The Carolina Hurricanes hold a 2-0 series lead over the New Jersey Devils and they'll be looking to make it 3-0 tonight with the first game in Newark.

On Wednesday, Hurricanes GM Eric Tulsky met with the media over Zoom to discuss the team, Alexander Nikishin and more. Here's what he had to say:

Eric Tulsky

On what he's hoping Alexander Nikishin gets out of being with the team: He has a ton of ability, but it's a big transition for him so every time he gets a chance to skate with the team, meet with the coaches, that helps him be ready to get on the ice and help the team. I think it's a great learning experience for him. The time he's getting around the team is helping him integrate and make sure he's ready to go when we need him.

On Nikishin's contract status: We've agreed to terms, we haven't signed a contract.

On when he expects it to be signed: I expect that we will sign the deal any day now. We're just working through some things. If we felt like we needed him on the ice in the next game, we'd get the contract in and have him ready to go. There's nothing that's getting in the way of him being able to play for us.

On how he's handled his first year as general manager: I personally don't stress very easily, so I've taken on that side of it pretty well, but you're right about sleeplessness though. I don't get a lot of sleep. Maybe in August I'll get to catch up. We'll see. But of course it's been worth it. The team's playing really well and that's really gratifying to see. The whole staff has done a lot of work to get us to this point and it's great to see that pay off.

On any one thing he wishes he could have done differently: During the season, there's a lot coming rapid-fire. In the offseason, we'll really sit down and do a deep dive on all of our decisions and go through what we knew at the time and how we arrived at the decision and think about what we might have done differently if we had known everything, but right now, we're just focused on the next thing coming and making sure we're staying on top of the game.

On Jaccob Slavin: He's an incredible player and a great person. It is hard to say how much he means to this team because it's just incredible to have a player who you can put out in any situation and know that he will handle it. And off the ice, he's a fantastic person also and a great influence on our locker room and really good with our younger players. It's just a pleasure to have him in our organization.

On the option of sending Nikishin to the AHL: When we sign the contract, he won't be able to play in the AHL any more. He'd be restricted to NHL games, so we're trying to keep our options open by holding off for now.

On how the trade deadline acquisitions have fit in: I think we were fortunate that the players we ended up with all fit almost immediately. From day one, I think Taylor [Hall] and Logan [Stankoven] and Mark [Jankowski] have all had significant impacts, but obviously the more time they spend with us, the more of a feeling they get for how we play, the more understanding they have of the nuance of what they're being asked to do, then the better they can do for us. I think it's really coming together for us now. We've been playing some fantastic hockey the last couple of games and hopefully it continues going forward.

On Frederik Andersen: Freddie's been great for us. When he's been in, he's been an impact player. The blood-clotting issue is not something that happens to very many players, but it's under medical care now and shouldn't be a recurring issue. This year, he unfortunately needed a little surgery, but has felt much better since he came back from that and feels like right now, he's as comfortable as he's been in years and is playing as well as he has in years. So we have all the trust in the world in him when he's out there on the ice.

On the transition from his old role to this new one: My role is different now. It used to be that I was leading the data group and the pro scouting group and I had to kind of wear those two hats and speak for each side. What do our stats say, what do our scouts say. And then it was ultimately the leadership team under Don [Waddell] to integrate all that and make a decision. Now it's other people's job to tell me what the scouts say and what they see on the stats and my job to take in all the information together and make a decision. It certainly changes the position I'm in. Ultimately, I think we've been doing well to take in all the information that we have and I'm pretty comfortable that the way things have gone have been a solid outcome for us so far.

On Jesper Fast's status and what the future may hold for him: I can't really speak to that at this time. Right now, we're really just focused on our playoff games. Obviously we like him a lot. He's been a good player for us on the ice and has been in contact with us throughout the year, supporting us and being around the team. We'll be happy to look at roles if that's something he wants to do, but it's not time to have that conversation right now.

On if he's able to sit back and enjoy the run at all or if he has to focus on what's upcoming: You have to be able to enjoy it even when you have other work to do. It's a great life and we have to be able to take time and enjoy it. But yeah, there's a lot of work coming up ahead. The draft, free agency and after that comes arbitration cases. It is a long summer and we're entering the busiest time of year for a GM. But that doesn't mean I can't take time to enjoy the games as they come.

On if he'll be able to take a break at all this summer: There's a little bit of a window when arbitration cases are all done and maybe we'll have an RFA or two, but hopefully by then, everything's wrapped up and you get a couple of weeks to wind down a little bit before people come in for camp and it all ramps back up.

On the job the pro scouting department did this past offseason: I think they've done an incredible job. Mark Craig is our director of pro scouting, starting this year, Chris Abbott has been our VP of pro player personnel and then they have a staff of part-time scouts under them and that group has really focused on evaluating skillsets and asking themselves not just, do I like this player, but do I think he has the skills to look his best for us? And I think they've been really effective at that. We're batting at an almost unsustainable percentage in terms of players coming in and just looking like a fit. It's never going to be true that every single person looks the way we hoped they would and that's just part of how it is. Every time you make a change, you're taking some risk that it's not going to go quite the way you'd hoped, but so far, our batting average is extremely high and it's a huge credit to that scouting staff.

On if this year feels any different: I want to say yes, but if we're being honest, we feel that way every year. That is the bar in this organization. We want to compete for the Cup every year and we think we've built a team that's capable of doing that, we think we have a coach that's capable of getting the most out of them and we think we have a group of players that fit well and are willing to do whatever it takes. Every year at this time, I feel like we've got a real chance to win and then you see how it plays out.

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