[Cobra Mgr]

Carolina Hurricanes won their season opener 6-3 in a match much closer than the score indicates. Each time the Canes scored, the NJ Devils would counter as the game was tied @ the 3:00 mark. Then Seth Jarvis redirected a shot from Ghost for the lead. Seth added an empty netter & the Canes scored another garbage time goal w/seconds remaining to reach the final score.

New acquisition Nikolai Ehlers didn't net any points, but was on ice for a couple scores. The other big addition, K'Andre Miller, surprised w/2 goals. One was a knuckler that fooled the GT. The other was one the goalie should have stopped, but he let it trickle thru. Miller only had 7 goals last year for the Rangers, so hopefully he will get some unexplained luck all season. Ghost had 2 helpers, which I think is important. Carolina has traditionally have good defensemen, but none would be confused for Paul Coffey. Ghost is the best candidate to reach 50 assists this year, which would be so helpful for the offense & PP.

Lastly, on the radio yesterday, it was said Andrei Svechnikov needed to become the Canes best player. I disagree. It needs to be Pytor Kochetkov. Last year, the Canes finished 10th in GA, 1st in the PK. That was w/goal tending that finished 24 in save percentage. Imagine how hard it would be to score vs Carolina if they had a top 10 goalie? Florida outscored Carolina 21-10 in their series last year. If the Canes had stopped 90% (top 10 level) of Florida's shots, the Panthers would have scored 9.

Anderson is to fragile to expect him to get in the net 45 or more times in a season. And too old to think he can be the #1 for the next 7 seasons. Canes hopes & moves for the future change drastically is Pytor becomes the main man in the net. Time for Pytor, and Svech for that matter, to grow up as leaders of this team.