Canes visit Bubba

On Tuesday night, the Hurricanes will visit Bubba for the second of five straight road games. They are coming off a 4-1 loss in Pittsburgh on Saturday.

This will be the fourth game in the Central division road game series. So far, Carolina has lost on the road to Columbus, Detroit and St. Louis. While these out-of-conference games are generally regarded as "not as important", Carolina will need a win to avoid falling into second place in the Southeast Division.

The last time Carolina met the Predators was in the year of the Cup. Carolina won in overtime and Tomas Vokoun had a major meltdown afterwards, launching his goalie stick into the protective netting behind him. Of course Vokoun is no longer a Pred, and Josef Vasicek doesn't play for either team anymore.

This will be Scott Walker's first return to Bubba since he left the Preds in the summer of '06.

Speaking of the Preds, some idiotic rumor monger (you know which one) is trying to suggest that the Canes are looking to ship Erik Cole to the Preds for Kevin Klein +. Sorry, but I'm not buying that, unless the "plus" means Martin Erat. Klein, who is most famous for starring in "A Fish Called Wanda", "Dave" and "The Ice Storm", has played in only 16 NHL games. This season, he has appeared in 11 games and has recorded two assists. He has been a healthy scratch for the last 11 games, and was scratched for 24 straight games earlier in the season. Although he sort of falls into the "puck-moving defenseman" category that the Canes are looking for, he's just not NHL-ready. Carolina would have to get much more in the "immediate impact" department to make a Cole trade make any sense. Radulov is right out. There are no other forwards who would make any sense.

I'm just not buying this as a trade deadline thing. Much more likely would be for something to happen with Colorado and J-M Liles.

Nashville will be playing the third of four straight home games, and they have won the last two.

For some excellent Preds coverage, please visit On the Forecheck.

Puck drop will be 8:00 Eastern time, and the game will be broadcast nationally on Versus.