Canes are back tonight from a 10 day break!

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Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. Grainger. For the ones who get it done. Vancouver and Carolina tonight at PNC Arena. First game out of the shoot. Joining us is Tripp Tracy, Hurricanes game analyst at Tripp Tracy. We're going to dig in right now. So, sir, let's dig in.

How, I don't know, worried is not the right word. It's been 10 days since both of these teams have played. How rusty do we anticipate the first period looking?

Good to be back with you, A.G., as always. You know, when I look at it, if I've learned anything about all of these different breaks, the first period should be tremendously energetic, I think, from both teams. You know, when I think about a unique circumstance like this, it's the second period that I think takes on particular importance because, you know, I would think against a truly upper echelon opponent that Vancouver's been in the West this year, that both teams are going to have an abundance of energy in the first period. That's the way I think it's going to go.

Could be dead wrong. Which team is then going to visibly fall off of it? In particular in that second period, because oftentimes when you look at, let's just take it, it wasn't as long of a break as this, but during the month of January, you had that Saturday night game against St. Louis, and you didn't play until Thursday against Anaheim. You went lights out in the first period against the Ducks, and then you fell off of it mentally and energetically in the second period. And that's where the Ducks on that particular night made a game of it.

The Hurricanes ended up winning. But that's, not knowing how it's going to play out and unfold, when I look at it, I'm watching the second period in particular because I think both teams will have an energetic start. Which team will be able to maintain it?

Which team will fall off of it in that pendulum swinging second? Vancouver has the number one point differential in the NHL. For all, we always look at tons of stats. I think an underrated stat, and maybe the most important, is goal differential. We score this many, we allow this many. 61 tops in the NHL. And they just added one of the best two-way players in Elias Lindholm.

How tall is this task tonight? It's not just tonight, but Thursday night too with Colorado. It's right back into it. And that's potentially a very good thing. Not to say that any of the Hurricanes players, that their mind is still going to be in their vacation. But I think it's good that you have these two opponents that you know that you're going to have to be good. And you can't beat yourself to be able to win hockey games against the Canucks and the Avalanche.

When I look at Vancouver this year, I know Rick talk it really well. They've always had a core of tremendous skill and talent up front and with Quinn Hughes on the blue line. But they've gotten a buy-in. They've gotten a team that is playing with work ethic every night and structure. And they've always had game-changing talent.

So there's a reason where they're at. And now that they get the boost of getting Lindholm, it's his first game. You don't know how these are going to go. Vancouver's maybe in a spot right now, Adam, that the Hurricanes have learned to deal with and deal very well with, not with regards to trades in season, but when all of a sudden the hype is really there. The expectation is really there. This is a new chapter for them with regards to that.

You don't know how they're going to deal with that. But it's not a huge surprise to me that they've had the type of year they've had in the goal differential that you mentioned. I mean, Jim Pfeiffer is the man who drafted Elias Lindholm, and much like he did back in 2006 by acquiring Doug Waite well ahead of the trade deadline, he does that with maybe, I mean, I don't think maybe he is the top forward and he's a right-handed center.

Not a lot of teams have those anyway. I mean, he took the, maybe the biggest piece off the available chessboard. What does Elias bring to Vancouver or would he bring to any team? Yeah, I spoke to Jim about it last week. I mean, it's amazing because the Doug Waite trade was made on January 30th and the deal for Lindholm January 31st. And then I thought about, you know, Jim and I had a conversation about it, that Lindholm was really developed properly. And I say that with admiration because the Hurricanes did not have depth at that point in time. So he was thrust in the NHL, you know, as a rookie at a very, very young age. I can remember when we were on a road trip and he was struggling some and we were in Arizona and Jim made the decision to send him to the World Junior Championships.

It was, I believe, in Malmo, Sweden that year. That was a developmental decision that, you know, I think was a part of the fact that Lindholm was developed well. And most of it was, all of it was a little bit in the American League, but virtually all of it at the National Hockey League level.

So I think that in hindsight, many years later when the Hurricanes didn't have all of the talent and depth that they do now, I think that that deserves some definite credit. Lindholm, like you said, I mean, I've been fond of Elias from the beginning and that's been constant because He's a righty. He can play center wing. He'll probably play wing tonight. It gives you a lefty and a righty and he and Pederson to win draws on either side of the rink.

There are no shortcuts in his game whatsoever. He's a net front pop out guy. We'll see where he is on the Vancouver power play. You know, when I think of the Hurricanes best ones over the last many years, Jarvis is doing a nice job right now, but it's Elias Lindholm and then Justin Williams. And it's a fresh start for him after having a couple of sensational seasons with the Calgary Flames, you know, potential distractions. His numbers have been off this year. So the reset and then you have Swedes on the Hockey Club too.

And he has always had an ability partner to really flourish when he's playing with, insulated with, a part with great players. And that's what he's got with the Canucks. Look, they were a great team before they got Elias Lindholm. They certainly didn't get any worse.

All right. We only have a couple of more minutes and I'm not trying to Russian you out of here. Ha ha ha ha ha. Let's start with the absence of Andrei Svechnikov. This will be the fifth game since what the 19th of January, his last game. It was kind of a surprise omission from the lineup when he first missed. They thought he would be back by this point.

Thoughts on your Russian brother? I thought he'd be back obviously for tonight. That's disappointing because of the caliber of opponent. But what I've got in my head in trying to make it as concise as possible, A.G. is simply that in respect to cough, there's a lot left to chance, but you want to give yourself every controllable opportunity to make sure that he is confident, flourishing, game changing for the playoffs. You're within arm's length of the New York Rangers. You know, I spent a lot of the breaks thinking about how important is winning the division going to be. I don't know how important it really is when I look at whichever team is going to finish in the third spot. The Metro Division is going to be playing outstanding hockey because the teams that I factor in really islanders, penguins, devils. I think Philadelphia is going to fall out. He's going to be playing playoff hockey. But you look at the wild card, which might probably will be a couple Atlantic teams that could change. So I don't put a ton of value on winning the division.

It would be great. It would be great for home ice as the playoff rounds unfold. What I'm thinking about was fetch the cough is you need him in the playoffs.

And if he's not 100 percent, you are on the side of caution. Yeah, they didn't have him in the playoffs last year. They won the last three without him.

But it's Vancouver is a different animal. And the other is we'll get our first look at a while at Piotr Kuchetkoff tonight. I don't want to put too much on one game, but it's probably four or five, six game. Look for Carolina to basically get a determination as to what Piotr Kuchetkoff is. If he's the Kuchetkoff from basically, you know, the Ottawa game on, then Carolina might not have to make any move with the pending return of Freddie Anderson. Yeah, you've got just over a month, a couple of days over a month between now and the trade, that deadline to assess Piotr Kuchetkoff over a significant sample size to see if he can continue and consistently play the way that he did in the second half of December and into January before he got hurt. You and I spoke during the break with the news, very exciting news, positive news about Anderson's beginning to skate on his own. That's the other part of it that you you factor in with just over a month to see where he's at. Can you rely on him? Because when you can, we know what his numbers are in the postseason. And then I'll tell you, it was just a morning skate today, but I the one guy that actually caught my attention that I thought was particularly sharp was not about that. So, you know, in determining what you're going to do and go, I think the hurricanes are in a very favorable position because it's not like the trade deadline is a week or two away. It's a significant sample size of just over a month to figure out, do you need to do something in a perfect world? You don't, but you'd have to check a few boxes, including his play consistently. And if it is what it had been before his injury, I think, you know, as long as you have depth, you give him an opportunity to be the guy.

But you've got to see it over the next four weeks and change. I will see you in just a few minutes. Trip, Tracy, thank you so much. Love you, A.G. That's Trip Tracy. Analysts, Carolina hurricanes. Thank you.