stormTRacker Podcast
...stormTRacker Podcast is your home for in-depth analysis of the Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Wolves & Canes' prospects around the globe. Host Tom Ray is joined by regular contributors, "hockey savants" Erin Manning & Katie Bartlett, as well as "Insiders", Nick Bass (Canes Prospects) & Andrew Rinaldi (Chicago Wolves), to cover all the top stories of your Carolina Hurricanes. In addition, from time-to-time, Tom welcomes special guests to the podcast.
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stormTRacker Podcast
Hurricanes Show They're ROAD WARRIORS Amid Injury Chaos
A two-week road grind, a stack of injuries, and a 4–2 record that says more about this team’s spine than the scoresheet. We unpack how the Hurricanes managed to bank points while learning hard lessons about where their ceiling really is—and what still holds them back.
We start with the backbone: goaltending. Frederik Andersen looked like a metronome, while Brandon Bussi delivered high-danger saves that kept the bench calm. With Pyotr Kochetkov nearing a return, we talk through real rotation choices and why competition could be a feature, not a bug. From there, we spotlight the forward duos carrying the offense: Aho–Jarvis buzzing with synchronized reads, Staal–Martinook eating tough minutes, and the Stankoven–Blake surge that adds speed and edge. The third winger on each line is the lever; we examine Ehlers’ timing next to elite linemates, Taylor Hall’s steadying presence for the kids, and the case for giving Bradley Nadeau real top-nine minutes.
Then we go straight at the problem the standings don’t hide: a power play stuck at 2-for-29. We break down why the puck dies after lost draws, why zone entries stalled, and how the absence of a committed net-front turns shots into shrugs. The fixes are specific: win the first touch, assign a true screen-and-jam role, vary flank shooting for deflections, and let Ghost’s return unlock deception up top. Meanwhile, a battered blue line held with Sean Walker’s workload, Mike Reilly’s calm, and a fast-learning Nikishin. Call-ups mattered: Joel Nystrom’s skating and poise earned special teams minutes, and we tee up what Domenick Fensore can add as a power play quarterback.
With a home stretch ahead, the ask is simple—stop playing with food. Build multi-goal cushions, clean the second periods, and use friendlier matchups to hardwire better habits. If Ehlers clicks, Svechnikov leans into his power game, and the man advantage finds grease in the blue paint, this group shifts from resilient to ruthless.
Highlights
• Injuries stack up yet results stay solid
• Andersen steady, Bussi steps in with poise
• Aho–Jarvis chemistry drives top-unit chances
• Staal–Martinook tilt ice in hard minutes
• Stankoven–Blake spark with pace and retrievals
• Svechnikov’s slump and power identity missing
• Ehlers learning fit with elite linemates
• Power play entries, draws, and net-front issues
• Walker and Reilly stabilize blue line minutes
• Nikishin grows into PK and tougher matchups
• Nystrom earns trust; Fensore’s QB upside
• Home stand focus: finish chances, fix PP habits
Enjoyed the breakdown? Follow, share with a fellow Canes fan, and leave a quick review to help more listeners find stormTRacker. Your lineup fix or PP tweak—what would you try?
Well, the North Carolina State Fair is over, and the Carolina Hurricanes are finally back home after a grueling couple of weeks on the road. The Canes started the road trip in San Jose minus Jacob Slavin and Piotr Kochekov. And they lost Shane Gossespare, Andre Miller, Eric Robinson, and William Carrier along the way. Despite all the setbacks, Canes managed a respectable 4-2 record on the trip. What stood out for the Canes? What areas are still work in progress? And what should we look forward to as the Canes regroup after the trip? Joining me as always to talk Canes, Aaron, and Katie. Ladies, how are we tonight? Good, right? Well, good. We're gonna be talking about a lot of uh interesting things. Of course, this trip was uh quite the trip. We couldn't have written a script of so many injuries. Uh I don't remember uh players falling like this uh so quickly over a road trip or even at home. Uh so it's quite the thing. Um I guess what I wanted to do is maybe kick it off by talking about the trip. How did we feel about it overall? Those six games. Uh we we talked a little bit after the first one that they had won with San Jose, and we were hopeful that they would at least do 500 and maybe better. And it seems like they did. So why don't we kick it off? And, Aaron, what were your thoughts?
SPEAKER_01:Well, it was certainly an eventful road trip. A lot of good things happened. Um, Alexander Nikishan got his first goal. You know, we we had a couple of other fun moments, uh whether I know we're gonna get to later, talking about some milestones and things that the Canes crossed on the way. But like you said, it was kind of overshadowed a little bit by the sheer number of injuries. Um, and even just even before the the trip started, realizing that, you know, Jacob Slavin was not going to be available, Piotr Kochekov was not going to be available. There were a lot of things that could have gone very wrong. It, you know, I think a lot of us at the time looking at the injuries as they began to mount up, you know, we were thinking maybe are they gonna come back with a couple of wins in California? And and maybe the and maybe not all three because the kings can be a handful at times. So I I think that there was that sense that we didn't know for sure how this was gonna go, especially because they did want to rotate um Brendan Bussey in and you know, not rely on Frederick Anderson for the entire trip, even though there wasn't a back-to-back. Um, but honestly, I think that for what they were facing and for what the circumstances were, the Keynes wrote themselves a really positive story. Um, people rose to the occasion. Um, Bussey was fantastic. Um, the young guys coming in made an impact in a positive way on the lineup. Um, it's not what you want. And I thought that it was interesting that uh Rod Brindamore's comment after it was all said and done was looking at the number of uh kids on the defense and so on, it's not sustainable. You can't expect to keep winning at this pace with everything that's going on. But all things considered, under the circumstances, even if it didn't always look like Keynes hockey, the fact that they managed the the win rate that they did was very good. And of the two losses, you know, uh I think Sebastian Aho put it best, he repeated it today after the practice. They were right in the game against Dallas. They were in that one till the end. The only loss that was really significant in terms of they weren't really in it was the loss against Vegas. That's pretty impressive when you look at everything that was going on. So I think it's a very positive thing.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and and you know that uh for sure, they the the Dallas game, I think what two goals were kind of as they call friendly fires. It was a tough one, particularly that one by Ehlers was uh a bit of a but the game that really caught my attention, of course, was the game against Colorado, which was just a barn burner. That was some kind of hockey game. Oh my goodness. And I'm sure Katie, you were just uh all over that. So uh with that, I'll lead into uh what your thoughts were on this trip as well.
SPEAKER_00:I thought they had a great trip. Um, I'm perhaps gonna be take it a little bit more with a grain of salt. It's technically a 4-2-0 trip, but two of those wins came either in overtime or a shootout. So a lot of the games were closed, not just the games that they lost, but the games that they won as well were very close. But you kudos to the Canes for sticking with it and being determined and eking out those wins because those points are going to be important as as the team goes along and the fact that they've got them banked now and they can build off of that as they move forward. I also thought that there was out of necessity and both out of choice, some tinkering that Brenda Moore did, some for the good, some perhaps not as effective as we would have liked it to be, but it gave I I think it gave the team a lot of information moving forward, and they'll be stronger for it as those forward lines start to gel, as the defense gets more experience playing together, especially with the new absences that have emerged as they mix and match and try to find the right balance. I think I think it's going to make them stronger in the long run, having to face a little bit of adversity. I would not call this a lot of adversity just yet, but a little bit of adversity to get to a point where they can become really dominant moving forward.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and and and one of the stories, of course, was the goaltending. Um Freddie, Freddie was lights out. He was he was amazing. And we really got to see uh Brandon Bussey up, you know, close and personal. This guy was uh he was in three games. He uh he came and stepped up, and and I thought he was he was outstanding in those games. You know, his numbers look really good. He's got a 2.34 goals against average, 9-11 save percentage. So those numbers are solid. You know, and we talked about this uh in the last podcast that uh McKeens were were raving about this guy and saying, look, he's one of the best goaltenders outside the NHL. And he looked like that. To me, he looked like a goalie that's ready to play. And and for sure, he made I don't know how many uh 10 bell saves. Like he had breakaways on him, he had you know all kinds of high danger chances, and he was just gobbling them up and and uh and making great plays. So I think the goaltending was great. Uh what did you think about Busy and and Anderson, uh Katie?
SPEAKER_00:Um I thought Anderson looked just like his same steady self. There perhaps a goal here or there that you know it'd be nice that he would have had and made the Kane's job a little bit easier. But for early early days yet in the season, he looked good. And then Bussey looked excellent. Um there was a hockey viz graphic that showed um his saving area, and if you look in that high danger area right in front of the crease, it's a lot of blue, and blue for a goalie is good. It means that when teams are getting chances and shots close in, that the goalie's making those saves way more often than not. And that's definitely what you want to see. You don't want to see that he's being taken advantage of down there either on initial shots or rebounds or that sort of opportunity that uh teams like to look for, especially when they know that the goalie who is in the crease is inexperienced in the NHL. So I I thought he put up a very solid performance. I don't necessarily think that means that he's gonna steal Kochekov's job once Pyotr is healthy. There have been a lot of people on X talking about, you know, oh well now, you know, we don't need Pyotr or Busy's our backup, or he's like, come on, guys, it's three games. You're really gonna oust Kochekov because Busy had three solid games. Let's be realistic here. We've got to have a much larger sample size than that before we can come anywhere close to making such statements or declarations. So good on Busy for his strong, um, for his strong play, especially as it keeps Anderson healthier and fresher. But um it'll be it'll be very interesting to see moving forward now that it looks like Piotr's about to come off the shelf and be ready to play in the near future. How exactly the team manages the uh goalie rotation? Because with three goalies, there's gonna be lots of decisions to be made.
SPEAKER_03:Well, and and the key decision right off the get-go is you know, are they going to keep Brandon on the roster? Uh, you know, because once Piotr comes back, uh the question becomes, you know, what happens with Brandon Bussey. Uh I I, for one, believe they should keep him on the roster. I mean, he's not an expensive guy, and they've got cap room. And I think the most important thing is that uh, you know, we know they're gonna have setbacks and injuries, and the more they can rest a guy like uh Freddie Anderson throughout the season and not be concerned about their goaltending, I think is good. Bussey to me looks like he's a tremendous third goaltender, and he may he may be a guy that uh gets more playing time depending on how he does. So um not a bad situation at all. And we have to see how P Pioter's gonna do. We haven't seen him at all this year. Uh he's a guy that uh last year was not his best year, and he's he's gonna have some pressure on him now for those starts. I mean, and that's a good thing. That's that's a good thing. And uh hopefully he can find his game, and then if well, if you've got three of these guys going, that's uh that's a good story. Because I remember sometimes as you do when we only had one, yeah, because the other guys were in turn, or sometimes none, because we had Tokarski and of course uh Spencer. So Spencer Martin. So um yeah. Anyway, uh good story with the goaltending. Um, you know, I wanted to talk a little bit about the forward crew and what we saw. And and I thought it would be interesting to kind of take a look at it in a little bit of a different way, and that is to kind of break down the lines from a perspective of, you know, who are the players that are getting it done? And it looks like it's being done in duos, and I know you're all over this, Katie, and and uh we've talked a little bit about this in the past. What do you think about the forward crowd and what are these these duos that you think are uh are really getting it done for the Kings?
SPEAKER_00:Well, if you look at the top nine, it seems like each line has a duo that has really started to gel and established an identity for their line. That you have Aho with Jarvis and the way that they're clicking and connecting with the goal scoring and the point streak, and they're doing it in a lot of different situations. Um you look at the Stahl line, which is the Keynes identity line. No surprise, he and Martinook are dominating possession and that sort of thing, and they have the best goals for a percentage of any of the lines. Again, not really a surprise because of the the role that they play on uh on the canes and and what they're trusted with. And then you look at how Stancoven and Blake very, very impressively are creating a lot of chemistry. They're learning each other's style of play, anticipating um where they're gonna be, and and really just bringing that bulldog mentality to that line and pushing play forward, driving play, and just the the tenacity that they're bringing. So those those three lines with those duos on each with each duo on those lines has been very impressive to see. And it will be interesting moving forward, both with injury and with uh just creating chemistry to see what Brenda Moore does as far as completing those lines with the additional winger.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and we'll get into a bit of a discussion on that. Um, you know, Sebastian Aho, you know, he's he's off to a good start. He's had some key goals, of course. Seth Jarvis has been incredible. Aaron, what are you seeing with Seth Jarvis this year? What's changed?
SPEAKER_01:I think honestly, what changed for him, um, you know, I don't know if you guys all watched the uh the uh face off inside the NHL special with Seth Jarvis in it. You know, I think we talked about that a little bit before. But I really I was struck by how determined he is to get to that next level and to, you know, prove that he does in fact belong in this league and that he's, you know, he is worthy of all of the things that are coming to him. So you see that mentality that he's putting in on the ice. I'm sure it's the same thing, you know, on practices and and the off-the-ice stuff too. But um, I see a tenacity that I didn't see before, I think, to make, you know, get those second and third opportunities to not, you know, get muscled off the play as easily as he used to back in the day. Um, but I also see that he's you know, he's very adaptable. You know, it seems like he's been very good at figuring out what Sebastian Aho is doing and then playing off of that. And Aho's the kind of center that he does not play well with every winger out there. You can't just rotate wingers next to him and have it all work. We've talked about this many times. There have been many wingers that, you know, could have been top-line wingers with the canes, but it just didn't gel with with Sebastian Aho. So I think having Jarvis be that guy, that guy that can just read off of him and know what he's doing and and figure out how to maximize those opportunities that are getting created and and then set you know Aho up for those opportunities as well. We saw this in that really nice goal the other day. And just being that having that connection, that that uh mental connection that that allows them to thrive so much together on the ice. So um, you know, it's it's putting Jarvis in a position to, you know, set an NHL record for the most game-winning goals in the first four or five games of the season. I think it was first four, if I remember correctly. And then he's had more he's he's had uh um, I think he's had seven goals so far on the season. Yeah, so you know, this is what we want to see from Jarvis. We all wanted to see a big year from him. He's gonna be so key to the team's success. So the more these two can build, and then you know, like Katie said, rounding out that trio, we're gonna get to the to the subject of Ealers in a little bit, I think, but that's the key is to to figure out how to turn a duo into a trio. And I think I really liked how um both of them have been trying to do that, both Aho and Jarvis. I think that they will break through.
SPEAKER_03:So yeah, I mean, Aho's been off to a good start. Um actually he's surprised me a little bit because he usually takes a little bit longer to get the engine going. So this year he's jumped off quickly. Uh with Jarvis, um you know, one of the things that I start to see with Seth Jarvis is that he's taking more control of the team. Uh like he's a guy that because of his the character that he is and just the personality he has, he's just he's just everywhere, right? And everybody loves him. He's he's and and he he's backs everything up with outstanding play. And I think that's that's really something that that is going to be kind of critical over time as he he again he's starting to get more and more attention on him when the can't play. Everybody wants to talk, of course, to Jarvis. They want to see what he's up to, and and of course, he's producing at such a great rate right now. And the other thing that we've heard about Jarvis, and we heard about this on the broadcast quite a bit, is that he has improved his speed, foot speed. And this is uh this is you know using some kind of a special technique with uh what was it there, ribbons or or resistance bands. Yeah, resistance bands, that's what it was. Yeah, resistance bands. I wanted to get that. Um but yeah, uh he was definitely uh definitely working hard to improve that part of his game, and you know, it shows. And he you know, he's not gonna score, you know, 90 or 100 goals, but uh, you know, I think he's definitely on track for 40 or more goals this year, which would be huge for the Kanes. Now we talked a little bit about uh Jordan Stahl. I know Aaron, you're really excited about uh about Jordan hitting 300.
SPEAKER_01:He got uh goal number 300 and goal number 300 and one. And you know, we were all on hat trick watch for Jordan Stahl, which is always such a funny thing when that happens at the beginning of the season. Um and he also um I believe it was the other milestone was that he hit his 900th game as a cane. We all know that he's been in the league a lot longer than that and has played many more games than 900. But that was still a special moment for the team because you know it puts him up there in terms of how you know how many games a Canes player has played, he puts him right there. So um I that was great to see both of those milestones get hit in. I think it was uh back subsequent games, it wasn't both in the same game. But um, you know, uh because we because we do kind of laugh about the the stall lines, you know, getting lots and lots and lots of chances, but not really always cashing in. It was a great moment for the team. And I know that you know, because they do really love their captain, that was a great moment for them to get to celebrate. So um, you know, and uh it was just it was a lot of fun. I think that um I'm not sure um if if Martin Nook was more excited on the ice, it seemed like. But it was it was it was really special.
SPEAKER_03:As you know, and they're they're tremendous uh part of the canes uh DNA for sure. Um yeah, so it's so great to see that. And and it was fun, by the way. Speaking of these milestones, it was so much fun seeing uh Brent Burns with his 1500th game and all over that, of course, and uh and a lot of the canes uh got together with uh with um with Brandon and uh and some of the other folks like Natus and I think Truri as well. So that was kind of I think that's great stuff, and and I really like to see that because uh you know these are good friends, and yes, when they get on the ice, it's war, but they're gonna be friends. One final thing on the on the duos, um the Stank Open uh Blake thing, we did hear something interesting, and I think it it is a part of why it's starting to work for them is that they're becoming very, very close friends. Uh those two guys are are thick as thieves now. And and I think, you know, again, that kind of uh camaraderie really goes a long way. And we're seeing the connection on the ice as well. They're making a lot of plays together, they're looking for each other. Um you see it more and more all the time, and I think that's gonna be great. And and both of these guys are gonna grow together, and you know, they'll have their bumps in the road for sure. But uh, but that's exciting. Now, uh, when we talk about what was working with the duos, we know there are some concerns with uh with some of the other areas. If we look at at the scoring side, we've got some key players without a goal. Um Nikolai Ehlers has not scored, and Andre Svechnikov, his story is even bleaker than that. Um let's start with Andre. Um Katie, what have you got to say about uh what's happening with Mr. Svetnikov?
SPEAKER_00:Well, I'm gonna start off with one thing that is a positive before we get into the plenty of critiques that there are as far as he is concerned. When you look at his hockey viz shot map, the majority of his shots are coming from right in front of the net. So at least when he is getting shots through in attempts on net, he is doing it from close range, he's doing it from places that are dangerous, he's using his size to get to those areas and create opportunities he just hasn't cashed in yet. So at least there's that particular silver lining in what's going on. The problem is there's just not enough of it yet. He's not getting enough of those chances. And it's going to be harder for him to find that footing because he's been bounced around due to the lack of production. He started up on the second line, then he got moved down to the fourth line, and now with the injuries, he's up with the stall line. And so each place he has to figure out his line mates, he has to get reacquainted with them, he has to figure out where he's going to be. But it could end up being a good thing for him because he has played with the stall line before. I do think, you know, he still adds some size and as well as some skill to that particular group. So once he gets comfortable playing with them again, maybe it will help open up some opportunities for him to feel like himself once more. Because I think that's been the biggest thing when I've looked at him is he doesn't feel like Andrey Svechnikov out there. He is playing with the with the heart and the determination that we know he is capable of, that we saw in the playoffs just this last season. And so I I want I want Svech to find his heart again. I want him to find that raison d'etre of his hockey game, of his reason for being who he is and and providing that to the team because he is he is so unique that the canes are lacking size for their skilled forwards. He is the one who can fill that particular role. And until he finds his stride, it's just a big gap right now in their offensive production.
SPEAKER_03:Aaron?
SPEAKER_01:I would agree with that. Um and I think that I think that there's a lot going on with Andre Svechnikov. Some people have been pointing out on X that some his slump in production to a certain extent goes back into last year and possibly even further than that, especially at five on five. You know, um his five-on-five goal production, um, I believe I I would like to credit the account, but all of a sudden I can't remember which account brought this up. But um, he had eight five-on-five goals um dating back to March of 2024. So we're we're talking a hundred, his last 100 games. He's only had eight five-on-five goals. So that's not the kind of production. Now, obviously, he's still scored a lot because he's put up a lot of uh points. He's he's still done a lot on the power play, he's still done a lot, you know, in other circumstances, you know, three on three overtime, that kind of thing. He's he's not um he's putting up a lot of assists, so his his desire to pass the puck is very strong, you know. We know that, unfortunately. Um, but he's just not had the five-on-five production that he has needed. But when to me, when I look at that though, when I when I break that down and look at that, um, you guys know that I'm a big believer in how time on ice really impacts production. And I was looking back through some of that, you know, and um Svechnikov has played almost all of his career with the Kanes as a second-line winger. He gets second-line minutes. So when you really break down his production, though, he's producing for most of his seasons, I believe four of the seven seasons, at or above a 70-point pace. Injuries have cut those points short, but he's producing at that pace most of those seasons. There are three exceptions. His rookie season, he did not produce at a 70-point pace. Everyone would be talking about that. Um, the COVID-shortened 56 game season, he had fallen off right before the season ended. I think he would have probably come back up because they usually do, but he was a little shy of that point pace. And then last season, last season he was only on a 54, I believe, point pace, 54 or 55. I can't remember now, but it was one of those. So he wasn't getting, you know, even with the minutes he was getting and even with the time he was getting, he wasn't getting there. But I also think, gosh, you know, we're ex we've been expecting, we're used to Spetch that produces at a first-line winger pace while playing on the second line. So that's been kind of a, you know, the canes have have benefited from that. And last year he actually produced more like what you would expect from a second line winger. So I think that maybe we need to just kind of look at those expectations that we have and say, how much of this, especially post all the injuries, especially with everything that's been going on with the deployment, how much of this could be corrected by just a run of good luck on the power play? You know, getting himself back into the confidence that says, I can score, because you know, nobody puts up that amount of points with second-line minutes unless they're very, very good. So that's that version of Spechnikov has not gone away. And the people that are out on X calling for him to be traded, you know, because he hasn't scored in eight games, they're not looking at the picture of what's going on here. Whatever he needs to get in and fix, whatever's going on in his mind, he has to remember that he is an elite player. And there's no reason whatsoever that he can't get back to that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I guess where I am on this is that last year was not a great year, I didn't think for him. Uh he had a great playoff, but he did not have a particularly good year. And look, he's an$8 million guy. Uh he was a second overall pick. He's got to do much better. I mean, I that that's just it. He's got to do a whole lot better. And the Canes need him to do a lot better. I mean, that's the other side of it. And Katie, you're right. I mean, it's a small, small forward crew for the most part, and he's a guy that comes in and can make a difference. He's not getting it done. It's simple. He's not getting it done. And he's got to find his way back. And they're giving him chances, for goodness sakes. Uh he's on the he was on the first power play for a long time. He, you know, he was put on the second line for a while. Now he's with the dads, and they, you know, they really helped him last year. Like he struggled. He went with them, they kind of got him back on his game. And I think that's the hope right now is they can they can shelter him quite a bit, right? They can protect him. And all he has to do is go out and you know add a few hits here and there and try to score a goal. But I'm I'm I'm not particularly happy with Svechnikov right now. And, you know, the longer this goes on, it becomes more difficult for the Keynes.
SPEAKER_01:They need to be. I I think that's true. I think that's true. But the one thing that I would say is that, you know, listening to uh again, listening to Rod in the postgame this morning, um or post practice this morning, he he was talking about, you know, that that this is really just, you know, um that Svechnikov does care too a little too much at times when he's going through these kinds of things. And you know, that's the that that that's when they start talking about they're gripping their stick too tightly, you know, they're they're trying to make everything happen. They're they're just they're frustrated, and the more frustration builds, the harder it is. But you know, one one little sign of maturity that I have to say here, you know, that that uh we we should probably notice is that even with all of the things that are going on, he still doesn't have any penalties. Um and that that is one of the only uh areas of concern I had about uh Jackson Blake is that he's up there at the top. We tied tied for the top with with eight penalty minutes. We we you we don't want uh Blake to start taking the undisciplined penalties. But uh but in terms of Spetch, you know, I think that I honestly think that maybe he should have just stayed on that second line just a little bit longer because they were coming up against two um relatively easy teams, and he got yanked, didn't he, in the beginning of the San Jose game. So, I mean there was I I think giving him just a little more time to gel with Stancoven and Blake would have been maybe more positive. I'm not sure why the decision was made to switch Hall up there that fast.
SPEAKER_00:So um, I I definitely agree. I'd like to have seen him stay there longer, but I'm gonna disagree just a touch in the while we don't want him taking undisciplined penalties, I do think the fact that he hasn't taken any yet shows that he doesn't have confidence in his power game. And when that is the most effective, it's when he's playing at a power forward where he's combining size and strength and skill together. So, no, I don't want him spending two minutes in the box every day. But at the same time, I want him to have that self-belief in who he is and the raw physical gifts that he has that make him such an effective player and go out there and use it and use that body because he he doesn't have a lot of hits on the season. I think it's almost like five. Yeah, five hits. And he he's got to he's got to be a bigger physical presence in that. And I think I think if he can lean into that side of his game and say, okay, look, the points are gonna come eventually. I I can't control that. What I can control is how I go out and play. I can go out and play with the same kind of enthusiasm that Blake and Stenkoven are playing with. But since I'm a big boy, I can go out and I can be a lot more I can be even more impactful in the corners and make it life miserable for the other team to play against me and get the puck away from them and find my line mates and create those chances. And being on the stall line, will they already a good puck possession line. The Jordans are going to have the puck a ton, which is going to give Svetch a lot of opportunities. So yeah, it would be nice if he had had more time on that second line. But again, if he can get back to his identity of a power forward and go out there and play tough physical hockey next to the next to the stall, uh next to Stahl and Martinook, it it could help jumpstart him, and that's what I'm really hoping for.
SPEAKER_03:Well, I'm I'm happy he's with uh Stahl and Martinook, frankly, because he played well with them last year. And uh and you know, to your point, Katie, and and this is kind of where I I was not so happy with Fetch, is that you know, when players who drive offense are not scoring and not, you know, doing much offensively, usually they lean on the other parts of their game. That's really the way it works, right? So, you know, they're they improve their defensive side or they're laying the hits on, or you know, they're doing something. They're contributing in some way. And you can sit there and say, yeah, the goals are going to come. They're going to get their points. But he's making something happen out there. And that's been the back to this whole question of, you know, what's really going on with Svetch. And yeah, maybe he's beating himself too much up when he looks in the mirror and says, hey, you're not getting it done. But ultimately, he's got to start to do that. And he can. I mean, we don't know of a physical injury of any kind. I haven't heard of anything. Um, so you know, the only person that that's kind of holding himself back is him. So we need him to start to get out there, get in the game, get his face into it, you know, start making things happen, and and ultimately successful follow. And I keep coming back to the same thing. The Canes need Svechnikov to be Sveznikov. I mean, last year in the playoffs, you heard the the announcers and they were just going crazy. They were just, you know, saying this is the power forward, you know, that you really want on your team, and and he's on the canes, and we've been waiting for him to do this kind of thing. And and he just was dominant at times. And how do you go from being so dominant to to struggling like this? And I actually expected him to come out this year, you know, out of the gate and just continue on.
SPEAKER_01:That's why I said Well, one thing, one thing I think that that people have discussed is that you know he actually had a very good training camp in preseason. He was looking great. And then he took that um really awful hit, you know, in the last game against Nashville. And and some people have pointed out I now I don't think there's a physical injury because I don't think they would be letting him play, you know, especially since that was before all the other injuries happened, so they could have you know sat him out if he needed to sit out. But um, but just because it wasn't a physical injury doesn't mean that it didn't kind of, you know, give him a little bit of that mental setback of, you know, maybe I should be reigning things in a little bit more. I don't want to end up with another injury, I don't want to end up sidelined again at an important moment, you know. And and I mean, I I know from people who've suffered those injuries before that that getting over the fear of a relapse or a subsequent injury is very difficult. So it I it could be that that's in his head.
SPEAKER_03:So I think you're onto something because you know he did have that really serious injury. Uh that he it took him quite a while to come back from it. And and you know, maybe it's maybe it's lingering in his head, you know, like who knows, right? And you're right. Uh these guys sometimes they're not the same when they come back after these injuries. So we just have to wait and see. Um, I hope there isn't something else like personal or otherwise that's that's underneath all this. Uh, you know, I hope that he's fine in that regard and and he'll find his way through it for sure. It's only eight games, and and that's not a season playing stretch of the imagination. Now, the other guy that's kind of getting tight with his hands on the stick and will continue to do so, and probably more so in the coming days, of course, is Nikolai Eagles. Uh one of the things you would have hoped is that he would have got a goal quickly and get the you know, get that off his back and be able to the monkey off his back and be able to go forward, but um not the case. And I I still am waiting for him to be a little bit more dominant. Uh you know, I saw him do some things with Winnipeg that seemed really, you know, they were incredibly impressive at the time, and I haven't seen so much of that with the Canes. What are your thoughts on that, uh, Katie?
SPEAKER_00:I think it's just a matter of time. Uh coming to a new team, you just need to be able to adjust to get to know not only your line mates, but all of your teammates and the systems and how they're played. Um I think I think we should start to see it pick up a little bit more. I remember a couple of seasons ago when they were talking about Jonathan Druin having joined the Aves and after the first 10 games, everyone was ready to try to ship him off. He's done, he's no good, you know, get him out of here. Just nonstop talk about that. And it was about game 12 or so where it's like it all clicked, it all made sense, and he took off and had a fantastic season two seasons ago. I expect something like that to happen with Ealers as well. I think over the next handful of games, it's gonna be like, okay, click, I got it. I understand now. I've been playing with Aho and Jarvey long enough that it makes sense. He's already starting to pick up the assists. I think that will end up growing into goals. And watch out. If that line starts humming, where it's not just Aho and Jarvis doing met marvelous things, but Ealers is getting up to their level as well, they are going to be uh one of the best top lines in the league for sure, because they're they have so many weapons, both in the playmaking as well as the goal scoring department.
SPEAKER_03:Well, that brings up an interesting question because, of course, uh back to uh you know the social media discussions on several different platforms, uh they've been uh suggesting that ELERS should be moved off that line. They're suggesting other changes, and that brings up an interesting discussion is is do we think the wingers are in the right places? Like we talked about the duos. Do we think that the folks who are currently manning those other spots on those lines are the right ones? Uh or should there be some other moves that uh that we think as uh coach of the of the squad should be done? Um Aaron, what are you thinking? Are the lines the way they should be?
SPEAKER_01:I think that there's always room to to to change things up in some senses. I'm not as quick to do that, I think, as as uh Rod Ben Moore usually is. But one of the things that's interesting to me is that Ehlers is, you know, basically stapled to that line. And I don't think he's going to be moved off of the Aho and Jarvis line. I think that they want that line to work. I think they need it to work because, like Katie said, you know, that would be such a threat. The Canes have not had an offensive threat on their top line. You know, that they they've had, I mean, obviously Aho and Jarvis have been really good, but they haven't managed to get that trio that when you see them come over the boards, your first reaction is, oh no, the way it is when it's McKinnon and company. So Natheus, yep. Um, so we we we think that I think that that's part of it. But now one of the things that I find interesting is I think that in a previous season, if if Rod Brindemore had acquired Nikolai Ehlers Wednesday Vincent Trochek was still on the team, I think that there would have been some rotation. There would have been, oh, you know what, let's take the pressure off. Let's put him on the second line for a little bit. You're not gonna do that when you're easing Logan Stankhoven into playing center at the NHL level in his first season because that is way too much responsibility and pressure for a 22-year-old who is playing center for the first time in the NHL. You just can't. And that's one of the things about the Stancoven line that we're gonna, I think, have to realize is that they're not going to be putting people there as randomly as they have done in the past. I mean, I think we all know that when the when the center rotation was uh however many games of Kokeni and then however many games of Jack Drury and then however many, you know, the the the wingers also rotated a lot on both of those, you know, in both of those scenarios. But you're not gonna see that with Logan Stancoven at 2C because he's just now starting to play center in the NHL, and Rod Brindamore is very careful about that, you know, especially with a player that he obviously has a lot of um high hopes for. So you can't put Ealers next to Stancoven. So he's gotta play next to Aho. It's not gonna happen that they're gonna do that. I don't think, I mean, it could happen at a shift here or there, but you're not gonna do that for a game on purpose unless there's some other circumstance going on that that you know we don't want to think about in terms of injury. Um that creates a problem, though, in a sense, to me, because one other winger that I think we've talked about is whether Taylor Hall belongs on that line with Blake and Stenkoven. And I think the reason Taylor Hall is on that line primarily is because he's a veteran player with a lot of experience and a lot of savvy and a lot and the ability to, you know, not only keep some of the more predatory opponents at bay, but also to negotiate with officials when needed, because you know the officials are gonna be more willing to engage in conversation with a seasoned veteran and with a lot of than with two 22-year-olds who are in their mind maybe causing some havoc. So you've got to have that presence. So that also kind of I think ties their hands a little bit. Um now, if Svechnikov can get his game back and they can put him back with them, um, he's certainly not new to the to the NHL. He's been this is his eighth season. So he can he can take that role. But apart from Svechnikov, you're not gonna be putting the the one thing I want to just get out here right now, for all those people out there that are already doing this, you will not be putting Bradley Nadeau with Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake at this juncture, not now. It's not going to happen. It may never happen because of the size issue, but even if they decide that's not going to be a big problem given the strength of Nadeau, please stop telling Rod Rindamore to put Nadeau with Stancoven and Blake. They're not going to listen to you. It's it's a lost cause. Same situation. You can't have three guys with that little experience in their current roles and that age, that that young of an age, uh on a line together that that is taking that much time on the ice and having that many minutes. It's just not going to happen.
SPEAKER_03:But you know, Aaron, it's creating a bit of a problem because Bradley Nadeau is not a fourth line.
SPEAKER_04:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:No, he's not. Um he's being wasted on the fourth line. Um he's a player that is clearly ready to play in the National Hockey League and is certainly has the respect of uh Brendan Moore and the offensive side because he had him on that top power play. So that tells you a lot. I think they got to try to figure out how they can get Nadeau up higher in the lineup somehow. I I really do. And and I don't know how that's done yet. I I don't. I mean, you you're pushing the buttons to say, hey, he shouldn't be on the second line, he's not gonna be on the first line, where does he go? I think at some point Nadeau's gonna have to get a look on one of those lines because he's just too good to be on the fourth line. And I think he's a better player than a Taylor Hall. Okay, I think he's a guy that has a bigger upside, of course, for sure. And I'd like to see him playing and getting the minutes, and and that's the challenge you've got. And I understand why all the folks are screaming on X and other social media platforms because I'm not happy with him playing on the fourth line and getting you know light minutes. I mean, even in short play, he gets opportunities. He's a guy that's around the clock, he gets great shots. I mean, he he is an offensive, you know, jam. He can really play. And again, I don't think he needs to do a whole lot more in Chicago. And if he goes back there, that's fine. But boy, his defensive play in the last game was probably the best of most of the forwards. I mean, he was tremendous. Uh so I don't know how much additional work he needs there as well. But again, it's a it's a challenge that Rod's gonna have is to figure out how to cast this forward crew. And of course, there's more complexity that could come into this later because we fully expect at some point that Tulski is going to try to bolster the forwards. He's already been talking about that. So, what does that mean? Who moves, who goes, and how does it change the forward lineup as well? Um, again, uh the lineup looks good. It doesn't need a lot of change right now. I mean, they're winning games, that's fine. Uh, you can always improve. And I think the challenges that we we are gonna continue to see are I mean Stankoven has got some work to do. You know, he's got to improve his face-off side for sure. Uh, you know, he's been spending time with Roding to get a little bit better in the dot. You know, he's been sitting at, you know, somewhere around 45%. So he's got to do a lot better in the face-off dot. And and you know, he's still working, you know, to figure out how he's gonna do his defensive work. And and one of the things that we do see occasionally with that line is they're being overpowered, they're being outmuscled. And that's it, that's a concern for me, a big concern. And particularly, you know, these are the easy days. This is the early part of the season. Wait till we get into the the tough, you know, kind of final quarter and into the playoffs, that's completely different. And I I think that's something that's got to be addressed somehow. Um because we just don't have a big enough forward crew. Uh, you know, if you talk about our like five of the top six forwards aren't big guys, right? So uh this is this is something that's gonna have to be addressed. But anyway, uh some concerns up there. We'll see how it plays out. I don't see Rod making any changes. He's not gonna move anybody around right now. I don't see that at all.
SPEAKER_01:Not at the moment, no.
SPEAKER_03:No. And so, you know, for those of us who would like to be armchair coaches or GMs or whatever, I don't think we'll we'll have a chance to do much. Now, if we want to take this a step further, of course, one of the areas that has been incredibly painful has been the power play. And it's just woeful. Um, I you know, we've gone through stretches where the power play hasn't been very good, but I don't think we've gone through a stretch where it's been this bad. Um, so they're two for 29, so that's a a massive 6.9% success rate so far. I don't know what the leader is, it's probably somewhere around 35% or something, it usually is. So, you know, that it's a little bit of a gap between them and and the top of the league. So a little bit of work to do. Now, they've been missing the ghost, uh, gosh despair, of course. Uh we hope he's coming back soon. But but what are we seeing with the power play in general, Katie?
SPEAKER_00:I think there's a lot of indecisiveness that happens on the power play. I think it's very much keeping too much to the perimeter. Um it's and and it's just contradicting the way that the canes are playing five-on-five, which has been so successful for them, you think they just lean into that even more on the power play. You you look at the hockey biz chart for their five on five production, and the majority of their production is this dark red splotch right in front of the goal, and they're finishing their chances. I know it's crazy, the canes are finishing their chances. Five on five. Why is it not translating their their highest skilled players that are creating all this five on five when they have more space and more opportunities to take advantage of defenses? And so it's it's it's really kind of baffling because when you look at the the hockey vis chart for the power play, there's this big blue spot in front of the goals. What how is it going from lots of chances five on five to very little chances on the power play? And they're just they're I think they're just trying to be too perfect. They think that all of a sudden they need to become Connor McDavid and Leon Dreisidel out there instead of being McCain's and working working the product in, getting, you know, not just w shooting from the point like they used to do when Burns was on the power play and create chances, but chances, you know, yeah, try to snipe it, but snipe it in such a way that if it doesn't go in, it creates a rebound, it creates an opportunity. Get the guys like Blake or what should be Specznikov's role as the power forward in there, battling for loose pucks and either getting them back out to his to the other players for additional chances or banging home the rebounds if that opportunity is available. They just they need to be a little bit more lunch pale when it comes to it and a little more straight line approach until it starts working. All of this looking for the perfect pass, trying to make that one extra perfect play so it's a slam dunk of a goal that is just not working, and they need to they need to reset and re um re create the power play in a more meat and potato sort of approach.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um I agree with all that. Um I I think uh there there was a I think it was, I don't remember, but I think it was Adam Gold the other day said they should just put the stall line out there, and he was only half joking. If it wasn't for this beat issue, it would probably have already been done. Um but I mean I I think that there's uh you know, there was an interesting uh article that was just posted shortly before we sat down to record um by Ryan Henkel. Um, and he said that there's two problems that that we haven't really touched on with Katie's uh discussion. One is that they're only winning about 44% of their power play face-offs. And that is not good. You have to win power play face-offs, especially since the other problem is that they're not very good right now. After a good first two games at home, they have not been good at entering the zone if they lose possession. It has been very hard. It's been a battle they can't seem to get through. And that may be part of where that size issue comes into play. You have a lot of skilled forwards, but they're very small for the most part. It is hard to get through four large penalty killers on the other team if your skill guys are on the smaller side. It's just gonna be that way. Um, the first unit has had more trouble than the second unit, which is interesting because you know there's small players on both. But um the other thing is that even though the Kanes have not suffered the indignity of a short-handed goal against yet, um, they are close to uh the bottom in terms of giving up short-handed chances. I I think uh Henkel said that they were in the same rank as uh right near the Calgary Flames, and we all know the Flames haven't been doing well. So um so you don't want to be giving up those short-handed chances and you and you don't want to be um taking, losing those face-offs because then you can't get back in the zone. Um that's definitely um limiting their ability to do the one thing they really, really need to do that they're not doing, which is to get in front of the net. They need to get in front of the goaltender. They need somebody who's there, the net front guy to screen the goaltender, to, like Katie said, pounce on those rebounds. And that's where I look at the the even the ideal units with Ghost of Spear back and and you know, sorry, Ghost of Spears Halloween. Anyway, um when got with with uh with Shane Ghost of Spear, he is coming back. I believe that that they're I they're not positive that he's gonna play tomorrow, but it will be either tomorrow or the next game. So that's actually really good news. But having ghosts back on the power play is gonna mean that they're gonna have some of those problems go away. He is better at you know getting the those zone entries, he's better at helping to prevent the breakaways, you know. So I think that's gonna help with the first unit a lot. Um you know, so it's it's the defensive issues have definitely impacted the power play, they just have, and not having the personnel. Um, I think that uh when Rod was talking about in his postgame today, he did say that, you know, having different players out there all the time has been difficult because he feels like they can't even get to what they want to do. But my question though was looking at the the players that he wants out there, even, you know, who is the net front? Who is the net front and how do they get that net front? Even if they're rotating off, you know, which they usually do. You don't want a static power play, you don't want people in fixed positions. But somebody has to have that job that that, you know, you're not standing from a distance sniping beautiful goals. You're just there to muck around, like Katie said. You know, you've got to be the person. We had Stefan Nason in that role a couple seasons ago. There have been other players who have taken that role. So somebody has to be willing to get in there and do that. And they just need to figure that out. I think once they figure that out, it's a lot of other pieces will fall into place.
SPEAKER_03:Well, I think you're right. And and a couple of things that I see is that I mean, we used to have lots of shots from the blue line. Of course, Brent Burns, if he was out there, it was just wail away like crazy, right? Um, we don't get as many. And and that's something, you know, that I I'm finding generally inserting on the power plane. Um, the difficulty getting into the zone, of course, we've had that since uh Marty Nate just left. And you know, he was tremendous at that. And and you know, it's interesting that Logan Stankoven seems to be pretty good. You said that the second group is getting in a lot.
SPEAKER_01:They're getting in easier.
SPEAKER_03:Um but I think there was an expectation that Nikolai Ehlers would would help with that because he's a guy that you know has had success in the past in uh winding up in the zone and getting into the offensive zone quite nicely. Uh just hasn't been able to get that done. But if you look at the idea of a power play, successful power play, usually has one of two things or both. And one of them is that uh they do have those big guys in front and and are able to deflect pucks. Like a lot of deflections are the way you score these goals. And so you've got your uh your point guys firing away and and there's deflections in front. The other thing is, and we've talked about this repeatedly, is having somebody on the flanks that can really fire the puck. Okay, and Aho can and does on occasion, but he doesn't get free enough. Jarvis is not that guy. He gets some that way, but that's not really what his forte is, I don't think. So you've got a situation where you really don't have that fear factor, right? Like, you know, the Ovetskins out there, or you know, you've got uh what used to be Stamp Coast and other guys that used to just wail away and and you know, they put fear into you. Uh the canes have not had that for an extended period. And we all kind of hoped a guy like maybe Svetnikov could be somebody like that, you know, a big guy that could fire the puck or whatever, but it's just not happened. So again, I think that's a that's an item that that they're missing. And these, you know, it's getting tougher to score goals like that. These goalies are so good, they're big, they're good. You don't just get an easy goal, it's usually a greasy goal, it's deflected off somebody, or it's like the other night, it goes off a guy like Riley and into your net, and and who knows, right? Um so they're I think they've got to solve some of this. The makeup of the power play right now, I think, is is a bit of a concern. And I think even you know, even with uh Gosses Fair when he was there, the numbers weren't great. I mean, you know, he's missed the last five games or whatever, but previously he, you know, the numbers didn't uh didn't look that good either. So he's been having a great season. I think you know he started probably with his best year that we've seen. And uh, and I was really excited about that. So I'm hopeful he can come back in and and bring some excitement to that power play, but they've got to solve this. Um and it's it, you know, it's it's a concern. And you know what if we look back for so long, how how long have they had these challenges? I mean, two years ago, I think it was unbelievable how bad the power play was, and then the going into the playoffs. So something is not kind of gelling with their view of a power play or how they do it, I'm not sure. But uh this is something they're gonna have to address. So we'll see. Um now, power play, forwards, goals. Now, they're interestingly enough, the canes are near the top in goals per game, um, which is kind of an interesting thing, despite all this we're talking about in the power play and and some of the forwards not getting it done, they're still getting goals. So it's great. Um, but I think the story right now is is the decor. You've got uh Kayandre Miller stepping up, and I thought he was playing tremendous hockey and seeing big. Excellent, you know, 20 plus minutes a game, and then he goes, and it just gets worse. Um, and of course, uh Gossas Bear went down as well. So, and he was playing the best hockey that I think he has as a cane. So, yeah, you know, it's kind of a series of events that if if you could write a script and say this is the worst that could happen, I think it's happened to the Kane. So that's what happened. What have we seen? What did we like? Uh why don't you kick it off, Katie?
SPEAKER_00:What I've liked is I've liked how Nikishan has stepped up and really taken some extra minutes because at the start of the season he was sheltered there with Ghost. They were getting, you know, the first two games the Keynes got to choose the matchup, so they were very selective in it when they put him out there and uh the types of looks that they were giving him. But with the with Slavin being out, Miller being out, Ghost being out, a lot of the responsibility felt to him fell to him as being the third most 10-year defenseman on the blue line behind Walker and Chatfield, which is crazy to think of. But Riley's brand new this year, and then you had the rookies coming up or you know, the prospects coming up. So that that has really impressed me how how well he has has shouldered that. And it means that he's also had some mix up. He started with Ghost, Ghost goes out injured, so he has to have new partners. And I think he's played with two or three different D partners along the way and and shown that he can adjust his game and he's playing the heavy game we were expecting. He has lots of hits and he's very steady and and heads up and smart hockey. I mean, not super flashy. It was great to see that one goal. That one goal showed not just the skill, but the vision that he possesses when it comes to that end of the ice. And in more subtle ways, that vision is what's serving him well in his own zone. So that I think that's what's really stood out to me is the fact that Nikkei seems to be coming into his own defensively. And then as he grows and gets more confident, that will allow him to activate more readily and more frequently up in the Ozone and provide that particular wrinkle to the Kanes game that they really need because they have not been getting the offensive production from their D Corps due to all of these changes that have been going on that they normally have enjoyed in the past. So um looking forward to seeing what Nikishan has to um has to offer as he grows and gets more confident moving forward.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and and of course, uh he's been killing penalties as well and and uh and doing a solid job of that. And and I think the biggest challenge, and you see it occasionally with him, uh, still trying to figure out the system. You know, am I supposed to be here or there? And you see it happen. He kind of, you know, where am I supposed to be? But for the most part, uh, you know, he's getting more comfortable, and as he does, of course, uh he's he's certainly starting to show some of the talent that we expected. One thing with Nikisha, Noah, and we've started to realize this, he's not he's not necessarily fleet-of-foot. Um, because we've seen him lose some uh some races coming in, uh forwards coming in fast, and and he just can't turn quick enough and can't catch up. So he's just got to be positionally sound, and I think he's realized in a short period of time, this NHL is a lot faster than the KHL. I think it's all part of the learning for him, but he's definitely uh definitely coming along strong. And you know, the bigger thing too is is uh as we've talked about many times, he's still trying to figure out the language and and uh and that's gonna be a a a big bonus once he gets more comfortable with English as well. Now, are there folks uh Aaron that you've seen uh on the blue that have uh you've been pleased with?
SPEAKER_01:Well, I think we have to give the flowers a little bit to Sean Walker because of how much he has had to do and how well he has done it, you know. I mean, there were people that were um, you know, not that pleased that the Keynes were planning to use Walker as heavily already this year, just with the the new acquisitions and everything. And then um to have him be step up and just take over things, you know, as as part of that first pairing and just be, you know, solid every night that he's been there. And it's just I think that that's been great. And Mike Riley, too. He's you know, we should talk to him, uh talk about him as well, um, being a good veteran and just, you know, you you don't notice him, and that's a good thing. You don't notice him a lot, um, you know, occasionally, um, but not, you know, just again, just very a veteran presence, somebody that can steady things down when the young guys get a little bit flustered or whatever the case might be. Um, as far as the young guys coming in, it was great to see Charles Leftless Lego get some some ice time, and he played very well. Um and then uh um I know your guy, um Joel Nistram, you're gonna probably want to talk about him. Um he's been great too. And now we have uh um Vensori called up for the possibility that Gosta Spear might, if he can't go. So um, this has been a lot of fun for you, Tom, I know, because these are your guys, these are the ones you talk about. So um I'm gonna turn the question back to you. What have you liked about your Wolves uh players that have come up?
SPEAKER_03:Well, for sure. And and uh interestingly enough, Nick Bass and I were talking about uh Joel Nistrom uh last summer, and uh and I thought I'd just play this piece from Nick because uh boy, he had it right on. Let's listen to Nick.
SPEAKER_02:Uh Joel Nystrom, I know Darren York's incredibly high on him, and he has very good reason to be high on him. His two-way game is among the best in there. Um, kind of like how Moro is just really good offensively, and Charles Alexis Lego really good defensively. Joel Nystrom is probably the best of both worlds, where he is good defensively and good offensively in both regards. He is playing as a top pairing defenseman for Far Just Dead, which is one of the better teams in Sweden. He's an exceptional defenseman. He gets some power play time, even though it might not be the biggest. I like his offensive game, his stating is good. Everything about Joel Nystrom is something to like. He is playing this next year with Far Just Dead, but after that, I would not be surprised to either see him somehow snag a role with the Hurricanes next season, not this upcoming, but the season after, or he gets a top pairing role with the Wolves and he has a lot of ice time there, and probably is the first one on the call-up sheet if an injury or something like that.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, so yeah, I th pretty cool stuff from Nick. That's great, great stuff. Um, interesting thing about uh Yuel Nistro um 1602 his first game, and he played 132 on the power play and 424 uh killing penalties, and then 1757 his last game, and that was more time on ice than uh both Lego and And uh and Riley in fact almost double uh what Charles Alexis Legaux got. So I knew that, you know, with uh the way things were going, I I fully expected Legault would head back to Chicago. But you know, if you watch Nestrom, um Nestrom is a guy that, you know, we talked a little bit about him before. He's he's just confident on the ice. Like he just goes about his business, he doesn't get flustered, he's uh he's quick. One of the biggest things about him, and and Nick talked about this, his skating is amazing. Like this guy can really, really skate. And interestingly enough, in the last game, you started to see uh Nystrom alongside Nikishan. So they started to be the pair, and I think that's the pair we're gonna see in the next game as well. Um because again, Nikishin, you know, he's doing his stuff, but uh Nistrom can cover quite nicely. Um and he's a smart heady player. I mean, that's one of the biggest things you see with him. The interesting thing is both of these guys are 23 years old. So it's not like you're talking about a 17 or 18-year-old. Both of them have several years of of uh kind of major league hockey under their belts playing with men. Uh so it's I think that's uh that's a key point of this. And so I think I think I'm excited about Nestrom. I think he's kind of quietly come into the mix and uh and is is a guy that uh is gonna is gonna push for a position with this Keynes team. Uh at some point, uh, even you know, as they go forward, they're gonna start to think about that. What have you seen when you've watched him out there? I mean, I've I've been effusive about him, but what have you seen? Have you seen anything that you really thought, hey, this guy looks like a player?
SPEAKER_00:I I think it's more about what you haven't seen than what you have seen. Because, like um, Aaron was talking about with Riley, is when the fundamentals are found, he's just taking care of business and doing what he's supposed to be doing and you know, not not being noticeable in the wrong ways. So with someone who hasn't played before, especially what was impressive was the story about him getting called up in the first place, apparently making it to the rink in time to to sub in for Miller because it was um it was in that Colorado game, wasn't it, when he came in when Miller took warm-ups. It, you know, the initial thought was that Miller was going to play, and then it was kind of decided, you know, no, we're not gonna risk this. We're gonna pull him, we're gonna play it safe, and on he comes to to take his spot. You know, having barely arrived from the airport, I don't think he even got a chance to stretch. I think they said they didn't he didn't even stretch. He got to the rig, got in his gear, and it was time for the game to start. So, you know, make major props and kudos to him for for that and just coming in and and holding down the fort the way that that the canes needed him to do so, um, especially considering what a what a marathon that game was because it was back and forth. It was a heavy, heavy game, especially because the can't the canes got out to that lead and then they were under the gun the entire rest of the game. And you know, Nestrom helped make sure that they weren't going to be completely overwhelmed and helped help them get to that overtime where they could secure that second point. So yeah, good kudos to him. Well done. I'll be very especially if Ghost comes back, I'll be interested to see how they use him and um trust him moving forward. But it's definitely a good good um couple games to build on.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and a right shot guy. Now, interesting, both he and Charles Alexis Legaux. One of the benefits that they have right now, of course, these guys are running the same system. So Pam Abbott's got these guys uh you know ready to go. And and I'm sure when you know, when the call comes down to Abbott uh from uh Tulski and whoever else is talking to him saying, okay, who should we be bringing up? Uh, you know, these guys are they're being schooled the right ways. So I think it's great. And and to take that to the next level, the guy that uh we also talked about, Dominic Vinsori, is just he's off the charts right now, this guy. Um he's got uh he's he's got seven points in his first four games. He's terrified. Um we've seen Dom, you know, exhibition games, we've seen him for a few games last year. What did we see when we saw him?
SPEAKER_01:Well, I think he's a very smooth skater. That that just that jumps off the page at you, you know, when you see how fluid he is on the ice. You know, he just makes skating look easy. He doesn't make it, you know, there are skaters that remind you that ice is slippery, and there are skaters that don't. And he does not. He's a very smooth skater. And and I think he's very fast too. Um, I don't know, I haven't looked at his edge stats, but he seems like he's quite fast. So um, those are the kind of qualities you want um from a skate, somebody. And then he seems to have a very good hockey IQ as well. He seemed like he knows where to be and how to get there and does his job very well in terms of figuring out you know what's going on and what he needs to do. So those are the qualities you want to see in a young defenseman for sure.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I mean, one of the things with Dom, of course, he, you know, he was uh he came out of Boston University, he was a Hobie Baker nominee two years in a row. Uh he was a hockey East All-Star. He was a whole bunch of things. He was just a tremendous player in college. And I think one of the things he's had to learn is, you know, as a smaller player, um, how do you, you know, it's quickness, it's leverage, it's, you know, there's a lot of different things they have to do to, you know, to be solid in the defensive zone. And that's something he really worked hard on. And in fact, he was doing uh a lot of penalty kill work as well. Uh, of course, he's known for his power play, but also doing some serious penalty kill work alongside his partner last year, who was Charles Alexis Legal. So I hope he gets in. I'm a huge fan of Dom. So I think he's I think he's a tremendous player. And one thing that if if Ghost can't go, uh Dom is a tremendous power play quarterback. Uh he's he's magic back there. So, you know, I would like hopefully see him and and his buddy uh Bradley Nadeau. So yeah, lots coming out of Chicago, and it's interesting. The other day uh in the podcast with uh Andrew Rinaldi, uh, of course, we talked a lot about Don and also uh, of course, um Ul Nistro, because he hadn't been called up yet, he was just getting called up, so he had been playing some games with Chicago. The caves are loaded on the blue with prospects. I mean, if you think about it, they're uh they're bringing in players that can play. So this is exciting. Um at some point, we'll have the full defense back. That'll be kind of interesting. Something we don't really want to do. We look forward to it. Um so yeah, for sure. Um, so it's been kind of an interesting run. Uh the goaltending's been great. Uh, you know, some challenges up front we got to work on, and of course the defensive concerns because of injury, but uh but they're hanging in there. And boy, now we have to look ahead and see what uh what uh the future holds. So as we kind of wrap up the discussion, I thought maybe we'd just uh take a look at what's in store for us and uh how we think things are gonna go in the coming days. Maybe you could kick it off, Aaron.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I think that, you know, right first up, I I believe they have Vegas. And uh, you know, uh after that game that they didn't do so well in, I think that there's gonna be some desire to, you know, uh turn the tables on on uh the Golden Knights and and maybe get um get the win out of this one. Um it is a hard task. Uh Brenda Moore mentioned Eichel and uh um Marner being big threats, you know, and that they're gonna have to to try to shut them down. And and you having a that is where having a core of an experienced defenseman can be a little bit more tricky. Um but you know on home ice, I never count the canes out. I I don't think that uh that that's something that we want to do. They have two home games, I believe, and then a couple of quick roads trip games, and then a couple more at home. So they're gonna have four of their next six at home, and I think that that's gonna be a big indication um as the injured guys start to come back into of how they really are doing. Um one thing that um, you know, Katie brought up the Colorado game and and how you know they got off to such a strong start and then it got chiseled away. One thing that somebody mentioned, and again, I just I just don't have it in front of me, but um the Canes have been scoring very well in first periods this season so far, which is a little unusual for them. That's not usually their best, you know, scoring. They they they oftentimes play to a standstill in the first and then they start scoring. Um, but it has been falling apart more in second and thirds, and the second periods have been particularly difficult for them. So um I think that that's gonna be something to watch for is you know being able to play that full 60 and continue to get chances and continue to score. Um I know a lot of that is probably the artifact of not having their defensive core, um, not having their guys. But it is something at home. Again, like I said, I never count them out at home because having home ice, having the matchups, getting the time that they want with the players they want on the ice. I would think that that's what I'm gonna be watching for a turnaround. You know, can they keep the scoring going into the third, second and third periods and keep the um the other team from taking advantage of their lapses in those periods because that's what's been happening a lot.
unknown:Yeah. Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Um, I think what I really want to see is I just want to see the Canes take care of business against the teams that they need to just go ahead and put away. Um they've had quite the gauntlet this past week with Vegas, Colorado, Dallas, now Vegas again. Um once they get into that, you know, past past this Vegas game, there there are a few more teams that have been struggling. And I hope that the Canes really come out and like Aaron said, play the full 60, but not just play the full sixty to a a one-goal game, one goal lead. I want them to play where they really truly dominate from the beginning of the the game to the end of the game against the competition that they should be beating like that. If they are if they are really a top team, they they don't need to play with their food, they just need to go in, do their thing, um, use that as an opportunity to get the power play rolling and and build so that they are are stronger when they do have to face those um high-end teams once again. So I I think that's what I'm looking forward to over the next stretch, is just seeing how the Canes are able to refine their game now that they're home and once they have a few more um You know, you don't want to take them for granted. They're easier opponents, but they're still an NHL hockey team. So they they can win on any given day, but these are teams that they should beat, and they should beat handily if they are playing to their identity and playing for the full 60.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and and you know, again, uh Home Ice is is a welcome opportunity for the Canes. They've been away for almost two weeks. That's a tough slug. And uh now they should be as a team much closer and much tighter, and they talk about this a lot that these are great team bonding situations, and that's a great thing because uh we know as the canes get together and start to uh to really uh you know gel as a team, they are tough to beat. And even sitting right now, like last week, it was interesting to see the athletic with their power rankings with the canes at number one. So that was kind of a that was kind of a wonderful thing that uh you know we can enjoy. We don't know if they'll be back up there anytime soon, but that was uh that was exciting. In any case, um yeah, they're gonna have a a lot of home games over a short period of time. Uh, and I think that's the opportunity for them to uh to kind of get back on track, get some injured players back. And we're hearing, I think, some positive things on a lot of the players. Um we've heard that Ghost is close, we've heard that uh maybe Kayandre Miller is not that far away, right? And also that uh Robinson and Carrier are not going to need surgery. So uh that means it's probably weeks away as opposed to uh as opposed to months. So good news on that. Um so yeah, we'll uh we'll continue to track this closely, and I'm sure uh as uh as they start to get some of these home games under their belt, we'll have a chance to to talk about that and and see how it's all kind of progressing and hopefully uh in a good way. In any case, for those of you who've been uh watching or listening, as always, we're delighted that you spent time with us. Um if you like this episode, please press the like button. And of course, uh if you have comments or you'd just like to say hi, uh please put those in the comment section down below. And if you'd like to be alerted of future episodes of Storm Tracker, please press the subscribe button and the bell, and we'll let you know just as soon as they're billed. Thanks again for joining us today, and we'll look forward to getting together with you real soon right here on Storm Tracker.
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