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Tech difficulties non-stop. This keeps up and it'll be tough to watch.

Part of the Job: Kotkaniemi Prepared For Return To Montreal Thursday night. Canes vs. Canadiens. Jesperi Kotkaniemi returns to Centre Bell. The stage is set and by now most angles of the story have been covered. But what's it really like as we now inch closer to tomorrow night's return north of the border for the Canes forward to take on his former team for the first time? Tuesday afternoon the Finnish talent was made available by Hurricanes PR for a Zoom media availability, where 39 attendees, including many representing outlets from Canada, provided a variety of questions for the 21-year-old. Most questions were fair and what you would expect to be asked ahead of someone's return to a place where they hold prior experience, some of the questions were in attempt to create storylines going into the contest. The reality of the situation was that Kotkaniemi handled himself with class, navigating everything thrown at him in a professional manner - including having the wherewithal to say it would be "inappropriate" to say he would have been unhappy if Montreal had matched the Canes offer sheet. "It's part of the job," he shared laughingly afterward, again seemingly unphased by the atypical situation taking place two days before a game. "I think everything went alright, it's just one of those things you need to deal with." https://www.nhl.com/hurricanes/news/part-of-the-job-kotkaniemi-prepared-for-return-to-montreal/c-327056956 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Habs are winless in their first four games and will be looking for a spark on offense to reverse the early season slide. Forward Jonathan Drouin (2 goals) and defenseman Chris Wideman (1 goal) are the team's only goal scorers a week into the regular season. The Canadiens also have work to do on special teams as they hope to get the power play clicking (0 for 13), while also shoring up the penalty kill (58.8%). At the other end of the ice, the Hurricanes arrive in Montreal undefeated following a pair of 6-3 and 3-2 wins opposite the New York Islanders and Nashville Predators, respectively. Through two games, Carolina's penalty kill is operating at a 100% efficiency (7 for 7) and the power play has produced two goals in nine opportunities with the man advantage (22.2%). Winger Andrei Svechnikov leads the team in goals (3) and points (4) while goaltender Frederik Andersen has backstopped both Canes' wins with a .926 save percentage and a 2.50 goals-against-average. Thursday's game will notably mark the return of Jesperi Kotkaniemi to the Bell Centre. The former Canadiens first-round pick (3rd overall) from 2018 is still looking for his first point in a Carolina uniform.

https://www.nhl.com/hurricanes/news/no-panic-necessary-hurricanes-utilize-new-line-combinations-at-practice-monday/c-326973438 Most teams that have two wins in two games would feel as if what they're trying to execute is working, especially when the team tallies nine goals in those two games. However, as seen during the third period of Saturday night's victory, the head coach wasn't satisfied with what he was getting from his group, thus shifting personnel around. Jordan Martinook was skating with Sebastian Aho for a bit and in a late-game situation Aho was then with Jordan Staal and Jesper Fast. Those are just two examples of how some of the parts were moved and at Monday's practice the combinations were the following: Teravainen - Aho - Kotkaniemi Svechnikov - Trocheck - Necas Niederreiter - Staal - Fast Martinook - Stepan - Lorentz/Jarvis "It's a good thing when you know you [as a team] can still get better and still win some games," Aho said following the group's session at Wake Competition Center. "We just try and get a little bit better every day. Obviously, we got two wins, which is a good thing, but we know we can play better."

And I appreciate the time and effort to create those threads. Maybe until we get way deeper in the season, a simple, no frills thread will suffice. Tell ya what, I'll start the Montreal thread tomorrow, keep it simple and tell me what you all think?

Yeah, I have to agree. Trying to scroll my way through to where the game started & ended is a royal pain. Why not just start a game thread for each game and delete the previous game?

The playbook isn't worth squat. Everyone else in the league already knows it better than Brady.

Not to mention the arena feed on the big screen is also the TV feed.

It's all perspective, I understand, but moving the team out of North Carolina? Does that count?

Reddick spent more time dropping into coverage yesterday than he did the previous 5 games. Did Snow think with YGM back, he could use Reddick as a pass defender? Made no sense to me.

I'm looking at the schedule to see when we can coordinate attending a game with our flight the next morning to the Caribbean. We live about an hour from Raleigh, so we get a hotel near the airport because the best flights are out early. Then we go to a Canes game, if they're home, the night before we fly. Lots of fun. We last did it in February 2020 the night before we flew to Aruba. Turns out that might have been one of the last home games with fans they played.

Trip spends more time talking about how Freddie tracks the puck- "Where his eyes go, his body follows..." He must have made that statement 3-4 times Saturday night, in the second and third periods alone. I get it though, what Trip is saying and what I'm seeing don't sync. He is very good post-to-post, though. And I've still not seen anything to prove to me the Barzal goal in the home opener was legit.

If you don't want them at that price because of the product, why do you think anyone else will pay that for the same product. Do yourself a favor- sell your game tickets for the rest of the season and hold onto the PSL until they have a decent season, then sell. Trust me, I began selling my game tickets, sometimes at a loss, thru the 2011 and 2012 seasons because I had already decided to unload the PSLs. Then during the 12-4 2013 season, I sold them and actually made money- not a lot, but a couple bucks. And I was a PSL owner from 1995.

Year 2 of a rebuild and it's obvious another rebuild is in order.

That's game.

400+ yards of offense for Minnesota

Today wii mark the day, after only 2 home games, the stadium will become home field for all visiting teams. Carolina Panthers, you are done. Stadium empty yet?

"Hello, Mark Davis? David Tepper here. By all means, you have permission to interview Joe Brady right now if you like. Matter of fact, if you could make that happen before the 3rd quarter starts, that'd be great."

Vikes know this offense better than the Panthers.

https://www.thescore.com/nhl/news/2202704 Let's see... he goes to the LTIR and doesn't play another shift during the regular season, only to be miraculously 100% the minute the playoffs start. Tampa Bay then goes to the playoffs with a near $100M roster.

RBA changed up a couple lines in the 3rd, he left the 4th line alone. It all came down to lefties, righties and the face-off dots. A lot of not very crisp passes are leading to turnovers. But, once the Canes took the lead last night I did notice they stood tall at the blue line and decided not to give Nashville uncontested entry. I said it last year and I'll continue this year- Jesper Fast in a very underrated player on this roster. Stepan, Bear, TDA... I'm liking this roster a lot. I think it allows for more flexibility in changing up lines and I think RBA has a lot more options.

The last preseason game Anderson gave up 3 soft goals before I turned it off, but to be fair, he didn't have any starters in front of him. Roman Josi is a Cane Killer and he always seems to play well against Carolina. That being said, he'll take a few hits tonight, I think.

And cannot contend with him for 6-8 games per season.

Who? Aren't those guys buried down the depth chart somewhere? Oh, wait.........

Yep. Most of that is because the NHL has kept the salary cap as simple as it can possibly be and as long as the annual cap number isn't ridiculous, you won't see an A-Rod or Albert Pujols type contract in the NHL. I prefer it that way over having to hire some Ivy League educated capologist just to have an elementary understanding. That being said, there are some loopholes that could be closed in the NHL system (Tampa Bay Lightning and their $92M roster last season).