The Canes continue camp as they gear up for Pre-season Game 2.
The Carolina Hurricanes continue to trudge along through training camp, capping off their first week of work.
After seven days of camp, the Canes are mostly healthy and are even 1-0-0 in the pre-season so far, so you really can't complain.
William Carrier started practicing again on Tuesday, and although he was struck by a puck in the face at Thursday's skate, he put some cotton up his nose and got right back out there, so he looks to be fine for the coming days.
However, Scott Morrow is once again out, having been off the ice for the last several days. He skated with the C2 group on Monday after leaving last Thursday's skate early, but hasn't been back out there since.
"Again, I think he could... I'm pretty sure, he could actually do it because he came out for one practice," said Canes coach Rod Brind'Amour. "But he didn't feel 100%, so we're just kind of shutting him down. I don't expect it to be long though. I think any day he'll be back out there."
At Wednesday's skate, Spencer Martin joined the C1 group in place of Pyotr Kochetkov who had the day off from on-ice activities after going the distance in the pre-season game the night before.
The main group also got some slight tweaks to the lineup as Jack Roslovic and Andrei Svechnikov swapped lines and Carrier returned to the third line where he started on Day 1.
The lines were as follows:
Jack Roslovic - Sebastian Aho - Seth Jarvis
Andrei Svechnikov - Jesperi Kotkaniemi - Martin Necas
Jordan Martinook - Jordan Staal - William Carrier
Brendan Lemieux - Jack Drury - Tyson Jost/Eric Robinson
The defense stayed the same.
The main group also worked on a lot of 5v5 play and did some 2v2 and 3v3 battle drills.
The C2 group on Wednesday also got a major makeover following the first pre-season game.
No longer were the three top prospects of Felix Unger Sorum, Bradly Nadeau and Jackson Blake on the same line following their tough showing in Tampa.
The new lines/pairs were as follows:
Juha Jaaska - Felix Unger Sorum - Noel Gunler
Gleb Trikozov - Ryan Suzuki - Jackson Blake
Josiah Slavin - Skyler Brind'Amour - Rocco Grimaldi
Bradly Nadeau - Justin Robidas - Sam Gagner
Ronan Seeley - Anttoni Honka
Domenick Fensore - Aleksi Heimosalmi
Charles-Alexis Legault - Bryce Montgomery
Riley Stillman
Yaniv Perets
Ruslan Khazheyev
The prospects worked on much the same things as the main group, although as one can expect, there was a lot more teaching involved.
On Thursday, the C2 group had the same lines, although Sam Gagner was absent from practice, but Brind'Amour said that they were just giving him an extra day off.
However, there was a bit of change on the defense. The new pairs were:
Ronan Seeley - Bryce Montgomery
Domenick Fensore - Aleksi Heimosalmi
Charles-Alexis Legault - Anttoni Honka
Riley Stillman filled in for Gagner on the fourth line.
In addition, Stillman, who's been in a yellow non-contact jersey for the whole camp due to a lower-body injury, did some leg testing at the end of practice which may mean he could be nearing a full return.
The C1 group took the ice following the C2 practice and we had the same exact lines and pairs as the day before.
Pyotr Kochetkov rejoined the group on the ice as well.
The main group did a lot of work on man-advantage situations with both power play and 6v5 work.
PP1 stayed the same as its been all of camp, but interestingly enough PP2 was trying some new things, namely net-front Brent Burns.
The second unit had Dmitry Orlov on the point, Kotkaniemi and Roslovic on the half-wall, Drury in the slot and Burns in front of the net.
"He's going to be on the power play, it's just a matter of where we put him," Brind'Amour said. "This is the time to kind of have some fun with it and see where it goes."
However, the Canes also alternated Sean Walker onto PP2 in place of Orlov, but when they did that, Burns moved back to the point.
It was Burns at the point, Walker and Roslovic along the wall, Drury still in the slot and Kotkaniemi at the net-front.
At the very least, Carolina is trying to experiment a little there to see if they can get something to stick.
"You can put any of these players in any of these positions, it just has to be the right fit," Brind'Amour said. "The hands have to match and all that stuff kind of matters. We have a lot of new guys and we're trying to see where all the pieces fit, so that's what's happening."
After the main section of practice, the Canes played a little 2v2, small ice game to determine who would have to skate at the end of practice.
In the end, Team White which was composed of the Top-Six forwards, Middle-Four defense and Frederik Andersen, came away with the win.
"You always want [to have fun]," Brind'Amour said on the friendly competitions. "I don't care whatever it is, training camp or not. Training camp is so much different now than it was 10 years ago or for sure 20 years ago. It's the nature of the game. Guys come in in shape and ready to play and you pretty much know what the team is. In years past, there were like three or four jobs open and now you're talking about maybe one. It's just the way it's gone, so it's a different feel, but you always want to try and enjoy what you're doing. As long as you're working hard, like today, those guys were working hard and competing. You want that kind of feeling."
Rod Brind'Amour
On William Carrier not being able to catch a break so far in training camp: I've lived that, so I know it. It's not fun.
On the importance of having a few veterans like Gagner and Grimaldi with a mostly inexperienced group: It's really valuable. Having guys that know how to play, that have been through it. I think it's been real beneficial. We already kind of had a group too and so they might not have gotten the reps there which wouldn't have been good for them. At the end of the day, we're evaluating during the games. It's been good to have those guys.
On having Spencer Martin: We've seen it for how many years now where you need that depth at that position. Last year was probably the longest we've had to count on that and Spencer did a great job which is why we're happy to have him back. Can't have enough good goalies. It's just too important.
On taking a step back to appreciate the chance to coach his son: It was a good moment. But I'm a coach. It's not really the dad thing, but that will maybe come a little bit later when you just kind of sit back. We got a nice picture, which I hate doing, but I realize the older I get, that when you're creating those memories, you have to have that stuff so I do it. We got a nice picture. It's a good opportunity for him and hopefully it continues.
On staying objective in the evaluation process for Skyler: I'm his harshest critic. So if I see good things then he's doing really good things and I certainly pick out the things he needs to do better but that's kind of the way dads are. But I put the coach hat on too and I know where he fits and what he needs to do better so we'll see where it goes.
On Felix Unger Sorum: We have some really young, talented forwards and they'll get the bulk of the work I think in pre-season. You'll probably see them more than maybe some of the other guys, but he's one of those guys who we've targeted. You can tell he's got a great head on his shoulders. Still just a kid and you have to be mindful of that. He has to get bigger and stronger and faster, but that's all stuff that will come for sure. You can't really teach the stuff that he has which is just great hockey sense. We're excited about him.
On how the defense is coming together: I don't want to get too into what's happening in practice, but what I'm looking at is the effort they're putting in and are they doing it right. That kind of thing. And I think we've done that pretty well for the first week.
On Ronan Seeley: You just said really a great word [dependable]. When you're dependable and you're a quality person, that's what he is and that's why we love having him here and love having him in the organization. You can't have enough of those kinds of kids and they become the leaders of the next group too that come in. Really, really happy to have him in the organization.