Storm Advisory 7/31/20: NHL News, Daily Links and Roundup

One more sleep until games that matter.

Tomorrow at noon the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Rangers kick off the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs Qualifying Round. In the meantime, there’s a practice today, so stay tuned for updates along with player and coach interviews. We also have a new podcast headed your way this afternoon as well as a few prognostications. Plus plenty to read, watch and click as we count down the minutes to puck drop in Toronto.

• Yesterday’s News Today: The Canes knocked off some rust in exhibition action, analyzing what went wrong in the regular season games against the Rangers, and taking a look back at how the 2019-20 Canes roster was built.
• The Canes didn’t practice on the ice yesterday but they spent some quality time with head strength and conditioning coach Bill Burniston.

• Wishing Happy Birthday today to the Big Rig, Mike Maniscalco! Mike made his season play-by-play debut alongside Tripp Tracy in Wednesday’s exhibition game on Fox Sports Carolinas. Here’s more on his preparation for the role and the challenges of calling a broadcast from afar. [The Athletic $]
• Mike joined Joe Ovies and Joe Giglio on 99.9 The Fan Thursday to explain the broadcast logistics and share his perspective on who starts in net on Saturday (July 30 podcast, 23-min. mark). [WRALSportsFan]
• And more about the national broadcast set-up, including who is where. It might be surprising to see who is NOT in Toronto and Edmonton. [The Athletic $]
• A fascinating “walking tour” of the Edmonton bubble:

• Never in my life did I think I’d see an article on this topic, but here we are (in the spirit of full disclosure, I didn’t read it) — how sports, coronavirus and hockey hygiene mix. [ESPN]
• On Thursday the AHL announced it has moved the anticipated start date for the 2020-21 AHL regular season to Dec. 4, 2020. [AHL.com]
• Congratulations to Hurricanes defenseman Brady Skjei, who will enter the Qualifying Round against his former team on Saturday as a graduate of the University of Minnesota. [Gopher Sports]
• Finnish to English translation is sketchy at best, but here’s Sami Vatanen with an update on his health, Return To Play (spoiler, he’s not a big fan), and playing golf with Turbo’s clubs. [YLE.fi]
• Caption this:

• Thanks to Canes web editor Michael Smith, life in the bubble afforded fans a unique behind-the-scenes glimpse into what happens during a game from the coaches’ perspective. [Canes.com]
• So did this happen by chance or by design?

• Shenanigans in the bubble — Bruins forward David Pastrnak shared a Rocket Richard Trophy with Alex Ovechkin this season but he’s allegedly more impressed with the scoring prowess of a different Capitals player. [RMNB]
• Life in the bubble comes with its own set of wardrobe challenges, not the least of which is having to deal with Chief of Fashion Police Kris Versteeg and his Instagram account. [NBC Sports Chicago]
• This is how you produce a playoffs hype video in 2020.

By the way, if you want to share how your house is part of the #LoudestHouses in the NHL you can do so on social media using the aforementioned hashtag or visit the Canes fan page to upload photos and video.

Also, even though fans can’t be together in the arena this post-season, we can still support the Canes Foundation. Here’s how:

• Growing a playoff beard? Join Beard Together.
• Participate in the 50/50 raffle which will run through the entire playoffs (last year’s jackpot was $40k).
• Check out the Online Auctions which will feature a variety of signed merchandise and memorabilia available for bid during each game (Game 1’s swag is already up for viewing).

One more day before the storm.