It’s Carolina Hurricanes opening night; UNC puts out statements regarding Belichick

It’s Carolina Hurricanes opening night; UNC puts out statements regarding Belichick

So excited for tonight’s Carolina Hurricanes home opener, season opener, lid lifter for the Carolina Hurricanes. We’ve been teased for the past 48 hours with four other games and other teams playing. We got to see the debut of Mitch Mner, an Edmonton team that lost in a shootout, but overnight signed Jack Rosik. Yes. Carolina Hurricanes news right off the top here. Made a game. They signed Jack Rosik. Made a game. Yes. I want to know who wasn’t getting it done for them. They’re like, “All right, well, clearly we need to sign somebody. Get Jack Rosavic on the phone right now.” $1.5 million. Jack Rosavic has now moved on officially from the Carolina Hurricanes. That speculation uh can certainly end, but we’ve been Yeah. Good for him. Good for him. I I thought it was pretty crazy that we got all the way to two days into the regular season, he didn’t get signed by anybody. It It was a little odd, wasn’t it? Uh, so we’re here. We made it. Uh, we made it through Rod Bindmore’s least favorite season, the NHL preseason. Uh, we’ve found out that there’s a couple of new things on the concourse for you to indulge in when you go to Kane’s games or other events at Lenovo Center that will open up tonight. We know tonight’s game will be on 999 the Fan, as will every Carolina Hurricanes hockey game in the regular season. and fingers crossed deep into the postseason as well. Hopefully that means we are playing hockey until June. But we have to start somewhere first and that comes with the first game where the Carolina Hurricanes will open up the season with two games at home and then head out on the illustrious state fair road trip which you know, hey, whatever. It’s whatever. And that’s the time when this team has to come together with all its brand new pieces and whatnot. And now we understand what the hashtag is this year. It is the the the the rallying cry, the call of the wild for the Carolina Hurricanes is now Carolina culture. It doesn’t scream claws to me or our claws are out or we’re going to come run you over, but it it’s more of a building block, right? It’s more of a, hey, this is what we’re going to get behind. This is how we’re going to build things up. Got some new faces. Got a bunch of old dudes running it back again. And the thoughts are that this team will make a deep run, but we have to start somewhere first. Now, not quite sure if Pota is going to be ready to go. Rod Brenda said he’s kind of dayto-day still kind of dealing with some bumps and bruises and whatnot, but Rod did speak to the media yesterday and was asked how he talks about and judges game one as opposed to just a mid-season hookup. No, you’re looking for the same things. I think, you know, maybe there’s a little more grace in game one than there would be in game 30, meaning, you know, there’s a mistake here or there by maybe a newer player or whatever, you know, just because, you know, it takes a little time to totally get comfortable, but uh no, we expect the same things. You want the interesting part about tonight, Max? Lay it on me. on the resale market for this Carolina New Jersey game tonight. It’s the highest ticket, highest price ticket to get into a building of all the games tonight. Wow. Well, let me see. I actually don’t know who else is uh is playing. I’m pretty sure it’s a pretty big slate. Oh, it’s a huge It’s a huge slate. I almost wore my Vancouver Conucks jersey today. Calgary is playing Vancouver. Yeah, there’s games in Detroit. Tampa Tampa’s got Ottawa and you’re like, “Oh, okay. The Sabres are playing against the Rangers.” And you know, I couldn’t I couldn’t blame any Sabres fans if they weren’t the most enthusiastic to go, but you know, there’s a ton of New Yorkers up there in in Western New York who would go to that, too. It’s just it’s it’s that kind of vibe tonight. The Jets, I mean, they’re a good team. The ABS are playing. I mean, it’s their first home game, I’m pretty sure. It’s surprising getting especially given all the there’s a bunch of traditional markets and Canadian teams in here. I mean, it goes to show how much Cocky and and the Canes have grown in this community over the last especially like the last decade or so, but just over time like since they’ve since they’ve been here. You know, Rod was asked that question about growth in the Triangle. Let’s hear from you, Rod. It’s been the last, you know, I think since we maybe 20 years, we we the environment’s been pretty impressive and uh you know, the growth of hockey certainly around this area has been impressive. Hello. Um, so you know, we got a great thing going here with the the community and the fans and they’re a big part of what we do and uh we appreciate that. I think he would rather I mean I we know Rod loves this area, loves the team, won a championship for this team, won a championship for this area. I I get it. I think he would probably rather ask question or answer questions about hockey to be fair. I’m like as opposed to, hey, how do you feel about the fans and how do you feel about this? I think we’re we’re I think he’s well in the record on those things. Yeah. And he still appreciates that kind of stuff, but I think he’s got to scratch that real hardcore itch, right? You know, there’s he went through six preseason games that don’t count in the standings, don’t mean anything, didn’t cause any injuries, didn’t weed anybody out, and he’s going to run with the run with the 23 out there right now with plenty of salary cap space for his good guy Eric Tolski to run with. Yeah. and and we’ll see what areas they might want to use that on or if they they’ll just kind of sit on it for a while. They more than likely it’s if they were ever going to make a move, it’ll be later in the season, closer to the deadline anyway. But, uh, it’s the the real audition for Logan Stanovven at second line center. Uh, I’m curious to see if Koki will be in the lineup tonight. I know that him and Jenowski kind of switched off being the extra forward in some of the uh practice skates over the last couple of days. So, it’ll be interesting to see what they do with that. Uh and I’m just I’m excited to see how they deploy the defense especially. There have been so many questions. It looks like Goss Despair will be on the off side uh as of now, but with the new additions of Nick Kishian and Keandre Miller uh and I know you know Slav Chatfield had been banged up, but they’re they’re supposedly good to go for tonight. Uh we’ll see if they shuffle it around. Last year, like the defensive pairings didn’t really change pretty much at all in the regular season, unless there was an injury. So, uh, I’m curious to see how much they experiment with that, try to find some chemistry between new, uh, pairings, uh, and see who’s going to make an impact, uh, right out of the gate. That’s two years in a row where this team has had to do a defensive overhaul. Two seasons in a row. You know, the the year prior was losing the pairing of Shay and Peshi, and one did really well away, and one kind of went it was okay. I mean, they were better in the I think we could all agree that they were better in the hurricane system than where they ended up signing for for more money. And again, money is nothing you can control. You wish it came a year later. So, you see maybe a Candre Miller and and Chatfield pairing up and that would be a very physical and a very fast couple of guys to be able to send out there and take some of the pressure off a slave Walker or whoever it happens if it happens to be that way. Jarvis Aaho Eers had better get off to a quick start. There’s no there’s no slowing down. You cannot afford that line to to go 0ers for very long. Game one, again, you just heard Rod say there’s a little bit of grace in a game one, right? I think the team understands that there’s grace in a game one, but nobody wants to see a 2-1 score tonight unless it’s 2-1 in favor of the Carolina Hurricanes. But you I I’m not last year. This was one of my main points about this team and it might be again, but I’m hoping the investment in Eers and the investment in Blake and the investment in Stanco and truly pay off and can kind of kind of get guys unccorked. I’m tired of unsung heroes scoring goals. I I especially in the playoffs. We need the we need the top dogs and and to your point like I think uh we’re overlooking like if Andre Fetchnikov can reach his full potential on the ice this year and we can really see that is going to make as big of an impact of any new addition or anything because we know he has that potential in him to be a 30 plus goal power forward playmaker kind of all-around guy and we just need to see him hit those heights. You wonder if, man, you wonder if he hadn’t suffered that knee injury. Maybe he’s finally rounding himself out in a form and confidence. I mean, it’s just what it is. You know, you you get hurt, you you deal with knee stuff, and I’m not saying I’m a professional hockey player by any means, but I remember when I hurt my knee and I had to wear an immobilizer and was on crutches and that kind of stuff. And it sucks and you never feel the same immediately after that. It takes a while to get used to it. It’s almost like phantom pain, right? You always hear the stories of people having like an ampute like amputes, right? an amput and some of you probably know them because you know we have listeners who’ve served in the military or you know no friends in the military and whatnot and this this stuff happens they understand the risk you you lose a finger lose a you know you lose something below the knee right and all of a sudden you always hear about phantom pain like you like it it was more painful when it was gone and that’s I’m trying to draw a little bit of a comparison too but it takes a while for you just to get back in the rhythm of things it it takes a while for you just to kind of go yeah it starts to feel normal again to where it doesn’t hurt I can feel like I’ve been moving like I was, you know, right before I got hurt. And it takes a while for a lot of people because some of that’s just it’s a mental game as well as it’s a physical game. And for a guy that’s physical, and you just mentioned Andre Fetchnikov, for a guy who’s as physical as Fetchnikov is, you hope that that phantom pain is gone, that he is feeling like really really kind of juiced up and he’s got the line mates to do it with, too. And all due respect to head coach Rod Biden, who I have a lot of, I mean, I do have a lot of respect for, and I probably shouldn’t have said that because now it’s going to sound like a total diss. I really hope he just kind of sticks with these lines and doesn’t tinker like this is the this is going to be the run no matter what because I remember last year Jackson Blake started t started first line and he started moving further and further and further down to where all of a sudden he was now in getting fourth line minutes at one point during the season. Well, I think he he started lower down the lineup, then he got bumped up and then again was getting kind of shuffled down and he had a great season and despite of all the movement, he still had a great season which earned him that contract and now you know if you starting on this line with Stanovven and Sevetchnikov obviously Stankov smaller guy uh but Setchnikov does have kind of that that grit and that power to him where that line is not completely undersized uh because you need a little bit of you know rough and tumble out there. You can’t have all like kind of smaller skill guys because then you’ll kind of get beat up on the forche. Like that’s what I anticipate will happen to Jack Hughes’s line tonight. He’s going to get matched up on stall all night long. Rod is very good at, you know, getting those matchups at home and and making sure that they shut down the other teams top center by putting them on the stall line. Uh so if I had to predict one thing for tonight, uh Jack Hughes is probably not going to score. It could be Fetchnikov versus team Omire all night. Who knows? Very well. And I’m seeing on uh Daily Face Off that their top line has Genny Datanov on it in 2025. Well, he was uh he was a he was a breakout star when he was with Vegas and then he was in Florida, right? He went to Florida and Well, he shuffled around a bunch before he kind of actually landed as a full-time NHLer and then kind of became a good contributor. But is he really on their first line? You I you take what you can get. Is Team Omire not I mean they signed that big contract. He’s already playing second line minutes. That’s all right. This is supposed to be the best competition in the Metro Division. New Jersey. Well, we play them pretty much every year in the postseason. You know, I don’t mind that matchup at all. Anytime they can play the Devils or the Islanders, that’s honestly it I’m already looking ahead to the next round if that’s the case. Man, I remember when Cody Glass was huffing it out in Vegas when I was out there. Yeah, he was a he was a a great prospect at at at one time. Look, I mean, just looking at the Metro Division this year as an outlook and I I did a full um like NHL standings prediction or not full standings, but just teams that would make the playoffs and I also um listed who would be like President’s Trophy and and you know, worst team in the league. Um, and just looking at the Metro Division, like I don’t know if there are any teams that are as complete in terms of the roster as the Hurricanes. Like some other teams have good pieces like the Rangers have shurken obviously. Um, the Devils have some playmakers and they have a pretty good blue line, but again when you have a guy like Kenny Datenov on your first line, I’m not terribly worried about that. No, there some of the I know you look at the rosters right now in the NHL, especially, you know, the ones that Carolina will be facing on a much more regular basis and you’re like, “Wow, that’s that’s okay. I think we can have this.” But, you know, with uh with those expectations come, you know, the the a really hard freef fall if this team can’t get unccorked quickly and starts off slow. Now, again, with the Carolina Hurricanes, postseason runs mean more postseason runs, postseason runs. And the goal is, when you hear Eric Tolski talk about it, and he’s had plenty of sitdowns in the last couple of weeks, the goal is the cup. We all know this, the goal is the Stanley Cup. And the marathon begins today for this team. And with the signings in the last couple of weeks, and again, we’re getting you ready for tonight’s game. It’s the Devils and the Hurricanes at Lenovo Center tonight. 7:30 puck drop, 6:30 Storm Watch with Adam Gold, a full 1h hour pregame show. Tim and Dennis will be out on the quad today starting at 3:00. Parking lots will be open. It’ll be a great afternoon. And Adam’s actually going to do a show from Lenovo this afternoon starting at 12. So we got a full day of coverage coming up for you. Eric Tolski is actually going to join the guys too at some point this afternoon. We’re nailing down a time on that one. I think I believe 3:45 is what Dennis said. Yes. So that’ll be great to have Eric Tolski on right now with the numbers that have been thrown out there and all these new signings. Eric Tolski might be a super genius. like he might be the super villain that isn’t the super villain until this team wins a cup, but then he’d become the super villain based on the deals that he got done in the offseason for the prices that he paid. The the best thing for me about Eric Tolski is his willingness to be in on any available player. We saw a story came out a few days ago from Elliot Friedman that over the off season they had actually tried to offer Evan Bousard from Edmonton. They tried to offer him a one-year contract worth more than uh in the AAV than what McDavid signed. McDavid signed for 12 and a half. So, my guess that was probably a one-year deal around 13 million. Um just a willingness to make that move and and try to make a big splash and bring somebody in just because, you know, they’re out there. Uh you know, you made the Rantinon trade. You ended up on a on on the good end of that after the situation didn’t develop quite like you hoped. you ended up getting a guy that you’re now going to put as your second line center as well as two additional first round picks and two third round picks. Uh, and now you’ve got this contender roster that as far as I’ve seen I I follow a lot of hockey content, a lot of analysts and stuff. Sure. Almost everybody has the Hurricanes either winning the division or, you know, going to the Stanley Cup final. I saw in an athletic poll they actually 51% of the writers had the Hurricanes losing in the Stanley Cup final. But um you’ve done such a good job building this. You’re willing to take big swings. Uh you’re willing to take the risk to bring in this the talent that it takes to win. And now you’ve set yourself up with a cap sheet that 31 other GMs, maybe one or two other ones are happy with the way they’ve got their roster and they’ve got their cap situation. But you’re the envy of the league for 95% of the front offices. Uh so now you just got to continue building, continue rounding it into form and hopefully in the postseason finally we will get over that hump and uh Lord Stanley will be back on Edwards Mill Road. There you go. Yeah. Eric Tulski, super villain, super genius, whatever it is. Jack Eel, by the way, I bring this we we had this chat because Jack Eel signed an eight-year extension at 13.5 million a year just last night. Again, all the stuff happened last night. Jack Rosavik moving on from Carolina going to Edmonton for one and a half million. Jack Eel signing his big deal. Kyle Connor just yesterday morning landing big money, too. Free agency is kind of thinning out for 2026. So, yeah, as you’ve mentioned a few times, uh, expect either this year towards the trade deadline or maybe next off season, they’ll probably be pretty active in the trade market somehow. Some options depending on where this team goes. Again, opening night. It’s great to have it back. Good to kick off yet another hockey season for the Carolina Hurricanes. 7:30 puck drop at Lenovo Center. Coverage all day long right here on 99. Before Before we wrap the segment though, what’s your score prediction for tonight? I’ve got I’ve got three nothing with the empty netter for the Canes. Uh 3-1 3-1. Devils Devils Devils have a healthy Hueses and when there’s healthy Hueses, they they they’re okay. They tend to be okay with two of them. But I’m just if it’s Freddy and Ned that tonight, there’s a possibility of a donut. There is. There really is. But boy, we’re going to find out a we’re going to find out very a lot of quick a lot of uh a lot of answers will be uh from for a lot of questions will be will be provided tonight defensively, offensively for this new look Hurricanes team. [Music] I’m Max Gordon with three things you need to know right now from 999 the fan. It’s finally hockey night in Carolina. The Carolina Hurricanes will drop the puck on the 202526 regular season tonight against the New Jersey Devils at the Lenovo Center. Storm watch with Adam Gold starts at 6:30 ahead of a 7:30 puck drop right here on 999. The fan, the official station of Kiaak Nation. Carolina Panthers may be getting a boost in their wide receiver core on Sunday. Jaylen Coker was a full participant in practice on Wednesday in his first action since being activated from injured reserve. Coach Dave Canales has left the door open for his return against the Cowboys in week six. Three out of the four MLB teams facing elimination in the division series stayed alive yesterday with the one casualty being the New York Yankees. The Blue Jays defeated the Yankees 5 to2 to become the first team to advance to the ALCS. They will face the winner of the Mariners and Tigers who will play game five on Friday. Find these stories and more on wlportsfan.com and the 999 the fan app. Uh it has been a very very wild 72 hours in the world of North Carolina football and it’s head coach Bill Bich. And I’m reminded of a movie and for those of you just indulge me for a hot second because I I could just put it out there but you know me I’m a little bit more of an analogy guy. There’s a movie from the the 90s or so made by Tom Hanks about a one- hit wonder band called That Thing You Do. And when the band gets to its height of stardom, it ends up on a stage uh right before they’re going to play one of their penultimate performances. And the guitar player turns to the drummer, the drummer’s name is Skitch, and the guitar player’s name is Lenny, and he goes, “How did we get here?” And the drummer goes, “I led you here, sir, because I am Spartacus.” And right now, Bill Bellichic is Spartacus. But he’s Spartacus without direction. And last night’s I don’t know if you call it uh the the um the vote of confidence, the vote of confidence came alongside a statement from head coach Bill Bich last night again while all everything else was going on the planet. Bubba Cunningham, director of athletics, who by the way is leaving his post, put out a joint social media statement with head football coach Bill Bich. Bubba Cunningham. Coach Bichc has the full support of the department of athletics and university. That is a lie. Bill Bich, head football coach. I’m fully committed to UNCC football and the program we’re building here. That is true. And the reason why I call the first one a lie and Bubba Cunningham and I, you know, we could probably hash this out in person. The reason why it’s a lie is because within an article of The Athletic, the student body president of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill says there needs to be a probe, an outside probe of anything that’s going on in that locker room, especially if there’s things that have to do with locker room divide, saying that these are student athletes. They’re not just football players. And if there are things going wrong, people need to know about it and it needs to be corrected. Now, will that take a $500 an hour special counselor to walk in there and go, “Well, this is there’s this thing and there’s this thing and there’s this thing and we found these things.” Boy, you hope not. But to say that there is full support, that’s not true. Head coach Bill Bich is is a football X’s and O’s guy. There’s no doubt about it. But for every role that he’s been assumed that he’s interviewed for like a dual GM manager role or whatever it is, hasn’t quite worked out. And right now within this college football program, it is not working out. So this is the finger in the leaky dam. This statement late last night saying that hey there there are no buyouts. We are not talking about this is the between the lines stuff because yesterday there was a lot of talk and we were really driving this way about potential exits and potential buyouts and how we all extricate ourselves from this situation. And I’ll be the first to tell you and I’ve admitted it freely back in December when this first came up. I said, “Why can we not have nice things here? Go hire Bill Bich. Don’t don’t think about it. Just go do it if you can land a big fish.” Right now the fish is getting rotten. Yeah. It’s not good. It’s not positive press. It’s not happy press. It’s diversionary. It’s not helping anybody. And the only people that are in true belief, and here’s the deal, there have been social media posts as well from players saying, “Hey, ignore the out outside noise. Ignore the outside haters. We’re all in this. We’re one family. I get that. But it means they’re still hearing the outside noise and they’re very well aware of what’s going on. And you’ve got recruits out there and this is just as interesting. The recruits that have committed to Bill Bill Bich and the UNCC program, they’re still committed. Not one of them has jumped ship. That’s a reminder of the power of this coach that he goes into homes and makes things happen regardless of what’s going on, turmoil, reports, sources, whatever it is. He’s not having recruits that he has committed that have committed to him and this program jump ship. They’re doubling down on staying there and going to school for him. I’d be interested to see how much of that may change over the next next eight weeks and then I guess the offseason as well. Well, winning cures everything and losing creates more problems. Well, I don’t think they’re going to be curing much over their their their next what is it seven games or two and three right now? No, it would take a monster turnaround. Yes. To change their fate. I don’t know if I was discussing it with you or I I think I was or maybe it was during the drive yesterday afternoon, but when you look at their schedule like maybe there’s two wins on there the rest of the way. Maybe. So to me it looks like and honestly best case I’ll throw them another let’s just say they go five and seven. That’s your best case scenario for this year. Sure. Are those I mean are you okay with that as the university seeing the stands continue to be empty or empty out in the first half as a recruit if you see that and that and keep in mind like maybe I’m wrong and maybe they do manage a couple other wins based on what you’ve seen on the field. I don’t understand I I don’t see it that happening as a recruit. Do you see that and you see this reporting and you see a vote of confidence statement being put out in week five or week six of your first year as a head coach you as a recruit you see that you’re like seems like a great place to play. I’m ready to go. Come on coach, you know, put me in. I just and and for fans of rivals, if you’re a Duke fan, if you’re an NC State fan, if you’re an ABCer, right, you want him to stay there as long as possible because if it continues on this trajectory, their football program is going to be it’s it’s effectively going to be nuked and some whoever they bring in next, it’s not going to be one of the top candidates that they would have wanted in this last cycle, like a John Summer. Why would he want to take that job anymore after the program’s been bottomed out and it’s lost its what whatever brand recognition Carolina football has if they continue down this path this that’s gone because at least with Mack they were like a six and six team and they and they had a couple years where they peaked and then they they went I think to one new year six bowl over co so I I don’t understand like if you have the opportunity as Carolina to cut bait on this admit that it wasn’t the right hire It might have been shortsighted. You were blinded by the celebrity. You were blinded by the Super Bowl rings. You were looking for the quick fix to try to compete in football because it brings in all the money. I think the sooner they cut bait and try to start over with a real coach, it’ll be better for them because the longer they let this go on, if all this reporting is accurate, and I believe it is with our our colleague Pat Wilter at only going to get worse. and which is I don’t know how that’s possible given how they’ve played so far but that’s just the reality of how it is. Finger in a linky dam. That’s all that statement was. They got to get out ahead of this like really far ahead of this. I would I would be more than a one-s sentence answer to anything at this point and Mia Culpa some of the things are going on and saying we are fixing it. We are playing our best. We’re doing our best. Like I I’ll write the I’ll be the PR guy. Call me up. I thought they hired a professional one to handle this noise. That statement last night from the AD and Bill, I hope you got one sentence statement that that had better be the money not well spent. All the money went to uh Lombardi. L.

Paul Ihander & Max Goren preview the Carolina Hurricanes’ opening night matchup with the New Jersey Devils. How will the Canes kick off another season with sky-high expectations? Also, they react to the latest developments in the Bill Belichick-UNC football saga.

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