Canes are taking on the NY Islanders for the first round of the NHL playoffs

Without the ones like you, who work tirelessly to keep things running, everything would suddenly stop.

Hospitals, factories, schools, and power plants, they all depend on you. No matter the weather, emergency, or time of day, you're the ones who get it done. At Grainger, we're here for you with professional-grade industrial supplies. Count on real-time product availability and fast delivery. Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by.

Grainger, for the ones who get it done. We found out that the Hurricanes will play the New York Islanders sometime this weekend. Don't know what it is. It's going to be this weekend because that's when the playoffs start. Schedule will be released Thursday night by the NHL. They are trying to give each team as little time as possible to plan.

That's what they do at league HQ. But we do know for the second straight year, it will be the New York Islanders. Islanders played well down the stretch.

Rangers ended up winning the President's Trophy last night, shutting out Ottawa in their season finale. And the Hurricanes will play theirs tonight. And that will be in Columbus. And the Hurricanes uniforms will go out there without a lot of their regular players in them.

Tripp Tracy is in Columbus and he joins us on the Adam Gold Show. Are you surprised at all that Rod is resting so many players? No. When I started to ponder the risk-reward, whether you start Saturday or Sunday, my gut says Sunday, but I have no idea. The risk of the break, because you and I have spoken about individually and collectively how this team is challenged at times by breaks, but that's the risk. But the reward of trying to reduce your chances of any unforeseen injury. Take into account all those things, A.G., they would have gone with their A-plus lineup tonight if the Rangers had lost and you had a chance to win the division of the President's Trophy. But once that's wrapped up as it is, the only thing that is even hanging in the balance is the Dallas Stars.

If you were to advance to the Stanley Cup final and Dallas was to come out of the West as to who would have home ice because you solidified it beyond the Rangers in the East. So I factor all those things together and any risk of any potential injury, it doesn't surprise me that Rod's going with this young lineup. Yeah, I mean, the regret that Rod would have, and it doesn't even have to be a major injury, if Svechnikov tweaks his upper body injury that kept him out of the lineup on two or three different stretches this year, even if it keeps you out for two games, right? The regret you would have in that regard, I think probably weighed on Rod, and the truth is that if you don't play until Sunday or Monday, there's going to be rust whether these guys play tonight anyway. So the more I thought about it, the more it made sense, even though I know these guys don't want to sit. Like, if you asked Ajo Jarvis Gensl, do you want to play or, you know, watch tonight, they would have all said, like, I got skates, let's go, because that's the way they're wired. I go back to the crazy Pandemic Central, where nothing was to be played for in the last couple of games, and Ajo played. Remember those games in Nashville? He played both of them, and then they went into the playoffs. So these guys ultimately, they ultimately want to play. If I had to ask you, who's the MVP of the regular season?

I should have saved this for the end, but I'm not. Who is Carolina's MVP of the regular season? By the way, quick, and he'd be a candidate, but quick book note to what you just said. I want to say in the last game of the regular season that year that that's where Slavin got hurt. And then you had to really manage him in that first round series against the team you got hurt against late in the regular season, the Nashville Predators. So that's a great example of it. The most valuable player to the hockey club, you know, is, hey, I just mentioned Slavin.

He'd be a prime candidate at the end of the day. I just have to go with Sebastian Aho because, A, um... Adam Gold here with my man coach Pete DeRuta, Capital Financial Advisory Group. Are most of your clients hands-on, or they just give you their money and let it work for them? About 90 percent give the money, and then we meet every year and go through status reports, have a financial pit stop, make sure everything's fine. It is like a puzzle, Adam, but for the next 10 of you, we'll solve your own retirement puzzle at no cost or obligation. Call and claim your comprehensive review with Coach Pete and the team, 888-843-0013, or text ADAM to 600-700. Adam Gold is a paid spokesman.

Investment advisory services offered by Capital Financial Advisory Group, a North Carolina registered investment advisor. When I look at his production, B, when I look at his plus-minus, and C, when I look at when this team was facing by far its most adversity in the mid portion of December, and that massive win in Ottawa that really, I think, turned things around. I think he had two or three points in that hockey game. I think he might have had the game-winning goal, so that was the most adversity that the team faced. Since then, I think he has truly graduated from being a star performer and was having a solid season to being a superstar. So, when I factor in all those things, there's some other great candidates, but Sebastian Ajo would be mine. Yeah, that was a three-point night that triggered the rest of the season, and Ajo has been about 1.2 points a game, basically, since then. And as I think, last look, plus 34 on the season.

Face-off percentage around 55%. These are all the things that matter to the head coach. He has been tremendous. I'm just going to throw my hat in the ring for Seth Jarvis, considering where he is, what he means in all situations to this team. Comparing lines is so dangerous in terms of disrespecting what we've had in the past, but Ajo, Gensel, and Jarvis has to be as good as anything Carolina put on the ice in 2006, no? Yeah, I mean, in 2006, in the regular season, you had the two, Eric Stahl and Cole and Corey Stillman.

That was unbelievable. Eric Stahl had over 100 points, and obviously Cole had that scary injury at the trade deadline, so that deadline's star play was disrupted, but no disagreement in terms of that comparison, and also the invaluable value of Seth Jarvis, A.G. Tripp Tracy is joining us here as we get ready for the Hurricanes and the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight. We're going to see some young guys. We're going to see Scott Morrow play again. We're going to see the NHL debut of first-round pick Bradley Nadeau, Jackson Blake, who was a finalist for the Hobie Baker Award. What's your level of excitement to see what these guys can offer?

High level. It certainly changes my perspective and the juices flowing element in an otherwise essentially meaningless game. I had a chance to get to know all three of these players, and I know it's the second game for Morrow. I thought he was very solid and got better as the game wore along. More comfortable, more offensively dangerous against St. Louis, and watching Nadeau and Blake, I mean, the way the puck pops off their stick when they shoot the puck. I mean, the kid that played Nazar in Chicago playing in his first game. I mean, the way that these young guys, collegiate products, their self-belief, their dedication to their skill sets can jump into the league. And if you're an offensive shooter, like a couple of these guys that can already fire the puck in a noticeable manner at the National Hockey League level is really impressive to me. And I don't care how many times you are fortunate enough to broadcast and observe a National Hockey League debut. It never gets old. So in these circumstances, I'm really excited to see these Nadeau and Blake enter the lineup tonight.

It's going to be a ton of fun. Yeah, I mean, they both had outstanding offensive seasons. Blake at North Dakota and Nadeau for the Maine Black Bears. Jack Drury is going to center Carolina's top line tonight, it appears. But it's a pretty big game for Evgeny Kuznetsov, wouldn't you think? I absolutely agree. I mean, you're looking at the, you know, I say competition for the center ice position, but you do have, you know, when you factor in what your lineup is going to be, of course, you hope first and foremost, you get out of this game healthy.

And then what probably will be a physical series. If last year's is any indication against the Islanders, you know, when you're thinking about coke in the Emmy and Drury, there are two players that have shown they can play wing, but there is major competition in the middle of the ice. And, you know, you mentioned Jack Drury. I don't see him based upon, you know, the situations that rod uses him.

I don't see him coming out of the lineup. Uh, you know, so I really think about Kuznetsov and coke in the Emmy. I would suspect, Adam, that based upon the fact that Evgeny Kuznetsov is the Stanley Cup champion, that he very easily could have won the consummate with Washington that come game one on the weekend that he'll be the incumbent, he'll get first crack, but there's a ton of urgency for him. Um, and candidly, when I look at his play was outstanding early and it's fallen off. And, you know, so I sit there and I say, Hey, you know, the fact that he has a very, um, carefree I've enjoyed the heck out of getting to know him, but a carefree attitude that that type of attitude and experience when other players can tense up even on a veteran club like this, that has a wealth of playoff experience, but that demeanor that Evgeny has, I'm hoping it's going to allow him to flip a switch and a very significant switch, um, at the beginning of the playoffs.

But you got to start flipping that switch in a game like this. So I do think it's not everything, but it's, it's another important night for Kuznetsov. Yeah. My read on him is that a lot of adrenaline when he first got here, cause he hadn't played a lot of hockey in a while, a lot of adrenaline then hit the wall. I kept likening it to when Justin Williams returned after missing the first, what, four months of his second season under Rod.

Uh, and that there was an initial adrenaline burst and then there was a two, three week kind of valley to push through. Uh, and then he came out on the other side and was great. Um, I'm counting on Kuznetsov, this being the other side when we get to the playoffs, uh, when the lights are brightest and he has certainly turned, you know, he's proven to be a big game player in the past. Um, we, we, we're assuming that it'll be Frederick Anderson in game one. He has not faced the Islanders at all this year. The one time he was on the roster, it was Kuznetkov's turn to play. And it looks like we're going to see Spencer Martin tonight.

Um, but just your thoughts on the Islanders again, especially the way they are playing, how differently are there, are they under Patrick Waugh than they were under Lane Lambert and before then under Barry trout. It's up to you. No purchase necessary.

Go to five h e tie.com for official rules and to enter that's five h e tie.com enter today ends June 30th, 2024. For the ones who get it done at Grainger. We're here for you with professional grade industrial supplies.

Count on real time product availability and fast delivery call click Grainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done. Well, I mean, the first thing I think about AIG, you know, it's been so long since I played the game, but one of the, one of the reasons and there were several that fast tracked me to not playing and to the booth was I probably gave my opponent individually and collectively too much respect. And so I caution myself when I think about the Islanders and I had profound respect for the Islanders because I thought that that was a much, much more difficult series than the six games that are required last year. Um, physically in particular, um, so I, Caroline is a better team, but it's tough to beat the Islanders. It would be three times the Islanders.

I think it would be five or six with Lou Lamorello managed teams going back to the devils. Um, but when I think about the Islanders under Patrick, uh, and everything he accomplished in his career, I think my biggest takeaway and the fact that they are now playing their best hockey of the season. Is they're not getting rattled, you know, in in moments of the game where it's not going their way. They seem to be showing an internal confidence and composure that I think was an Achilles heel for a veteran club like Carolina earlier this year.

So that's for me, been their biggest advancement. Uh, I think the biggest question for the Islanders and it's going to be an interesting one is whether Patrick starts with semi on their llama for Elia Sorokin. I, I had the good, I had the good fortune with John Forslund to do Patrick law's first ever playoff game as a head coach for NBC. That was as a goalie, that was bucket list, you know, being on the bench with Patrick long period. Um, when you have the type of swagger he does, I, I don't think you can do anything other than extend in, in that charisma to the team. Uh, it's going to be a tough series.

They all are. When you make the playoffs, I love Carolina's team. If Carolina, I hope they don't, but if they face any type of adversity, like they did in the first round of the year, they won the Stanley cup. That isn't, it'll cause me stress, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing, but they're a quality opponent. Carolina is better than they were last year.

New York is similar other than a new head coach, but it's going to be a hard series. Trip, Tracy, I'll leave you on the Sebastiano numbers since that game in Ottawa, 28 goals, 67 points and a plus 33 in 54 games. Uh, yeah, that's team MVP type stuff. Trip, Tracy, you are a team MVP. Uh, I will see you at the rink when it all starts sometime this weekend, sir. I cannot wait, AG. Love you.

This is truly the best time of year and, uh, can't wait for that part to drop. You got it. Thanks Trip.

I appreciate your time. That's Trip, Tracy. Carolina Hurricanes, sometimes play-by-play guy, analyst, uh, man about town. Yeah. Um, yeah, those numbers for Ajo are, uh, are pretty staggering. The thing about the Islanders, and I think I mentioned this before, in our minds, the Islanders are very difficult to play against because they're stingy in terms of allowing goals.

That isn't the case. The Islanders were not stingy this year. In fact, the Islanders figured out ways to not only win games, but blow games that they had leads in. They, especially early in the season, they lost a ton of overtime games. They kept dragging games into overtime or leading and blowing leads and getting dragged into overtime before losing. Remember, two of the four games between the Hurricanes and the Islanders went into OT. And we know that we had overtime games in the playoffs with them, including a Jesper Faust game winner and a Paul Stasny series ender, which was sort of a fluke goal where Stasny just threw it at the net from the corner. Goal line extended all the way at the wall, and somehow it got through Ilya Sorokin. But Tripp brought up a really good point. It's been Simeon Varlamov lately for the Islanders, and frankly, I'll be surprised if it's not Simeon Varlamov to start the playoffs. That's all the time we have for this edition of Go Carry.