Carolina's general manager breaks down roster decisions, Kochetkov’s extension, and the evolving situation with Alexander Nikishin as the Hurricanes prepare for another championship pursuit.
Carolina Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky met with the media on Monday for season opening availability.
Here's what he had to say:
Eric Tulsky
On the decision to extend Pyotr Kochetkov: He's an important part of our team. He's played well for us, won a lot of games and plays an aggressive style that really fits with the way we play. We saw an opportunity to get a deal done that both sides were happy with and take this off our plate and move forward.
On Alexander Nikishin: We're trying to find a resolution. He has largely kept things out of the media and I want to be respectful and make sure that when players talk to me, they know that it's just between us. So if they're not talking to the media, I'm not going to either. But both sides are trying to find a resolution and figure out how we go forward from here.
On Bradly Nadeau and Felix Unger Sorum not making the opening night roster: They both played extremely well in the preseason. Honestly did everything they could. Earned a ton of trust from Rod [Brind'Amour] and I know they will be here this season. I don't know if it'll be 15 games or 70, but they're clearly ready. That being said. We have a lineup of skaters who were all at a ring ceremony last night and it's a tough team to crack right now and the veterans had great preseasons too. There was just nobody who lost a spot and so for the time being, it is what it is. But those guys will get their chances. They will be here. Rod's ready to play them when they're here and we're looking forward to seeing how that goes.
On Charles Alexis Legault and Mike Reilly winning spots: Both of them played really well. Juuso [Valimaki], Joel [Nystrom], PO [Joseph] also put themselves in the mix and so it was a tough decision. I also think all those guys can be counted on when we need them, but we went with the guys who we felt showed the most in the preseason and were most ready to go. Again, we know there will be injuries, we know there will be swaps and people will get their chances, but it's starting with the guys who showed best in the preseason.
On the organizational depth: It's really been good for us, especially with the shortened preseason. There wasn't a lot of time for teaching and education. Having a group of people who also all knew how we played and could just focus on learning the new wrinkles this year instead of having to start from square one is a real advantage for the coaching staff. We've got a group that is very hungry and has a strong, driven culture. So I don't worry at all about complacency. Last year's Cup is over and guys came in ready to go. We'll get started tomorrow.
On Sebastian Aho: I try not to focus on statistical benchmarks because sometimes pucks go in and sometimes they don't. He can make a play and the other guy doesn't finish and so he'd miss out on a chance to pick up an assist that he deserved. So it's really about how he's playing and we rely on him to be a leader. Power play, penalty kill, 5-on-5, like he plays against the other team's top six every night and we rely on him to sort of carry our team through in every situation. He's in great shape and one of the cultural leaders for our team and is an incredibly driven player who you know you're going to get the best out of every night.
On if he expected Nikishin to hold out for as long as he is: I think it's unusual to get to this point with a player unsigned, so I can't say I expected it, but that's how it goes sometimes. We understand where they are, they understand where we are and we're trying to find a resolution. It'll come when it comes.
On the Florida Panthers: I mean, they're a great team who play a style very similar to ours. We've had some great battles with them over the years. I think last year's Cup is ours until puck drop tomorrow and then it's up for grabs and then we're one of 32 teams competing to be one of the 16 teams who gets to compete to win it and that race starts tomorrow.
On Seth Jarvis: It'll be really nice to have [his shoulder] fixed. There have been things that we've asked him to do that he has had to be a little more careful on in the past and now he'll be able to go full bore. He is an incredibly driven player and has done absolutely everything he can to keep his injury timeline as short as possible. If it were up to him, I bet he'd be in the lineup tomorrow, but ultimately, it's up to his body and the medical staff. We'll see over the coming weeks how the finishing touches on his rehab go and when he's ready to go.
On how he's seen the team's hunger to compete again this year: From day one, it was conditioning. Like, people showed up and you'd have thought, 'Oh, it's a short summer and people were celebrating all summer, so what's it gonna look like?' and we had players come in maybe 20-25 pounds lighter. Like there were people who really drive themselves over the summer to put themselves in position to be ready to go this year. And it's also just an attitude. Talking to people about how they want to approach Game 1, Game 2, Game 3. You can see that nobody is thinking beyond tomorrow. Everybody understands that we have a new job to do. We did the job last year and now we've got a job this year.
On if Nikishin changing agents changes anything with the negotiation process: It doesn't change our position any and I doubt it changes his. It brings a new voice into the room and maybe that helps us find a resolution, I don't know. But ultimately we both understands where the other side is, we just need to find a way to resolve it.
On Bradly Nadeau and Felix Unger Sorum not making the opening night roster [again]: We're trying to set up the organization to have success and we've got a game to win tomorrow and we want to run out the team that will give us the chance to do that. We do need to get the younger players opportunities. Brad [Nadeau] had a couple call ups last year and I think showed progress each time and we're looking forward to him getting more opportunities going forward. Felix [Unger Sorum] got his first NHL game at the end of last year and looked pretty close and looked even better in the preseason this year. He's going to get some opportunities too. We'll find those opportunities to get them in.
On the decision to keep Cayden Primeau up on the main roster: The mechanics of an opening night roster is always a little complicated and Cayden had a great camp and we have a lot of trust in him. We see him as an important part of our organizational depth at that position and so, at least right now, we're gonna run with three goalies and see where we go.
On if Bradly Nadeau and Felix Unger Sorum could be potential callups in the coming days: I mean, it's really hard to guess what we're gonna do going forward. I think there's a lot of possibilities, but right now, we have the roster we have and we're gonna see where it goes from here.
On Nicolas Deslauriers: Nic plays a few different roles. One is when he's on the ice, he brings a very physical presence. And I know people focus on the fighting and the stuff after the whistles, but he's also a very physical player between the whistles and he brings a heavy game and finishes checks and just helps make our team harder to play against all around. He's also just a tremendous character guy. Whether it's on the bench or the locker room, wherever, he's someone who you can see helps everybody else stay engaged night after night and feel like they're in the right place and he helps keep everyone pulling on the rope.
On if it's meaningful to bring mostly the same group back: It's obviously helpful. My preference would have been to bring in five superstars who make us better, but there is an upside to having status quo. We have players who should hit the ground running from day one. They know what to do, they know what's expected of them. There's always little wrinkles to learn, but the system as a whole is something that everybody out there understands from day one. Hopefully that shows up in the cohesiveness when we hit the ice.
On if he's taken the time to think about how all the moves and decisions paid off last season: We're very fortunate to be in the position that we're in. We've had a team that, for a lot of years, was good enough to win the Cup if we got the breaks and every year we had injuries or ran into a hot goalie or whatever. We came up a little short each time. We weren't good enough to get through when things didn't go our way. Last year, everything went our way. We stayed healthy, we had the hot team and we went 16-3. That is really something to have things finally go in our way and show what the team is capable of when it's at full strength. Now we're back to square one and need to show it again this year.
On what the championship means to him: It's really special to be a part of this. There are some players on the team who are veterans who hadn't had the chance before and I wanted it for them so bad. Getting to see them get it is really gratifying and feeling like I played a role in helping make that happen has been really special to me. I see what it means to them and then after we won, even before the parade, like the team had a thing at a local bar and fans packed the street outside just to be outside celebrating with us. Seeing how much it meant to the community, it really means something to be able to do that for people. Of course I enjoyed it too, but a big part of what I enjoyed was seeing what it meant to everybody else.
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