The Carolina Hurricanes have now gone through a full week of training camp and have played in two pre-season games as well.
So what are we seeing from the Canes?
Here are 10 observations from the first week and some change of training camp.
Day 1 Notebook
Day 2 Notebook
Day 3 Notebook
Day 4 Notebook
Day 6-7 Notebook
Preseason Game 1 Recap
Preseason Game 2 Recap
1. Vibes are Good
Through the first week of training camp, things have been going fairly swimmingly.
Guys look engaged and for the most part appear to be having fun. There’s a lot of little competitions, hooting and hollering and smiles.
Training camp/pre-season is a long grind, especially when guys just want to start playing meaningful hockey, so it’s good that spirits have remained high.
So far so good.
2. Defense Set
From the first day of camp, Rod Brind’Amour has had his defensive pairs set and they haven’t budged since.
The main pairings are:
Jaccob Slavin – Brent Burns
Dmitry Orlov – Jalen Chatfield
Shayne Gostisbehere – Sean Walker
And barring any injuries (knock on wood), those will be the same exact ones coming opening night.
3. Minor Injury Concerns
Speaking of injuries, the Canes have been fortunate so far in that no major injury issues have crept up, but two players have dealt with some minor things.
William Carrier had a lower-body injury pop up in the first day of camp and took a puck to the mouth after returning, but he looks to be fully back now and played well in his Hurricanes pre-season debut.
Scott Morrow is the other player dealing with something and his injury has been a bit more impactful.
Brind’Amour said he wasn’t too concerned about it but Morrow has only practiced twice this camp due to it.
Hopefully it’s all been precautionary more than anything.
4. Interesting Power Play Looks
The Carolina Hurricanes are going to have a pretty different power play look this year and while one unit seems steady, the team is having a bit of fun with the other.
PP1 consists of:
Shayne Gostisbehere
Martin Necas – Sebastian Aho – Andrei Svechnikov
Seth Jarvis
The main group includes new blood in Necas and Gostisbehere to replace Teuvo Teravainen/Jake Guentzel and Brent Burns/Brady Skjei and will be the go-to group.
However, PP2 is where it’s getting interesting.
Burns is still involved in the power play on the second unit, but he’s been moved around a bit.
The veteran blueliner is either at the point or net-front depending on the personnel.
The units have been either:
Brent Burns
Sean Walker – Jack Drury – Jack Roslovic
Jesperi Kotkaniemi
Or
Dmitry Orlov
Jack Roslovic – Jack Drury – Jesperi Kotkaniemi
Brent Burns
“This is the time to kind of have some fun with it and see where it goes,” Brind’Amour said when asked about the new combinations.
5. Top Line Roslovic?
While Andrei Svechnikov started on the first line to begin camp, Brind’Amour has swapped him and Jack Roslovic in the last few practices and in the latest pre-season game.
Roslovic is a versatile player who can bring a lot of speed to a line. He worked well with Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis in his Hurricanes pre-season debut, so perhaps there’s something there.
“He’s got a lot of skill and he’s been in the league a long time,” Brind’Amour said. “He has played with top of the top players in the league and probably all in between. I think he can play all three positions which you know, those are real good assets. It’s still one game and we’re trying to get a feel for the player, but obviously he’s a good one.”
Related: What Will Jack Roslovic Bring To The Hurricanes Roster?
6. Jesperi Kotkaniemi Back at 2C
After a tough season last year, it seems that Carolina is going to give Kotkaniemi a shot back at the 2C position again.
He started last season there, but after struggling mid-season he fell to the fourth line and was occasionally a healthy scratch.
Currently, he’s playing in between Andrei Svechnikov and Martin Necas, the same linemates he had when he had his breakout season two years ago.
“Summer’s always good,” Kotkaniemi said about having the chance to reset. “It’s a long year and it was a little tougher one last year. But reset is a good word for it. Just try to get it out of the system and get a fresh start for this year. So far I’m feeling good and I’m excited to get the year started.”
If the Canes want to compete this year, they really need that second line to be a major factor for them.
7. Heavier Bottom-Six
Brind’Amour has wanted to get a bit beefier in his lineup for a few years now and it seems like he finally has that with the current construction of the bottom-six.
The addition of William Carrier to the Jordan Staal, Jordan Martinook line is just absurd, for one.
Carrier is 6-foot-2, 220lbs and is just another forechecking workhorse that is impossible to take the puck from.
Move down a line and the fourth line has primarily been Brendan Lemieux (215lbs) and Eric Robinson (211lbs), two heavy bodies who like to add a little physicality, alongside Jack Drury.
The Canes may have lost some scoring talent, but they’ve restructured back into a heavy, forechecking team like in years past. We’ll see if it works for them.
“Can’t have all little guys,” Brind’Amour said. “It doesn’t work.”
8. The Kids Might Not Make it
While it looked like there was going to be a chance for one of the big three prospects (Bradly Nadeau, Felix Unger Sorum, Jackson Blake) to make the team out of training camp, the longer camp goes on, the more unsure I am of that initial thought.
While all three are good players, none of them are “slam dunk,” “has to be here” type of players yet.
They didn’t standout too much in their first pre-season game and it’s looking like Brind’Amour is leaning into wanting a heavier bottom-six this season so I’m not sure the role is there for the kids yet.
I think all three will be NHL players in time, I’m just not sure that time is now.
Related: Which Carolina Hurricanes Prospects Could Make the Jump to the NHL This Year?
9. But the Chicago Wolves Are Probably Going to Be Really Fun
Saying that, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with those three getting the chance to grow in the AHL.
You can definitely rush a prospect if you bring him to the NHL too fast, so I think a year or two in the AHL would actually help them become the players the Canes want them to become with a steadier timeline.
And they’re not the only ones.
Players like Morrow, Gleb Trikozov and Aleksi Heimosalmi will grow tremendously from some time in the AHL and Chicago will certainly be a fun team to watch with all these prospects joining the group there.
10. Training Camp/Preseason is Very Long
I never realized how long a week can be when you’re practicing every single day for six days out of the week and then having games on top of them.
And then to think there’s still two more weeks until the season opener on Oct. 11?
Crazy.
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