Saturday night at 7pm in Raleigh, the Carolina Hurricanes are slated to play the Philadelphia Flyers. In reading through a decent mix of Flyers' stuff to catch up before the game, I feel like parts of it are straight from Bill Meltzer and others' Hurricanes reading lists.
* Both teams are coming off disappointing 2014-15 campaigns.
* Both teams are allegedly building for the future.
* But it is hard to just completely quit on the here and now so early in November.
* Both teams are teetering on that nasty fence of letting go of the current season too early or trying to claw their way into it.
With that backdrop and disappointing records from both teams, there is a similar swirling of trade winds, player and roster assessments, frustration and an occasional call for patience.
After a decent start, the Flyers enter on a disappointing 1-6-2 run. They find themselves struggling to score goals and with questions about leadership, effort and the ability to find a way to win.
Meet mirror. The Hurricanes are 1-3-1 in November and coming off a disappointing 3-2 overtime loss to Minnesota last night that saw a good start wasted when Canes lacked the killer instinct after a good start. The Hurricanes rank 28th in the NHL in goals scored per game, a single slot above the 29th-ranked Flyers.
Both teams also enter the game with the winds of change blowing. The Flyers have recently been rumored to be trying to shake things up and at least allegedly the vast majority of the roster is available for the right price. Things are quieter on the Hurricanes front, but with long-time pillars Eric Staal and Cam Ward creeping toward free agency next summer, big changes could be on the horizon. In addition, Ron Francis' ability to keep things quiet has generally resulted in 'out of nowhere' deals that no one saw coming. At any point in time, something could pop.
Both teams mindset right now also seems to be set on agitated. The Flyers had a practice of full of battle drills earlier this week on their way to working up an angry lather only to lose disappointingly again on Thursday to the Capitals. The Hurricanes post-game interviews after Thursday's loss also took on a unanimously agitated tone after the loss to Minnesota after having an early lead.
With all of the other debris swirling around right now off the ice, the teams will actually take to the ice Saturday facing and equal foe and potentially equally angry opponent. In this new era of kinder, gentler hockey, the game seems to have pack a bit of extra potential for explosives depending on how things unfold.
And in the end, 1 team will take a small step forward and at least get a small reprieve on the 2015-16 season. The other team will likely exit with the team and its fan base even more disgruntled.
With the goal of at least trying something different for both teams, what does it take for you to leave Wayne Simmonds behind on Saturday night?
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