Hurricanes play the lightning tonight.
Tomorrow, they will host the Buffalo Sabres on ESPN+, and Hulu. And for a good chunk of last year, that was a house of horrors for the Hurricanes. It became comical.
Not only didn't Carolina win, they didn't score for like the first two plus games when they were on Hulu. I spoke to John Buchagrass about this, not about this, but for other reasons about two months ago. And he tried to take like the blame for it. We will not let John Buchagrass take the blame for that.
And he joins us on the Adam Gold Show. Certainly not your fault that the Hurricanes were bad in those couple of games. But they're not bad. They're good.
I appreciate your time. Welcome to Raleigh before you get here. It's all my fault.
It's all my fault. Sorry, Raleigh. Yes, I'm in the car driving to Logan Airport, Boston, and flying to Raleigh.
So here comes Dr. Doom about to descend on greater Raleigh area. Yeah, we're going to have a lot of fun. Should be a good game. Actually, I want to start with the team that Carolina is going to play tomorrow night, even though the Kanes have a game against Tampa first. And Kevin Adams, we have obviously down here great familiarity with. He was part of the O2 and the O6 teams that went to and won the Stanley Cup.
That was, of course, the second one. And Kevin has done, I think, a superb job at reconfiguring the Sabres into a good team. I don't know how good they are, but they are playing right now and scoring a ton of goals. More than four goals a game through 10 games are seven and three.
What do you make of what we are seeing in Buffalo? I think it really comes down to the unexpected development of Cage Thompson. I don't think anybody in hockey, Buffalo included, thought he would become a seven million dollar player, which he will next year after signing an extension this year. He's got an absolute one time bomb in the elk of posternoc, scamco, so vegkin and power play goals last year. I think it would become a double digit power play guy in the future. Six foot eight inch center. We've never seen this in the history of the NHL. Guy that tall in the middle of the ice be a 30 to 40 goal score.
This has never happened before. Alex Tuck in there is 6-4. Got him in the Iko trade. You almost kind of replaced Iko with Thompson. That guy goes to a better player.
But Thompson is certainly close with this production. And then you add Tuck, add Krebs in that trade. The other first round pick got Quinn coming. DJ Paterka, another second round pick, German. Yeah, Skinner kind of found his game. And then Rasmus Dalin, the other piece of puzzle, a number one overall pick, who has finally kind of launched up and set definite number one defensemen. Add Owen Power, another number one overall pick, looks like he'll be the real deal. So yeah, Buffalo is feeling really good about their organization right now. And Kevin Adams, just an uber people person.
Yep. Glad for him. Miami University out of Ohio product. Obviously, Stanley Cup champion, Hurricanes. Now he gets to run an NHL team, which I bet five years ago he never thought would be the case. Just a whole cavalcade of surprises in Buffalo.
All right. John Burchagross is joining us here on the Adam Goetzel. We are going to talk Hurricanes in a second. But I'm curious, other than Buffalo, anything else surprise you about the first 10 games roughly of the NHL season?
Not too much. Obviously, the Bruins being as injured as they were coming in. We didn't expect nine and one first 10 with no Marshawn. He's back now. No McAvoy.
Close to being back. But Jim Montgomery is a really good coach. They had good players. Bergeron, Craig G. Pasternak, half as Lynn Holm when they got last year late. And certainly kind of a number two defensemen.
Not quite one that clear cut one. But we've got to have back there. So things have gone their way. And they're up to a great start. But other than that, I thought New Jersey would be better to be a team that would make the playoffs. They were one of my surprise picks to make the playoffs.
Connor McDavid looks like he might win the goal scoring tunnel this year and continue to be just an absolute generational player that we're lucky to see. So that's way out in the West late at night. Tough for us to see. But overall, I think things are kind of playing now. 10 games in. Now we need another 10, 15.
It's a Christmas season, mid-December. We can really kind of see how the league settles in. Jon Bujagross is joining us here on the Adam Gold Show.
I agree. I thought Boston was going to be without Bergeron and Marshawn and not Pasternak, but McAvoy. Until like almost the first of the year, they were never without Bergeron.
Marshawn came back sooner. And Bergeron and Pasternak were scoring from the jump. Jake DeBrusque is maybe a better player even than he was last year. And they bring David Crayche back from Europe to kind of add to all of it.
Exactly. Nick Fellino is better this year. They signed him to do this last year.
He wasn't good last year. Now he's healthy on that fourth line. They really have designated roles. That's kind of where the Hurricanes are at, too. They kind of have designated four lines.
And the Bruins are there as well. I mean, the third line of Coyle, Frederick, and Greer are just these big guys who take the body. A lot like Stahl and Martin and that idea. So yeah, just defined roles amongst the lines. And then like a nice decor, especially once McAvoy comes back.
The Hurricanes' decor is probably about right there. But Burns and Slavin and Pesci, you kind of slot these guys where they should be. When you have players properly spotted, then you get some goaltending. And then you can come out. And then your car is finely tuned. You're humming. You got the oil change.
You're just going. And that's what the Kings are doing, what the Bruins are doing. And, you know, Buffalo, again, it's just a bit of a surprise. Wade Thompson has kind of vaulted this year.
Everything else is just kind of spotted into place. And they have a good organization with Adams and Granado. So it's going to be a fun game tomorrow.
I'm really looking forward to it. I think it plays into the Hurricanes' favor, though. You know, there's a team with a bit of a veteran group who's becoming better at people like Ajo and especially the comp. They know they play their game. They're tough on the part. It'll be a tough game for the Sabres in Raleigh. So, you know, I think the Kings are excited to play this team, get a lot of attention.
But I think they do kind of play into their hands. The Hurricanes, you talk about a veteran group. They added veteran pieces. Brent Burns in 37. Paul Staznew came in late in the summers. I think 36 to 37. Max Patchee Reddy is in his early 30s. But the core of this team, the Ahos, who has been, it seems like he's been in the league forever, is like 25. Svechnikov, Neches, and Kokeniyemi, their second line. And the first two of those players are just off to rip-roaring starts. Like the oldest guy is 23. So, the core of this team is still incredibly young, including the blue line. So, I mean, that's great for the future, no?
No, it is. And you like guys in their prime, 24, 25. Those are the guys who win fifth.
Leave them to carry the water during a lot of regulars. The Sabres, about the third-youngest team in the league. So, they're really young, 19-year-olds, 20-year-olds, 21-year-olds, 22-year-olds. So, they're going to go up against a team of men tomorrow night. And that's tough, you know. And that's tough to play against guys like that.
And so, it's good to see. You know, I really think a big surprise to me and the Hurricanes. But last is Marty Neches, kind of waiting for him. He hasn't gotten better, really, the first three years. You know, his numbers stayed the same. He wonders, is it ever going to happen? A guy who kind of, you know, his playoff numbers are not good at all.
That's not a good sign. If you're going to get into traffic, he's going to make things happen. And, you know, playing with Kokeniyemi is probably a good guy to play with. He's going to defer to Sveshnikov, and they can drive the line with their creativity. And so, hopefully Marty, you know, is kind of growing up, going to, you know, put up some nice big numbers this year, 25 goals, and go to the playoffs and produce.
That's where you meet him. So, yeah, I kind of like that second line, and Sveshnikov is an absolute stallion, absolute star. And it's just, you know, getting that first line going and producing, you get those wave lines, and you get the third line to do their job.
And then a fourth line with some personality. And then, again, keeping things afloat and once in a while punching one in. So, I think it's an exciting year for the Ks. They've got Patcheready in their back pocket.
They race up their sleeve. He's a UFA to B. He's going to come out one more really good contract. He's got that age rate. He can pop in and look really good at the stretch drive and the playoffs, maybe get himself one more good three, four-year contract around that seven, $8 billion number. Because at that age, however, it's tough to get paid in the NHL when you're in your early 30s, not producing.
And then if it comes one year at a time, about a million or two bucks, you know, life changes fast. He's also adding guys to the roster that have not won a Stanley Cup in spite of having great personal success. Like Patcheready, like Brent Burns, those guys haven't put their name on the cup yet. And it's a difference maker. It can help a little bit, but certainly I'm sure I hope it goes the same way.
Right. If the Ks win the cup in June, Marty Nages is going to feel just as happy as Brent Burns is. He wants his cup, too. So there's definitely some of that little thing to hang on to and to kind of push a little bit. But once that game starts and the puck is down, it's about, you know, coming through, do what you're supposed to do, getting good goaltending, playing good hockey.
But those things are fun for us to talk about. Certainly it can be called a bit of a rallying cry. But in the end, you've got to be good. You've got to play good. You've got to produce.
Shane's not that champ. I think your organization has a good buzz upon them. Definitely an organization that goes for it, tries to win. As a customer and a ticket buyer, that's all you can ask for. You buy your ticket, you know, you're going to a game bar night and you're like, you know what, this is my owner, my GM, my players, my coach. They're all in. That's a good.
We'll let you go right here, John Buchagrass. But the the outdoor game, that's going to be a scene like the as far as I know, unless the NHL releases more tickets to Raleigh, it's it's been secondary market basically from jump. They went so fast. Basically, all the season ticket holders bought out their allotment of tickets and maybe because they knew they could resell them.
I don't know. But it is a tough ticket. It is going to be an awesome scene over at Carter Finley Stadium. And you're going to see reverse retro uniforms. Reverse retro jersey tomorrow. The Hurricanes' road whites will be just flipped to red. Canes and diagonal.
I think that's a sharp look. Oh, excellent. Looking forward to that. Yeah, we have the game. We have that outdoor game, that stadium series on ESPN. I'm really pumped about that.
Not sure what my role is, but I hope I get to come down. But yeah, I guess the ticket sold out like in 30 seconds, 60 seconds. It was one of the fastest ever. And there's going to be all kinds of other ancillary stuff with college basketball connection. I think there's the same day or something. But the next day, state Carolina. Yeah, the next day. That's right.
The next day. So it's going to be a big weekend. We're going to tie all that stuff together.
That'd be special. And I love the Raleigh area. And I hope I'm part of the broadcast at the site.
Not sure what I'll be doing yet. But yeah, I'm pumped up for that. I'm for Raleigh. Love the Carolinas. Love North Carolina. So glad I'm flying there now. And I'm hoping to get back again in February. I'll see you on Press Row, where we'll be camping out right next door to you on the fifth floor at PNC Arena.
John Buchergrass from ESPN. Thank you for the time, sir. Safe trip. We'll see you tomorrow. Yeah, I think I was minus 13, calling the games last year, like literally.
So I think I had three games game, minus 13. Turn that around tomorrow night. Well, that would be great. Are you bringing the, like, the suede maroon jacket, the velvet maroon jacket? I'm going blue velvet, just to try to turn it up. I kept bringing the maroon velvet.
Didn't work last year for the cane. So we're going to switch it up to blue. All right. It's a good look either way. Thank you, sir. Peace out, boo-yah. You got it. Oh, a little homage to Stuart Scott there on the end. Thank you very much to John Buchergrass for stopping by.
Whisper: small.en / 2022-11-08 11:06:49 / 2022-11-08 11:10:30 / 4
