Who knew he was a Kentucky Derby fan??

Game two tonight, eight o'clock start for the Hurricanes and the Devils an hour later because it is the only game in town. So we're looking forward to that. Luke Tkach of the News & Observer will be out here, not with me, but well with a lot of us who are here. I stay separate from everybody.

I can't mix and mingle. Before we get to game two tonight, Mr. Luke Tkach of the NNO at Luke Tkach. Thoughts on Durek Whitehead having a second foot procedure. Do you think he played in enough pain this year to kind of not damage his draft prospect, but maybe it did depress his draft prospect because he didn't have a consistently good season. Took him a while to get going.

Your thoughts on Durek Whitehead having a second procedure. Yeah, I mean, he definitely didn't have the season they hoped they would have because of the first foot injury slash surgery. I, you know, I mean, he's obviously an extremely talented player.

I feel bad for him that this foot doesn't seem to want to heal. And, you know, if he had been closer to full strength and we saw him sort of getting closer to that point as the year went on, you know, it would be a, you know, he was, he was kind of the player that Duke really needed to get past kind of see someone who could just get hot and shoot the lights out. But he never really had a chance to be the player that he might still become. You know, there's a little bit of Harry Giles in that where, you know, injuries for a one and done player just robbed us of the player we thought we were going to see.

So, you know, I think some very smart NBA team is going to draft him as a longer term project and may very well be rewarded because there's never really been any doubt about the talent. The injuries have just been extremely untimely. You mentioned Harry Giles. You could say almost say the same thing about Zion Williamson who missed so many games at Duke. And I mean, fans are robbed of the enjoyment of watching these guys play. And Whitehead was one of the kind of an element that Duke really didn't have not only the ability to shoot, but also the ability to get where he wanted to with the ball. Because Duke didn't have an offensive player like that.

They were so reliant on sets and getting to the foul line and dribble penetration for some other guys to create other opportunities was really one of those things that we all missed over the course of this year. Did you also see that they're amending the charge call? I think it's pretty subtle, but in order for you to be accredited with taking a charge, you have to have established position before the foot is planted by the driver. I mean, I love it. It's not official yet. There's no guarantee this gets approved.

But I love the proposal because we've talked about this. My biggest issue with the getting in the way charge call is you're taking the initiative really out of the offensive players hands. And I think that's why I love the college game. There are elements of the NBA game that are unquestionably better. And the fact that skilled players are allowed to use their skill and not have some clod get in the way and draw a call is a big part of the NBA. You know, I think why you see their talent on display more than you do in college.

I go back to the, it was, I think it was Caleb Martin at Nevada took off from about the three-point line, throws down a thunderous dunk against Utah State and gets called for a charge because some Utah State guy wandered into his way. And it's just not the game of basketball we want to see. It's the game of basketball coaches want to see because they can't teach someone to do what Zion does, but they can teach someone to get in his way. This rule I think makes it much harder to get in someone's way. I think it would be great for college basketball if it's approved. I think it can probably will need some further refinement. But the idea basically of saying, hey, if you want to draw a charge like this, you can't get in the way at the last second, I think has the potential to be a dramatic improvement in one of my, to one of my least favorite aspects of college basketball.

Oh, it is. It's the worst part of college basketball. The, the amount of charges that are called. I have three things that I would do. First, I would go back a step. Forget about the plant foot. I would go the stuff, the, the, the stride before the plant foot, because I think that would make it more difficult for referees to get it wrong. Cause I think, and I've said this before, 90% of the time they call a charge. It's either a no, a no call or they got it wrong or it should have been a block.

Um, I, I think once in a while they get the charge call, right? I also think that the secondary defender cannot just stand in the way, make a play, make a play change. We have to change the referee's mindset that if you're trying to steal or grab the ball or you go up to block a shot, uh, that we're better at calling verticality. So as long as I'm not creating the contact, if I'm trying to play defense, I'm not going to credit you for running into me.

So we have to get rid of the secondary defender. And I would also change the way it's called. I would go from hand behind the head. I would say you have to do like a dance.

You got to do like jazz hands. Uh, and that would eliminate the, uh, the love of calling a charge. I'm semi serious about that last one. Yeah, it's a problem. And part of the problem is, and this has been true for a long time. Coaches don't want it changed. The majority of coaches don't want to change for the reasons I outlined earlier. And the other part of the problem is when you make the case to some of the stakeholders, and I've been a part of some of these meetings with, you know, Jim Delaney, who at the time was, was involved with basketball oversight and, uh, Ted Boyle, the coach of Colorado and, and Danny Gabbard at the NCA and Art Hyland who, uh, for years did the rule book. You know, we're, we're trying to, as writers, we're trying to tell these guys, you know, Hey, you, you can improve your game, but if you say the words NBA in that meeting, you know, people lose their heads. We're not the NBA. We're not the NBA, right? If you want good basketball, maybe you should look at some of the things the NBA does. Well, you don't have to be the NBA, but there's no reason something the NBA got right.

You can't look at it and say, Hey, maybe we can get it right. And I feel like this is a very positive step toward that. I hope so. I hope so.

All right, before we get to game two, give me your Kentucky Derby winner. Did you know if you pay your nanny or sitter more than $2,400 a year or $100 a week, you owe taxes? When care.com home pay does your nanny taxes and payroll, we make sure to find all the tax benefits you qualify for up to $2,500 a year from tax filing to payroll care.com home pay has it all covered. When you sign up for care.com home pay, we handle your nanny payroll, w twos, everything you need.

Get your first month free at home pay.com with a code free month 2022. That's a tough one with all the scratches and dropouts. You know, the horse I really liked was it was red route one who's going straight to the Preakness. So I have a Preakness pick for you. I guess I would take reincarnate. Great, great connections. You should be able to get a decent price.

You know, I think Forte is probably the best horse in there, but I don't think you're going to be able to get decent price on him. So I'm going to go with reincarnated. The connections are really good. They're justified connections, authentic connection.

There's a lot of light there. I think the World Health Organization has basically taken COVID off the off the danger list. But apparently there's a fever running through the barns at Churchill Downs. Yeah, it's not good. I will say one other thing. Every year, it's pretty easy to toss the Japanese horse because the Japanese horse never wins.

And I hate the post that Derma Sotakaki drew. No one's ever won from the 17, although he may end up moving in as more horses drop out. That's a horse with a legitimate chance to contend, especially as the field thins out. This may be the year for the Japanese horse.

Well, who knows? You're right. Everybody could get closer.

We might get rid of the auxiliary gate. All right. Game two tonight. It looks like it's going to be Akira Schmid in net for New Jersey. Who was your best player for for the Hurricanes in Game one?

Well, it's what I wrote to me. It was Jordan Saul. I mean, that was a classic Jordan Saul performance, shutting down the opposition's best player, setting up a goal by winning a faceoff, setting up an empty net goal by lugging the puck, taking a brutal uncalled hit from behind that set his neck into the board.

Yeah. Getting up, slamming the bench door and then coming back the next shift and having a great shift. I mean, to me, you know, that's more than leading by example. That's taking the game by the scruff of the neck and saying, I'm going to impose my will on this game and I'm going to knock Jack use on his butt the first chance I get and send that message. To me, it was Jordan. I obviously a lot of candidates there, but there's a lot of nights where what Jordan Saul does is noticeable for what doesn't happen as opposed to what does happen.

The players he takes out of the game or, you know, the possession that he enables just with his wingspan in the corner and things like that. But to me, last night was a classic leading by example, leading by action. Jordan Saul or not last night, Wednesday night, leading by action. Jordan Saul performance. Yeah, there were a lot of players who were great, but my best player was Seth Jarvis didn't even get one of the three stars in the building, nor did Jordan or did Jordan stall, which was kind of funny to me. But there were a lot of candidates because Jordan Martin, who was one of the building stars, had a great game. I thought Sebastian Ajo played a great game, even though he did not feature on the score sheet. I had an assist, but I thought I thought Ajo was great.

There were a lot of good players. It's also good to see Freddie Anderson stacked two really good games together and we're going to see him again tonight. Yeah, I mean, Freddie can get hot and that's what they're trying to do. They're trying to get Freddie hot.

They're trying to they're trying to get him going. I've loved his games. I love game six.

I love game one. I think he was pissed off. I think he was not happy that one went as long as he did, whether or not Freddie was healthy or not. I think he wanted to get in there.

He could hear what people were whispering. You know, was I ever actually going to play a game for the hurricanes in the playoffs? You know, Freddie's in the press box feels like a playoff game. He knows.

He's not he's not he's not blind to that. So, you know, I think Freddie going in there with a little something to prove with a little motivation and to give him all the credit in the world. One hundred percent. You know, we had that issue last year is Freddie.

One hundred percent. He won't come back until he's one hundred percent. Well, now we've seen both in the regular season and now that he really does know his body. And when he says he's ready to play, Freddie Anderson is ready to play. And we saw that game six. We saw it in game one. He'll need to do it again tonight because the doubles are going to come. We know that.

I mean, everybody knows that. That's a good team. They were embarrassed by their first period. They rallied in the second and third, but really too late at that point. I think they're going to get Timo Meyer back.

I don't know how effective he's going to be wearing as much gear on his face as he is. But, you know, they're going to need Freddie tonight. I would guess the Devils are going to come out and play their best first period of the playoffs. And the hurricanes are going to have to weather that storm.

And they're not going to be able to do that if Freddie left in a softy. So to me, this is probably the second most engaged, most important game for Freddie Anderson. The playoffs game six clearly of the islanders will always be the most important because he proved he could do it.

But tonight, tonight's number two for me. I will say, first of all, yes, playing game six was huge. I think this might be the most important game of the series for Carolina, even though you really wouldn't have accomplished anything if you only win your two home games. But it's it's hard to process if the Devils come out of here with a win tomorrow tonight. It's it becomes a very difficult series, I think, for Carolina. I think the talent of the Devils is in some ways inevitable. And they're they just have so much skill throughout their lines. And I know Carolina's blue line has provided a ton of offense over the course of the season. They led the NHL with fifty nine goals scored by defenseman, but only three. I guess only three is probably not the right way of saying it in three games, but only one until game one.

And that came from Jacob Slavin off the mask of Elia Sorokin. They just need they need more teenagers to step up and score some goals to make all this all this work out. Did you like nature's game? I was OK with it. I think you have to give him credit for being put in the spot he was in playing with stall and Jack Drury on a line that, you know, hadn't had a ton of time together and and and contributing defensively. You know, there's that there's that.

But yeah, I generally speaking, I think Rod said it before game six. We need results like as good as nature's has played at times as good as you. Very good. Can the Emmy has played at times? At some point that line has to produce. They can't be carried along like this. And, you know, Cookie Emmy finally gets a goal.

That was great. A bunch of people had to cancel their flight down here from Montreal to write about how Cookie Emmy was struggling. So that's probably bad for the triangle economy.

This country is very cookie Emmy. But yeah, it's it's they need those guys to produce. And they played well at times.

It's not they haven't been up an anchor. But with the skill that those guys have the skills of Martin ages, I think we'll see some different lines again tonight, perhaps. But, you know, Martin just needs to score. And he proved this year in the regular season that he could be the player that everyone thought he could be. And he knew going into the postseason, he was going to have to do it all over again. And at this point in the postseason, it's a work in progress. Let me just check the stats on this.

Yes, Luke to cock is 100 percent on taking advantage of opportunities to take a shot at the Montreal media at Luke to cock on Twitter. I appreciate it, man. I'll see you tonight. Amen. Sometimes the truth is funny. You're the man.

I appreciate your time. Oh, man. This is just some things. It's like this. The sun coming up in the morning when Luke, the car takes a shot at the Montreal media.

There was there have certainly been waiting to pounce, although. Second full year for cocaine, the Emmy and his first really in a certainly a top nine role in the top six role. The production was maybe not as much as Carolina wants down the road, but I mean, set career highs in goals and points.

He was a good player this year, wasn't a great player this year, but he was a good player this year. I think personally, what we're seeing at a cocaine Emmy is somebody who will ultimately be Jordan stalls replacement. Now, I'm not asking him to be as good as Jordan stall.

That would be asking a ton from cocaine Emmy. But that's ultimately what I think he's going to be is Carolina's kind of defensive minded center, but one with some offensive upside. Look, there was a time where Jordan stall was, you know, not a not an anti goal scorer. So I actually I've I've liked cocaine Emmys game the last few. I really liked his game on Wednesday night. I liked him in game six. So hopefully we can get one more or not more than not one more. A lot more great games or good games out of. Yes, very good. And he also playing with Jordan, Martin, Martin, and yes, per fast. And as a tease, talk to him for the pregame show. So we'll talk to you. Yes, very cocaine Emmy about that.