He Just Said the Quite Part Out Loud...| Carolina Hurricans News and Update

He just said that quiet part out loud again after months of standoff, after months of speculation, Alexander Nikitian is a Carolina Hurricane again for a short period of time. Now the timetable is when will he be on the ice in game mode with the Canes? What does Rod have to think about all of this? And, well, we got a game preview tonight of Canes Columbus. Welcome to Hurricanes Digest. I am Jeff Testanero. I invite you all to like, share, comment, and subscribe. I appreciate all of you who have subscribed months ago. I appreciate all of you who just subscribed recently. The push to 26 is on, and it's going well. So keep clicking that subscribe button now. Also, a reminder, we're over on the socials. We got an X at Canes Digest. Head over there for more. Got a whole bunch of good stuff. Head over there. There's a whole lot of news around the Carolina Hurricanes right now. So go ahead and hit that up. What if I told you Nikitian was going to be a hurricane months ago? You probably would have called me a jerk. I would call myself a jerk, and as has been pointed out in the comments by a bunch of viewers, you had to say the name again. Yes, I had to say the name again. What does he bring, though? Is he going to bring a big difference? Well, Carolina is already winning, and Alexander Nikitian could give the defense another boost. Look at his partnership with Ghost last season. 324 minutes together on 5-on-5, 60.8% on shot attempts, and 18-15 goal advantage. That gives Carolina a familiar option worth revisiting when he's ready. Nikitian finished his rookie regular season with 11 goals, 33 points. That's a useful foundation here. Um, with room for him to become even more of a complete defenseman. Nikitian describes, you know, the end of the weight. Obviously it was hard, but now it's all good. Is it now? If you're interested, go over to digest sports.com. Um, there should be an article up there pretty soon about me. Talk about Nikitian. We all know how I feel about Nikitian and I love him, but this was rough. Um, it's all good now, according to Alex. Well, I hope so. Uh, Dr. Tulsky did explain sometimes it takes time to work through a process. That is true. I'm glad he's being diplomatic about it. Um, I don't, I don't know if I could have been, but that's why I'm not Dr. Tulsky and Rod in his Rod way. We understand. And now we just move on. Now the focus turns to getting him ready to contribute. You know, an agreement comes first. Getting back into game rhythm will come second. Nikitian skated as an extra on October 27th. That was a step toward returning with his season debut still to be confirmed. He's got to go through a bit of a minicamp, apparently. Last regular season, he averaged 18 a night over, you know, his final five games. That climbed to 22 and a half. He grew into more responsibility. Carolina now needs to see how quickly he can rebuild that level of readiness. Rod, in his Rod way, also had to say he's going to need time. His training camp day one started today. So that tells you exactly where Rod's thinking. We're not going to put him out there just because he's Alex Nikitian. We're going to put him out there when I feel he's ready, when I see he's ready. That's Carolina culture for you. They're not going to just throw him out there because he's Alex Nikitian. But Malkai has done great. Everybody they've brought up from the Wolves has done great. That's a next man up system. So I guess Nikitian is just going to have to wait his turn. Let's fetch a cough. Andre, playing translator for Nikitian, explained that he wants to play sooner but needs to complete the skating and practice program. I don't disagree with that. Nikitian's relief is clear. The next step is turning that relief into sharp, sharp, sharp decisions and comfortable game timing. His contributions reach beyond scoring. Last season, he recorded 132 hits and 94 blocked shots, hence his nickname, Boom, because other players go boom. Those are different ways to help Carolina compete through a shift. He also produced on the 4-on-4 power play. You know, you got four power play goals, 10 power play points that gives the coaches another offensive option once he's ready, once he's ready to go. And again, that is going to be totally up to Rod. Tim Gleason. Simply put it, he has a rocket. Yes, he has a rocket. He's got a hell of a shot from the blue line. Sorry for the curse word, I guess. He's just a really, really, really strong player. Big, tough, left-handed shot Russian defenseman, just the way we like him in Carolina. Tulsky also said, and we know he has room to get even better. The opportunity is connecting those tools with consistent decisions On both sides of the. But Puck, Piotr's reaction was personal. Of course it was personal. He's my friend, right? I'm very happy he's back. And that's great. That's a good way to look at it. That's a great way to put it. I'm sure he's a lot of people's friends. I know Sves likes him. I believe he lived with Andre in his rookie season. So, you know, if Piotr's happy. Whatever it makes Kachekoff happy right now. He's the man right now, and whatever makes him happy is a good thing. The depth chart shows a possible future option. His actual assignment will depend on readiness and the coach's decision. Carolina has kept collecting points with players available. Nikitian can add to that group, and I'm sure he will when he's ready. Brenda Moore highlighted the depth within the organization. Other defenders have had opportunities to show what they can handle. His message to that, his message is that the group moves forward once everyone is back together. We're all professionals here is what he's saying. That's exactly what he's saying. Tulsky's expectation is contribution, get Nikitian prepared, and then find what helps the Canes continue to win. That brings us to tonight's lineup versus Columbus. The Hurricanes host Columbus, the Blue Jackets, at Lenovo tonight at 7 Eastern, looking to keep that momentum going. These are projected combinations. Rod likes to switch things up when he can. If anything else comes out, I'll first let you know. Stahl and Hall remain out, and Nikitian is still preparing. We have our standard forward lines, as we've been looking at up front. Carrier, Ajo, Svetch, Ehlers, Stank, and Blake, Martinuk, Jankowski, and Jarvis. Robinson, KK, and DeLaurier wouldn't mind seeing DeLaurier throw more fisticuffs tonight. That was a lot of fun to watch. On defense, we got our standard defense. We got Slavin with Chatfield, Miller with Walker, and Gossespierre with Bumalkai. That is the current projection. While Nikisha works towards becoming the other option, most likely going to head back over with Ghost. You can post questions. . Published goalie projections do differ. 1 . . . I will check, again, who the confirmed starter is. . . . But Kochekov was in the starting crease during morning skate. . . . . . . . . I'm projecting Kochekov to be the starter tonight. . . . . He's super hot right now. . . So hot. Hansel, so hot right now. . . . So that is Fielder. . . So hot right now. . . Watch Zoolander to understand that quote if you're too young. I'm going to go with Piotr. He's led the Canes this far, so you might as well just keep rolling with it. Aho has 11 points across his last eight meetings with the Jackets. Useful context, though tonight's, you know, tonight's another game, so let's see what he can do. He also has six points in his five overall games. Last five games overall, so again, so hot right now, getting hot right now. Carolina's power play sits at 23.5% with an 83.3% penalty kill. Those units could help decide the matchup. Again, if anything else happens up, I'll be the first to let you know. You know that. Always, always. So tonight we got Columbus. Nikishin needs to go through a little camp with Coach Rod. I'm sure Rod and his staff will get him up and running. Don't want to just throw him out there because that's not what we do. If anything else comes down, I'll be the first to let you know. Until then, for Hurricanes Digest, I'm Jeff Testanero. Let's beat the Jackets tonight. Let's go, Canes.