Gold: I must be missing something

By Adam Gold radio host 99.9 the Fan

The Carolina Hurricanes are starting a 6-game, 5-city, 2-time zone road trip tonight, in Las Vegas, but I'm going to make you wait to find out the lineups and factoids about the game. I have something else I need help understanding.

The 2020 Hockey Hall of Fame Class was inducted last night, which means that another year has passed without Rod Brind’Amour taking his rightful place among hockey’s elite. Let’s just say this plainly, Brind’Amour has always been good enough for this honor. He’s better than some who are already in and certainly superior to some expected to enter the hall when the next class is announced.

That doesn’t mean that any of those players is undeserving, only that Brind’Amour has been overlooked for far too long and it seems as though his candidacy has slipped into the also-receiving-votes category.

The Sedin twins, Henrik and Daniel are on the ballot for the first time and it seems a foregone conclusion that they’ll take the express to Toronto. Why? Are they really better than Rod? Let’s set aside Daniel who wasn’t a center, wasn’t half the defensive player Brind’Amour was, and scored fewer goals, had fewer points and made less of a postseason impact in his career. That one alone should seem easy.

Henrik at least played the same position as Brind’Amour. And, was also thought to be a quality defensive player. But, in Rod’s class? He did win an MVP and a scoring title, but never lifted the Stanley Cup.

Meanwhile Brind’Amour, who is beloved in two different cities, has his number in the rafters in Raleigh and was inducted into the Flyers hall of fame in 2015. He also played in 54 more playoff games and scored more than twice as many goals in just one more postseason swing than the Sedin twins. He won two Selke Awards (seems low, but whatevs), was a legendary face off ace and probably should have won the 2006 Conn Smythe as MVP of the playoffs, but Cam Ward was also excellent so we can just put that onto the growing what-about-Rod list.

Again, I’m not arguing that Henrik or Daniel are not hall-worthy. But, I’m waiting for any credible explanation for why they go in on the first try, when Brind’Amour can’t seem to buy a bus ticket.

Oh, and one more thing, if hockey is such a team sport, one that values sacrifice for the greater good, then it’s absolutely criminal that Brind’Amour wasn’t elected years ago. He made everyone around him better as a player and a teammate. He was one of the most underrated captains of all time and never once looked for the spotlight. As a coach, he’s managed to get his teams to care about the mission as much as he does and that’s a feat because I’ve never met anyone who cares as much as Brind’Amour.

He just did/does his job, every day, better than just about everyone else did/does theirs.

And, have you seen his nose? My gosh, THAT’S HOCKEY, BABY!

Six game road trip starts tonight in Vegas against a pretty warm Golden Knights squad. It wasn’t the start they wanted in Vegas, with losses in 4 of their first 5 games. But, they’ve won 8 of their last 10 and are 9-6 on the year in spite of injuries to some of their best players.

Max Pacioretty, William Karlsson and Alec Martinez are among several who will not play tonight. Mark Stone, their best player, played his first game in a month Saturday night, and they won’t have Jack Eichel in the line up until sometime in 2022. Yet, it’s still a team that plays hard, has historically gotten good goaltending and lately has found a scoring touch. Vegas has 26 goals in their last 6 games (5-1-0).

Jonathan Marchessault is on fire of late, with a 6-game point streak (7g, 2a) to lead the Knights with 9 goals on the year. Alex Pietrangelo has 8 points (3g, 5a) in his last 6 games and Reilly Smith has a 3-game point streak (3g, 2a). In goal, Robin Lehner hasn’t quite been as good as last year’s Vezina Trophy winner, Marc-Andre Fleury. But, he’s 7-5-0 with a .918 SV%, which isn’t terrible at all. Against the Hurricanes however, Lehner has not had any success in his career. He’s started five and lost them all with a 4.00 GAA/.890 SV%.

It’s expected that the Hurricanes will have Nino Niederreiter and Martin Necas back in the lineup tonight. Nino has missed the last several games with a lower body injury. Necas was sick and sat out the last two games after scoring the overtime winner in Tampa Bay. Assuming they both draw back in, Rod Brind’Amour will have an interesting choice to make regarding someone coming out of the forward group.

Will Seth Jarvis stay in? His play is certainly deserving of continued ice time. And, if he does, who loses theirs? Jesperi Kotkaniemi hasn’t played consistently well, though the team invested draft capital and $6.1 million in this year’s test drive. Other candidates, barring an unforeseen injury or illness would be Jordan Martinook or Steven Lorentz, though both players have been very good in their respective roles.

Line ‘em up...

While Brind’Amour said he hadn’t made any definitive decisions about the line up, the morning skate combinations give us a little insight.

Svechnikov-Aho-Jarvis

Teravainen-Trocheck-Necas

Niederreiter-Staal-Fast

Lorentz-Stepan-Martinook-Kotkaniemi

Slavin-Bear

Skjei-DeAngelo

Smith-Cole

Raanta

Yes, I’m aware that you can’t put four forwards on a line. But, those four rotated during the skate and Kotkaniemi worked on face offs during the practice, so any of the four could end up in the press box. Also, it’s interesting to note that Teravainen would be playing the left side, a departure for him as he’s almost exclusively played his off wing since coming to Carolina.

Brett Pesce skated this morning but isn’t yet ready to return to the lineup. But, he wasn’t wearing a yellow, caution jersey so he’s obviously close to returning.

Antti Raanta, who was injured in that high speed collision with Florida’s Ryan Lomberg two weeks ago, will get his second start of the season. He was in net when Carolina rallied to beat Arizona, 2-1, a couple of weeks ago.

Coverage begins at 9:30 pm with Storm Watch starring Alec Campbell on 99.9 the Fan. Immediately following with the play by play will be Mike Maniscalco and Tripp Tracy. Don’t forget to follow the Canes Corner Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. There is a fresh episode the morning after every Hurricanes game.