Five key Hurricanes players remain sidelined. Coach Brind'Amour offers updates on Slavin, Miller and the others.
The Carolina Hurricanes have gotten one player back from injury, as goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov was activated off of IR over the weekend, but the team still has five lineup regulars who continue to be away from the team.
At the team's practice on Monday, those same five players (Jaccob Slavin, K'Andre Miller, Shayne Gostisbehere, William Carrier, Eric Robinson) were absent and coach Rod Brind'Amour provided an update on their current statuses:
On Jaccob Slavin: It's worrisome all the time when someone's not in the lineup. But I think, talking with him, it feels like everything is heading in the right direction. When he feels that he can be Jaccob Slavin-ish, he's going to be out there. He's just not quite there yet.
On K'Andre Miller: I was kind of hopeful that he'd maybe make the trip and give it a go. I don't think that's going to happen, but I don't anticipate that one being too much longer.
On everyone else: The other guys are still a ways away, I think.
On the challenge of having guys out for preseason and now early in the season: It's an interesting one to come out of the summer with that, right? Usually maybe five or six or ten games in and then all of a sudden, but we were dealing with that stuff before we even hit the ground running. That's been kind of tough for the whole group. But like I said, nobody cares. You have to figure it out and I think the young guys we've thrown in have done admirably well. They're not the reason we're struggling a little to get wins or find a way. They've done their jobs and they haven't hurt us. But we do miss those guys no doubt.
On the defense constantly being with new partners: It's not ideal. We don't really having pairings. We're just mixing and matching it with who's going and with that situation, it makes it a little harder for a guy who's used to playing in a certain spot. But that's what we're dealing with. We have to keep pushing.
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