Win streak…losing streak, what can we expect with the Penguins?

Last night, Rod Brind'Amour won his 200th game as head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes. That does not count anything he has won in the postseason.

He is the third fastest to 200. I don't know if Luke DeCock documented all of them or not, but we've probably seen most of them and he joins us, as he does every Friday. Thoughts on Rod, the all-star head coach. Luke, how are you?

I'm good. I'm probably better than Rod, who I can't imagine is all that happy about having to spend a weekend at the All-Star game that he could be off watching his kid play or whatever. I loved asking him about that yesterday in our pregame chat because it just, it doesn't bother him.

I think it would be better if he could take Tim Gleason and Jeff Daniels with him. Yeah, I mean, it's an honor, but by the same token, like, obviously, it's a bit of a dubious honor and an obligation. That said, you know, it's better than not being invited. And, yeah, we were making the same joke at the doubles game.

Like, who's going to tell them that he's losing that weekend he'd already planned to go watch Quinnipiac play? But, you know, 200 is a nice milestone. It's a round number. Does it really mean anything?

Probably not. But in the end, you know, I mean, I think it's reinforcement that what we've known here for five years now is that he's changed the culture. He's affected an almost immediate turnaround from what was a pretty dismal operation, quite frankly, before, you know, he was put in that position and Tom Dundon bought the team and all those changes that happened in 2018 and 2017 and 2018, I guess, really all 2018. But, you know, that really changed the course of the franchise and got it back to where it had been really from 2000 to 2012 or so inclusive, even though they didn't make the playoffs in that 10, 11, 12 period, there was still that sort of still core there and that culture there.

So, you know, I obviously, you know, you and I don't need to talk about this that much, Rod. Brynham Ward deserves a tremendous amount of credit for instilling that culture as a player, for making it possible when he decided to resign here in 2001 and then for bringing it back as a coach, all of those things. That was one of, it might have been your number one transaction in the episode of the 25th anniversary podcast where we talked about the most important transactions in Hurricanes history. Luke Tkach of The News and Observer is joining us here at Luke Tkach on Twitter. All right, Freddie Anderson came back.

He rode in on a white horse. He didn't screw it up against Columbus. That's really all they needed.

Thoughts on what that ultimately means? I mean, one, I thought he played well, you know, I thought he was, not only not giving up the soft goals that they've been giving up lately at the, after the winning streak, obviously, you know, and look, Adriana banged up. Apparently, Piotr Kachikov is wearing down. He's a rookie. It happens.

It's not a value judgment against either of those guys. Hurricanes needed Freddie Anderson back in the lineup. I think what we learned is it may take him a while to get back after he's hurt. You know, five weeks of practices seems like a lot to you and me, maybe, but it appears he knows his body well enough that if he gets that many practices, he does come back in top four. He didn't really seem to be playing his way back into the position at all.

He sort of came back in and everything was fine. So, you know, while we may, you know, sort of joke about, you know, Freddy's at practice again, you know, it is possible that he does know his body and know his game and is, is doing the right thing for him to come back and play well. The hurricanes needed it though. There's no question about it. We, we joked about the, the bat signal for Freddie Anderson after the, the goal that Kachikov gave up at the post, which is reminiscent of the goal that the Delcovitch gave up against the lightning in some ways.

It just, you know, the kind of goals that can't happen. And Freddy didn't give up any of those. And I thought he played well. He looked calm. He looked composed. He did not look rusty. It reminded me a little bit of patchy already coming back after however many weeks rehabbing his Achilles tendon and looking like he'd missed five games in not five months. And Freddy, you know, obviously did what he needed to do to get himself in the game shape. Cause I thought he looked great. Yeah.

Bring it back to patchy ready. It is worth pointing out that he left the game, uh, midway through the first period did not return. Hopefully whatever ailed him will not keep him out of the lineup for very long. Uh, they certainly can use his scoring. He accidentally scored two of his three goals, but that's what goal scorers do.

Sometimes they score accidentally. Uh, so there's a lot of other things we could talk about regarding the game last night. Um, the thing that really stood out to me though, and maybe it's, uh, it's a long-term view of it, but I think Jalen Chatfield might be something more than just a third pair defenseman. What do you, what do you think about what we have seen from him? I don't know that he is, but I think he's the kind of third pairing defenseman that can help you win in the post-season and win longer term. I mean, I think there's some limitations to his game and his, his size and some of his decisions, but his assets and obviously his speed and his courage, um, are, are outweigh those. So, I mean, I, I look, I, when I look at the hurricanes and I look at their top four defenseman, I mean, I think there's a gap from those four guys to Chatfield, but that doesn't mean that Chatfield isn't the kind of guy who's better than most other teams, third pairings.

And when you have an advantage like that, that's the kind of thing that can help you win match-ups in the playoffs. Now, what he needs, I don't think it's the Han. I certainly know at this point, it's not Dylan Coughlin. He needs a partner who can make the most of his skills and doesn't drag him down, which is what we, we saw certainly, uh, in the home game with, with Coughlin, who was just, just, I, I, I think the way you can do this, he just doesn't fit the way his team plays.

It's just, I'm trying to be nice. Like he's got a great shot. He's got a bomb of a shot, but he just, he's slow. On a different team like Vegas. When he was there, you can make use of that. It doesn't work so well here, especially if you're only using one D on the power play, cause you can't put them out there alone because he can't recover.

Something goes wrong. That said, I think that if I, if I'm looking ahead to the trade deadline, what I'm looking for is not necessarily, we need to bring in some stud defense in the play on our third pairing, but what the fence is out there, uh, who would pair well with Jalen Chatfield, you know, someone who can let Chatfield with Rome a little bit, um, skates well enough to keep up with him. Uh, you know, maybe as the kind of guy who, if you're lucky can, can, can help out on the second power play unit, that may be ambitious. Um, but that to me is you've got something in Jalen Chatfield. I agree with you there and he keeps getting better. So what do you have to do to make up for his deficiencies and maximize his strength? I, nothing against Calvin DeHaan, who I think is a totally acceptable player in that position, but I'm not sure he's the best fit with Chatfield the way Chatfield plays. No, I think Calvin DeHaan would be best suited for this team as a seventh defenseman, uh, as we get into the playoffs.

Somebody you can use, but you would rather have somebody slot in front of him. All right. Uh, let me, uh, let me move this to, uh, developments in the big 10.

Kevin Warren spent all of three years there. He embarrassed himself first, uh, but with the debacle during COVID of, uh, thinking that he was going to lead the world. And then the world went, you can go do whatever you want.

We're doing this. Uh, and then he had to, uh, basically put his tail between his legs and go back to big 10 commissioners and say, well, uh, these guys are going to play. And they said, well, you'd better figure out a way to play. Uh, and then they signed this gigantic television deal. So he's making them a lot of money. Now he's going to the Chicago bears. Are you worried that Jim Phillips is going to succeed him at the big 10?

Let me answer that question. Am I worried? No. Do I think he might?

Yes. I don't think it would be the worst thing in the world for the ACC if Jim Phillips went to the big 10. Um, I think he's smart. I think he knows college athletics, but I don't look at three years of the ACC or four years of the ACC, two years of the ACC under Jim Phillips and say, this is a league that's moved forward tremendously in a better position than it was, um, at best it's been status quo. Um, not to mention the move to Charlotte, which was driven by a couple of presidents, not Jim Phillips, but he certainly went along with it. I don't know that you can sit here and say that Jim Phillips gets an A as ACC commissioner over the course of his tenure. Um, and would this be a chance to kind of take another bite at the apple that said, I mean, I think Jim Phillips is a terrific fit for the big 10. It's where he grew up.

It's where he's from. There's absolutely 100% sentiment within the big 10 that they get a second chance to make the decision they should have made in the first place. Um, I was not a fan of Kevin Warren.

I thought he was a lot of, uh, smoke and no fire all had no cattle. Um, I don't think that the TV deal, despite the money, the big 10 gets, it's going to be good for the league in the long run. I just don't think you can not be on ESPN in this day and age, um, and stay relevant, which is a lesson the NHL learned the hard way.

Um, I don't think adding USC and UCLA is good for the big 10 or good for USC and UCLA or good for college sports. In fact, I think that's going to go down as one of the great mistakes of all time, because it's going to be absolutely awful for the athletes. And you know, this Adam is being around the hurricane saying, well, they'll take charter flights is not an answer to the question because when the hurricanes come back from a West coast road trip, those guys are tired and they don't have to go to class the next day. Um, and they, and, and, and that's all they do. They're professionals and it still wears them out. So, you know, they're not trying to take tests on the road.

Um, so I, I really am. I think that was a terrible decision. Um, and it goes along with sort of the way college athletics is now money-grubbing president, you know, Friday, we'd be fine, but presidents are chosen for their ability to raise funds and they run athletics that way. They're going to squeeze every nickel out of it for the detriment of the enterprise. And now they're just basically begging Congress for help because they've proven they can't govern it themselves.

Yeah. That's why when, when I, when I hear a Kevin Warren, um, talk about how the only concern is the wellbeing of their athletes, I laugh because they're not, their only concern is how much money we can make. Uh, and that's why, I mean, you, you and I are on the same side of this Southern Cal and UCLA joining the big 10 is not good for the big 10, except it got them more money and it gets, you know, the, the big 10 network in the, over the air, whatever over the air is now in the basic cable packages or YouTube packages or Hulu packages, uh, in California and in, uh, we, you know, wherever else did the big 10 is in New Jersey because of Rutgers and who knows maybe someday in Atlanta or in Raleigh, North Carolina, uh, if the big 10 continues this, you know, country nationwide sprawl.

Um, but it's all about, it's all about money. And I look, I don't know what Jim Phillips could have done differently as the commissioner of the ACC. And I don't know what differently John Swofford could have done, uh, because you can't make Florida state better.

You can't make Miami better. I mean, for the last 15 years, we've basically been run by one football team. It was Florida state. Then it was Clemson. And now we're hoping that Florida state and Miami, and even maybe one day, Virginia tech will get back and play good football. We just don't have enough good football teams. Yeah.

I that's all true. I just, you know, when you look at the Alliance, uh, the move to Charlotte, some of the other things that have happened, I mean, I think Jim Phillips gets a passing grade, but I don't think you sit here and say that his leadership so far has been transformational. So if he goes to the big 10, um, I'm not sure it's the worst thing in the world. I think it's probably better for the league. If he stays for the sake of continuity, um, and giving him a chance to do some of the things that he was hired to do and hasn't done yet. Um, but you know, uh, Kevin warned to the, to the bears.

It, to me is just a non factor. And there's a great article by John Kinzano, the, the former newspaper columnist in Portland about the crisis media consultant. Who's basically been running the big 10, like with our hand up, Kevin Warren, like a puppet, um, for the last two years, uh, it's really, really, really enlightening.

And it just makes you wonder who was really in charge the whole time anyway. So I've been warned in the big 10, am I worried about Jim Phillips leaving? I am not worried about Jim Phillips leaving. I do think there's a chance it could happen because it makes sense for both sides. Um, and if so, that may not be, may not be the worst thing in the world for the ACC. It could be if they don't get the right person to replace him.

If he leaves me, um, but yes, you, yes, that's what the name on everybody's lips. Me, I could do it. 92% of households that start the year with Peloton are still active a year later. 92% because of a bike, not just bikes. We also make treadmills and rowers. Oh, let me guess for elite athletes only, right? Nope. It doesn't matter if you're an avid exerciser or new to working out Peloton can help you achieve your fitness goals. 92% stick with it. So can you try Peloton bikes tread or row risk-free with a 30 day home trial. New members only not available in remote locations.

See additional terms at one Peloton.com slash home dash trial. Stop. We have three basketball games real quick before I let you go. Luke DeCock of the News and Observer did not endorse my candidacy Victoria for commissioner of the ACC. Yeah.

What a shame. Thinking emoji. States hosting Miami. What does this mean for the Wolfpack above, beyond the obvious that Miami may be the best team in the league.

Uh, but what does it mean for state? I mean, they've got to keep winning home games. They got to keep putting wins in their pocket. Uh, you know, they've got now with the win at Virginia Tech and the home win over Duke, they've got the kind of wins you need to get in the NCAA tournament.

They're almost in don't screw this up mode. Um, but they've still got to be good teams and there's, you know, getting to the NCAA tournament. We're trying to win an ACC championship. Let's not forget about that.

It's just because it's been 75 years. Doesn't mean NC state can't still talk about it. Uh, you gotta beat teams like Miami and you gotta beat them at home. Um, so I think it's a good measuring stick game for the, for the Wolfpack. I, what I don't think it is, which some of these games were earlier this year is a catastrophe. If they lose all right, they could lose this game and be okay.

Which is a change from where they were maybe two weeks ago. Um, but these are winnable games. Uh, Miami for all of its talent and all of that is not a terrible matchup for NC state. Um, and NC state guards have proven if they get hot, they can beat anybody. Uh, so this is a game that you you'd like to win, uh, take advantage of the opportunity because quite frankly, the second half of NC state schedule does not present many opportunities for good wins. Um, this is a chance you want to take it, bank it, um, and give yourself a position where if you do lose a bad game later in the year, it's not going to kill you. I look at this as like the Virginia tech game. The Hokies are struggling, but it's still a tough place to play coming off the win over Duke where it would have been easy to just have a letdown.

They didn't. And I kind of look at this the same way. Good teams start playing to a standard where you get the same thing out of them just about every time. That's what I'm looking for from the wolf pack to start playing.

Like we know what we're going to get. You might, might not always win that game. Maybe the other team just balls out, but I want to see that from the wolf pack. I think we've seen that two games in a row.

I'd like to see it a third. Um, what are you looking for from Duke at Clemson? We can't, we don't have to talk about Carolina at Louisville. It's just other, other than you can't lose that game.

Oh man, that, uh, yeah, that would be amazing. Um, no, I mean, I, I really think I hesitate to say turned a corner and all that stuff, but I think there was a chance that Duke did turn a corner against Pittsburgh because of the way that game played out down 12 at home in the second half. Um, you know, everyone denied it, but the building was out of that game at that point. Uh, and Duke fought back and did it without Jeremy Roach. You know, Tyrese Proctor was good, but in foul trouble. So it was limiting him. Uh, Kyle was great.

That's a really tough matchup for pit. He's not going to get that much space against other teams, but he took advantage of it, which is what you have to do. And Derek Lively showed some, some things that we haven't seen from him this year. He made a critical defensive play on the perimeter, uh, getting switched onto a guard and then forcing a steal and a runout. And he actually scored on a post move for, I believe the first time this year, we just, we hadn't seen that from him.

He'd been a defense only player in the post put backs and, and, and, and all of that. So, you know, that little bit of confidence from a very talented player who hasn't really been able to manifest that yet, um, at the college level, uh, is, is a big deal. Uh, so all of those things plus sort of the heart of being down 12, coming off the Duke game, coming off the near debacle at BC and finding a way to rally, you know, all of that kind of goes together into, you know, did Duke learn something? It was going sort of like the state game at certain points and Duke was able to, to, to avoid that fate. Um, and, and, and push through and, and win the game and really did get the building behind them at the end and set off that close is a different animal though.

That's a different metric for Duke. They're bigger, they're stronger, they're tougher than pick picks. Like got these older guys, these transfers who are who are like, they're mentally tough, but they're not necessarily physically tough. Like they're, they're tough guys.

Like you, I think I'll go to go to battle with that Pitsy many times, but of course it's got guys who are tough, tough and will knock you over. And that's going to be a different experience for Duke. It's going to be tougher for Philipowski. It's going to be tougher for Proctor. Um, Jeremy Roach is 99% not going to play.

So they're going to have to go down there without him. And I would expect little John because Clemson is good and because it's Duke to actually have an atmosphere and be a tough place to play. And that's going to be an experience where Duke has not played well on the road. So a lot of things have to go right for Duke, but they certainly showed some progress against that whether or not blue levels turned a corner is probably too soon to say. Yeah. I just think they're the, the way they competed in that game was that was the eyeopening.

That was the, you know, if we, if, if we term it turning a corner, that was what I saw, just the way they, they just dug in, uh, to borrow from trip Tracy. Uh, and that's what, what, what I need to see Saturday at Clemson did whether they win or not, if they compete, I think that'll be a good sign. Luke to cock of the news and observer who wholeheartedly does not support my candidacy for commissioner of the Atlantic coast conference, but that's fine. I'll see you at the arena. I'm sure sometime this weekend, sir, I will see you at both games on Saturday, I believe, or one you'll be, I only go to the hockey games. You know that unless you're coming to watch my son play soccer on Saturday, you could come early. Well, if you had a soccer game, but you could come early and see a pivotal ACC basketball tilt is the cages of empty state.

Take on the Miami hurricane. Do you care about Darby weekend? Do you care about Manchester Darby or the north London Darby at all? The only Darby I care about is the Merseyside Darby. All right. Well, we'll, uh, we'll talk about that in a couple of weeks.

Luke to cock of the news and observer. That's Liverpool at Everton for people who aren't, uh, you know, if you're not dialed into the prem 92% of households that start the year with Peloton are still active a year later, 92% because of a bike, not just spikes. We also make treadmills and roars. Oh, let me guess for elite athletes only, right? Nope. It doesn't matter if you're an avid exerciser or new to working out Peloton can help you achieve your fitness goals.

92% stick with it. So can you try Peloton bikes, tread or row risk free with a 30 day home trial. New members only not available in remote locations. See additional terms at one Peloton.com slash home dash trial.