The Carolina Hurricanes vs the Seattle Kraken tonight

There's a hockey game tonight. It'll be on the radio if you're listening in Raleigh. It'll be on the radio here. It'll be on the radio in other places too.

It'll also be on TV. And that's where you can find my friend John Forslund. If you are living in Seattle and listening, I can't understand why you would, but maybe you are. John is the voice of the Seattle Kraken, also TNT. And he's my friend, and we have his phone number.

And oh man, now I want wings! John Forslund, how are you? I'm great, Adam. How are you?

Doing great. We're well into the season. Why can't the Kraken suddenly score goals?

Well, it's a mental thing right now. They've actually played well enough to win a couple of their games. But that's the line that's drawn across many games throughout the National Hockey League, the way that the parody is. You have to be consistent. And the way the Kraken were last year, the secret sauce they had working all year was their consistency and their balance scoring.

And they came in waves and it was hard to defend. Right now, there's pieces on each line that are not playing well. And there's a lion's share of the team that's not scoring.

So there you go. And so we'll see what happens tonight. They're trying to stay positive.

They're trying to fight through this thing. They started last year 1-2-2. It wasn't that great in the first five games. And obviously, this isn't very good.

And they have a great test tonight with an excellent team coming in here. We'll see what happens. Here's the thing about it. And I probably shouldn't have gotten so harsh so quickly. But I don't know.

My bedside manner is lost apparently with my sleep. John Forslund is joining us here. I have no doubts that Seattle is going to score a bushel of goals this year. They were fifth in the league in goals scored per game last year at better than three and a half.

This team can score. Mattie Beneers had a good year. He's going to be amazing. I actually talked to Rod Brind'emore about this already.

And he agreed. Mattie Beneers is one of those guys. He's one of those dynamic players that people tune in. I gotta watch this kid play.

So it's been a slow start. He doesn't have a point through four games. Again, not worried about him.

What makes him go? Well, he kind of models himself after his boyhood idol who is Patrice Bergeron. So growing up in Boston, that was his guy. And if you're going to model yourself after a fundamentally sound player and a guy who's a terrific leader, intelligent player, defender, and scorer, and can play in every facet of the game, there's your guy, right?

So that's kind of who he's looking at and wants to be. Terrific rookie season. Again, like the team, mental torture right now.

How do you fight through it? The only thing I'll say about his game right now is when he struggled to score and he went a few stretches in his first year, five, six games without a point and so on, the rest of his game didn't really vacillate to the negative. It was always true fundamentally.

He was always right on his game, back checking, making the right plays defensively. And, uh, and that's a little bit different right now. So this is a, this is a test for him to turn that around first and then get back to his scoring. And if he does, you know, good for him. But second seasons after winning the rookie of the year, it's not easy. Every sport talks about the sophomore slump.

It could be the case. It's way too early for that, but he's a, he's a franchise. He will be a franchise piece moving forward, uh, still in his first contract.

We'll see where it goes. He's such a fun player to watch. And there's so many good young players like that. I know the, uh, the hurricanes just had to deal last in the playoffs last year. Uh, not that Jack Hughes is brand new to the league, but players like Jack Hughes are why you tune into watch.

They just, they just are. Um, last year was such a fun year. And John Forslund is joining us here on the Adam gold show. Such a fun year for hockey fans in Seattle year. One didn't go as well as anybody light, but man year two was fun. So coming off the upset of Colorado in the first round of the playoffs, what was the off season? Like among the fans, the lead up to this season, like, and again, four games of 82, nobody should take anything from that, but what has the, you know, the, the lead up to this season been like is getting your CPAP supplies, a real pain.

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It's unknown if so tick to has the same risks as jack inhibitors. Call 1-888-S-O-T-Y-K-T-U to learn more. It's incredible and it's, it's, I'm not going to say shocking because I had an outsider's view of the market before I got here. Right. I think we've seen the Seahawk, the 12s as they call them, the Seahawk nation, we've seen, you know, the way they've supported the Mariners without any playoff success for better than two decades. And the supersonics back in the day, what it was like here.

So this is a along with soccer and everything else that they have. It's a tremendous sports market filled with fans who come with an edge and a passion and they get really loud and they thrive off the, you know, the cloudiness and the rain and all this stuff that comes with the winter. But the, the lead up in the, in the summer was tremendous and the buildup and throughout the Stanley cup playoffs, I kept telling people, you know, wait, do you see playoff hockey?

But it's all a bunch of words until they see it. Some people had an idea, but like we saw over the years in Raleigh, you know, once you get that experience and you're in a building and you're seeing a Stanley cup playoff game, there's nothing like it. So it was through the moon and it is, it is a situation right now that, um, is great.

Uh, again, you know, what have you done for me lately? Uh, you know, the, the, the haters come out when you don't succeed, that's natural. And that's where the cracking are at today. A couple of wins to end this homestand will do them good. Uh, they have a real tough schedule. They, they play seven of their first 10 on the road. They'll be back out East next week and we'll see in Raleigh a week from today, but it is, uh, it's not an easy goal. And this homestand is Colorado, Carolina, and the Rangers. That's, that's not an easy draw. So, uh, again, they have a big challenge ahead of them.

There's no question. So seven out of their, uh, first 10 on the road, is there a state fair in Seattle too? Oh, they just, I think the weather's too nice. So they want to get us here when the weather's miserable. So we had a 75 degree day yesterday with bright blue skies.

We have the same thing today. Uh, the summer here, uh, for the people that experience it is just a phenomenal. They went, they had a half an inch of rain in four months, uh, but then it all comes down at once throughout the winter. So maybe that's the case. Get us out of here while it's nice and bring us back in November for the majority of November at home when the rain start to come.

But the rain never gets to me. It's been great. And it's just a sensational circumstance. Is there, cause you talked about the fan base now, Jack, they were, and you, I mean, you're in a position now where you're also talking to fans who haven't had NHL hockey locally, uh, before. Is there a similarity with how, whether it's you, how you approach the fan base or how the fan base has embraced the team that we experienced here?

That's a great question. I have approached this job the same way as I did back in 1997, 98 and that era, you know, and then each step along the way with playoff success with the hurricanes. But there are layers of fans in the Seattle market. It's a little bit different than Raleigh in the beginning Raleigh in the beginning, as you know, as an either or either came from somewhere else and knew about the game where he had no idea whatsoever. Um, we have a lot of people that have no idea whatsoever, and that's good because they become some of your most ardent fans. We have people who have followed the junior teams here, as you know, there's major junior hockey here in Everett and Kent with the Seattle Thunderbirds. So people are aware of the game and have followed it for years and know some of the history of pro hockey in Seattle going way back when.

And then there's people have transplanted and they love the game and they had teams that they've supported throughout their years where they lived elsewhere. But so we kind of have that, but this is a different circumstance because of the build up expansion situation was so well organized as a different generation, different era. Everything's in place to make it work. And you're opening up a building that I think is second to none in North America. It is. It is.

Climate pledge arena is absolutely spectacular. And so you put all of that in the same. Then you come up with an unbelievable circumstance. But we had to go through in Raleigh for all those years was continue to build, continue to build, even when there was success, like a Stanley Cup, you were still building. You didn't feel like you had arrived yet. Maybe the team feels that way now.

I'm not sure. I'm not there anymore. But it's way better. And it's a great market in Raleigh. But we had to cultivate that for many, many years. I'm proud of that.

Same thing's going on here. These two seasons have been really rewarding for me. And we're in the year three and we're just getting started. So just to go back to 2002 and 2001 playoff games were not sold out right for the Hurricanes. And now everything I mean, they the only game they didn't sell out last year, basically the only game they didn't have more than 18000 last year was a Halloween game against the Washington Capitals. And they made up for that in spades when they had the Capitals play over at Carter Finley Stadium. They got nearly 60000.

So it was one of those type years. But that's what happens. Everybody understands when you win. Everybody's a fan. And by the way, when we see you a week from today, actually, at PNC Arena next Thursday, it's very possible that Andrei Svechnikov and Sebastian Ajo will make their returns to the lineup. So you miss you miss number 20 tonight, John.

You're gonna have to call Tevo Terravine and maybe as a center. That's OK. I watched him the other night. He's doing OK.

He's all right. Yeah. They just figured out how to play with about nine minutes left.

So that was that was interesting. You know, they'll be they'll be they'll be great. They won't be fine. They'll be great. And I look forward to seeing steps back in the lineup because I love that kid. And I know what I look forward to. I'll be in the building because, you know, I get there early. I look forward to him coming out around four thirty and stick handling. That means he'll be in the lineup. And I'll give him a round of applause like I usually do.

And then he usually looks up at me still. Even when I came back two times with Seattle, he did it. So hopefully he'll do it next Thursday night because we did that every game when I was there. But they're going to they're going to be great. And right now, I think the canes are kind of in between defensively a little bit. Our play bails them out. The shorthanded situation has been great. The goalkeeping is kind of up in the air a little bit.

Yes. They got some flaws on the back end. They're going to have to look at, you know, but they got enough depth and they should.

Hey, they're everybody's pick to win it all. So we'll see what happens. I cannot wait to see you in the building a week from tonight. I will see you there.

I appreciate your time, Mr. Forslund. And good luck tonight. I know you will. You will be a usual spectacular self and we'll see you in seven days. Thanks, buddy.

Look forward to seeing you. You got care. That's the best job force. And he is the best in the business. And I appreciate that mass. Not a slight to anybody else. No, but he's awesome. He is just next level.