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Lineup Chemistry and Scoring Potential: Breaking Down the Canes' Roster · stormTRacker Podcast | Carolina Hurricanes & NHL Hockey

• 0:33
  Speaker 1: With all quiet on the Carolina Hurricanes front these days, we thought we would consider the roster to start the season and project point totals for each of the players.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Recent comments from General Manager Eric Tulsky suggest the Canes will likely head into the 25-26 season with the current roster of players, with the current roster of players.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: With that in mind, we thought it would be fun to take a stab at the opening night lineup and forecast point totals for each of the players To kick things off.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: I thought we would just spend a few minutes and discuss our thoughts on that opening night lineup and what it might look like based on the current roster.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: You know there's some questions about some of the players that we have to take a look at as to where they're going to slide into the lineup.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: We know for sure the dads will probably end up with Logan Stankover with them.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: It's likely that Eric Robinson and Mark Jankowski will be on the fourth line and to this point it looks like Isperi Kokaniemi is going to man that number 2C or whatever we might call it spot.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: And of course, sebastian Ajo will be the number 1 center and it's expected that Nikolai Ehlers will join him on the top line.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: But there are some questions about the forwards and I thought we might just spend a few minutes on this.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: Katie thoughts.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: On this particular lineup.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: Most people have the top line being Ehlers Aho and Jarvis, but our version has Ehlers Aho and Blake and I think a lot of that is indicated by the fact that Blake was given that extension.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: He has the trust of Rod Brindamore and the coaching staff.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: He proved that he could do top-line minutes and take on those top-line responsibilities last season and he is a net front guy.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: The majority of his scoring chances and his goals came right in front of the net and that's what Ehlers and Ajo need for their particular skill set and what they're looking to do.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: They are playmakers first and they need someone like Jackson Blake to be in the front of the net for them to find and for him to be able to finish the opportunities that they create.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: So it just makes a lot of sense there.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: Jarvis on the we'll call it the second line for clarity purposes.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: On that second scoring line with KK and Svetch.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: It gives more of a defensive presence and I think that KK's line has always been one that Rod has worried about as far as their defensive capabilities, and so that line will be a little bit more steady with Jarvis there in that presence and still give it a good scoring punch Between Jarvis and Svetch.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: I think there will be plenty of goal scoring opportunities and KK will help create the space and the opportunities for the two of them to get to work.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: Erin.
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: I think this is a really creative way of looking at what the Canes could do, and you know we all know that what the best clue to what the opening night roster will look like is how do they line up the first day at camp?
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: Because even though Rod Vendemore always says don't read anything into it, we're just trying things that more often than not as I think Corey Lavallette has pointed out on multiple occasions that is the lineup that starts on opening night.
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: We also know that Rod deserves the nickname Rod Blendamore.
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: I could see scenarios where we see anyone from Jackson Blake, andrei Svechnikov or Seth Darmus on that top line on the right.
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: I think we will see all of them there at some point during the season, but I love the idea that Jackson Blake might get the nod to start there.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: He played extremely well during the brief time period that Miko Rantanen was on that line with Ajo and I don't see why that wouldn't be kind of a similar look, so why not give him a chance?
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: He's just got this new contract, like Katie said, and one of the things that we could look at as being a potential benefit of this as well is there's been a lot of discussion about would Rod Bryn Mawr consider trying Seth Jarvis at center?
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: It's a very easy move to put Seth Jarvis at center on that second line if he's playing wing on that second line, even within the context of shift by shift.
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: You know, you could have Kokuniemi take the draw and then Jarvis kind of run the plays through the middle of the ice.
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: They could kind of co-author the second line center for a little while there and we could see how Jarvis could do without putting the pressure of him needing to improve significantly in the face-off dot right away, especially given that he's been dealing with an ongoing shoulder injury.
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: So, that would really be an interesting thing to see if they decided to try it, and I think there could be benefits on both the first and the second line.
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: So we'll see.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: Well, and I think if you have Sveshnikov, kokeniemi and Jervis, those guys are going to move around on the ice anyway.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: That's kind of how they play.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: So I think they would be able to, you know, to find some magic.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: And one of the things I'm really excited about with the idea of Jackson Blake on that top line is it gives you a much stronger unit with Kokaniemi.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: I mean, for sure, putting Sveshnikov and Jarvis on that unit makes a big difference.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: You've now got two guys that are two of your young studs basically trying to get it done, and they've got things to prove as well.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: That's an interesting thing and you know, we've seen from time to time we've seen, I think, kokaniemi, more so maybe, than Jarvis, with sorry, with Andrei Svetsnikov.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: So I think those guys have had some chemistry, they've been able to do some good work.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: So maybe that's an opportunity as well and a good-sized line.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: Again, you've got Svetchnikov, you've got Kokanemi with size, and then Jarvis plays bigger.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: So it could be an interesting move On the Blake side.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: Look, eric Tulsky was effusive about, you know, jackson Blake.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: Right, he had great things to say about Blake and for sure expects him to do a lot more and get a lot better.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: So I think you know earlier we were chatting that we might see Blake in a move to get another player on the roster.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: I think those discussions have been quieted for sure and I would think it's probably going the other way, where Blake he's viewed upon as a key pillar going forward, obviously getting an eight-year extension.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: So he's got nine years left with the Hurricanes.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: Oh man, interesting story, of course.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: And we know that there are 12 players with over four years remaining on their deal with the Hurricanes.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: So the one other piece of that forward crew which is interesting is Taylor Hall.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: You know Hall in this situation gets slipped down to the fourth unit and even no matter how they shake down the top six, it looks like Hall will end up down there and that's kind of an interesting opportunity as well.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: He brings a little bit of offense.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: He's definitely a hard worker.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: He could play in the fourth line as well.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: The other question is where does Will Carrier end up in this?
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: And that's, you know it's a lot of riches, as we know, in that forward crew.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: So interesting look as we get into the point totals.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: Of course, if we think that Jackson Blake's on that top unit, that will affect his numbers significantly.
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: So let's think about that.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: On the D-Core, again, we stepped out a little bit here and we suggested that Alex Nikishan is going to be on the top pair alongside Jacob Slavin.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: Now a lot of folks have got K Andre Miller penciled in and again, that's very possible, but you know, it would be very.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: I think it'd be very exciting to see Sasha on that top group and see what he can do and and that would then give you a very strong second pair with, of course, k'andre Miller and Jalen Chatfield.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: So again, katie, kick this one off and tell us what you think about that.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: I definitely love the idea of Nick Heashon on that top pair.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: Many sites have him as a third pair defenseman to start off with and the suggestion is well, he hasn't played any regular season games, he still needs to learn the system, get better on his English, shelter him a little bit, don't give him those hardest matchups right away.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: And I would understand that if we were talking about somebody coming up from the AHL who's 19 or 20 years old.
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: But nikishan, he's a veteran of the khl and he has played lots of minutes.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: He is used to taking many, many shifts and going up against the hardest matchups that the other team has to offer.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: So that will be nothing new to him, uh, paired with slavin, other than the fact that it will be at the nhl level, which will be a step above.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: But he's up for the task.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: Plus, I think his skill set just complements slaven so well.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: Slave and being smooth and intentional and very forward indication brings that extra punch.
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: Whether you're talking the hip checks or the slap shot or those particular elements of his game will make that duo really, really hard to play against.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: So if the Canes' idea is that Nikitian eventually is going to be the top on the top pair with Slavin might as well put him there now and let him learn right from the get-go, get comfortable, get that chemistry and not try to bring it later when they have the opportunity to go ahead and take care of this and get it done.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: Then, like you said, that moves miller down to the second pair and talk about a tough, heavy second pair to play against with him and chatfield together.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: Those two will be able to move, they'll be able to cover the ice, they'll be able to deny zone entries so well it's going to be out of the frying pan into the fire for other teams when it comes to pick your poison between those top two pairs.
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: And then that leaves Ghost and Walker, and they already know how to play together.
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: They're already comfortable with each other, they already have chemistry.
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: It makes so much sense, there's so much balance and it's beautiful.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: But we'll see if that's the plan that the team has.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: Anything to add to that, Erin?
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: Just I think that it's a really creative, again, way of looking at the possibilities.
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: We never know, until training camp comes around, how things are going to work out and how they're going to try different things.
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: There's almost no wrong answer to how to do that top four with the two new players.
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: I mean with not two new players, but I'm counting Nikitian because he only showed up in the playoffs and played a handful of games.
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: So two young, new, exciting players on McCain's defensive core and you can put them really anywhere and have good results.
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: I like the Nikitian on the Canes defensive core and you can put them really anywhere and and have good results.
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: I like the negation on the top pair idea because of his ability to play on the right.
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: He has played on the right side frequently in the KHL.
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: It's not something that would be new to him in any way, shape or form.
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: So I think that Keandre Miller does not have as much experience playing on his off wing and you know talked about the challenge of maybe doing that in one of the interviews he gave this summer.
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: So they'll just have to see.
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: You know, I think they'll have to see where the chemistry hits and everything else, but it would really be fun to see Nikishan up there, and I mean, if they see him as a future top pair defenseman, why not start there?
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: I think that there's too much of a tendency sometimes in some teams to start with the well-liked, give you sheltered minutes and slowly work you in.
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: But the danger of that is that maybe they never adapt to the bigger role.
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: So there's no reason to waste time with him.
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: If he's ready to go, they should do it.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: Well, a couple of things that I think about with that concept.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: First of all, nikitian is much more of an offensive-minded D-man than is Keandre Miller, and I think with Slavin you've got the ability for Nikitian to do more offensively, which I think would be tremendous.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: I mean, he's a juggernaut.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: The other thing about Nikitian and you look at his minutes the last three seasons almost 23 minutes three seasons ago, 24 plus last two years ago and 24 plus last year this guy plays big minutes.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: And here's a crazy one he played 39 minutes in a multi-overtime game last year in the KHL 39.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's absolutely off the chart.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: This guy is not a third pairing.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: Give me 12 or 14 minutes a game.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: It's not happening.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: This guy should be playing big, heavy, heavy minutes and I think the guy he should be with is Jacob Slavin for sure.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: So I totally am on board with Alexander Nikitin taking that that spot and I think he should, and if he's given the opportunity he'll hold it.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: I have every expectation.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: This guy's a beast he's, and I really I.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: I think it's unfortunate.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: Some people saw him in some of those games in the playoffs and said, well, maybe he's not the player we thought he was.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: Uh, come on, give me a break.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: I mean, the guy was brought over here in the dark of night and bring him in he doesn't speak much English, he doesn't know the system and he's thrown into the toughest series you can get into.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: So no, we'll see a different.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: At what do we think the point projections are going to be?
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: And, katie, you've come up with a kind of creative way for us to do this.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: Can you take it at this point, absolutely.
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: So I took inspiration from the tier lists that get created on X and shared, that get created on X and shared.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: But, being a teacher, I had to create my own version of it and put it together with the tools that I'm accustomed to, and so this is the one that I created.
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: I have all the players down there at the bottom and created some different tiers.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: Now, if you're going with last year's Keynes Point totals, almost all of them would be in the yellow, orange or red tiers.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: But I think we have a whole lot more high hopes this season that there will be some growth and some progress with where these players are going to end up, and hopefully we'll have a few in the upper echelons.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: In the upper echelons, of course, we know it's very, very difficult in the NHL to score a lot of points, whether it's mostly goals or mostly assists or balance thereof but it will at least make for some interesting conversation with some of them, and one of those that would be interesting conversation is Seth Jarvis.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: So I will cede the floor to you guys and you tell me where you think Seth Jarvis is going to end up this season.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Well, let's take a look at Seth.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: The last two years he had 67 points in each season, high of 33 goals.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: He had 98 points last year junior okay goals, 56 assists, um.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: So he's a guy that definitely can put up the big points.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: Um, what are we thinking?
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: aaron, I'm going to go ahead and take the bold move of putting seth jarvis in that top tier, the 75 to 89 point range.
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: Um, I do think that that's a bit of a reach because you know, 67 points in the last two seasons.
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: We don't know for sure what line he'll be on and what his opportunities will be.
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: But I'm basing it on one thing, and I think it's something that I think all Canes fans are thinking about right now I'm basing it on the idea that the power play simply cannot continue to be as disappointing as it was last year.
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: If the power play is even, you know, in that top 10 in the NHL next year, seth Jarvis, I think, could get into the above 70.
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: Will he make it all the way to 75?
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: I don't know, but I mean, he was only three points shy of 70 with a terrible power play last year.
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: So I think that you know, I mean, and we all know that we've talked about it to death so I think that he could get there and I would like to put him in that, in that band, just to see, you know, can he do it?
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: So that's my take.
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: You good with that, Tom 75 to 89?
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: I'm absolutely good with that and I think this year it's going to be a coming out party for him.
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: He had injury last year as well, as we know, so he was playing hurt a good part of the time.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: I think he's definitely 75 plus.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: He's got to be for sure.
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: Okay, good.
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: Well, we've got our first placement.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: We just talked about Nikitian, so if he's playing, top pair minutes with Jacob Slavin.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: Where's he going to end up?
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: Okay, this is an interesting one, alex.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: The last three years has had 55, 56 and 46 points in the KHL.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: I know easier league for sure.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: I think I think he's a 30 to 44 guy this year.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: Um, you know, he depending on if he gets any serious power play time in the second PP, but I think that's.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: You know, that's a challenge because Rindemore likes to give that top power play unit most of the time.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: So I think 30 to 44 is where I see him slotted in.
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: I agree.
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: I think that's a realistic band for him because even though I've, you know, certainly we've seen young defensemen come in and put up more.
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: I mean, lane Hudson had 65 points last year but the deployment on those kinds of situations are different and also it's a different type of defenseman, because Nikishan is such a big heavy physical defenseman who's going to spend a lot of his time actually defending.
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: I don't see him being quite that prolific yeah.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I would agree.
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: I think it's safe to put him there.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: It would be nice to be able to think of him being in that upper tier, but until he takes over for Goss Despair on the top power play 30 to 44 is very realistic Okay.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: That's a good number, Logan Stankoven.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: So Logan Stankoven last year had 38 points, 14 goals combined between Dallas and the Hurricanes.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: This guy was a point machine in junior.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: He had 104 points one year in 59 games.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: He had 97 another year in 48 games.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: This guy is an offensive juggernaut and we haven't seen anything close to what I think we're going to see out of this guy.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: I think he's a 60-plus point guy.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: I think that might be a bit ambitious because of him playing on the dad's line.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: Is that what you were going to?
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: say, Erin, that's exactly what I was going to say.
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: I think deployment matters and I think that you know I mean I could see him in the 45 to 59, but it's really worth paying attention to the Canes as a whole and their history on points.
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: For the last three seasons they have only had about two players exceed 60 points.
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: There was one exception, the year that Brent Burns had 61.
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: That year they had three.
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: So I think that we have to be realistic about the fact that we're not going to have a lot of plus 60 guys.
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: I think that I agree with katie that the 45 to 59 would be the safer band to put him in.
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: He could always exceed that.
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: That would be great.
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: But I think that playing with uh, with jordan stall and jordan martinook, if that's his deployment for the most of the year, then I don't see him getting a ton above that but I do think he is going to help that uh, that trio score more than they have in the past.
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: I do think that will be one of the benefits to having Stankoven there.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: The problem is that, while he'll be the main goal scorer for that crew because we know Stahl and Martinuk don't finish as well as Stankoven- Come on, there we go.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: He'll be.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: He'll be the finisher.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: He'll be the finisher for them, but there it will still be limited how much they actually create together I mean I I tend to agree with both of you.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: I mean I'd love to see him at 60 and above and I think he's going to be an offensive player over time.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: I think, as you say with the dads correctly, that's a challenge.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: The one area he might gain some success will be on the power play, because he's definitely a trigger man and he can score there.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: So it's a question of how much power play time they get.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: But I think you're right.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: You're probably right 45 to 59.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: That's probably a nice second year for him being a sophomore in the league.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: So we'll see how that goes.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: But I'd love to see him take advantage of that offensive talent that he has because he could certainly be a guy to drive some offense for the Kings.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: Will Carrier is up next.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: His best year is 39, 34, 30.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: Do we think he's above 30 or below?
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: Below.
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say below mostly because he's going to be fighting for ice time with some of the other guys for that fourth line, so he's probably not going to see a full season of games, even if he does stay healthy.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: I agree.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: K'andre Miller comes up next.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: Last year he had 27 points.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: He has had a 43-point season.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: Do we think he's going to be above 30?
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure, but probably in that 30 to 44 range for me.
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: That's where I had him to.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I would agree.
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: I think he's going to do well with the Canes blue line, especially if he's the one driving offense.
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: Chatfield is more of a defensive defenseman, and so that would give Miller the opportunity to spread his wings a little bit more on that pairing.
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: And yeah, I think it might not be a whole lot more over 30.
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: I mean, I'd love for it to be, but he's not going to get power play deployment most likely, so I think that's a very good tier to put him in.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: Okay, we move on to Jordan Stahl.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: This is an easy one.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: Jordan's last five years are 38, 36, 34, 30, and 36.
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: I think the 30 to 44 range is absolutely tailor-made for Jordan Stahl.
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: We could just put his name on that band.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: Yes, the Stahl band, although I will say I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up scoring a little bit more than he has in the recent past because of Stankhoven there, the opportunities that he and Martinuk create.
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: Stankhoven should have a better opportunity to finish on, and so I would love to see Stahl and Martinuk on the higher end of that band rather than the lower to mid-end.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and, as I mentioned, they've been in that 30s range, so it'd be nice to see them slip up to 40 and above.
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: That'd be fantastic.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Okay, jacob Slavin.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: Jacob, best season was 42 points.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: He's had five seasons over 30.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: Again, 30 to 44, I think is about right.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: I think he'll get over 30 points.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: He may get a few more depending on if Nikitian is with him and they get some offense going, because you know he can get those extra passes off to Nikitian who can score.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: But I think the 30 to 44 range is probably where he's going to land this year.
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: I think that's realistic.
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: As much as we would all love Slavin to have a 60 plus point season and finally be in the running for the Norris, I don't know that this is the year.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: Nikolaj Ehlers is a little bit of an interesting one.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: His best season was 64 points in 2016-17.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: He's had 61 and 63 his last two seasons, so he's holding quite nicely.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: He had a 29-goal season in 17-18.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: What are we thinking about Nikolaj Ehlers?
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: Nikolaj Ehlers well, I I think that, um, the safe band to put him in is that 60 to 74 point band, but I really would like to put him in the 75 to 89 point band, just because the winnipeg jets have not really given him much in the way of of ice time.
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: His ice time has been low for someone who scores as efficiently as he does.
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: And I know that the canes see him as someone they want to deploy on the top line.
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: You know just that's obviously why they acquired him.
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: They want we need somebody that can score and score a lot.
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: So I'm kind of hopeful that he takes this opportunity and really runs with it and that he does kind of crack that 75 point mark.
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: That would be a huge leap.
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: I'm not saying that's realistic, but it would be.
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: It would certainly be nice to see him get close to it.
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: So, yeah, it's hard for me to say, just put him in the 60 to 74, because that's the safe bet and he'll probably end up there, but I would love to have him up there next to Jarvis myself.
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree, top power play more minutes next to the skill guys that the the canes have.
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: That should provide a boost for him and get him up into that range, and I think it's going to be key for him to be up there, provided he stays healthy for the season.
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: That's been one of his issues as well.
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: Um, but assuming a complete season of play, I think for the Canes to be the contenders in the postseason they want to be, they need to have him producing at a higher level than what he has historically produced with the Jets.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah for sure.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: And you know the Canes are paying him, you know, eight plus million dollars a year.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: He's going to be a guy they're counting on for offense.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: A lot of it's going to be the chemistry that Ehlers can craft with Sebastian Aho.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: Those guys can find some magic.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: I think 75 to 89 points for Ehlers is very doable.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: So again, the Canes need to improve their offense somehow.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: They've got to get some people driving more offense and he's a guy that I think can be a part of that.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: So, healers, 75 to 89 looks about right.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: So we'll see how it goes.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: Jordan Martinuk another easy one with the dads.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: He's had 34, 32, and 36 points.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: His last three years Now last year was a better year for him.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: I just don't see any situation where he gets above 44 points.
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: Agreed and that actually put just a tiny little asterisk with Martin Nook, because we are it's early stages and you know I don't want to go, you know, jumping way ahead of it.
• 27:49
  Speaker 3: But there's some indications of some regression starting to creep into his game in the underlying metrics.
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: So he may be fighting to get to that 30 point mark, depending on what happens with that.
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: You know, it's not that he's too.
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: Certainly with playing with Stahl and Stankoven will help a lot, you know.
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: But we may see him closer back to his 32 range than the 36 he had last year.
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: I think that's realistic for him, yep.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: I'd agree.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, an interesting thought I'm just having as we talk about this is that one of the interesting chemistry kind of developments that we saw was Taylor Hall with Logan Stanko.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: I wonder if there would ever be a situation where those two guys could team up with Jordan Stahl, and Jordan Martinuk would be the fellow that comes back to that fourth line.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: You know, we think for sure that the dads will be together, because of course they've been inseparable for a period of time.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: But what if Rod decided to change things up and said, hey, let's try Taylor Hall on that line with Jordan Stahl and Logan Stankhoven and create a little bit of an interesting opportunity there as well?
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: So yeah, so yeah again, really be.
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: You might really be onto something there, because, if we remember, before we had Martinuk and Stahl, it was always Nino Niederreiter with Stahl and Fast, and so you could get that scoring punch from Taylor Hall there as well with Logan Stankoven.
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: So why not?
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: You know that that could be an interesting thing for them to try.
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: In which case, if you have martin nook at a fourth line role, yeah yeah, probably thinking about putting him at the tier below oh yeah for now, I think that 30 to 44 is the correct place, because as goes right.
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: So there's martin nook as of right now.
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: Right, right yeah.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: No, I agree, and I just think it would be kind of fun to see if we could get a little bit more offense from some of these guys and put them in different positions.
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: We know that the ceiling for Martinuk is not that high.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: Is there a higher ceiling for a guy like Taylor Hall if he's moved up in the lineup and getting more minutes?
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: That's the question.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: He's not going to hurt you defensively and of course he's, in the past, had some big numbers.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: Okay, here's an interesting one.
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: Shane Goss is fair Now.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: Goss has been an enigma since he came over.
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: He's had some big seasons, right.
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: The last two years he's been 56 and 45, but he had 65 points one year with the Flyers in 17-18.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: So he knows how to put the numbers up.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: He's had five seasons over 45.
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: And I mean it's the whole power play discussion, right.
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: And I know, aaron, you looked at the numbers and they're paltry.
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: He's the quarterback right now of record for you.
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: Um, he's the quarterback right now of record.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: Uh, let's assume that's what he does.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: Adding ehlers, a little bit more offense to the to the mix.
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: What do we think we can get from a guy like shane goss to spare?
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: well, I think he belongs in that um 45 to 59 um band because that's where he's been so consistently right.
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: And I I do think even if he was to um trade off, if there was a point where they wanted to see, say, nikishin um quarterbacking the top power play for a little while just to see what that was like, I still think gus is going to be the go-to guy um and and if he stays healthy, I don't see any reason why he wouldn't put up it somewhere in that range again.
• 31:32
  Speaker 3: So he's been Point production has not been an issue for Ghost, it's been other things in his game.
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: So as long as he's doing it on the power play, I don't see any reason why he would be taking off that.
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: I agree.
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: I think that's very fair there.
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: It would be asking a lot for him to break the 60-point barrier, even being on the top power play, just because that's a lot of points for a defenseman to get.
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: That is a lot of points for a defenseman for sure.
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: And again, all of what we're talking about assumes that the cast that is with the Canes right now remains as the cast as we go into the season.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: So we can't really contemplate if there are other players that might change this.
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: I'm kind of with you.
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: You know, ghost had a great year a couple of years ago with Detroit, a much better season, I think, than he did with the Canes last year, point-wise for sure.
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: So I'm hoping he's closer to that 50-plus number and I think that would be key for the Canes.
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: So again, he's a guy that has some upside for sure with the Hurricanes.
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: Mark Jankowski, this is an easy one.
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: His best season was 32 points, but that's years ago.
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: I don't think there's any question.
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: He's a below 30-point guy.
• 32:59
  Speaker 3: Agreed Yep.
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: We love all his goal scoring that he did with the Canes after they got him.
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: But he will be down there grinding away and just making sure the other team doesn't score, and that's what we need.
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: Got him, but he will be down there grinding away and just making sure the other team doesn't score, and that's what we need from him Absolutely.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: Well, eight goals in 19 games.
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: If we extrapolate that over the season, Noah says he would have 32 goals.
• 33:25
  Speaker 3: He's over that 30 number.
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: He was also shooting at some ridiculously high percentage, so that's not gonna happen again as you like to say, erin, it's not sustainable, not sustainable, nope, okay, um, okay.
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: Next up, uh is a gentleman that got a four-year extension with the hurricanes, eric robinson.
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: We like him a lot.
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: Eric had his best season last year with the Canes 32 points.
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: Other seasons in the 20s.
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: Where do we see Eric Robinson?
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: Unfortunately, I don't think that Robinson is going to get the boost that he got last season from playing alongside Natchez when Natchez was hitting his hot streak Natchez when Natchez was hitting his hot streak.
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: So as much as I'd like to think that he can replicate those numbers again next, season.
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: It's much more realistic that he would be below 30.
• 34:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, agreed, agreed.
• 34:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he's going to have four time minutes.
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: Sorry yeah.
• 34:25
  Speaker 3: I was just going to say, like Katie said a minute ago, they're all going to be competing for that ice time on that fourth line.
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, okay, and that's great, and you know he does so many wonderful things out there.
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: He's a hard worker, of course, he plays with size and he's great on the forecheck, so we'll hope that he sees a lot of ice on that fourth line.
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: At least I do.
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: I think he's a great guy.
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: The next one, another tricky one, Okay, andrei Svetlakov.
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: His best season was 69 points in 21-22.
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: But get a load of this His last four years 69, 55, 52, and 48.
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: And I know there's game numbers differences and so on, but his numbers are tracking down.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: He hasn't scored over 30 goals since 21-22.
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: So what are we thinking with Andres Vesnikoff?
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: I think a lot is going to depend on how he's deployed and how much patience there is with that.
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: There's been a tendency in the past to throw him down next to the dads any time he had an issue and that's not always worked for his benefit.
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: In terms of points it certainly helped.
• 35:38
  Speaker 3: I think that I'd like to put him back in that 60 to 74 point band because, as much as I'd love to see him have an offensive explosion, I don't think he's the likeliest candidate to be on the top line.
• 35:51
  Speaker 3: I think it's going to be Blake or Jarvis.
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: I don't think it's going to be Svechnikov, at least not to start.
• 36:01
  Speaker 3: So if he's on the second line, I think he could get that 60 to 74 if he's healthy.
• 36:03
  Speaker 3: I think most of us you know, I know we all want to see Svechnikov score more and I know that he has, you know, know, just a tremendous shot when he uses it properly and there's no reason we can't see more of that from him.
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: But I think that the the downward trend in points over the last few seasons has partly been due to the injury, the um, the torn ACL and the recovery time from that, but it's also partly been, I think the focus on making him a more complete player, um, getting those uh penalties out of his game, some of the more unfortunate ones and just the discipline and everything else.
• 36:36
  Speaker 3: I would rather have Sveshnikov be an effective power forward with 65 points than a loose cannon goal scorer with 75 who hurts the team defensively, and I think that that's pretty much what we all hope for at this point.
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: I would agree.
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: I would also say that I think, if, if it is a line with KK and Jarvis, or even KK and Blake, because Blake has a really fun personality.
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: I think might just help Svetch loosen up a bit.
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: There's not going to be the pressure of that top line.
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: He can really play into the strengths of his game.
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: And then another reason to be optimistic about him reaching that is that you know he is going to most likely be on the top power play as well, oh yes.
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: And if that's the case, then that would help increase his points, in addition to whatever he's able to get with the second line.
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: Well, I think there's one other element here.
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: Of course, he played extremely well in the playoffs.
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: In fact, it was one of his better performances in a while, and I wonder if he can build on that.
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: And that's going to be the key question as he comes into training camp Is he ready to kind of go to the next step, because he was dominant for a number?
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: of games.
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: And folks really started to say this is the power forward and the guy that we expected to see with Svejcian.
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: So we did see a little bit about what he can do and again, sure, he's definitely able to do 60 to 74.
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: Um, if he gets hot he can do more than that.
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: So we'll see.
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: But uh, I agree, 60 to 74 is a good range for uh for svetch this year.
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: Um, next one is easy sean walker.
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: Um, we love sean, but he's a third pairing guy.
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: He doesn't get much action on the power play.
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: His best year is 24 points.
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: I don't think there's any way he tops 30.
• 38:39
  Speaker 3: no, I would agree with you.
• 38:40
  Speaker 3: I think that he belongs on that below 30 level, and that's.
• 38:43
  Speaker 3: You know what he does.
• 38:44
  Speaker 3: What he is is valuable in its own right.
• 38:47
  Speaker 3: He doesn't need to be a point scorer, so absolutely.
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: I would agree, although the one thing I'm going to say that could possibly put him into that upper tier is the fact that, after Burns, I believe he was the defenseman that took the most shots attempts of the canes.
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: He just like Burns, for some reason was snake bit when it came to getting those shots, either getting them through or having them turn into something.
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: So if those numbers improve for him a little bit, he could be flirting with that 30 point range, which I, of course, would love to see because I'm a big Walker fan of course would love to see, because I'm a big Walker fan.
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you love Sean Walker, for sure I do.
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, great guy.
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: We'd love to see him get more points.
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: But again, he's teaming with Goss' pair and he's the point engine on that third pairing.
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: So yeah, it's going to be tough for Sean to get that number Next up.
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: Somebody we've talked a lot about, and of course usually in your bailiwick, and that's Yusperi Kokuniemi.
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: Kokuniemi's best year was 43 points, 22-23.
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: He's had a couple of other 30 point seasons, you know.
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: Again, we really don't know what to expect with this guy, like with the real.
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: You know, yusperi Kok and emmy, please show up.
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: Um, why don't you kick it off, erin?
• 40:16
  Speaker 3: um, okay, um, I will, and I'm gonna, I'm gonna put um kk in the 45 to 59 point bracket this year.
• 40:23
  Speaker 3: Okay, and the reason I'm doing that is because he's going to hit that level, um, maybe even a little bit closer to 50.
• 40:31
  Speaker 3: It's going to be either on the canes or to whatever team he gets traded to.
• 40:37
  Speaker 3: Right, because at this point if they're going to do another year of yo-yo deployment reduced minutes, low ice time I think that that's when Eric Tolsky says OK, just like with nature's, you know, this is not working and we need someone that Rod will actually play in that position.
• 40:57
  Speaker 3: So it's going to come down to.
• 40:59
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think in a lot of ways that decision is probably already been made, even if we're not privy to it.
• 41:04
  Speaker 3: You know, one way or the other, they've either decided that they're going to continue to work with this situation or that they're going to move on from it.
• 41:12
  Speaker 3: But Kokuniemi was where we were talking a minute ago about Eric Robinson and his effects playing with Natchez.
• 41:20
  Speaker 3: At the beginning of the year, both Natchez I mean sorry, both Kokuniemi and Robinson were at or above a 54 point pace in those games that they play with Natchez.
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: Now Natchez was on a ridiculous 135 point pace for those 20 games.
• 41:33
  Speaker 3: A short sample.
• 41:34
  Speaker 3: The dangers of short sample sizes should be noted, but it has happened um pretty much every season that uh kokanemi will start out and you know 20, 30 even games and be at or above a 50 point pace and then he will end up banished to the fourth line for an interminable number of games and he does not regain that offensive confidence.
• 41:57
  Speaker 3: So you know, if you're using that same, that's your tool to try to correct defensive issues, and it keeps having this effect on the player, it's never going to change, you know, um.
• 42:07
  Speaker 3: So they have to either ride with him in that position or make a move early to move him off the team and either way, this is going to be a 50 point season for him.
• 42:17
  Speaker 3: So that's how I'm seeing it.
• 42:19
  Speaker 3: It's going to be, whether it's here in Raleigh or whether it is somewhere else Vancouver, boston, san Jose he will have 50 points this year.
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: I agree.
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: I think another thing to keep in mind is, even with Natchez moving on, I think the winger pool for the Canes this year is much more talented and deeper than it was at the start of last season.
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: So even if Rod moves the wingers around a little bit, maybe moves Jarvis or Blake, swaps the two of them out or moves Hall up to that line, or something like that, I think that the fact that there's still going to be a lot of strong offensive talent to work with for KK will help get him into that yellow tier there with 45 or more points, because he's not going to be the main impetus for offense, but he is going to help allow it to happen and the points will come here and there enough to get to over that hump.
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean two years ago, when he did get 43 points, he was solid in the second half.
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: He had a great second half and he proved that he could be that centerman to help that second offensive line, if you want to call it that.
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: Um, you know, it's funny because I mean part of.
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: I just mentioned hall and and uh, stanko and you know having some chemistry and of course they were teaming with his very kokanemi.
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: So I mean there's there's so many different options that brendan moore is going to have, uh, to get chemistry with these guys.
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: And, as you say rightfully to Katie, it doesn't matter who you know Kokuniemi is going to be with.
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: I mean, even if it's Dankovin that moves up, he's a guy that brings offensive acumen.
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: So you've got, you know, you've got the options to put him with a couple of players that can actually bring offense.
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: Put him with a couple of players that can actually bring offense and so his job is get the puck and do what he does well and get in on the forecheck and so on.
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: So I'm with you on that.
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: I think he's got a chance to have a better season.
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: Some of the discussion in the summer seemed to indicate that they're going to be with him for the long haul.
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: I hope that's what we're seeing and if that's the case, that should be a confidence builder, and everything with KK is about confidence.
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: When he's got confidence, he's a great player.
• 44:41
  Speaker 3: And then there's two more things that can really impact that as far as just confidence and getting the offense going.
• 44:47
  Speaker 3: One is, of course, as we know, this is an Olympics year and I've been enjoying some of the content on X, of the pictures and things people are sharing from the Finnish Olympic Committee meeting.
• 44:58
  Speaker 3: Pretty much every Finnish NHL player was invited, so it's nice to see all of them there.
• 45:02
  Speaker 3: I know he's going to probably want to be focused on earning a slot, you know, at least in the introductory group, so that's going to be a big motivator.
• 45:10
  Speaker 3: And then the other thing too is we've talked about it again here we go back to my typical conversations, but the power play, the second unit, was historically bad last year.
• 45:20
  Speaker 3: Yes, yes, the power play as a whole was bad, but the second unit was historically bad, and you know we've discussed why and we've gone into the details about that.
• 45:27
  Speaker 3: But if this year's second unit players can average five or six points each, which is what a second unit typically does, that creates another little boost that bumps you up from the mid to high 30 point range into the 40 to 50 point range.
• 45:42
  Speaker 3: So, again, not at all something that should be impossible.
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, agreed, okay.
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: Next up is a gentleman we talked about before who's got nine years left with the Hurricanes Jackson Blake.
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: He had 34 points his first year.
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: His best season in college was his last year.
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: He had 60 points and he had a 77-point season in 61 games in the USHL.
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: He's had some good offensive success in everywhere he's gone.
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: What do we think he can do this year if he moves to that top line?
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: It becomes interesting, katie.
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: That is the key right there, isn't it?
• 46:22
  Speaker 2: What line is he deployed on?
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: Because if he is deployed on that top line, I could see him exceeding 60 points.
• 46:31
  Speaker 2: Because you obviously have high expectations for eelers.
• 46:34
  Speaker 2: You know we're not going to be ranking aho very low.
• 46:37
  Speaker 2: So if he's on that line with them, he is going to be helping with that production, he is going to be cashing in on the opportunities they create or he's going to be setting them up for for their goals.
• 46:50
  Speaker 2: And I would imagine he will be on the power play.
• 46:53
  Speaker 2: Whether it's power play one or power play two, he will be there as well.
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: The safe bet is the 45 to 59, but oh, I would love to see him hit that 60.
• 47:05
  Speaker 2: So I'll let you guys kind of throw in your two cents before we decide where he settles.
• 47:10
  Speaker 3: I'm going to vote for the 45 to 59, just for the, because I don't know that that deployment would last an entire season, just knowing Rod.
• 47:19
  Speaker 3: You know this is knowing Rod Rindemore, that he never tends to set a line and just forget it, unless it's Jordan Stahl's line.
• 47:24
  Speaker 3: So I think there could be some movement.
• 47:27
  Speaker 3: There's going to be some up and down, there could be some other things like that, and the other factor that could impact how much time Jackson Blake gets to spend on that top line is, just like Logan Stankoven, this is going to be his sophomore season, and the sophomore slump is, you know, something that people talk about as as kind of oh, it's a joke or something, but it really isn't.
• 47:47
  Speaker 3: There's, there's so many players that have experienced it, and sometimes it's the second year, sometimes it's the second half of the second year, the beginning of the third year, whatever it might be.
• 47:58
  Speaker 3: But there comes a point where the grind kind of sets in.
• 47:59
  Speaker 3: This is the NHL, this is what we have to do every day, and on top of that, all of the goalies in the league now know you, so they know very well what you're going to do when you approach them and you know it starts to kind of shut down some of those chances and some of that finishing.
• 48:14
  Speaker 3: So I think I would vote for putting him in the safe bet, just to not raise expectations too much.
• 48:19
  Speaker 3: But I could see a scenario where he does, you know, crack that 60 point mark too.
• 48:23
  Speaker 3: So it just I just think that it's best to put him in the 45 to 59 to kind of have the expectations kept realistic and not putting him in a position where people are going to be expecting so much in his second year.
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: Agree, thanks for that.
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: I was going to talk about the sophomore jinx.
• 48:41
  Speaker 3: I'm sorry about that.
• 48:42
  Speaker 3: I didn't mean to jump in, no, no no, I think it's great.
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: I'm glad you did, because it's very, very much a reality.
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: We see it regularly and I think coming off the blocks part of the reason you suggested teams know him a lot better now.
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: He's not going to surprise them.
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: They know who he is, they know what he can do, and so I think you're right on with that number.
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: I think 45 to 59 is probably a good number for him.
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: Taylor Hall We've talked a lot about Taylor Hall in different ways.
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: His numbers are all over the place.
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: Of course, he had a big year, uh, one season with the Devils when he was MVP at 93 points, but that's a long time ago.
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: Last season he had 42.
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: He had 18 points in 31 games with the Kings.
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: Not bad, not bad.
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: So he was over.
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: You know, a point every two games, um.
• 49:29
  Speaker 3: So again, depending on where he plays and what he well, I personally would put him in the 30 to 44 bracket because I do think that the abundance of wingers on the canes this season means that he is going to probably be spending at least some time in the bottom six, probably on that fourth line.
• 49:49
  Speaker 3: So, but at the same time I wouldn't put him below 30 because I think that he's going to get at least second unit power play time, if not more.
• 49:56
  Speaker 3: So, um, you know, the power play should boost his point totals to a, you know, good, respectable level, regardless of what lines he ends up playing on, and I think we're going to see him move around during the season.
• 50:08
  Speaker 3: So I wouldn't want to put him above that without knowing for sure that he was getting top six deployment.
• 50:14
  Speaker 3: But I think 30 to 44 is realistic.
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: I agree Absolutely to 44 is realistic.
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: I agree Absolutely.
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: You know it's interesting.
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: Hall is a bit of an enigma.
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: He's a guy that has the ability to play a lot better than he's been showing, I think.
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: Obviously he's been an MVP and he was the first overall draft pick at one point.
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: He's gone through a ton of injuries, but a couple of things that are interesting now.
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: One of them is he's very healthy.
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: And number two is he loves to play for the Hurricanes, like he really wanted to come back desperately and get that three-year deal and a team-friendly deal it was.
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: If he performs anywhere close to what he might be able to do and I'm with you on this too, aaron it's all a question of where is he deployed.
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: You know it's going to be how much ice time he gets.
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: Does he get any time in the top six?
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: What about the number two power play unit?
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: He's definitely got offensive skill, there's no doubt, and if he comes in ready to go in camp, a fresh start with the Canes.
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: You know, healthy, everything going.
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: He's a guy that could put up some numbers.
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: So I think we have a good place for him right now.
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: I think 30 to 44 is probably right, but if he gets any kind of ice time and moves up in the top six, he's going to beat that number.
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: Yep, absolutely Okay.
• 51:52
  Speaker 3: Next one is easy.
• 51:55
  Speaker 3: Another easy one for us, jalen Chatfield, chatty ice is much more important than mirror point production and he's, you know, one of those guys that's just hard to play against and that's something that you don't want to sacrifice that for some point production.
• 52:09
  Speaker 3: So I agree.
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: Well, occasionally he'll go to Chatmandu, as Trip Tracy would say the odd goal for the Hurricanes, so that's always good fun.
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: The Canes missed him desperately in the playoffs.
• 52:22
  Speaker 3: There's no question.
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: He's a key part of that roster and, yeah, we don't really get concerned if Chatfield brings in 15 or 20 points or whatever.
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: That's fine.
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: Okay, the last one might be the biggest one and a guy that we've talked so much about, sebastian Ajo.
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: His best year was 89 points in 23-24.
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: He's had, you know, 81, 89, 74.
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: You know, he's all over the place, and the one thing we I think we've said a lot about with Ajo is he goes through these stretches where he isn't the Ajo that we would like him to be.
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: Is this going to be a year where he can turn around?
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: Of course he's going to be getting ready for the Olympics.
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: We know he's definitely playing for Finland, so what are we expecting?
• 53:17
  Speaker 2: with Sebastian Aho.
• 53:19
  Speaker 2: If there's a season that he can hit 90 plus points, this is it.
• 53:22
  Speaker 2: And I think part of that is because with the signing of ehlers, the front office is sending a signal of we need a top scoring line and ajo is not going to be your jordanahl part two.
• 53:36
  Speaker 2: He is going to be Ajo number one, center on a scoring line where the purpose of the line first and foremost is offense and then defense second, regardless of Jarvis or Blake, is on the other wing.
• 53:54
  Speaker 2: I think having Ehlers there will help Ajo break his own scoring record.
• 54:03
  Speaker 3: Agree 100%.
• 54:04
  Speaker 3: I put him in the 90-point bracket.
• 54:05
  Speaker 3: I found it interesting, Tom, that when you shared his points from the last five seasons, we have 57 and then 81 and then 67 and then 89.
• 54:21
  Speaker 2: So looking at that math he had, a down year of 74.
• 54:24
  Speaker 3: I think we could see him get very close to 100 points this season and I wouldn't be surprised at all if that was the case.
• 54:30
  Speaker 3: I think that he's been building towards it for a long time and, like Katie said, if the message from the front office is go out there and be that offensive line, stop trying to be a shutdown line primarily and start being a line that scores, because you can inhibit the other team's ability to score by scoring yourself.
• 54:49
  Speaker 3: And that is something that you know, katie.
• 54:52
  Speaker 3: You've been kind of teaching me that from the avalanche and how they approach offense.
• 54:59
  Speaker 3: Mckinnon is not out there trying to shut down McDavid.
• 55:02
  Speaker 3: Mckinnon is out there trying to outscore McDavid, and he does it pretty frequently.
• 55:07
  Speaker 3: So it's something that I think that the Canes need to embrace going forward, because hockey has changed from the days when your top center was your shutdown center.
• 55:15
  Speaker 3: So I'm excited.
• 55:18
  Speaker 3: I want to see it happen.
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: He's got to lead by example and I think his past season he did not do that as much as we would like.
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: He had periods where he was almost invisible and and so I think if he can get back to his self and you know he said a year away from, you know, being without Tebow Taravainen so he can't really use that excuse anymore.
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: And again, I think the other side of it which we've talked an awful lot about is Brendan Moore has got to lead these lines alone.
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: He's got to let them get some time together, build some chemistry, and I think that would help a guy like Sebastian Ajo, because he'd know who his wingers are.
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: They can work together, they can get time together and get their chemistry where it should be.
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: So I'm with you.
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: I think if the Canes are going to go, they need him to do this.
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: He's got to be a 90-plus point guy.
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: So I'm with you 100% on that.
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: So, as we take a look at the chart, what do you think about this team when you look at the chart and the number of players down in the lower segments.
• 56:30
  Speaker 3: What are we thinking, erin?
• 56:32
  Speaker 3: Well, I think a lot of people don't realize that this is actually more typical of many of the teams in the NHL.
• 56:38
  Speaker 3: If you go to a website like Quant Hockey or you look through some of the things on Hockey Reference, there aren't that many teams that are top-heavy when it comes to players that score well above the 50 to 60-point range, and even in the NHL last year.
• 56:55
  Speaker 3: I think that this would surprise some people, but there were only 85 players in the NHL last year who exceeded 60 points, so that's an average of not quite even three per team.
• 57:06
  Speaker 3: So I think that we have this inflated idea that every team should have a lot of people that score all these points, and the reality is that the teams have more parity than that.
• 57:16
  Speaker 3: They're spread apart more than that.
• 57:17
  Speaker 3: What this to me, looking at Katie's chart here, says is that the teams have more parity than that they're spread apart more than that.
• 57:20
  Speaker 3: What this to me, looking at Katie's chart here, says is that this is the identity of the Canes that they score by committee and that they rely on their depth, and I think that that was something last year that they struggled with a little bit more, even though they still exceeded, I think, a lot of the initial projections.
• 57:37
  Speaker 3: There were people projecting last year they wouldn't even make the playoffs with the roster that they had, you know.
• 57:41
  Speaker 3: So they made it all the way to the Eastern Conference final and even won a game this time, and they did it with a somewhat depleted roster that did not have this much oomph behind it and that did not have the decor set the way that it is now.
• 57:56
  Speaker 3: So I think we're going to see a lot more of you know the Canes identity hockey that we've seen in previous seasons.
• 58:03
  Speaker 3: I think that this is going to be a season where we see them play and we say, oh yeah, that's how the Canes play, because last year there was a lot of you know differences here and there.
• 58:11
  Speaker 3: I think, just in especially getting getting those points from the blue line, that that was not happening Anything like it usually does.
• 58:18
  Speaker 3: So to me, this is Kane Saki.
• 58:21
  Speaker 3: This is what we should see.
• 58:22
  Speaker 3: We should see a handful of people at those really top you know the green and above bars we should see a good chunk of people in the yellow and orange bands, and then you have your depth players that are down there in the red, and that's.
• 58:43
  Speaker 3: I think this team has every potential of going very far again this year, because this is what the Canes do, and more teams in the league are like this than we realize, if we really look at them.
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah and Katie, when you look at the roster, do you think there's going to be players with over 30 goals this year?
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: I mean, the only one we had last year was Seth Jarvis at 33.
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: What do you think about potential 30-plus goal scores?
• 59:05
  Speaker 2: Definitely Jarvis.
• 59:06
  Speaker 2: I would love to see Jarvis be pushing the 40 goal mark, especially on the power play, because he's just got such a great shot.
• 59:16
  Speaker 2: And then as far as 30, there's no reason Ajo shouldn't have 30.
• 59:20
  Speaker 2: If he's in that 90 plus tier, it should be.
• 59:23
  Speaker 2: He should have 30 goals as part of that, because he needs to trust his shot more, and that's a message that I hope that the coaching staff really communicates to him, because he has a shot that is fantastic.
• 59:38
  Speaker 2: Especially, there's something about when he sets up in the right face off circle, whether it's during the power play or when they're cycling the puck in the zone it is just wicked hard for the goalies to stop.
• 59:50
  Speaker 2: So I definitely look for him in that.
• 59:54
  Speaker 2: There's one other person that could hit 30 between Ehlers and Svetch up there, one other person that could hit 30 between Ehlers and Svetch up there.
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 2: I would like to see it be Svetch, because Ehlers, by reputation, is more of a playmaker, and I think that Svetch especially since he would be trying to bounce back from the past you need to see him shoot more, and if he shoots more, he's going to gain confidence.
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 2: Confidence and that's where those goals are going to come from plus, he's going to be able to pad his stats a little bit, in the sense that he is the canes best goal scorer when the other team pulls its goalie.
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 2: And if the canes are generating a lot of offense, there'll be a lot of games in which in which they are ahead by one or two goals late and the other team pulls its goalie.
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 2: So if Svec gets 30 goals, I would expect five to eight of those goals will be empty net goals, and it's easy to make a joke of that sort of thing with just an empty net goal.
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 2: But it's hard to score empty net goals.
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 2: It's harder than you realize with the pressure that you're under.
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 2: It's the other team's best players on the ice You're trying to get it out.
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 2: If you don't, if you're on the other side of center ice and you don't hit the net, then it's icing and everybody's tired it's.
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 2: It takes a a skill set to be able to be successful with that, the way that Svetch has been able to be successful.
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 2: So that could that could end up being a big contribution from him as well.
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: No, I agree, and I think somehow the Canes have got to get some 30-plus goal scorers.
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: They've got to find a way to get some gunners.
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: And yeah, I think for sure Ajo and Jarvis should definitely do that.
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: And it's a question can they get one or two more guys to step up and be some serious scorers for them?
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: Katie, just to kind of wrap up now, you have set this up in such a way that folks can actually do this on their own and have some fun with it.
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: Why don't you share that with us?
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 2: So what I'm going to do at some point I don't know if it'll be with the same post as they got the podcast from on X but I will send out a link where you can get the blank or the original template of this chart and fill it in for yourself.
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 2: I will have instructions in that post exactly how to go about doing that, and you'll do just like I did You'll click on a picture of a player and you'll slide him up into the tier that you think that he belongs in, and then what we would really love more than anything is, once you've created your tier, please screenshot it and share it with us, either in our original ex post or on your own post, and then tag us, because we would love to see what y'all are thinking as far as the canes and their players this season and where they're going to be and you know where, where we overlap and where we differ a little bit and continue this conversation, because it is a fun one to have and to look at, and hopefully we will be able to revisit this at a couple different points during the season and see how our predictions are going so far, where we've been on the money and where we might have missed the boat a little bit one way or the other.
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure We'll have some fun and we'll move some players around and there might be some new players to have it as we do this throughout the year and and, uh, try to uh, try to get ourselves in the right place with the different players, for sure, but it's a great start.
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: It's been a great amount of fun.
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: Um, you know, I think, uh, you know we're we're still early days heading into the season, so there could be some more tweaks and tunes before, uh, this all gets done.
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 1: But clearly, you know, you can see how the Canes are shaping up and we can see that where the lineup is, it's pretty well locked and loaded, which is kind of an interesting place to be when you think of the past few seasons.
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 1: Any final comments from you, erin, or from you, katie, as we wrap up?
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 3: I think I'm just, you know, looking forward to the season.
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 3: I think you know these kinds of things are so much fun to do and you know, katie, I think you put a lot of work into this.
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 3: So, you know, I want to make sure that you get the appropriate shout out for that, because that's, you know, a lot of work on your part to create all this and have it ready to go for a podcast.
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 3: So I think that the main thing now is just, it's hard to get through these last weeks of waiting because we don't know what they're going to do and we're, all you know, so excited to see how this is going to shape up in terms of the roster and some of the other decisions that have to be made yet.
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 3: So that's just, you know, hanging on to till the season starts, I think.
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 2: Well, thank you for that, erin.
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 2: And yeah, I just you know a few of these might be a little rose-colored glasses, but it is fun to think about.
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 2: It kind of whets the appetite a little bit.
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 2: And it definitely will be very, very interesting to see how brindamore goes about putting his, his players together and and mixing and matching, hopefully just in the pre-season, so that once the season gets off on the right foot that he can leave them alone and let them get their consistency, like Aaron mentioned before.
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 2: But these guys are a lot of fun and getting to see a full season of Nikishan and seeing how Miller integrates and seeing how the chemistry plays out between Ehlers and Ajo they're all such fun storylines and exciting storylines plays out between Ehlers and Ajo they're all such fun storylines and exciting storylines and there's just a lot to like about this.
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: Canes squad and a lot of high expectations that go with that.
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I mean, we look at last summer and the many changes that took place, some of the you know, our favorite Canes moving on and some new players coming in and again, several of those players, of course, remain with the Canes, and then they've now had a year under their belt with the Hurricanes.
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 1: So I think that's going to help.
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 1: And the additions that you just mentioned, boy, adding Keishon and adding K'Andre Miller and adding Nikolai Ehlers to that cast without really losing anything of significance is, I think it's quite a story.
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: So I hope we're close on some of these, some of these analysis, and I hope, in fact, some of these players do better than what we expect.
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: So that'd be great For those of you who've been watching or listening.
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 1: As always, we really appreciate that you've spent time with us.
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: If you liked this episode, please press the like button.
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 1: That'll give us some encouragement to continue doing this and having fun together.
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: If you have comments or you just want to say anything about the Canes roster or how we put this together today, by all means do so in the comments section down below.
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: And finally, if you want to be alerted of future episodes of Storm Tractor.
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 1: Please press the subscribe button and we'll make sure that you're made aware just as soon as those are available.
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: As always, aaron Katie and I thank you so much for spending time with us and we look forward to getting together with you real soon right here on Star Trek.