Ice Cold Takes: Who cares what grandpa says, the Carolina Hurricanes are fun!

Ice Cold Takes is a weekly humor column covering what is trending around the NHL. This column also serves as the official Ryan Donato and Rasmus Ristolainen fan club.

Guess who’s back?! Ryan Donato is making his return to the NHL tonight, which is going to make for must-watch television as the Bruins take on the Islanders in Boston. More on this later, as we have to jump to another column favorite.

The Buffalo Sabres have won 10 straight games. That’s right, a team from Buffalo, in 2018, is dominant. They are doing it in style, too, with Jeff Skinner tied for the league lead in goals, and the defensemen with the coolest name in the NHL is doing things like this:

Are you kidding me Rasmus Ristolainen? Seriously. The guy’s name sounds like the villain in a movie that we all end up liking more than the protagonist. He did this on Brent Burns, widely regarded as one of, if not the best defensemen in hockey. Ridiculous.

Trending Up

1. The Carolina Hurricanes

“Hurricanes are fun” said no one ever. Until now, that is! Your Carolina Hurricanes, who have previously only been relevant for one post season run in 2006, are now quite possibly the most fun team in the NHL.

https://twitter.com/NHLCanes/status/1062174655941955584

The ‘Canes are breaking an age-old NHL mold. Sorry, old guys, but this is the future. Remember, this is also the team that sent it’s development camp to Epic Games’ Fortnite headquarters during the preseason, while other teams banned the game, touting it a “distraction.” The Hurricanes are fun hockey and everyone should be paying attention.

Carolina has every reason to celebrate. This team that seems to have come out of nowhere is currently 12-9-3, which is a huge improvement over last season. They are young, fast and becoming a team that can take two points on any given night. Call this team climate change, because we’ll be seeing a lot more of these Hurricanes in the future.

3. Cam Atkinson’s family

Have you ever stepped into an Old Navy and thought “Woah, I thought that manikin family was real!” It turns out, they are. Here is a Thanksgiving photo of the Atkinson’s, who I can assure you, are real people.

Cam, his wife Natalie, his son Declan and his dog Easton (My God, it’s way too easy to find things on the internet) look like a family straight out of a 1997 Sears catalogue. What a beautiful family.

1997 was around the height of Sears fame, right? Before the slow steady decline? It sounds right so I’m sticking with it.

3. Hockey Guy Ryan Donato

First off, it’s pretty well-known that I am obsessed with future NHL star Ryan Donato. Even while down in the minors, this budding star continued to fuel that fire.

Donato took a puck to face last week that shattered five of his teeth and left him with 27 stitches in their place. The day after the incident, his response to how he was doing was “I’ll be ready to go tonight.”

Now, Donato is back up with the Boston Bruins, looking to add some of his scoring ability (and toughness) to the squad riddled with injuries so far this season. Expect a lot from Donato, as the young rook is going to light up the league in the coming months.

Sync your Budweiser goal lights to the Boston Bruins if you want to draw unwanted attention to your house from neighbors who think they are suddenly living in the red light district.

Trending Down

1. Tom Wilson

Not for a blindside! It’s a miracle! Tom Wilson is trending down this week because he’s still walking around in the shade after this interaction with a kid who clearly knows Wilson’s NHL history.

Here’s a phrase you don’t hear arranged this way often: Tom was blindsided! This kid is either a Penguins fan or a fan of progressing the game away from dangerous hits to the head. More probable, his parents are probably hockey fans who aren’t too keen on Wilson’s style of play.

Props to this little man for not being in awe of an NHL player and sticking to his guns here.

2. Gyms

Everything old ends up making a comeback at some point. This is true with style, music, fashion, Jaromir Jagr and now work out videos. The 1980’s were dominated by these flashy, tight and bright work out tapes, and now you can get in on the action. With Gritty, of course.

The best part about this short video is that people would actually buy this. Gritty has become a phenomenon. He is no longer the mascot for the Philadelphia Flyers. He is the mascot for the fun, new NHL. Gritty is the catalyst to the NHL joining the NFL and NBA in popularity.

3. Toronto Maple Leafs fans 

You are finally good. There are so many positives surrounding this team. The Leafs are sitting pretty, currently third place in the Eastern Conference despite Auston Matthews being out for the better part of a month.

Still, you horrible, no good, very bad people who call yourselves Leafs “fans” need something to bitch about. Enter: The William Nylander contract situation. You want to use David Pastrnak as a benchmark. Stop doing this. Don’t be mad at the kid, you knew this was coming when you landed Tavares and gave him $11 million.

Here’s another issue. When you aren’t calling this great young player a “spoiled baby,” you’re telling us that Mitch Marner is a hall-of-famer. Guess who will be looking to get paid next year? That’s right, it’s Toronto media-dubbed future hall-of-famer Mitch Marner. Good luck.

Just stop putting these kids on a pedestal and maybe you’ll be able to get them all signed. Poor Kyle Dubas has to deal with the worst fan base in sports. I couldn’t imagine what is going through his 15-year-old mind.

NHL Betting With Bruin (5-9)

Well last week was rough! All of the mojo from one good week is gone and we’re back to taking L’s. Thanksgiving games are a toss-up as most players are either overeating turnkey or over-celebrating the holiday. This week should be a little easier to predict.

There are some great games on tonight. Bet on all of them, but stay the hell away from that Tampa Bay vs. Buffalo game. It’s early, but it’s huge for the division.

Lock: Edmonton (-150) to beat L.A. – Sure, the Oilers just lost to the Kings last Sunday but the Kings are old and terrible. It won’t happen again.

Upset: Minnesota (+115) to beat Columbus – Why not. Minnesota is a wagon and this one just feels good, doesn’t it?

Keep your head up.

Odds presented by Oddsshark.