While we count down the days, 80 for the Carolina Hurricanes, until opening night, fans are chomping for any content about their teams. Over the weekend, some Hurricanes went off to Prague, Czechia, and Finland to attend Sebastian Aho and former teammate Petr Mzarek’s weddings. Back in the U.S. however, I talked to Hurricanes announcer Mike Maniscalco on the most recent episode of Locked On Hurricanes with the Locked On Podcast Network. We discussed his summer so far and all of the offseason changes to the team.
Maniscalco has been the Hurricanes’ play-by-play announcer since taking over for John Forslund during the 2020 Playoffs. After filling in during the 2019 Playoffs on the radio broadcast, the Hurricanes had not settled on a permanent replacement by the fall of 2020. But when Maniscalco got the offer to continue with the team as their full-time play-by-play voice, it was a no-brainer for him to accept. He has been there ever since.
The interview is over 50+ minutes, but here are some of the key moments:
Mike Maniscalco Interview
What are your thoughts on new general manager Eric Tulsky and assistant general manager Darren Yorke, who had to do a quick turnaround and feel like “okay, here is more responsibility” with the draft and free agency coming so quickly after they were promoted and manage it in a short time?
Mike Maniscalco (MM): “Well Zach, you covered, you know, what happened with Don Waddell and his situation. I wish Don nothing but the best, and again, you take a look at what he did for the six years as the general manager of this team, keeping things on a path moving forward, always looking to improve. But to your question, for if it would be Eric or Darren either guy who got tabbed was going to be [named general manager].
“I think for me, from the organization standpoint, a guy who’s going to do a fantastic job, just one becomes a little bit more front-facing and might have had to it’s weird. I’ll try to speak in terms of Dr. Tulsky’s language. Going from the micro to more of the macro as far as dealings of the organization you know, so Eric is gonna get a couple of things that maybe he would have been more hands-on in his previous role as the assistant general manager. But, really leading the analytics department things that he was doing, maybe that’s going to move to somebody else as he’s got a branch into other things that general managers do.
Related: Hurricanes’ Mike Maniscalco Speaks on Year Two In the Broadcast Booth
“The one thing for Eric that I think people sleep on is not just how bright he is, we understand that he’s the smartest guy in the room when he walks in and that to me is a great ace to have up your sleeve, but what his strength is and being around him is he is a guy who is constantly learning. The smartest people are always learning, they’re always trying to get better they’re always looking at, is there a better way to do things. The one thing for the Canes organization where Don Waddell had a great advantage and a huge help for this team in his role was he knows everybody in hockey. Don could literally pick up the phone and call anybody and say, ‘Hey what about this or do we need to do that.’ Eric learned from that so he’s going to be able to do the same thing with the organization.”
Replacing Brady Skjei and Brett Pesce with Shayne Gostisbehere and Sean Walker:
MM: “They had but the other players that left you just take a look at would it make sense to bring them in for the deals that they signed for you know either be the year or the AAV [annual average value]. Brady Skeji and Brett Pesce to me would have been a number one pairing on half the league last year so to lose both of them is tough. I know that you were probably gonna, like you know, click off all of the names that have left. That to me is a tough one, especially with how Brady Skjei’s offensive game has developed in the last two years.
“But yeah I love that the Canes had a good pivot in bringing in a player in Shayne Gostisbehere, who you already know what he can do here with Carolina, he’s been here, he knows the system, he knows the coaching staff but I think that the Canes fans are going to like Sean Walker too. Again, this is definitely in the short term, you’ll look at it and just being honest in the short term you’re losing a lot because Skeji and Pesce played big minutes in big situations up and down the ice. It’s going to take a while for new guys and even a guy who you know was here for a little bit [Gostisbehere] you know to really get back into the system this is how you have to play. We’ll see what it does long-term for Carolina.”
Jack Roslovic being the right-shot center the Hurricanes needed:
MM: “For me, I’ve always liked Jack Roslovic. I liked him in Winnipeg, I liked him when he went to Columbus. He’s a right-handed center who I’ll see if playing under Rod Brind’Amour unlocks a different kind of player in him because everybody always was looking for Roslovic to be this point producer. Well, maybe he turns into something else. Maybe he turns into a pretty damn good two-way defensive center who takes big draws on the penalty kill from the right side which is what you need. He’s not a huge frame but he’s a bigger frame, he’s got some good speed and those are the things that I’m looking at.
“I mean, we’re not talking about somebody 6-4, 225 down the middle you know this isn’t Jordan Stall 2.0 too but he’s also not you know 5-9, 5-10 trying to play down the middle. So we’ll see what can happen here and I think for him that change of scenery is going to be good. That’s an interesting signing that you know people look at and I think not a lot of people gave that any attention that here’s a guy who’s coming to Carolina. I look at it, I’m like that answers a right-handed center question for the team.”
Related: Hurricanes Add Roslovic & Stillman on Day 3 of Free Agency
What does it say about the Hurricanes kind of bringing in those guys like left-winger Eric Robinson who’s got some speed and got some build and you also got center Tyson Jost and those guys have experiences with the NHL and also in the AHL?
MM: “This to me, like these are signings that again people just kind of gloss over but good teams you have to have this kind of depth. [Eric] Robinson and Tyson Jost, are you going to see them play in a Canes uniform this year? Are they going to play all 82 games for Carolina? Probably not, but these are guys where if there is an injury you’ve got somebody with NHL experience that you can count on that can play in a whole bunch of situations. Jost’s got speed, this is a guy who you know a lot of people feel that there is more for him to give. Maybe this is his role but his role now in the NHL is a guy who can be a third or fourth-line center depending on the situation for you, more than likely a fourth-line center.
“Robinson is a really effective defensive player as a forward, you can get him to kill penalties. We know that that’s one of the hallmarks for the Carolina Hurricanes with what they’re able to do and what they want to do [efficient on the penalty kill]. I mean the other thing too, let’s face it, if you put a former Buffalo Sabre on your team you win the Stanley Cup. I mean that’s just kind of that’s E equals MC squared right now. So there’s playing the advanced analytics game for everybody now, now it all makes sense. It’s all coming together, it’s all coming together.”
Continues about Jost and Robinson with Chicago Wolves affiliation:
MM: “I joke a little bit on that but I like moves like this because like you said you have a minor league organization now again after whatever last year was with the [Chicago] Wolves. Zach, you know there were about three billion stories of why it happened and then as you know, there’s one or two why it did, but it’s good to have the AHL affiliate again because that way you don’t have to track your players around the globe. Literally you can monitor their development, you can put them on the path of this is how we play at the NHL level. This is what’s expected and you can start instilling that kind of core value that tenant and it’s easier just to keep track of them when you have an AHL affiliate again.
“We told everybody it wasn’t going to be a problem for a year, but it becomes problematic when you don’t have that affiliate for years because you know it’s hard to loan players everywhere. Are they getting the playing time that they need, are they being put in the roles that you want them to as an organization for when you’ve got to call them up they know what’s expected? Well now it’s put together they’ll know what’s expected of them and I think that this is going to be a good relationship between the Wolves and the Canes.
Related: Hurricanes Reunite With Chicago Wolves for AHL Affiliation
“Now moving forward especially, when you can add veteran players in the NHL who look, Chicago is not the worst place to play if you’re going to be an AHL player and that’s one of those things when I think if you’re looking at the Canes you know signing these players and bringing them in and going, look you’re going to play in a good city, you’re going to play here and it’s you’re not that far away from coming up. Those are really good moves, those are depth moves where in the years past, in the lean years Zach, of the organization the Canes didn’t have a player like that that they could turn to when there’s an injury. Well, now they have two, and again I think Robinson is going to be a depth player for the Canes and might be the extra forward.”
Where to Listen & Watch Maniscalco Interview
If you want to catch more of the interview in its entirety (50+ minutes), you can listen to it on all podcast platforms (Apple, Spotify, etc.) or you can watch it on the Locked On Hurricanes YouTube channel. Mike dives into a lot of topics ranging from the on-ice product, to the front office, the coaches and so much more. We are officially 81 days from the Hurricanes’ home opener and another season with Mike Maniscalco calling games for the team on Bally Sports South.
