Nikolaj Ehlers talks his start with the Hurricanes, life in Carolina, and more.

Nikolaj Ehlers talks his start with the Hurricanes, life in Carolina, and more.

I’m Mike. Huh? Yeah. Just letting you know. There’s so much spin in your pass for some reason. Say it again. It was spinning or I just up. It was weird. It looked a little uh little off. It weird. It was weird. My bad. I should have tipped that. That was scary. That’s selfish. That’s selfish. Four and three rarely happens. That’s like a Oh, I guess OT, but still [Applause] three on two rarely happens. That’s the one. That would be unreal. Five on three. If they took another penalty on the four on three, would it go three on two or five on three? No, never three on two. It’s on three on two. We get to pull our goalie for free and it’s six on three. Should do that. Never. Never. Never. Three on two. Ever. Threeon two. Never three on two. Although it would be. Hey, that would be a lot of fun. It would be. It would be. I don’t know about defending it. Yeah. No fun defending it. Nolers from the Carolina Hurricanes joining us. You heard that little miked up conversation during practice. Nick, uh, how are you liking life in, uh, in Raleigh, North Carolina? I mean, you spent your whole career to this point with the Winnipeg Jets. It’s a transition for you. How do you like that the city? Are you getting used to things there? Uh, yeah. I I love it. Uh, it’s been really great so far. The people here have been unbelievable, welcoming, uh, super nice. So, um, and obviously the team has, uh, it’s a bunch of really good guys. So, I’m uh I’m having fun. You know, Nick, you scored that goal at Madison Square Garden. I believe it was your first one uh with with the Hurricanes. And after the game, I remember I asked you actually after the game and you, you know, about scoring, getting that weight off your shoulders and and you said, you know, listen, I mean, it’s like 10 years with one team. You’re making that adjustment. It’s a change. What is that adjustment? You you’re living through it now, so what is that adjustment like? Explain it. It’s hard to explain. I I think it’s just everything everything is new. I mean, hockey is still hockey, but there’s a new style of play. Um, new teammates, uh, new environment, uh, new locker room. Where you live is is new. Uh, the only person that I knew coming here was was, uh, Freddy Anderson. Um he obviously helped me out a lot in the beginning. Um so everything is just brand new. Um had to go get a driver’s license and and do a not the driver’s test, the uh the test on a on a little computer. um which was scary, but um so yeah, I think there’s just a lot of new things um and a lot of things to take care of in the beginning, but um I feel like I’m slowly settling in more and more. You know, I I love that you say that, too, because not only is like the driver’s test, you move from Canada to the United States, so that’s another big It’s not like you’re going from, you know, Raleigh to Tampa or something like that. So, it’s there is so many new things for you in all these new teammates and all the the new schedules and everything. You mentioned a new style of play. You’re playing for Rody Bindar. He was a great player in his own right. You played against his teams for a while. What’s it like playing for him now? Um, it’s been been great so far. Um, I think in the beginning I was I wouldn’t say struggling cuz I felt like I was still uh creating a lot of things. Um but um it’s been really good. It’s I’m getting more and more comfortable um and and reading the the the plays and and what we’re going to do uh better. So um so far it’s been been great. Um and uh obviously it’s just going to get more and more exciting. Yeah. I I want to ask you this because you you came from a different team. We’ve touched on that already, but how different is the system that the Hurricanes play versus what you were playing in Winnipeg or what you’ve played against for a number of years in the Western Conference because that’s been the topic of conversation. It continues to be the topic of conversation about the Hurricanes. It’s just a different system that they play. It’s a different system that Rody has. So, what’s different? Is it that much different? Um, no. I wouldn’t say it’s it’s that much different. Um, but you know, for me, it’s definitely something that I had to get used to. Um, and am still, you know, getting more and more comfortable with. Um, but, you know, at the end of the day, it’s it’s we want to get the puck in in the ozone as as quick as possible. Um, and sometimes that means mean means chipping the puck out and and you know the forwards are are skating their their asses off to to get there. Um, and turning pucks over, getting it deep uh right away. Um, and I mean that sounds like uh every other team in in the NHL you want to get the puck in the ozone. We just do it a little differently. And I I think when we’re on our game it’s uh I mean I remember I I played against Carolina for for years and um when when they were on their game, it wasn’t fun to play against. So, um and I think I’ve noticed that um even in in the first practices I I had here. Um I felt like I had no room. Um so that’s what we try to do. Hey, Nikolai, you guys started out with a uh a pretty lengthy road trip. I think you had a game at home and then you played a bunch of games on the road. So for someone like you, a new player, you get to you’ll be around your teammates quite a bit and we saw that video. You know, Seth Jarvis looks like a little bit of a character. Um, you know, a little smile on your face there. I mean, who are the who are the characters on that team? Is it because I felt I went down there a couple years ago and now some of the personnel has changed, but I thought they had a really good room down there where the guys really was a pretty tight group. Who are the who are the characters? Seth, maybe a few others. Um yeah, great group of guys. Uh I think that road trip was was important for me. Um you know, when you’re on the road, you you get to spend a lot of time with uh with the guys and and that was huge for me to to start a year like that where you really get to know each other and so on. So, um yes, there are definitely some uh some some character guys in there. Um, but I think the whole room really just gels well and and obviously Jary as uh, you know, he’s a little goofy sometimes. Uh, KK is is also a guy that likes to have some fun and and I think it’s hard to just pick out a few guys because, you know, everybody is kind of in on it. So, and that’s what makes this group uh, gel really well. So, um, yeah, it’s been, uh, it’s been a lot of fun so far, and the guys have been great.

Nikolaj Ehlers joins the show to discuss his season with the Carolina Hurricanes, life in Carolina.

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