MHH Previews the Lesser 29: Carolina

QUICK NOTE: After the Patrick Roy news, we figured it would be best to put the Lesser 29 on the side for a few days so everyone could put their attention on that. While we still don't have a head coach for our favorite team, let's dive back into the other teams and try to take our attention off of the news of the greatest goaltender of all time.

Their head coach: Bill Peters. Let's call a spade a spade. There is nothing interesting about this man. He's coming up on his third year as Carolina's head coach, and had no head coaching experience in the league before he got this job. He is of average height and average weight, so let's talk about Carolina's alternate jerseys instead. These are really dope! I've always loved that kissing lips thing or whatever the hell it is Carolina has, and even though those retro squares from the 70s ruin the bottom of the sweaters, I'm a big fan of these. It's better than their home uniforms which are just screaming to be Canada's home jerseys. Look at the difference between these two. It's like Carolina didn't even try. People in North Carolina don't even know where Canada is. Why would you make your jersey EXACTLY like theirs?

Their captain: Currently vacant. It was Eric Stall, who is now a member of the Minnesota Wild. Therefore, I have no respect for him anymore.

Their 15-16 season: Better than a lot of people thought it would be. The Canes quietly racked up 86 points which is at least 10 more than I thought they'd get. They got 6th in the Metropolitan which is nothing to take for granted. It still wasn't enough to make it in the playoffs, but they overachieved and for that I give them credit.

How did they do against the Avs? Solid. They won both meetings, the first of which being one of the games that sticks out to me as ramping up my blood pressure most in Avalanche history I was that frustrated with how it went. Carolina won a 1-0 overtime game that never should have made it there, because Cam Ward made this save, which, while extremely impressive, I did not appreciate. Carolina won the other game in Raleigh on my birthday (October 30th), so for that I hope their franchise folds.

When do they play the Avs this season? At Raleigh on February 17th (I might be there!), and March 7th in Denver.

Will they be good? I honestly don't know. I'm sure I'm not alone in saying this, but as far as my overall knowledge goes for all the teams in the NHL, these Hurricanes are the team I know the least about. They traded with Chicago to get Teuvo Teravinen (this was really smart!) and Bryan Bickell (this was really dumb!) so that the Hawks could get out of cap hell and the Canes could simply get better (but they only did that by getting one of those players). They have Cam Ward and Eddie Lack as their goaltenders, so they might have the best 1-2 in the crease of any team. Noah Hanifin will be a very good player sometime soon, and Victor Rask, Jeff Skinner, and Jordan Staal are all nice players. 86 points seems like a good benchmark for them again. I don't think they're a playoff team, but who knows?

3 Questions with their SB Nation blog, Canes Country: We're back to me being shunned. I got nothing in reply from them when I tried to pry information out of them. Oh well. Hope you can still get some sleep tonight.