.

(00:23):
Meanwhile, on the ice, theHurricanes continue their fine
play, rattling off five wins intheir last six games and
outscoring the opposition 17 to11.
Why the sudden turnaround?
So we're going to get into thisand talk about a lot more.
Joining me StormTrackerinsiders, erin Manning and Katie

(00:45):
Burr Ladies.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Hello.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
Hey, good evening.
Okay, so quite a week last week.
For sure, we were kind ofhoping, I think.
We talked a little bit aboutMiko staying and ultimately the
decision was that MECO wouldmove on.
Yeah, kind of a difficult weekTrying to see what would come

(01:12):
out of it from Eric'sperspective Certainly mixed
reactions, as we've seen them onX and other places.
A lot of folks thought this wasnot the best, some thought it
was fine.
I looked at a number of tradegrades on the MECO trade.
The best I saw was a, b, andsome of them were pretty bad.
So anyway, how do we feel aboutthis?

(01:33):
Do we like the return?
Do we like where it ended up?
Katie, why don't you kick itoff?

Speaker 3 (01:41):
Obviously I have a unique perspective on this
because I was the one who was soexcited, being both an Avs fan
and a Canes fan, because I sawthe fit from the beginning of
Natchez and Drury in Coloradoand that fit has come to
fruition.
It has not disappointed.
Both of them have beensuccessful and I know at least
the vast, vast majority of Canesfans have been super happy for

(02:03):
them with their transition overthere and been rooting for them.
But I also saw the fit ofRantanen in Carolina.
I saw how, even though his gamedidn't fit a traditional
Carolina Hurricanes hockey mold,that it could, with just a few
slight adjustments, becomesomething that would be truly
special for the Hurricanes.

(02:24):
And it never happened and itjust felt like okay, just a
matter of time, shock of thetrade, need some adjustments, so
on and so forth.
But what really kind offrustrates me is that through
all of that, through all of thattime when we were giving him
the benefit of the doubt in thisentire process, we have come to

(02:48):
find out that from thebeginning, from before the trade
even happened, miko Rantanenand his camp were not acting in
good faith with either theColorado avalanche or the
Carolina hurricanes, that he hadmade indications that he was
open and willing to play withthe hurricanes if they weren't
able to reach a trade agreementin Colorado, and that idea was

(03:12):
communicated to the hurricanesvia the avalanche front office,
because they were just thepassengers in that.
And once he got here, there wasthis well, maybe eventually,
once he settles in, once he seeswhat it's like here and the
camaraderie, then he'll comearound, and that never happened

(03:32):
and it just got more and moredifficult.
You could see the strain on theplayers, especially 2020
hindsight, until finally theymade the deal with Dallas and
he's gone, and it's reallyunfortunate in a lot of ways on
multiple levels.
Definitely, as a Canes fan, it'sunfortunate.
I also think that Rantanen gaveup a really big opportunity
because he was penned into a boxnot just of his own making but,

(03:57):
I think, strongly influenced byother voices outside of just
the hockey playing piece ofthings, and so you things, and
so you know I'm reallydisappointed.
I think there was anopportunity there that really
could have been amazing, but itwas not meant to be, and the
best thing, I think, for allparties involved, because of how

(04:18):
things worked out, is the factthat he is now with another team
and the canes can use this as arallying moment to gather
together to really galvanize thelocker room and say we know
what we have here, we know howspecial we are and we're going
to go.
And we're going to not justfinish this regular season
strong, but also the postseasonabsolutely yeah for sure go

(04:43):
ahead, no go ahead, no go ahead.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
I was just going to say that I love.
You know, when you said 20-20hindsight, I was thinking about
the other 20 involved in thisequation, which is Sebastian Ajo
.
This has been a difficult yearfor him and we all said, we kept
saying when are we going to seethe real sebastian ajo?
What are we going to see himkind of take flight, you know,

(05:07):
and it seemed like he wasstarting to get there before the
trade.
And then it was another setback.
It was another stretch of gameswhere ajo simply did not look
like himself and he is such atalented player.
You hate to see that becauseyou know there's something going
on and we all kept there again.
We kept saying maybe it's thepressure of four nations, maybe
it's everything going on in hislife.

(05:28):
You know there's a lot going onhere.
And then you come out on theother side of this tunnel and
find out that you know the canesactually talked to him, not in
a we're thinking about tradingfor retinue, but just to get his
impressions.
Sure, that must have been atremendous weight on his
shoulders to have someone heconsiders a friend playing here

(05:49):
but not really playing here.
One foot out the door, one iceskate off the ice at all times.
I mean that's just been roughto watch, and so I mean you
touched briefly on last nighttoo.
I mean last night was adifferent group, oh gosh they
were having so much fun on theice and I missed seeing that
because, ultimately, when theCanes play at their best,

(06:12):
they're having fun, they'rehaving a blast out there.
So, yeah, this was a reallyunfortunate thing, and I liked
how you framed it, katie.
I also think that the word thatkeeps coming up on X a lot is
integrity.

Speaker 1 (06:24):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (06:25):
People expect other people to act with integrity, to
act with honesty in theirpurposes to you know, not lie to
your face about something.
And so this was a situationwhere there was very little
integrity shown from Rantanen'scamp to to create this mess in
the first place and then not awhole lot of integrity in
getting out of it.

(06:45):
So it makes me think that thereal loser of the trade, if
there's a loser, is MikoRantanen and his camp.
You might say well, how can yoube a loser to get $12 million?
Well, he's got $12 million inDallas.
He has $12 million in Dallas.
Dallas is the kind of citywhere $12 million is not all
that special.
So I mean, that is what it is,but it's just, I think, going

(07:14):
forward.
What if things don't work outfor him in Dallas two years down
the road?
What if he's asking for a trade?
How many people are going towant to deal with his agent
after all this?

Speaker 1 (07:24):
I think you're onto a couple of things.
Well, first of all, he'sprobably going to do extremely
well in Dallas because his playis quite nicely aligned with
their style of play.
They have several stars.
He's already off to a greatstart.
As you would expect, he's anexcellent player, so you expect
that from him.
You know it turns out andthere's some things that we're
kind of hearing.

(07:44):
We're hearing a lot right now alot of different things related
to this.
As time goes on, you hear moreof the back office discussion,
but it doesn't seem likeSebastian Ajo was as close to
Rantan as a lot of folksinitially thought.
They played together.
They did know each other, but Idon't think they were best of
friends by any stretch of theimagination.

(08:05):
And again, the Hurricanes werestruggling to get to their game.
You remember Jordan Martinuksaid hey, we just got to be
ourselves.
Stop worrying about, you know,rantanen Hall, let's go play
what Kane's hockey is and startwinning again.
So they already started torealize that they had changed
their you know their style ofplay, their modus operandi,

(08:29):
because of Rantanen and you know, honestly, watching Nico and
maybe part of it was because ofthe you know the fact that he
wasn't buying in.
I never really felt like he wasthe type of player that the
Canes really liked to have andthat thrives in the Canes system
, was the type of player thatthe Canes really like to have
and that thrives in the Canessystem.
So you know, losing him or himmoving on to me was not a

(08:49):
particularly tough loss andagain, as I saw afterwards,
taking a look at the numbers andwe'll talk about the return now
I think that's probably a goodplace to go.
The Canes just picked up $12.5million in the cap for next year
, between paying Nico almost$13.5 million or whatever it was

(09:10):
going to be, and the rumorednumber and, of course, the
number one player in this dealfor the Canes, logan Stankoven,
who makes about $800K.
So, yeah, that's not a badtrade.
The other thing alwaysremembering and we talk a lot
about this for any of these freeagent signings and deals that
they get into, is this wholequestion of how they're going to

(09:31):
age.
So again, mikko, you're talkingabout eight years.
He's going to be in his mid to,you know whatever 30s as that
deal comes to an end.
That's not a place the Canesreally like to be in any case.
So, okay, here we go.
We got Logan Stankhoven, who Ijust mentioned, and we got a
whole bunch of draft picks twofirst round picks and two thirds

(09:53):
.
So in a tough situation that'sa pretty good start.
Let's talk about LoganStankhoven for a minute.
I want to just say a couple ofthings about Logan.
This guy I said it on X he's gotsome kind of pedigree.
He was the Canadian juniorhockey player of the year.
Okay, so some people are saying, hey, what does that mean?

(10:14):
Is there anybody?
I know that was CHL player ofthe year.
If you take a quick second andlook at at Wikipedia, you see
some names you might recognize,like like Sidney Crosby and of
course, conor Bedard's in there,and Mitch Marner and Conor
McDavid and John Tabars.
I can go on and on.
So, yeah, there have been someincredible players that have

(10:36):
been the top player in Canadaand you know that's a breeding
ground for outstanding NHLplayers and has been for a long,
long time.
And then in the NHL last yearhe was Rookie of the Year and
again he's in with some prettydarn good players in that Rookie
of the Year group as well.
This is pretty impressive.

(10:57):
And you know, if you take astep back and say this guy is
one of the most interestingplayers just coming into the
league.
I mean, he's in his second yearnow, so he's a guy that again,
I think there's a lot to likeabout him.
He had 57 points in 47 games inthe AHL.
We've seen him in his firstgame.
What are we thinking about?

(11:17):
Logan Stankoven, katie?

Speaker 3 (11:22):
So far he definitely seems to profile like a Canes
player.
He has that motor, he has that200-foot game.
You know, hey, he scored a goalon the power play last night.
So that's the help the Caneshave been looking for.
And it wasn't just that hescored a goal, like it had

(11:42):
deflected off of his knee orsomething.
If you watch him during thatentire power play, he is
constantly moving.
He was never static, and thatthe three of us have been
preaching that that it seemsthat the canes power play is
just a lot of piss pass, pass,pass, pass, pass, pass, pass.
Well, he wasn't doing that.
He was behind the net, he wasoff to the side of the net, he
was in the front of the net, hewas over in the face-off circle

(12:06):
until finally gossespierre gotthe puck back at the point and
he put himself in a position toget his stick between the um,
between the goalie and goes,shot and got the tip and, yeah,
into the goal.
So he, he is obviously verysmart, very, very tactful in the
way that he approaches the gameand works really hard.

(12:27):
I mean, is he small?
Absolutely.
When you make Seth Jarvis looktall, you, you are a mighty
might for sure, but I mean, if,if that's the kind of energy and
attitude he's going to bring, Iam all here for it, and it
seems like the group hasembraced him as well.
I mean, this can't be easy forhim, feeling like he's been

(12:48):
uprooted out of a verycomfortable life.
I mean, the Stars were playingVancouver and he had 500 family
and friends that were supposedto be at that game and he's down
here in Raleigh and the teamhas really rallied around him
and there's pictures of himlooking like he's having a great
time at burns 40th birthdayparty.
So, um, I have really reallyhigh hopes for how well this

(13:10):
young man does in theorganization and obviously he
will be with the canes for awhile because he's got one more
year on that elc and then he'san rfa, so he should have plenty
of time to to integrate withjarvey and kk and that whole
whole group that we all know andlove and become one of those
guys.

Speaker 1 (13:28):
Now, katie, you had a little bit of information from
a kind of an analyticsperspective that I thought was
interesting as well.
So, taking a look at HockeyViz,what did you see from some of
the analysis that they've done?

Speaker 3 (13:41):
Yeah, well, I peeked at the HockeyViz charts for him
for his time in Dallas and itdid seem like he was having a
little bit of a sophomore slump.
I know technically he's arookie this year, but he played
quite a few games for them lastyear and scored a ton, and his
scoring has dropped off thisseason.
And yeah, it did for Jarvis too, so no concerns there.

(14:07):
But if you look at these charts,both for on five and for power
play, his goals are all in andaround the goal crease, not just
the the slot in it, the goalcrease and so this is somebody
who will get in front of the net, who's going for rebounds,
who's doing those tips, gettingthat dirty work done, and that's
something that the Canes reallyneed, because the Canes are
great at generating chances butnot always finishing them, and

(14:31):
so if they're not finishingtheir chances, there will be
opportunities in the form ofrebounds and that sort of thing,
and he will be the type ofplayer who can gobble those up
and deposit them in the back ofthe net relatively frequently.

Speaker 1 (14:47):
Yeah, and I think that's the great thing about
Stankoven is that he likes toget into the dirty areas.
He's kind of like Jackson BlakeNow the big difference is
Stankoven stays on his feet,blake he struggles a little bit
at times.
He's still a little bit on thelight side and gets pushed
around a fair bit.
But they both like to get inwhere the action is.

(15:09):
And I think that's a greatthing for the Hurricanes because
for sure the Canes need someplayers that can get into those
dirty areas, get in where thegrade-A chances are going to
present themselves and pick upthose rebounds.
The Canes get a lot of rebounds.
They shoot more than anybodyout there.
It's a question of do they haveplayers in the place to kind of

(15:29):
get that?
And second of all, of course hedoes have an offensive touch.
I mean his numbers in everyleague he's been in have been
off the charts.
And again, if you listen tosome of the comments about him I
know that there were somethings said by the Dallas Stars
group.
There's a good video that'scome out and shown some really

(15:50):
cool things about him as well.
Very, very, very positivethings to say about Stanko.
And the key thing I think nowfor Logan, he's going to get
some serious minutes.
He's going to be on the numberone power play.
He's going to be out there withthe power play, he's going to
be out there with the top line,or what is the number one line
in the canes, and he'sdefinitely going to get a chance

(16:12):
to take those numbers up.
The other thing I saw with himwhen I was watching trying to
watch this as well is he seemsto be very defensive, aware.
So he was heading back into hisown zone.
He had no problem jumping in.
He was trying to find theplayers he should be hanging on
to in the man of money andthey've got to learn this, of
course.
But yeah, very impressed withhim.
What do you think, erin?

(16:34):
Did you like what you saw inLogan?

Speaker 2 (16:37):
I liked it a lot.
I think that you know there's atendency I have sometimes to
compare a lot of small playersto Brendan Gallagher, the
Montreal.
Canadiens, but anybody who knowsanybody who's watched Brendan
Gallagher play, and especiallywhen he was younger.
I mean his goal scoring touch.
He was a 30 goal scorer in hisyoung years, you know.
So, um, he was very good andhe's always been the exact same

(16:58):
kind of scorer, just battling itout in front of the crease,
getting himself beaten up anddown the ice, you know, by
people.
You know that he's not afraidto go up against you know.
So I think that I see a lot ofthat same spirit in Logan.
I think that he's going to beone of those players that just
absolutely haunts the crease andmakes everyone's life miserable
.

(17:19):
And the other thing is that, youknow, the smaller players
sometimes have the ability to dothat in such a way where they
can get themselves open and theyget lost.
Nobody knows where they are.
That's a gift that you havewhen you're small is that if you
can position yourself and Ispeak as someone of that number
myself, but that's a gift thatyou have you can disappear if
you want to in a crowd.

(17:39):
And so if he can manage to gethimself open away from the play,
he may get some different kindsof goals as well, because the
Canes are very good aboutactually passing the puck to
anyone.
You don't have to be a scoreron your team to get the puck
when you're on the CarolinaHurricanes.
So they will do that.
They will find Logan and theywill pass the puck to him.
So I did make the joke on Xthat we are now one Hobbit short

(18:02):
of a fellowship and it's timeto call it a dough.

Speaker 1 (18:06):
But I don't know.

Speaker 2 (18:08):
Yeah, Really and truly, though the way that they
had the lines in the game lastnight they had one smaller
player on a line with tallerplayers on each line.
That was true for line one, twoand three, and even if they do
swap Blake and Stankovin, whichthey looked like they were going
to do at practice today.

(18:29):
But you never know, I meanRod's practice lines.
He always says, take them withthe grain, but this morning's
practice they had Hall, ajo andBlake on the top.

Speaker 1 (18:40):
But of course Svetchnikov.

Speaker 2 (18:41):
we don't know his situation right now.
No-transcript pointed out, so Idon't think that that's going

(19:13):
to hold him back at all.

Speaker 1 (19:15):
Well, he's a great skater, as you saw.
He's very strong on his skatesand handles himself very, very
well, yeah, and I think andhandles himself very, very well,
yeah, and and I think again,he's going to be a guy that you
very quickly saw.
He is a fun guy, he's.
He's going to be right in there, he's obviously he knew Jarvis
from from before.
They played a little bittogether and you know he seems

(19:38):
like he's a guy that you know.
He just beams out there, he'shaving fun, he's playing the
game, he's playing it hard andthat's probably the complete
opposite of the guy that left.

Speaker 2 (19:50):
So I think that's a huge advantage right there.
The morale boost yes.

Speaker 1 (19:53):
Oh for sure, and you know the Canes are really a team
of committee.
We talked a lot about this.
It's a committee on the Canes,everybody pulling the rope,
everybody trying to get it done.
And I think Logan's going to beanother piece of that and the
cool thing about it, he's goingto be around for a long time.
So, as the Canes, you know,look to build this, you know

(20:14):
empire that they're trying to doand we know that next year is
going to be an incredible yearwith the cap situation and some
of the prospects coming, logan'sgoing to be a nice part of that
.
So that part of it, and I think, as we take a look at you know
what do we think?
You know Eric Tulsky'sperformance has been through

(20:38):
this deadline.
We have to stop for a minute andjust talk about the other
player that came at the deadlinekind of quietly and certainly
came on the scene with a lot ofexcitement and energy, and of
course that's Mark Jankowski.
Jankowski, not much said abouthim.

(20:58):
Folks don't know much aboutMark.
He's kind of been under theradar for a number of years.
Of course he had some prettygood seasons with Calgary, you
know, six, seven years ago, in asituation where he was actually
put up 35 points one year.
He had 17 goals one year.
So he's you know he was playingyou know top nine role for them

(21:19):
and doing a pretty good jobLast few years.
Of course, he's been with theNashville Predators and their
farm team in Milwaukee.
He tore up the American Leaguewith Milwaukee and, of course,
is a solid citizen.
Let me read the scouting reporton him from the hockey
forecaster.
I think this is an interestingone.
It says the 2012 first roundpick has bobbed up and down

(21:41):
between the NHL and AHL inrecent years.
It's put up some good offensivenumbers in the minors, but has
yet to translate that into NHLsuccess.
He's big at 6'4 and strong, andhe owns good hockey smarts,
instincts and awareness.
However, he's yet to prove hecan be an impact offensive
player against strongercompetition and the clock is

(22:04):
ticking and they look at him asa big depth center.
So I think that's pretty wellconsistent with what we've heard
and what we see.
Obviously, two great goals inhis first game.
What do we think about the adof Mark Jankowski Erin?

Speaker 2 (22:22):
Well, you know that two-goal performance was
certainly fantastic.
I actually think that he iskind of a prototype of what I've
wanted the Canes to have foryears going into the playoffs,
which is a big, strong 4C.
They really haven't had that,you know.
They've had to be recycled bothKokuniemi and Drury in and out

(22:44):
of that position.
But you know, I mean, obviouslyKokuniemi's not small, but he
doesn't play that you knowenforcer role as much as you
know some people think that thatshould be part of it.
I think he's not that type.
And then you know Drury, ofcourse, certainly not afraid to
go up against people.
One of the Drury was one of thefew players on the teams that

(23:05):
would have a fight.
He just didn't win a whole lotof them.
So you want to have someonelike that that's big enough and
strong enough to kind of imposehis will, because that's how
fourth lines get things done inthe playoffs.
What I loved about last nightis that it was almost a
prototypical playoff game in alot of ways.
As Katie, I think you noticedand pointed out, the top two

(23:27):
lines were kind of tied up,trying to keep the Jets' lines
from doing more damage.
You're doing any damage.
So as, as that unfolded, we sawthat in their stats their
possession numbers weren't great, but they did do the job of
keeping the those top flightguys from just taking over and
and running up the scoreboard.
So they did their job, but thattied them up too much to allow

(23:50):
them to generate and createoffense on their own, because
they didn't have the puck enoughto do that.
That's exactly what happens inthe playoffs and that's when you
need your third line and yourfourth line to step in and score
, and Jankowski did that.
So that is exactly what you wantto see.
That's really exciting,actually, because I mean no.
Is he going to come out and putup two goals every time there's

(24:11):
an opportunity?
Of course not.
I mean no is he going to comeout and put up two goals every
time there's an opportunity?
Of course not.

Speaker 3 (24:14):
He has had a four-goal night, however, he has
had a four-goal performance onone occasion.

Speaker 2 (24:17):
So he's not going to do that.
But the fact that you have afourth line that you cannot just
write off offensively, becauseyou have Eric Robinson, who put
up fantastic offensive numbersthis year given his role in his
ice time.
You have Jack Roslevic, whowe're waiting to see him come
back to life and he very wellmight.
now, under these circumstances,he's got his number back and

(24:39):
then on top of those two orright there between those two,
you now have a guy who actuallycan put the puck in the net, and
that is extremely exciting tosee.

Speaker 3 (24:49):
Yeah, and you could tell he was impressed by his
first experience with thehurricanes and you know that the
goals helped.
But his bench interview afterthe game as the first star, when
he's just looking around in awe, I mean it's the only way I can
describe it.
I don't know that.
I've seen one of the playersinterviewed.
They're just looking aroundlike oh, oh, my goodness, what

(25:11):
has happened to me?
This is the coolest experiencein a very long time.
I mean he is just thrilled andit all happened so at the last
minute because they were waitingfor all of the ranting and
stuff to get tied up.
And if the ranting and stuffdidn't go through.
I think Toski had mentioned inone of his interviews there was
only about $500,000 in cap spaceand so if it doesn't go through

(25:34):
, then you can't add players,you can't make deals.
So it was very last minute.
I can't believe we got him fora fifth rounder.
That is incredible.
Yeah, I mean that one gamealready paid for itself as far
as a fifth rounder is concerned.
That was fantastic.
Everything from here on out isgravy.
That was fantastic.
Everything from here on out isgravy.

(25:54):
And I just again, he, likeStankoven, he just exudes this
Canes mentality when it comes tohow he plays hockey and how
he's very much of a team playerand a team guy and whatever it
takes to win, I'm going to do mypart.
So I'm very encouraged byhaving him on the team.
I'm very glad they were able toadd him last minute after all

(26:16):
of the drama with the Rantanentrade was done, because he could
end up being a very importantfactor in the Canes moving
forward.

Speaker 1 (26:24):
Yeah, and a couple of things on that.
First of all, I really likedhim as a person.
I mean his interview.
He did a couple of interviews.
He's very personable.
Clearly he's excited to be aHurricane.
The guy has a good pedigree.
He was a first-rounder.
He's produced in the past.

(26:44):
Maybe getting into this freshstart on a team that has a
chance to go deep in theplayoffs I mean, he left a team
that was far out of the playoffsand he gets a chance to come in
and go into the playoffs isgreat.
And if you watched him, he'sgot skill.
He can skate, he can shoot thepuck, he's.
He was hard on the boards.
You know this is a guy that youknow.
Some of these guys themotivation maybe wasn't there in

(27:07):
their other situations.
Who knows, he was OK inNashville.
I'd see him now and again andthink to myself he's, he's, he's
okay, uh.
But I think he is a guy that,uh, as you say is, is
tailor-made for the canes.
I was really hoping and we hadtalked a lot about centers
getting someone else at thatcenter spot.
We really felt like they neededto shore it up and I had some

(27:30):
other big guys in my mind, butclearly he fits the bill, coming
in at 6'4 and 2'12.
I think that's ideal.
So, yeah, I think a smart moveby Eric, last second, as you say
, brings in a guy that can makea difference.
And so let's talk about Eric'sbody of work.
Okay, so we go back and theinitial trade, of course, to get

(27:54):
Rantanen was Marty Natchez, wasJack Drury, a couple of draft
picks.
They bring in Rantanen, here wego, and then all of a sudden
they've got to pivot.
Now the other guy that came in,of course, was Taylor Hall.
So you end up sending thatpackage out, you end up with
Hall.
You end up with Hall, you endup with Stankoven and you end up

(28:16):
with four draft picks, twofirst-round picks and two thirds
.
So what do we think aboutEric's body of work?

Speaker 3 (28:27):
Katie.
I think that he made the bestof the situation that he was
dealt.
There are a lot of Canes fanson X that are probably going to
be unhappy with me becausethey're, all you know, Toski
masterclass.
I'm not sure I'd go quite thatfar, but again, with the
information that he was notprovided in, and around all of

(28:49):
the Rantanen dealings, and thenall of the attitude andanen
dealings, and then all of theattitude and the difficulties on
and off the ice leading up tothe trade deadline, I think he
made I think he did really wellof making back, as best as he
could, what they had given up.
I mean, he did give up a lot,especially in the form of

(29:12):
Natchez.

Speaker 1 (29:13):
Yes, he did.

Speaker 3 (29:14):
I know a lot of people have been saying you know
, natchez was never going tosign back here.
Well, no, but you still wouldhave had him for this season and
next season.
He could have been a part of adifferent trade that maybe would
have been more successful.
I mean, you can if and or butthe whole thing all the way
through.
So at the end of the day Ithink a little bit more went out

(29:37):
the door than came back in thedoor, but it could have been a
whole lot worse.
I mean, what if they had keptRantanen and that this bad faith
attitude continued through theentire rest of the season and
the post season?
And then it would have justbeen a lost season and there

(29:57):
would have been a lot of sourfeelings and just
dissatisfaction, not only fromRenton, and I think it would
have permeated throughout theentire locker room.
And so bringing in Stankov andbringing in um jankowski I think
brings that fresh air andhelped turn the the focus around

(30:20):
from all of the drama aroundrantanen.
To look, this is who we are.
We are a family, we have apurpose, and now our purpose is
to go out, finish the seasonstrong and go and show them in
the postseason that we are ateam to be reckoned with and
should not be written off.
So I guess that's my conclusion.

(30:41):
Ultimately, more went out thedoor than came back in, but the
outlook for the team is much,much better and much, much more
positive, moving, which youcannot put a dollar figure on
that particular perspective.

Speaker 1 (30:54):
Yeah, and I think the operative word is today,
because you know, we don't knowhow far Stankoven's going to go.
He could be a 30-goal scorer,he could be a pretty darn good
player.
And you've got those twofirst-round picks and, as we are
kind of hearing, or what seemsto be the case, is that Eric was

(31:17):
looking to parlay one of thoseinto another significant player
for the Hurricanes.
My expectation is that at thedraft he will do that this year.
So once we see what the finaloutcome is like with the picks
and the players and so on, Ithink we'll be in a better place
to kind of, you know, gradeeric on.
On what's happened, um, I agreewith you.

(31:39):
I mean, if you look today inthe cold light of day, sure, uh,
players out versus players in,yeah, I think a little bit on
the on the uh on the wrong side.
But uh, we do have taylor who'sprobably going to re-up with
the Canes, and I like what he'sdoing.
He's definitely a Cane typeplayer.
I think you know, again, theability to to bring in Mark

(32:02):
Jankowski as well.
All these things kind of playinto this.
So time will tell.
You know that I believe Eric isthe wizard and I fully expect
that, by the time all is saidand done, that this is going to
work out very, very well for theHurricanes let's talk a little
bit about then.
You know, as we see the lineupright now, we know what we have.

(32:23):
Ok, so we kind of know the teamas it is today.
Do we still think the Canes area serious cup contender or is
it back to?
This is a transition year.
We'll probably be out in thefirst or second round.
It's been fun, but let's getready for next year.
A couple things on this.
First of all, the Canes sit inpretty good shape right now

(32:46):
because they're on this hotstreak.
They've got 80 points on theyear, so they're third in the
conference, in EasternConference.
So they're looking pretty goodand they're three points back of
the Panthers.
So despite all the crazy thingsthat have gone on, they're
still very much in the mix.
And then let's look at thebrackets.
So we've got the Panthers aregoing to looks like they'll play

(33:07):
the Senators.
This is the way it looks today.
The Maple Leafs will play theLightning.
So you probably expect it'll bethe Panthers and the Lightning
or the Leafs.
I mean, I think that's you knowthe Leafs have strengthened as
well, so that's going to beinteresting.
One of those guys will come out, and then you've got the
Hurricanes likely playing theDevils, which I think would be a

(33:29):
nice opening volley, and ofcourse, the Blue Jackets and the
Caps and the Blue Jackets arekind of a.
Cinderella story this year.
So again, you never know what'sgoing to happen in these
playoffs.
But in any case, as we'vetalked about previously, some of
the top teams will be goneafter that first round.

(33:49):
That's a fact of life andanything can happen from there.
So, thinking about all this,taking a look at where we are
right now, let's take a look atthe roster and see how we think
we're going to stack up.
I mean, clearly, goaltending isa good place to start.
The goalies have been red hotlately, in fact been red hot

(34:16):
lately In fact.
I was on their case for quite awhile about goalies not
stealing games, as you know.
And in the last couple of gameswe've seen just that Piotr
Kociakop against the Bruins andthen, of course, anderson
against the Jets.
So this is really excitingstuff.
Both of those guys solidnumbers.
The Canes right now, overall asa team, are eighth in the
league goaltending-wise, goalsagainst average.

(34:37):
So how do we feel about ourgoaltending, katie?

Speaker 3 (34:43):
I feel pretty solid.
I mean, it's not amazing.
Obviously we're not going intothe postseason with Connor
Hellebuck in goal.
We beat Hellebuck.
What?

Speaker 1 (34:52):
I know I goal.
We beat Hellebuck what.

Speaker 3 (34:53):
I know, I know we did , but the main thing is health.
The main thing is health andthe main thing is also
deployment.
There was a lot of questioninglast season of you know, should
Kochakov have been used more inthe postseason so that when
Freddie did need a breather,kochakov would have not been so

(35:15):
ice cold for not having playedfor a couple of weeks?
And so I just think that thoseare the two things.
I think that we're fine in goal.
We have a really solid tandemback there, especially
considering our team defense infront of them.
As long as they remain healthyand they remain a tandem, so
neither of them has thepossibility of being too cold

(35:39):
when they have to come in in abig moment yeah, erin I would
agree with that.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
I think health is the biggest concern, like katie
said.
You know, and that's just beenthe reality of the situation.
I I mean and that's honestlythough you can say that about
every position, because mostteams don't have ex-spare 1Cs
sitting in the closet.
You know most teams don't havespare top defenders sitting, you
know, down in the AHL.
So it's more crucial becausethe goaltender is so much more

(36:08):
of a crucial piece of victoriesin the postseason.
They have to be.
You know that is when theyshine and we've all any of us
who've watched top goaltendersin the postseason you know that
that sometimes is the difference.
But I'm not sure, given theteams that we're looking at,
given the way, like you justoutlined everything, I don't
know that this year's StanleyCup final is going to come down

(36:30):
to goaltending.
You know it does not look likeit's going to be the biggest
piece of the puzzle for a lot ofthese teams.
So I think that our tandem, ifit's used, like Katie said,
deployed properly, given eachguy given some, at least some
games, whether it's back to backor whether it's here you take a
couple and then you take acouple.
I don't know that.
They'll probably work aroundbeing creative with that, but

(36:52):
whatever it ends up being, Ilook at the other teams around
and I think there's going to bea lot of variance really, when
you look at who's coming inright.
There's not.
Everybody else has one of thetop guys and we don't.
You know.

Speaker 1 (37:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (37:14):
You know what I'm saying.
I'm not putting this reallywell, but I'm trying to think
about how you know, like we allknow.
You know, sure, gazilevsky, weall know Borovsky?
Yes, but not every team has oneof those in the Eastern
Conference.
And so if those teams getknocked out for other reasons,
or if they're goaltending, or iftheir goalies were to get
injured, then suddenly theplaying field is a lot more

(37:36):
level.
So if we're looking at a morelevel playing field, it's
postseason.
Anything can happen.

Speaker 1 (37:41):
Well, and a couple of things.
We saw this last year At theend of the season.
Freddie and Piotr were smokinghot.
Those guys were incredible andas a tandem, when they get going
and they're pushing each otherand they're playing, you know
they're rested, they're sharp.
These guys are as good as theyget.
We know that and they now areproving they can steal games.

(38:06):
So I think I feel verycomfortable with our goaltending
.
I'm like you as long as there'snothing in the injury side, I
think our goaltending is goingto stack up very, very nicely
because we got two guys and ifone gets cold, we still got the
other guy and both of these guysare very excellent goaltenders.
So I think this could be asurprise piece as the Canes kind

(38:28):
of run towards the end of theseason and the playoffs, that if
these two guys get going asthey can, all of a sudden the
rules change and you know someof the losses we had earlier
this year were because of, youknow, mental errors and some
other things.
But if they get back onto theirgame and they really get fired

(38:48):
up and start doing what they cando, I think it's going to be
kind of fun.
So I'm bullish on thegoaltending and I think it's
starting to show, as the Canesare rolling off this current win
streak, they're really reducingthe goals against.
Okay, and that carries to thenext part, which is the decor.

(39:08):
So we've got an interestingthing with the decor.
You know, throughout the yearwe've talked about a couple of
guys quite a bit Obviously BrentBurns and Dimitri Orlov.
They both had kind ofchallenges at different points.
The question is, you know, arethey going to return to form?

(39:29):
That's going to be a keyquestion.
Can they return to form?
Going to return to form?
That's going to be a keyquestion.
Can they return to form?
Is the six-man unit defensivelysound enough for the rigors of
the playoffs?
I mean, we know it's going tobe tough and you know, again,
we've seen some times when theCanes D isn't quite sharp enough
, they're not on the ball andthey're giving the puck up, or

(39:50):
they're not on the ball andthey're giving the puck up, or
they're caught out of, out of,you know, out of the play and so
on.
So those things are key.
And the final point I'llmention because we've talked a
lot about it do we think there'san opportunity to get more
offense out of that D, and thatwould be a huge ad, as the Canes
struggle to, to you know, getenough goals to get this done.

(40:10):
So, looking at this whole unit,looking at those two guys I
talked about, erin, why don'tyou kick it off with?

Speaker 2 (40:19):
your thoughts on the blue line.
Well, they all had, you know, apretty good game last night,
and one of the interestingthings there is that Dimitri
Orlov was not part of that crew.
Last night he missed a gamewith injury.
I'm not, this is not a, I'm notsaying that after this.
Therefore, because of this,that's not, we're not getting
into that fallacy, but what itdoes.
Give me an opportunity, though,to mention, when you talk about

(40:39):
getting some offense from the D, how about Scott Morrow's game
last night?
I thought he looked great.
I didn't think he looked out ofplace at all, I thought he was
very much.
You know, this is the firsttime I think I've seen him come
up for a call up and be just sodialed in and seem to be where
he needed to be, doing what heneeded to do.
Like they always say, the bestgames from a young defenseman

(41:01):
are the ones where you don'tnotice them very much, and the
one time that we did notice him,it was because he got that
fabulous assist on his goal.
So, you know, at his first NHLpoint, which was a great thing
for him to see.
So there's some offense comingfrom the D, and just you know
what I liked about seeing Morrowplay last night, it's not that
he was taking Orlov's spot.

(41:22):
I think Demetri Orlov is goingto be very much a part of the
postseason, and I think thathe's doing fine.
I think he probably needs somehealing they all do at this
point.
So what I liked, though, isthat it gave me some confidence
to say, regardless of whetherany other potential people might
come in and I know you're goingto want to talk about that, tom
but Scott Morrow being ready,nhl ready, really looking NHL

(41:49):
ready in that game last night,and I think that that, honestly,
I have to say for myself, Ifeel like that was the first
time there were people that weresaying before, when he came up
the last time and played acouple of games here, they were
playing some low minutes justdoing it.
You know they did a seven Drotation and everything.
Not a great way to showcase theyoung defenseman skills, for one
thing, and just very difficulton all the all the other guys,

(42:17):
cause they're getting cycled inand out.
I never got that moment offeeling like, wow, this kid
could come in and play.
Some people were pushing forthat after that series of games
and I thought, no, it's a littletoo early.
He's got a couple more things,a little bit more puzzle pieces
to put together.
Well, I think the puzzle'sthere and I think that he's
ready to play.
And that is fantastic news forthe Canes because, yeah, as far
as the other guys, happy 40thbirthday to Brent Burns.

(42:38):
He's going to be one of theoldest guys playing defense in
the playoffs, so that's a storyall of its own.
But he has looked better in therecent past the offense is still
not really picking up, but he'slooked better defensively and
that's all you really want tosee.
And I think you were the one,tom, who pointed out an X, that

(42:58):
Ghost had a great game lastnight he did.

Speaker 1 (43:00):
He did have an excellent game at both ends of
the rink.
I thought he looked reallysharp.
And I'm also thinking aboutGoss Despair.
Lately, you know, he's startingto look like you know the Goss
Desp despair at the start of theyear.
He's playing with confidence,he's, he's, you know he's doing.
I mean, obviously, on the powerplay he made a great play but

(43:20):
he's starting to look like whatwe saw early in the year and I
mean Walker has been solidalongside him all year and I
think this is a.
This is a nice.
This is a nice uh add to theKane situation because, because
you know again, there were a lotof things that were just off
with different players.
One final thing on DimitriOrlov, and I'll let you continue

(43:43):
as well, aaron and Katie.
Dimitri has played very well inthe playoffs historically.
Yes, very well.
A couple of years ago, werecall he was with the Bruins.
He was outstanding.
I mean, the word on him wasincredible.
Last year, guess what?
He and Chatfield move up andtake big minutes because of, you

(44:03):
know, injury problems on theCanes D and he looked
outstanding again.
I have every expectation thatthis guy's going to find his
game and I think he's going tobe a key part of the playoff run
as well.
So my two cents on Dimitri,katie, what do you got?

Speaker 3 (44:19):
Man, I don't know that.
I think you guys covered mostof the bases.
I don't know that.
There's a whole lot more to add.
I definitely agree that I thinkthat Orlov this season 95, 97%
of his game has been very solidand very good.
The problem has just been thoseother few moments have not just
been mistakes, but they havebeen costly mistakes that they

(44:43):
have resulted in Odd man rushesthe other way and oftentimes
goals the other way.
So I think once the playoffscome around, everybody reaches a
new level, and I think Orlovwill reach a new level when it
comes to his decision-making,his pinching, his puck play,
making smart choices and notrisky choices, and so a lot of

(45:04):
these faux pas that we have beenseeing will be minimized
greatly come playoff time.
So I'm not particularlyconcerned about him greatly come
playoff time.
So I'm not particularlyconcerned about him.

Speaker 2 (45:19):
And you know I can't wait to see what level Slavin
gets to in the playoffs becausehe is already so elite and so
excellent, game in and game out.

Speaker 3 (45:26):
I mean, everyone was just flabbergasted.
Well, everyone who's not aCanes fan was just flabbergasted
by his play during the fournations.
And he's come back and he it.
He has matched, if not exceeded, that level of play already for
the regular season.
And so to think that there isanother level of defense that

(45:47):
jacob slavin might be capable ofcome playoff time is just a
delicious thought, because mightbe capable of come playoff time
is just a delicious thoughtbecause he is so good and so
elite.
And a lot of that's where burnsis going to come in too is,
like you said, less on theoffense and more of the just
complimenting slavin and helpingto shut things down and keeping
that pair strong, because ifthat pair can deny scoring

(46:11):
opportunities for whoeverthey're playing against, that
can only work in the Canes'favor.
And let the others, whetherit's defense forwards, worry
about putting the puck in theother net.
Just keep the puck out of ournet and let everybody else do
the rest.

Speaker 1 (46:28):
Yeah, I mean with Jacob, he just is a difference
maker for sure.
And one of the things you lookat going into the playoffs is
going to be special teams, forsure.
And again, you know, on thedefensive side of it, with the
penalty kill, there's nobodybetter than Jacob Slavin in my

(46:52):
mind.
So that's a good place to start.
But I think and good points,all good points, ladies I think
the defensive core, I think, issolid.
We know that.
You know we've been seeing someinteresting things too with
Orlov out.
We saw both Walker andChapfield moving over to the

(47:14):
left side at different times,which was kind of interesting.
Um, and that could be avaluable precursor if there's an
injury that comes up.
Uh, with a lefty guy, becauseif you bring in a Scott Morrow
again you've got a right shotguy.
So a little bit of flexibilitythere.
Both of those guys handled itquite nicely.
Um and again, good solid group.

(47:35):
And with the depth of Morrownow you've got some cover if an
injury comes.
He certainly looked the part,and that's not saying he
wouldn't have the odd blunder,but he certainly looks like he's
very, very close to being ableto play as a regular in the
National Hockey League.
So that's all good.
So let's talk about forwards.
You know, the big question iswhat are the lines going to be,

(47:59):
and we saw some lines the othernight.
I'd like to get your take onthat.
And then, second of all, but dothe Canes have enough guns up
front?
Are they going to be able toput the puck in the net
sufficiently enough to win thesegames and come out on top?
So why don't we start with you,erin?
Do you want to kick that oneoff?

Speaker 2 (48:18):
Sure, but I'll try to be shorter this time so that
Katie has more time.
I think that they need tosettle down now, and this is
something I know we talked abouta little bit, but it's going to
take a little bit of time tofigure out the exact best line
combinations on the ice for theplayoffs.

(48:38):
They're working on that.
It's a work in progress.
I'm not convinced yet that theyhave that.
I think that they will getthere, but I'm not convinced.
They need to make sure thatAjo's line is a scoring line.
I think I'll let Katie talkabout that a little bit more.
They need to.

(48:59):
You know, if Stahl's line isgoing to take the second most
minutes, then they need to makesure that they're scoring on
that line too.
They've got Jarvis on thereright now.
I think that could changescoring on that line too.
They've got Jarvis on thereright now.
I think that could change.
They have other options nowthat they didn't necessarily
have before the trade deadline,and I'm not even just saying
it's not a question of do youput Logan Stankoven on that line

(49:22):
or do you just have somewhereelse to put one of the other
guys that's already there?
So that could happen too, toget scoring on that line.
And then there's also I thinkthere's some good news that we
might have we'll carry A backfor the playoffs.
So that's going to add to thenumber of things we can do with
all of those combinations.

Speaker 1 (49:40):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (49:42):
As far as having the big guns in the scoring, I feel
like the reason they haven'tbeen scoring is because they
have been trying to playdifferently.
Like martinuk said, that thatwas the big issue, starting
really in late january.
Prior to that, the up and downsthat they were experiencing
this year.

(50:02):
To me just it just felt likethe team was having trouble
gelling on a couple of differentlevels they were um.
So I mean that those kinds ofthings will happen when you lose
as many players as they lostlast year.
So now I'm ready to see thisteam turn into a playoff team
and I think that the forwardscan produce enough scoring to
win um, provided that they getback to their way of scoring,

(50:28):
that they get back to their wayof doing things, that they play
the game the right way, thatthey don't sacrifice too much
defensively.
They do have to be a little bitflexible to get some offense
going.
And then there's that other onebig elephant in the room that I
know we're going to talk about,but we've got to talk about
special teams scoring because itcan't all be the penalty kill.

(50:48):
So over to you, katie.

Speaker 3 (50:53):
Well, I think for me, when it comes to the forwards,
the biggest key as as Aaronalluded to, is that top line,
that top line has got to be ascoring line and unfortunately,
Rod, really, because of how muchhe trusts Ajo I mean this is a
nod to Ajo in a positive way, inthat he trusts Ajo to shut down

(51:16):
other teams' top lines is isthat when that is the mentality
of how you are deploying yourbest scoring center, then you
are going to diminish hisability to go on the attack and

(51:36):
to score.
In fact, I think a lot of canesfans will agree with me.
What is the one time in thegame where canes fans just kind
of lean forward a little bit andthey hold their breath because
they know something excitingpotentially can happen?
It's when Ajo and Jarvis are onthe penalty kill.
On the penalty kill Because youknow they're still going out

(52:02):
there to be defensive, mindedthat they are going to protect
their zone.
But as soon as there is anopportunity to disrupt a pass,
to jump in a lane, the other oneis moving up the ice on the
attack and they have created somany odd man rushes.
And what is it?
Since the beginning of January,it's something like five or six

(52:24):
different shorthanded goals, andif they haven't accounted for
all of them, they've accountedfor almost all of them.
So that, first of all, so thekey is if it's Ajo and Jarvis
who are able to produce thiskind of push up front and this
kind of directional 200 footplay, when you're not dumping

(52:46):
and chasing, you are moving thepuck in transition, you are
creating odd man rushes.
If they can do it on thepenalty kill, why can't they do
it on five on five?
And I think it's just the, theassignment that they are given
and the, the mindset that theyhave when they are out there
five on five with their otherwinger, and that needs to change

(53:08):
.
The other thing is you can'thave what Jarvis and Ajo do on
the penalty kill at five on fiveif you don't put them together
five on five.
They have to be on the sameline and I have harped.

Speaker 1 (53:23):
I have harped on this so many times and I still feel
like I'm right.

Speaker 3 (53:27):
Get Jarvis off of the dad's lawn.
Is he good there?
Yes, no doubt Jarvis would begood anywhere.
Like he said for four nations,put him at right D and he'll be.
He'll work his rear end off,you know, perhaps not goalie, I
think.
Perhaps Jarvis would not workat goalie.
But other than that, you canput Jarvis anywhere and he will

(53:48):
be an impact player.
But if you want the most impactpossible, he has got to be on
that top line with Ajo.
They are not going to getenough scoring if the two of
them are not together.
Game in and game out, five onfive, power play, penalty kill.
The two of them have to be aset and forget duo, do not

(54:10):
separate, do not mess with thesetwo.
Then decide whoever you want upthere.
If you want size up there, goahead and put spetch up there.
Yeah, still don't think spetchand ajo have a whole lot of
chemistry, but as long asthey're he's with jarvis, maybe
something will happen.
Put someone else up there,whoever.
But the key, the key to theCanes' offensive production,

(54:30):
especially when it comes to theplayoffs, is Ajo and Jarvis have
to be together and they have tostay together.

Speaker 1 (54:38):
No, I think for sure they have real chemistry and you
know.
Again, back to what Aaron saidLook, it's Rod Blendamore.
So we're going to see a lot ofchanges before this is all done.
I just hope they find thecombinations that work.
I think they have a cast of 12.
And and you can go to 13 if youwant to bring in Tyson Jost as

(55:01):
well, and maybe even more as wetalk about Will Carrier.
So they definitely have.
You know, they have enoughhorses and I think, as we look
at the team going forward, maybeone of the most exciting things
is that they're going to have avery, very big, heavy fourth
line, and that's going to besomething that in the playoffs,
we've talked an awful lot aboutthe fact that teams that have

(55:24):
gone deep or won the cup havehad fourth lines that you could
talk about.
They didn't hurt you out there.
They were making things happen,they were pushing the play,
they were getting the odd goaland I think the Canes have
actually fixed that.
And if it stays as it is today,with Jack Rostovic as the

(55:45):
offensive guy on the line, if hecould find his game again, it
would change all the rules forthe Hurricanes, because all of a
sudden now you're going to getsome matchups with that fourth
line that are going to be veryfavorable, and you know we've
already talked about Robinsonand we're quite pleased with the
initial volley of MarkJankowski.
So I think there's a lot there,but it's a work in progress and

(56:09):
we're going to see how it allplays out as the season goes on.
But, but certainly don't feelbad about the, the forward
compliment.
I'm not getting up in themorning saying I'd like to
change a lot in that forwardgroup.
I think for the most part we'rein pretty good shape and I
think there's an opportunity forsome folks to do better.
So if we talk about going intothe playoffs, then as a team,

(56:34):
what's going to be the it factor?
What's when we get up and say,okay, wow, this changed
everything for us?
What do you think it is withthe team side.
Katie kick it off.

Speaker 3 (56:47):
Oh, I, I'm just gonna piggyback right off of what I
was saying about the forwards.
It's got to be the power play.
Yes, the power play has been.
It's not just been bad, it'sbeen downright anemic since the
calendar turned to 2025.
And it was good to see thepower play go from stankoven
last night, definitely movingthe right direction, but it
still made them only one for six.
So while there was success onthat one, there were still five

(57:10):
other power plays that theyfailed to score on, and we just
can, you know, with a bad powerplay, maybe they can still
manage to get out of one round,but I don't see them going past
a second round.
If they have a bad power play,they need to find a way to get
it running and, more thananything, to get it moving.
Stop with this pass, pass, pass.

(57:31):
It needs to be pass, pass,shoot.
You have a lane.
You've got someone now in thenet front who can clean up that
area.
Whether it's Jarvis orSteinkoven, let them go be, let
them shift back and forth, andwhichever one is there, let him

(57:57):
be the crease gremlin I keeptalking about, who just likes to
num, num, num, num all thoselittle rebounds and or at least
collect the puck and get it backout so they can cycle it around
again and get another chance.
But that that power play justcannot be passive, cannot be
static.
It has to have movement, it hasto be quick and it has to have
intention behind it, with a planof I am going to shoot this
puck if I have a lane and then,whatever happens, go and win

(58:20):
those puck battles and do itagain until we're successful.
So I definitely think thatpower play has got to find a
rhythm and some life going intothe playoffs.

Speaker 1 (58:32):
Yeah, and you're right about how terrible it's
been.
And even in the game we sawthey had a four-minute power
play and it was absolutelyanemic and actually the power
play has been so bad that it'sbeen going against the momentum
of the team itself.
I mean it's crazy.
I sat there and said pleasedon't get a power play and we're
like, just keep going becauseyour five-on-five play looks

(58:54):
good.
But looking at the numbers Imean January 5.1%, february
12.5% and March so far 9.5%-these are ridiculous numbers.
These aren't even hard tobelieve that the Canes power
play could be that anemic.
It's just it's hard tocomprehend.
I mean, with the weapons thatthey have on the power play it

(59:15):
just doesn't make any sense.
So you know they've got to fixthis.
And you're right, katie, ifthey don't fix the power play,
this is a short post-season forthe Canes End of story and we've
talked about and Rod's talkedabout this forever.
Special teams are so huge inthe playoffs so they got to fix
this and that's definitely thetop of the list on a team side.

(59:38):
If we look at the player side,is there somebody that jumps out
at you that you say, hey, ifthis guy could get his game in
gear, would that ever change therules?
Erin?

Speaker 2 (59:50):
I think that we all agree that the biggest name
there is Svechnikov, andunfortunately we don't know his
status right now.
He did seem to get injured inthe last game, went off early
and did not return, and thentoday we didn't have an update.
So we don't really know if thisis going to be something that

(01:00:14):
he's going to be out for a bitor if he's going to be back in a
game or two.
But we all want to see AndreiSvechnikov play the way we know
he can and, in particular, to bemore aggressive in trying to
score.
I don't know what the issue isthere, but it seems like when I
first watched the Canes a coupleof years ago, andre was one of
those guys that was alwayspeppering the net and especially
going for those top corners andthose tricky shots that Moura

(01:00:35):
will go for.
He has backed way off of thatand he's become just as pass
first as the rest of the team.
Which is probably one of theirbiggest flaws as a team is that
they just they will.
They will be right there comingin towards the goal with a
great opportunity and they go ohhere's somebody next to me, you
take it.
I mean, they have to fix that,that mindset, that mentality,

(01:00:57):
that that always passes, insteadof trying to take the shot you
know and, and that's that that'shard to understand exactly why
they do that.
But in particular, it's hard tounderstand with Svets, because
the kind of goals he scores, inaddition to the really nice
shots, are the power forwardgoals, where he lowers that
shoulder, drives the net goes tothe far post and it goes in.
We need more of that from him.

(01:01:19):
He needs to trust himself moreto do that.
I think there's been a littlebit of a lack of confidence in
that area just you can see it alittle bit in his demeanor in
games.
Every now and again theshoulders will slump a little
and you just feel like he's justnot feeling it the way that he
can and I really hope that thatwill come, you know, roaring

(01:01:39):
back to life.

Speaker 1 (01:01:41):
Well for sure, and I think I think it's confidence.
You know, it's one of thosethings where and you see this
regularly with some of thesescorers, you know they lose
their confidence and we God, Imean Jack Roslevic is probably
one of the best examples of thathe lost his confidence at some

(01:02:02):
point and he's not been able tokind of get it back.
From a, you know, snipingperspective, he was scoring some
beautiful goals.
So I think it's confidence.
If they can get that back, Ithink that's going to be huge.
And again, they have some otherplayers that we certainly could
see more from and that's goingto help as well.
And, of course, the linchpin tothis whole thing is Sebastian

(01:02:24):
Ajo.
So if he can continue what hasbeen improved play recently, I
think that's going to go a longway.
So, you know, you take a lookat that and then you sit back
and say, well, hey, there's acouple of wild cards here, and
we talked a little bit about one, and that's Will Carrier.
If Will Carrier comes back,he's a guy that he's really
built for the playoffs.
If Will Carrier comes back,he's a guy that he's really

(01:02:47):
built for the playoffs.
Right, he's built for the toughhockey.
This guy is solid as a rock, heplays a heavy game, he scores
the all-gold.
He had 16 goals a couple ofyears ago, so I mean he can put
the puck in the net andcertainly he was fitting in
nicely.
You know, from a Hurricanesperspective as well, he seemed

(01:03:08):
to be a guy that clearly wasbuying in playing Canes-style
hockey.
So I think definitely, you know, we're going to wait and see,
but the you know, the indicationfrom Eric Tulsky was we could
see Will carry it.
Now.
The other thing that wasinteresting in the recent
presser from Eric, of course,was a discussion on one of our
favorite interesting guys, andthat's, of course, alexander

(01:03:32):
Nikitian.
I wanted to read this because Ithink it gives us a bit of a
harbinger of what we mightexpect.
And he said he's in the KHLfinishing out his regular season
and then he'll go into theplayoffs.
When those end he'll still beunder contract through May 31,
and he can't come over until thecontract ends.
In that case I guess he's gone.
But wait a minute.

(01:03:52):
In many cases the team may beopen to terminating the contract
early once the season is over,therefore allowing him to come
over At that point.
You then have to go throughimmigration logistics and there
could be a delay there, but ourgoal is to get him here as soon
as we can.
Our understanding from his agentis that is Alexander's plan as

(01:04:16):
well.
So what happens if an AlexanderNikitin shows up?
Now that becomes an interestingad, and yes, we have questions
about him jumping in the lineupand so on, but he would be a
nice guy to put on the roster aswell.
You know you're going to haveinjuries.
There are going to be someproblems with players that
you're going to be looking at.

(01:04:37):
For sure he gives youadditional depth at a minimum,
but wouldn't it be exciting if aguy like Alexander Nikitian
showed up?

Speaker 3 (01:04:44):
Yeah, it would be fantastic to have him here.
Yeah, it would be fantastic tohave him here, even if he
doesn't play a game, just havinghim around the locker room,
starting to get a feel for theguys you know making his way.
I'm sure he'd start with Svechand Kochekov and work his way
from there and all thepersonalities and all the fun.

(01:05:07):
Just think Kochekov gets to bethe English teacher this time.
He gets to be the translator.
I just I think that would beinvaluable for the mood in the
room for whatever playoff run isleft after that point,
hopefully a very long one.
But honestly, best casescenario is maybe, maybe there

(01:05:30):
is an opportunity for him to getin and play.
I remember a few seasons agowhen the Avs were in the
playoffs and there was anopportunity and a particular
college hockey team waseliminated from their particular
playoffs and all of a sudden ayoung Kaleccarr joined the
avalanche in their seriesagainst calgary and made quite a

(01:05:54):
splash and quite an impression.
So whether it's no work at all,but he at least gets to
experience being around the teamor even something as
potentially impactful andsplashy as what happened with
Makar all those seasons ago andanything in between, I think it
would just be fantastic to havean opportunity to finally get to

(01:06:16):
see the Keishon in a CarolinaHurricanes sweater.

Speaker 1 (01:06:19):
Yeah, and I think just by virtue of that would be
an uplift to the team and, ofcourse, to the fans as well.
Lift to the team and, of course, to the fans as well.
I guess my feeling is that ifEric and the crew go to the
extra effort that's going to berequired to get in here in time,
I fully expect we'll see him ina game or two for sure.

Speaker 3 (01:06:40):
It's the playoffs?
I don't know.
It just depends.
I mean it depends If all six Dare sinking really well and they
are playing excellent defense.
No, he's not going to see theice.
But you never know, Sometimespeople go cold, Sometimes
there's an injury.
There could very well beopportunity for him to jump in.

Speaker 1 (01:07:01):
For sure, and so I'm cautiously optimistic.
I'd love to see Alexander herethis year, and most important in
all of this for me is that hewould be under contract and
ready to go with the Canes inthe future.
That is the biggest singlething of all of this, because
until he is, until he's here, wejust don't know, and there's

(01:07:23):
been recent interviews with himand there's a lot of confusion
on a number of different things.
So, you know, we have to hopethat Eric's on top of this one
and that Alexander and Akishanwill be coming over at some
point and signing a contractwith the Hurricanes.
So, okay, lots to talk about.
We've covered a lot of groundtoday.
I thought we'd wrap up with ourclosing thoughts.

(01:07:45):
Erin, what do you got?

Speaker 2 (01:07:49):
I think my closing thoughts are that, even though I
really really wanted MikkoRantanen to work out, I was
tremendously excited by thetrade.
I posted lots of positivethings, just like everyone else.
We were all operating under theassumption that he actually
wanted to be here and once Ifound out that was not true,
yeah, I did a completeturnaround on that, like many

(01:08:12):
people did.
But the important thing is thatI feel much better about the
team as it is constructed rightnow today than I have felt for
the last several weeks, when itbecame increasingly clear that
something was terribly wrong.
So, even though we didn't knowthe details or what was going on
, we all felt that you know,collapse in the play and you

(01:08:37):
know, even though, like Tom said, they've won five of their last
six.
But we saw what a struggle itwas.
We saw what a battle you knowinternally for a lot of these
guys and we didn't understandwhy until Friday's events
unfolded.
So I'm excited.
I'm happy to have the playersthat we have.
I'm happy that they want to behere.
I'm happy that the team had atremendously positive victory,

(01:09:01):
and even that, I think, was justkind of to me a really
enlightening moment Watchingthem have so much fun on the ice
against the Winnipeg Jets ofall teams and then celebrating
Kids Day with the players'families and their kids.
That was fantastic.
That was exactly what theyneeded.
I'm very optimistic about howfar they can carry forward with

(01:09:24):
that much positive momentum, solet's see how they can do carry
forward with that much positivemomentum.

Speaker 1 (01:09:30):
So let's see how they can do.

Speaker 3 (01:09:30):
Katie, I think I'm going to take a page out of
Coach Ekov's book and no touchmy guys.
No touch my guys.
We're good, we're happy here.
Don't be coming for them.
This is a family, this is a unit, this is a group that, while
they might not have theflashiest names on their roster,

(01:09:52):
they are a solid group from topto bottom and they will go out
on that ice and they will battlefor each other night in and
night out, game in and game out,until they have no more battles
left to fight.
And they're, they're just there.
Isn't that's so valuable, tohave that kind of camaraderie

(01:10:17):
and that kind of attitudetowards each other?
This, I mean rod, said this isa family and it wasn't just a
speaking point.
That's the thing is, if it wasjust a talking point, then you'd
be able to see it.
And part of what made theRantanen thing so unfortunate
but perhaps so important in thelong run, is that it showed what

(01:10:40):
happens when you disrupt thatsynergy that they have as a
locker room, as a group.
And now that Rantanen is gone,now that that dark cloud has
been removed from them, how muchmore determined they are now to
play to their identity, to haveeach other's backs and to go

(01:11:05):
into the trenches and grind,whatever happens, whatever may
come that, they are the CarolinaHurricanes and they are going
to play hockey their way.

Speaker 1 (01:11:16):
Exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:11:19):
Let's see, now that they're ready to move forward
like this, what comes of therest of the season and the
postseason, because it could bea whole lot of fun.

Speaker 1 (01:11:27):
Well, absolutely, and well said Katie as well.
A couple things Eric put theteam together with the players
in the offseason that areCarolina Hurricanes players, so
we know that they're going tocome in, they're going to play
the right way, and he'scontinuing to do that with the
recent ads, I think as well.
And folks like Jack Roslevic isan interesting one to me, way,

(01:11:49):
and he's continuing to do thatwith the recent ads, I think as
well.
And you know, and folks likeJack Roslevic is an interesting
one to me.
I don't know why, but he seemslike he's really happy to be a
hurricane right now and he's gotto be a guy that is breathing a
little bit easier these daysbecause a lot of rumors that he
could go and all of a sudden hefinds himself.
He's with his friends, he getsalong very well with them, he's
like I see him.
Recently I've really beenimpressed with how he's

(01:12:12):
presented himself as a hurricaneand so he's buying in and he's
a guy that has more to give.
Like when I talked about otherplayers that could give more, I
think he's one of them and, boy,if he started to get hot, that
would sure help a little bit.
But let's just look for a minuteat the upcoming schedule.
They've got Tampa and they'vegot Detroit at home.
Okay, so those are key games.

(01:12:34):
Tampa's going to be tough.
Hopefully they can knockDetroit off.
And then they're on the roadand they're going west.
So they're going to have SanJose and Anaheim in that
four-game run, along withPhiladelphia and Los Angeles.
They have a chance to continuesome pretty good win numbers
here.
I think they've got momentum.
I think they can continue to dothat for a period of time and

(01:12:55):
the biggest thing for them, asyou know, has been the struggle
on the road.
So hopefully out West, if theycan play a couple of easier
teams that are out of theplayoff run and stay focused and
knock off some wins, I thinkyou know getting some confidence
on the road is going to beanother key piece for them in
terms of going deep this year.
So lots to be excited about.

(01:13:16):
I'm with you both of you on thisone.
I'm feeling very bullish aboutthe Canes.
I know folks outside look at usand say, well, gosh, they lost
a big player.
They're no better they're.
You know they're going to falloff pretty quick, but we know
that Rob Brindamore's teamsdon't give up that easy.
So it's going to be a lot offun and we're going to be

(01:13:38):
following it very closely allthe way through.
So, yeah, this is going to begreat and, as always, ladies,
your input and insight has beenphenomenal.
Great fun talking hockey withyou, and particularly now with
the Canes on a bit of a windstreak.
It's just a little bit more funFor those of you who've been
watching or listening.
We really appreciate it, ofcourse.

(01:13:59):
Thanks for spending time withus.
If you like this episode,please press the like button.
If you want to be alerted offuture episodes of Storm Tracker
, please subscribe and hit thebell and you'll be made aware as
soon as those are available.
And finally, if you havecomments or questions or just
want to reach out to us, we'dlove to hear from you for sure,

(01:14:20):
and Katie and Aaron and I willget back to you just as quickly
as we can.
Once again, thanks for joiningus here on Storm Tracker and
we'll catch up real soon.