Admit it, it’s a weird feeling.
The calendar year of 2026 is arguably the franchise’s best for the Carolina Hurricanes. We know everything that has happened until now with the playoffs, Cup win, and resulting celebration. It hasn’t stopped since.
Seriously, they are at the top of everyone’s power rankings and observers are calling them a wagon. The biggest controversies have been about a player who ultimately came back to them and a jersey that some fans inside and outside the team didn’t like was
based on a faux college mascot. On top of all that, they have become the ambassadors for the NHL in this year’s Global Series games in Finland, and they are being treated like fans are lucky to see them—because how many times do the reigning Stanley Cup Champions go abroad? On top of all that, the fans have travelled in high numbers with the team, and on Friday, CNBC revealed their NHL team evaluationsand Carolina placed right in the middle ahead of such teams like Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, and Pittsburgh.
This is all to say—when you’re watching today’s game in Finland just think about how far this franchise has come in the past decade. A Stanley Cup title game isn’t the time to do so but a neutral ice event where the league chooses teams they feel are marketable to another country is. Judging by the reaction the Canes have gotten in Finland, the right call was made.
As for the game itself, there’s more good news on the way. On Friday the Canes had their open practice in front of fans and Finns, and based on the lines it looks like someone may be playing today. It was known that Jordan Staal was on the trip and the hope was he’d play today, and on Friday he skated up with the regulars, centering a line with Jordan Martinook and Seth Jarvis. Afterwards, coach Rod Brind’Amour said that they’ll see how Staal feels today as to whether he’ll play. As the Canes are not doing a morning skate, clearly that decision will be made when everyone wakes up. It might even be known by the time you read this as he’ll have his pregame availability at 10:30 AM Eastern.
The thing to note about Staal playing isn’t just that he’s in the lineup, but who’s out. With Staal taking back his line, Mark Jankowski was bumped back to his normal spot. His wingers, though, were Taylor Hall and Jesperi Kotkaniemi. That left Eric Robinson as the odd man out. Also skating with the regulars was Alexander Nikishin back with Shayne Gostisbehere, while Juuso Valimaki was bumped back with extras along with Mike Reilly.
Nikishin playing is not a surprise as the Canes want to get him more game action, but it was good that Valimaki got to play one game in front of the home fans. Perhaps the surprise is that Kotkaniemi continues to play, but it really shouldn’t be. This isn’t really about Robinson’s play as it’s about what Kotkaniemi has done since he came back into the lineup. He’s got the same number of goals—five—as Nikolaj Ehlers and Jackson Blake, and he’s more than held his own while having to accept being a healthy extra basically since the mid point of last year. As long as everyone stays healthy he and Robinson will probably switch back and forth as someone to sit in the box, an insane luxury for a team to have.
Staal coming back though does bring one problem. Staal’s absence meant that the Canes were able to use his roster spot and keep the likes of Reilly and Valimaki off the waiver wire. Once Staal comes back, though, the Canes will have to send someone down and despite Reilly having a two-way deal, because of his age he would have to clear waivers before going to Chicago. As Valimaki is on a one-way deal and has played more than Reilly, it does seem likely Reilly is the one that’ll be sent down—and then the team holds its breath to see if a defenseman-needy team snaps him up.
Between the pipes expect Pyotr Kochetkov to try and knock the rust off after not playing since last Saturday’s mauling of the Blackhawks. If Carolina’s defense is as good in front of Kochetkov as it was in front of Brandon Bussi on Thursday, he shouldn’t have any issues.
On the Seattle side, there’s a chance they have a debut coming as well. In their practice it was noted that Jagger Firkus was skating with the regulars on the wing for the first time. He would skate in place of Jani Nyman. The 2022 Second Round pick of the Kraken has been with their AHL team Coachella the last two season and started their this year out of training camp. After the drubbing the Kraken received Thursday there’s little doubt the team felt the injection of “first time energy” would be a good thing.
In net, Joey Daccord will be looking to get the win for Seattle. So far this year Daccord has played two less games and has a GAA that’s close to a goal higher than Philipp Grubauer, but their save percentages are close and he brings four wins in with him. He also brings a friendship with the Canes’ Brandon Bussi, as the two caught up over coffee in Finland this week for one of the many wonderful features that have come out with the teams over there.
Here’s hoping everyone who made the trip to Finland has had a great time and that the Canes fans will get to celebrate a Finnish Sweep today. If you aren’t there, here’s how you can catch the action:
Time: 1 PM Eastern
Location: Veikkaus Arena — Helsinki, Finland
TV: Hurricanes Hockey Network. Hanna Yates and Shane Willis will handle the pregame duties at 12:30, and then Mike Maniscalco handles play-by-play with Tripp Tracy providing color—You can catch HHN on Spectrum, DirectTV, and Fubo. Note this game will also be nationally broadcast on NHL Network for fans outside of the Hurricanes’ home market.
Streaming Video: Hurricanes Hockey Network on Prime Video in the Hurricanes Footprint. Outside the footprint with the game on NHL Network, you will NOT be able to watch the game on ESPN+.
Radio: The pregame Storm Watch with Adam Gold on 99.9 The Fan starts at 12:30 PM, At 1 PM radio (consisting of 99.9, 730 The Game in Charlotte, ESPN New Bern 107.5/1490, and ESPN Greenville 107.5/1570) will pick up the Mike Maniscalco and Tripp Tracy TV simulcast.
Lines: (Per DraftKings) Hurricanes -375, -1.5 (-148) /Kraken +295, +1.5 (+124). O/U 6.5 +102/-122
