Pyotr the Great: Who is the Hurricanes Newest Netminder

For the fans of the Carolina Hurricanes one story shines above all else and one player was at the center of it all. The year was 2006 and after falling behind two games to Montreal in the first round, coach Peter Laviolette turned to rookie goaltender Cam Ward with the starter Martin Gerber struggling to gain footing. Cam stepped in and the Hurricanes turned the ship around defeating the Canadiens 4-2 in the series. They would follow that round up with a 4-1 rout of the New Jersey Devils before being driven to a game seven in both the Eastern Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Finals. It was in game seven of that Stanley cup final where Rod Brind’Amour and the Carolina Hurricanes etched their names in history winning the franchises only Stanley Cup. Now Rod has been dealt a similar hand to that of his former coach. With the unknown extent of All-Star goaltender Frederick Andersen’s recent injury, a young man by the name of Pyotr Kochetkov is skating in limbo waiting for his chance to strike. 

Russian Genesis

His story starts in Penza, a Russian city of just over 500,000 sitting around four hundred miles southeast of Moscow. Born in the summer of ‘99 the twenty two year old began skating at a young age joining Diezel Penza, his hometown hockey club in 2011. Pyotr would play for the Diezel Sports Academy team where he would go on to claim the Volga region championship. That was the first piece of hardware on the shelf for the young Kochetkov but is certainly not the last.

In 2015 Pyotr would join a Ak Bars Kazan juniors program only to join back with Penza the next season after seeing limited ice time. After spending his time on Penza’s junior roster, he would eventually make his debut for Penza pulling out a relief win for the club. Only playing in a handful of games during the season, Pyotr did record his first win in a start in his final game played.

When 2017 rolled around he wasted no time and signed his first KHL contract with HC Sochi and would spend most of his time with Kapitan Stupino, the club's farm team. Kochetkov would struggle to gain footing in the wins department despite posting a solid .917 SV% going just 6-21-3. The following season Pyotr would play primarily in the VHL for the HK Ryazan before playing for Russia’s U20 team at the World Juniors. 

It was at the World Juniors in Canada that Kochetkov would solidify himself as the top international goaltender in the upcoming 2019 draft after posting four wins in five starts and a .953 SV% leading Russia to a bronze medal. For his efforts in the tournament Pyotr was awarded Best Goaltender honors, another strong accolade under his belt. With the 36th overall pick in 2019 Don Waddell and the Carolina Hurricanes decided the young Russian prospect was fit to be a part of their long term plans as they took him off the board early in the second round of the draft. With his NHL destination now set, Pyotr remained in Russia playing for a myriad of teams before finishing off his last season with Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod in the KHL in February and heading stateside to begin his North American pro hockey career. 

Stateside

After signing a two year entry level contract with the Hurricanes, he joined the AHL’s Chicago Wolves and it was at this time that I truly started to pay attention to him. I heard rumblings of a Russian phenom in the pipeline from a friend deep in the web of prospects, and it was finally time to see what the kid had to offer. So how has he done? He has blown expectations out of the water. Since landing ashore in North America, Kochetkov has posted a stifling 2.09 GAA and .921 SV% to go along with a 13-1-1 record. He is the reigning AHL Rookie of the Month, being awarded for going 7-0-1 in March with a 1.74 GAA and a .937 SV%.

What does his future look like with the Hurricanes?

Pyotr is ready to take the Hurricanes and the Caniacs by storm (at least that is what I keep telling myself). He has been hot and that is just what this team needs with the goal scoring struggles as of late. The Canes need a guy who can shut teams down and with Freddie out and Raanta struggling to keep the puck out of the net, maybe just maybe Pyotr can be that guy. 

Here I am talking myself into a rookie who has never taken the ice in the NHL saying that he is the piece we need and maybe I am a crazy person. I’m just on the hunt for a beacon of hope in the chaos after the trade deadline and frankly Pyotr gives me hope. The fans in Chicago absolutely love the man. Myself and everyone on twitter loves the man. His antics have proved to be a crowd pleaser and his willingness to throw hands with opposing goaltenders is ELECTRIC! (Still mad at that ref.) The Hurricanes seem to have found a winner, now we just need to see him in action. Pyotr needs to go out there and prove to Raleigh and the world that he is in fact Pyotr the Great.

Domi Heats Up In The Arizona Sun: How it Impacts the Hurricanes Lines

Shawn Mancour

Max Domi came through for a breakout performance during his Carolina Hurricanes tenure as the Hurricanes defeated the Arizona Coyotes 5-3 in a late Monday night bout on the ice. With one goal, one assist, and five shots on goal in just under twelve minutes of ice time, Domi was productive playing alongside Jesper Fast and Nino Niederreiter on the Canes third line. It will be interesting to see what we do with the lines these last few weeks as Staal and Kotkaniemi are reinserted. I think they could maybe play it something like this:

Turbo-Aho-Jarvis

Svech-KK-Necas

Nino-Staal-Fast

Domi-Troch-Stepan

I feel like I am forgetting someone (not Jordan Martinook.. sorry bud, love you!) but I really don’t have any hockey sense or understanding. This is just the way my dumb brain thinks but give me a chance to explain. 

First Line

I think Jarvis and Aho together have been really tight as of late and they have been putting points on the board. Throw in the “Finnish Connection” Tripp and the Bally folks are always talking about with Aho and Teravainen and that line seems like a no brainer. Now you could throw Svech up the lineup but I think the chemistry on top would be top notch as is. 

Second Line

Moving on to that Svechnikov line, I put Kotkaniemi here because he is big and Svech is big and even Marty Necas has a little mass to him so this in my head is our “Big Line” to slam guys into the boards with a little force. As I think about it I do wonder about this line's ability for playmaking. You could consider putting Trocheck back here where he has been as of late or even possibly put Domi. Like I said though, Big Line. Go do a little roughhousing.

Third Line

Niederreiter-Staal-Fast has been one of the only things to cheer for often lately so you might think I’m crazy for considering Domi take over this center position. I think maybe it’s just the recency bias of Monday's game but he looked good on that line to me. You have to put Staal somewhere though and honest to god he makes sense here and kind of only here. It’s like having too many really good but not great players is our problem and it’s one of our strengths. It’s hard to get everyone the ice time when everyone is deserving of it. I don’t envy Mr. Brind’Amour handling the locker room though the guys seem like they are all in great spirits.

Fourth Line

Finally, Domi-Trocheck-Stepan. The only thing I can really say is I feel bad putting Troch this far down on the lineup but also I’m only making this up because it seems like what I would do on Chel. Now admittedly I am not very good at Chel so take this with a few grains of salt. Trocheck has a good shot right? Domi is a great playmaker right? So if we put them together they could potentially be unstoppable. They’ll score more goals than Putin’s KHL squad.

Also in the news for this line, Derek Stepan I think has played better than Martinook and I think he deserves that last spot on the lineup. Again let me reiterate I love Marty Parties as much as the next guy but coming down to the stretch it’s about production and I think we get better production from Stepan. 

The Wind Down

At the end of the day I’m not making any decisions so why even listen to me. That’s just my thoughts on the matter. Martinook probably will play and the only one of these lines I’m confident in being correct is the third so let’s just wait and see how it all really plays out here in 

the closing weeks of the season.

It was nice to get a win, it was desperately needed and I think coming home with two points and a little momentum we might have a chance to see the NHL debut of Pyotr. Fingers crossed. More to come on the Winter Soldier soon! (Please someone tell me who on Twitter came up with it first)

Calm Before the Storm

Shawn Mancour

The last few weeks of Hurricanes Hockey has been painful to watch at times. I love this team, up and down the lines, but some issues have been very visible on the ice. The most recent injuries to Jordan Staal and Frederick Andersen add fuel to the fire of doubt looming in my mind over a title run this year but that is not where we are going to start this story. Instead let's start with some of the positives according to my ignorant eyes.

Max Domi

I spent most of my deadline day handling business at my day job with a co-worker of mine fiending for Don Waddell to make some moves. One line I recall from him, “We cannot do nothing when Florida adds Claude F***ing Giroux”. He was right. Carolina needed some change if nothing else to give some rejuvenation to the locker room down the stretch. Guys will work harder if they have the risk of losing a lineup spot to some new talent and talent indeed was set to step into the room. At the last possible minute of the deadline Carolina flipped Egor Korskov of the KHL and Aidan Hreschuk, a freshman college player years away from NHL action to acquire Max Domi. The seventh year playmaker has been effective early on with Carolina though he has yet to post that success onto the stat sheet. He is an incredibly fast skater and very active with the stick which fits right in with the Hurricanes aggressive style of play. As the lines shake out towards the playoffs look for Domi to add some more tallys as he gets more comfortable on a set line.

Pyotr Kochetkov

Pyotr Cottontail, The Winter Soldier, Pyotr the Great. Just a few of the names I’ve seen across twitter for Mr. Kochetkov. Since joining the Canes AHL affiliate Chicago Wolves, Pyotr has been a force to be reckoned with posting a 13-1-1 record in his first fifteen games with a .921 save percentage. The kid is a STUD. Ever since coming stateside he has been a fan favorite in Chicago as well as a personal favorite of mine. If you haven’t seen the clip of him trying to throw hands with the opposing goalie I would highly recommend it. Kochetkov is electric and with the unknown length of Andersen’s injury as well as Alex Lyon, He is in line to potentially play incredibly important minutes to start off his NHL career as the Hurricanes jockey for playoff position.

Rod Brind’Amour

So honestly this has been my first season of truly paying attention to the NHL and the one thing that stability among an organization is incredibly uncommon. Teams are rolling through coaches like Wiz and Snoop with a QP and I think that is a big factor when it comes to how a team meshes. Brind’Amour has secured his spot as the Hurricane’s head coach and no one in that building has any second thoughts about. This situation affords Rod the ability to coach exactly how he wants without concerning himself with how it will impact his employment in the offseason. He truly is the rock of this organization and everything runs through him. He instills a sense of effort and poise that shows in how the team plays come puck drop. They play hard, they play fast, and they fight no matter what the scoreboard says. It all starts with effort and effort is what he embodies. I fully expect to see the boys fighting hard in the playoffs with his leadership.

Chicago Wolves

The Canes have a lot of young talent in the development pool. I get most of my info from @CanesProspects on twitter if I am being honest and they do an incredible job of showcasing our young group. The Chicago Wolves have been dominating the AHL this year with recent draft picks Pyotr Kochetkov, Jamieson Rees, and Jack Drury helping lead the way. The team has been awesome with AHL’s lead scoring tandem Andrew Poturalski and Stefan Noesen tallying a combined 170 points. The Wolves top the AHL with 102 points in the standings as of writing this and the next closest is the Stockton Heat with 92. They have a full five game lead on the next closest contender. Dominant.

Now time for some of the negatives…

Injuries

I mentioned earlier Jordan Staal and Freddie Andersen went down, that was against Colorado on Saturday night. A brutal game overall as the Canes fell 7-4, insult to (no pun intended) injury Freddie went down late after a pretty normal move right to left. As of yet I haven’t seen anything about his status but the way he went down I really wouldn’t expect him back before the first round. Why risk it? We are in the playoffs and no matter who we face the east is crazy good. As for Jordan Staal, he took a rough hit and looked to maybe have a concussion but I would expect him out of the lineup for a week or two. That’s all speculation by me though, I’ll keep an eye out for the official word.

Line Changes

It has been a while since we have seen consistent lines on the ice in Raleigh but I think it is good for us to be figuring it out now but we’ll need to figure it out soon. The lines I have liked as of late have been:

Svech - Aho - Jarvis

Turbo - Troch - Necas

Nino - Staal - Fast

Martinook - Stepan - Domi

Now with Staal injured, we will see how the coaching staff restructures for the time being. I imagine they will move Domi up to the Nino and Fast line and have Stevie Lorentz suit up. They haven’t had Stepan in the lineup much lately and I’m not sure why but hopefully he will get some more ice time. He looked good when he played. Really the only thing left to do is solidify some spots before we head into May.

Goal Scoring

I really cannot put a point to where the problem lies here but lately it just seems like the only line that can put the puck in the net has been Nino-Staal-Fast. I have truly been at a loss trying to come up with any reasons why but it just seems like Aho and Svech have been in a little bit of a shooting slump and Turbo has kind of been non-existent the last five games or so. I am not the utmost authority on quality hockey and technique, that is just what I personally have laid witness to in the past couple of weeks. 

In closing, I have full faith that the boys are going to get the ship righted as we move into the playoffs. As I said earlier they work hard and they play harder. Pucks will bounce our way, we just have to be ready to capitalize on them. The team has to keep attacking quick and shooting the puck with authority and I think they will shine bright as they skate into this postseason.