The Sabres come in at 0-3. The Canes come in at 0-2. All of the preseason predictions that had these 2 teams battling for the bottom and the rights to Connor McDavid look to be on the spot so far.

We will see where the rest of this season goes, but if it ends like it is starting, the Canes and Sabres will look very much the same in terms of production. But there is also a striking difference. Buffalo very directly and wholeheartedly committed to a rebuilding program. In the process, they jettisoned every big contract and elite (or even good) player that they had with value for futures. The team is stocked with 12 draft picks in the top 2 rounds of the past 3 drafts and is maybe starting to get a glimpse of the end of it all as these players make it to the NHL level. The Canes are a very different story. The core of the team is a number of high-priced veterans. Between them Jordan Staal, Eric Staal, Cam Ward, Jeff Skinner and Alexander Semin will earn about $33 million this season. The Canes have not cast off talent committing to a rebuild, but rather are trying to somehow build around a core that has missed the playoffs for 5 years straight and make it enough better to win.

The Canes 0-2 start is by no means catastrophic season-wise, but even only a couple games in it is hard not to start questioning the long-term trajectory of this season. With the legitimate questions coming into the season after a rough 2013-14 season, a long-term injury to key player Jordan Staal and very little in terms of reinforcements over the summer, the current outlook is not good.

I think it is like this. With a win, the Canes are into the 2014-15 season with a win and a 1-2 record and can look forward to the road trip. With a loss on home ice to a team alleged by many to be the worst in the league and coming off a drubbing yesterday, it will be nearly impossible to muster Canes optimism on Wednesday morning.

Drama and story lines aside, here is what I am watching for tonight:

1) Ron Hainsey. I will be curious to see his reaction to being healthy-scratched on Saturday. Per my blog yesterday, I just do not see how he is not 1 of the 6 best defensemen that the Canes have. My wild guess/speculation is that Peters things he has upside and is trying to fire him up a bit. I guess we'll see tonight maybe if I am right and just in general how he responds.

2) Penalty kill. That has been arguably the biggest weak spot through 2 games. With the power play clicking right now, improvement here makes the Canes positive on special teams.

3) Cam Ward. I would not hang the opening night loss on him, but he was nothing close to great either. The Canes could use a goalie to stand on his head right about now if that is what it takes to win.

It sounds like the Canes are likely to get Jeff Skinner back on Thursday and possibly Eric Staal as well. If the Canes grind out a win tonight, they will enter the big road trip with another early-season bout of adversity partly behind them.

Somewhere Connor McDavid is watching...

Puck drops at PNC Arena at an odd 7:30pm because of the NBCSN coverage.

Twitter=@CarolinaMatt63

Go Canes!

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