The Carolina Hurricanes opened up camp on Thursday, but there was a notable absence on the ice.

Number one defenseman Jaccob Slavin was not on the ice for practice, although he did exit the locker room in full gear toward the end of the morning. 

The Canes' top defender is an integral piece of the blueline and will be especially important this season with the defense in a bit of a transitional year with all of the new faces and potentially different pairings.

However, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour didn't seem too worried over his status.

"We're just holding him off because, you know, he trains pretty hard in the summer and he was feeling a little sore, so we were like, 'Okay, good. You're not going out there,' and it might be a few days," Brind'Amour said. "Until he tells us he's 100%, we're not going to put him out there.

"He could have come out, but it's just how we're going to do it."

Slavin, 31, was also seen in a social media video wearing a knee brace late last month, so perhaps his absence is related to recovery from that particular injury.

In addition to Slavin's absence, new defenseman K'Andre Miller and center Mark Jankowski were sporting yellow, non-contact jerseys for the first day of practice.

However, like Slavin, Brind'Amour isn't too concerned over it.

"The yellow jerseys, both of those guys were a little nicked up in the summer, so everything's just slow play," Brind'Amour said.

While Miller didn't expand on what his particular injury is, he did say that he anticipated shedding the non-contact jersey in the coming days.

"Still dealing with something, but just taking it day-by-day," Miller said.

The Canes will be back on the ice Friday at Invisalign Arena for Day 2 of camp with the first preseason game just around the corner on Monday.

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