What - Game 1
When - 7 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 11
Where - PNC Arena; Raleigh, NC
How to Watch - Bally Sports South

The Carolina Hurricanes season opener is finally here.

After a much too long offseason, NHL hockey will once again be taking place in Raleigh.

The Hurricanes managed to keep a majority of their roster intact over the summer and even brought in a few major upgrades such as Michael Bunting and Dmitry Orlov.

Both players will be making their Canes debut tonight and should be big parts of this team moving forward.

Carolina will be looking to replicate its success over the past few regular seasons, in which they've captured three straight division titles.

"They're as good as anybody at home," said Ottawa head coach DJ Smith on Carolina. "They come at you in waves. They play real fast and it's going to make you be on your game right away."

The Hurricanes' opponent for tonight, the Ottawa Senators, have missed the playoffs in sixth-straight year, but missed by only six points last season. They've been improving steadily every year and have a young and talented core.

"They're one of the more talented teams in the NHL," said Carolina head coach Rod Brind'Amour. "They score a lot of goals and some really nice ones at that. They have a high skill level and they make you pay. You know they are going to get their chances."

They've also been able to add key pieces to supplement their young core with guys like Vladimir Tarasenko, Jakob Chychrun and Claude Giroux (signed in the 2022 offseason).

They're one of the teams positioned to breakout.

The Hurricanes will have to decide whether they will go with a 12/6 or 11/7 formation tonight, but Brind'Amour is going to leave that off till the last possible minute.

"We're going to have everyone take warmup and go from there," Brind'Amour said.

Andrei Svechnikov will miss the start of the season after failing to be cleared to return by the team's medical staff.

Andrei Svechnikov to Miss Start of Season

"We kind of hoped that he would be ready," Brind'Amour said after Tuesday's practice. "Certainly looks good and everything, but that's not something you want to rush him back from. He's close, but not ready."

Frederik Andersen will get the start tonight.

Hurricanes Projected Lineup

Michael Bunting - Sebastian Aho - Seth Jarvis
Teuvo Teravainen - Jesperi Kotkaniemi - Martin Necas
Jordan Martinook - Jordan Staal - Jesper Fast
Brendan Lemieux - Jack Drury - Stefan Noesen

Jaccob Slavin - Brent Burns
Brady Skjei - Brett Pesce
Dmitry Orlov - Tony DeAngelo
Jalen Chatfield

Frederik Andersen
Antti Raanta

Injured: Andrei Svechnikov (knee), Vasily Ponomarev (knee), Ryan Suzuki (shoulder)

Senators Projected Lineup

Brady Tkachuk - Tim Stutzle - Claude Giroux
Mathieu Joseph - Ridly Greig - Drake Batherson
Dominik Kubalik - Rourke Chartier - Vladimir Tarasenko
Parker Kelly - Mark Kastelic

Jakob Chychrun - Thomas Chabot
Jake Sanderson - Artem Zub
Erik Brannstrom - Travis Hamonic

Joonas Korpisalo
Anton Forsberg

Injured: Josh Norris (shoulder), Zack MacEwen (UBI)
Scratches: Either Brendan Lemieux or Jalen Chatfield

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