Carolina went 5-1-1 in pre-season, with lines being set by FHM as opposed to having them put together. With actual lines formed, we are hoping this is the start of a potential Four Star Cup run season.

But maybe that is thinking too far ahead. Carolina went 6-1-0 in the preseason last year, and had similar point totals from players leading the pack, like Córmac Ponaire, Gino Lombardo, Daud Ramza, and Tomas Lind. However, we are seeing the emergence of players like Lucas Raymond and Aleks Blixtstrom this season, coming out of nowhere with huge point totals. Golden Face looks to have stepped his game up this season as well, and Granny PanPan is plain ol' reliable. The rookie class is looking quite strong too, lead by top draft picks Tanner Fox and Patya Perevalov. That is not to discount the efforts of Atticus Hale, Ellis Lee, and Vincent Fox, all of which can't be overlooked. The even bigger story is the Kraken's newest goalie when given his shot in net, sporting a 2.4 GAA and a .926 sv%, in one win and one overtime loss. Osada Tamura is still looking sturdy this pre-season as well. Simply put, this is looking like one hell of a team this upcoming season. 

Even with all of this going for the team in the pre-season, can we manage to carry that into the regular season? When looking at overall point totals, it just does not seem like that success from the pre-season transferred in season 59. That is where Carolina fell short last year, landing second place in the division behind Detroit, fourth place in the conference, and seventh place in the league overall. The team needs to learn from their mistakes to avoid history repeating itself. That is where GMs, Chris Conner (aka sve7en) and the newly-minted Napoleon Dynamite (Mazatt) come in. They know that both their veteran leaders and this fresh crop of highly active rookies will absolutely not settle for being second best. The goal is to win, and win now. To them, second place is the first loser. The window is open for the run to happen. One look into the financials shows that, assuming nobody is called up next season, a cup win has to happen now. While losing Golden Face and Tomas Lind next season will hurt, the majority of the team's core is still in tact, and could still make a run if they do not capture the highly-coveted trophy at this season's conclusion. After that, the team looks to pretty much implode, losing 7 players to the SHL, and it is not clear whether or not this rookie class will carry that torch - it is simply too early to tell.

So, what are your thoughts? Is this team built to win a cup in the next 2 seasons? Or, is it just the sparks of hope that, once again and just like last season, fail to ignite the fire? Given that the season starts Thursday, I guess it will not be long until we find out.

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