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The Training Camp Thread

I suspect you are right, JB. If you are specifically looking at 'Cam has to make this save to prevent a shootout loss' moments it would be an interesting (time consuming) exercise to see what his Save% is there (its probably terrible like the rest of his career shootout numbers). Then again the Canes put our goalies in situations in the shootout where our goalie HAS to make a stop to prevent a loss (instead of making a stop to seal a win) more often than most teams because we can't score shootout goals. You can extend that to game situations too, ie the Jack Eichel breakaway with seconds left in OT last season. You just KNEW that Cam was not going to make a save there.

Yeah. I'm not letting the shooters off the hook here. Nor do I feel I'm being harsh on Cam. Seriously, in all phases of his goaltending since 2009, he's been a mess in pressure situations. More likely to boof on his handling, more likely to be too deep on a scoring chance, more likely to not cover the post on a wrap around ... under pressure he's been just terrible for the most part.
 
Really curious to see how our defense corps does after last year's successes, particularly to see if the same guys will continue to shine and/or if we are going to see some of the other future knocking at the door types make the team. Not many spots available (fantastic problem to have)...

I can go ahead and assume the following:

Faulk Hannifin
Hainsey Slavin
Pesce ?

Personally I am pulling that this does in fact end up being Trevor Carrick as he pretty much is the only capable physical defender in our d pool of prospects. We could use that. But we also have Fleury and McKeown knocking at the door. I would assume we probably are gonna go with 7 NHL guys, so that leaves two spots open to fill from the lot just listed. Not going to be easy, again a good problem to have (internal competition). I guess this bodes well for Charlotte who stand to take in a few of these guys.
 
Really curious to see how our defense corps does after last year's successes, particularly to see if the same guys will continue to shine and/or if we are going to see some of the other future knocking at the door types make the team. Not many spots available (fantastic problem to have)...

I can go ahead and assume the following:

Faulk Hannifin
Hainsey Slavin
Pesce ?

Personally I am pulling that this does in fact end up being Trevor Carrick as he pretty much is the only capable physical defender in our d pool of prospects. We could use that. But we also have Fleury and McKeown knocking at the door. I would assume we probably are gonna go with 7 NHL guys, so that leaves two spots open to fill from the lot just listed. Not going to be easy, again a good problem to have (internal competition). I guess this bodes well for Charlotte who stand to take in a few of these guys.

Francis alluded to this:

Faulk/Slavin
Pesce/Hainsey
Murphy/Hanifin

Whose shoes Hanifin pissed on to be stuck with Murphy, I don't know. But we do have a shortage of righty shooters, with only Matt Tennyson having significant pro experience. McKeown, Wesley and Ganly are righties too but the first 2 are first year pros and Ganly split last season between Charlotte and Florida. He also got clobbered by Woods in the scrimmage and has a shoulder or collarbone injury. Carrick played the right side in the Red/White scrimmage though. I'd like to see Fleury and McKeown get as much time in Charlotte as possible, playing top pair, special teams and eating 23-25 minutes a night. I don't know how much longer Fleury will be out with the injury he picked up in Traverse City though.
 
I would be surprised if the initial pairings are anything different than what Francis speculated might occur:

Left-shot / Right-shot

Slavin / Faulk (top-pairing minutes, but with a sophomore-season defender on the left-shot side...keeping the spot warm for Hanifin)

Hainsey / Pesce (like to see perennially over-slotted Hainsey sink downward to third-pairing and swap places with Hanifin as the season progresses)

Hanifin / Murphy (Hanifin working on his advanced stats with protected starts and looking to move upward on the depth chart...Murphy needing 40-some games to be expansion draft fodder)

Carrick and Fleury as the left-shot injury call-ups. Tennyson and McKeown as the right-shot injury call-ups. Carrick and Tennyson early in the season. Fleury and McKeown after a bit of AHL aging.
 
I look at Smurphy as nothing but 7th defenseman fodder when all the dust settles...mostly playing the Michel Jordan role this year. One of Fleury, Carrick, Tennyson or even McKeown all seem like better options for that third pairing #6 guy on the blue line.
 
By mid-season Murphy will have his 40+ and perhaps McKeown gets some time at that right-shot third pairing after a half season in the AHL.

But unless he's a disaster, I think they're going to initially play Murphy, at least until he's qualified for the expansion draft. Tennyson is the insurance policy to both push Murphy for that spot in training camp and to provide seasoned relief if a call-up is needed, particularly early in the season.
 
I would be surprised if the initial pairings are anything different than what Francis speculated might occur:

Left-shot / Right-shot

Slavin / Faulk (top-pairing minutes, but with a sophomore-season defender on the left-shot side...keeping the spot warm for Hanifin)

Hainsey / Pesce (like to see perennially over-slotted Hainsey sink downward to third-pairing and swap places with Hanifin as the season progresses)

Hanifin / Murphy (Hanifin working on his advanced stats with protected starts and looking to move upward on the depth chart...Murphy needing 40-some games to be expansion draft fodder)

Carrick and Fleury as the left-shot injury call-ups. Tennyson and McKeown as the right-shot injury call-ups. Carrick and Tennyson early in the season. Fleury and McKeown after a bit of AHL aging.

I don't disagree with any of that, but I wanted to note that McKeown CLEARLY came into this camp ready to go to work. I think he's going to force their hand on that 6th slot on the right side sooner rather than later. He's a VERY mature looking player ... even more so than Slavin and Pesce were last fall.
 
I'm a big Mckeown fan. Captain of his junior team the past two seasons (that I know about) and a right-shot defenseman to boot.

Honestly, our defenseman depth chart is just ridiculous these days. Down the line we could easily shed both a left-shot and a right-shot top-4 pairing level player via trade and never miss a beat. We just can't keep all these guys.

And that's how Francis will get a missing piece in the forward (or goalie?) ranks, if needed. Dealing from strength and not necessity.
 
Nicolas Roy and Janne Kuokkanen were reassigned to their junior teams.

https://www.nhl.com/hurricanes/news


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There was a time when i would have hoped someone like Kuokkanen would have at least be given a longer look see. But when I look at the roster, I come to the guarded conclusion that we are loaded with talent, and finally have the flexibility to allow these kids to mature properly.
 
There was a time when i would have hoped someone like Kuokkanen would have at least be given a longer look see. But when I look at the roster, I come to the guarded conclusion that we are loaded with talent, and finally have the flexibility to allow these kids to mature properly.

And he's headed to London. He's not headed to some crappy team like the late, great Plymouth Whalers or Flint.

Warren Foegele is the only unsigned player left in camp. What are the rules on his AHL eligibility? He turned 20 in April but has only played 1 year in the AHL because he started at the University of New Hampshire. He's a 1996 birth year, same as Fleury, McKeown and Josh Wesley, all of whom are theoretically ticketed for Charlotte.

I found this from August. It says that he can play in Charlotte but the writer also says he'd like to see him on a line with Roy and Gauthier, which we know can't happen with the Cherkers. It also says that Kingston has too many overage players now so he probably can't go back there.
 
And he's headed to London. He's not headed to some crappy team like the late, great Plymouth Whalers or Flint.

Warren Foegele is the only unsigned player left in camp. What are the rules on his AHL eligibility? He turned 20 in April but has only played 1 year in the AHL because he started at the University of New Hampshire. He's a 1996 birth year, same as Fleury, McKeown and Josh Wesley, all of whom are theoretically ticketed for Charlotte.

I found this from August. It says that he can play in Charlotte but the writer also says he'd like to see him on a line with Roy and Gauthier, which we know can't happen with the Cherkers. It also says that Kingston has too many overage players now so he probably can't go back there.

I think you can dress a maximum of three overagers on any given night in the OHL, Foegele would seem to be an excellent leader as a 20 year old on a contending team in the OHL...Kingston is in a massive rebuild so maybe they trade his rights to a team like Windsor that is hosting the Memorial Cup and needs to have a successful year. Adding a veteran player like Foegele would be a nice add for a contending team if there is no room in Charlotte for him.
 
Warren Foegele is the only unsigned player left in camp. What are the rules on his AHL eligibility? He turned 20 in April but has only played 1 year in the AHL because he started at the University of New Hampshire. He's a 1996 birth year, same as Fleury, McKeown and Josh Wesley, all of whom are theoretically ticketed for Charlotte.

I covered this in the 2015-16 Misc Thread (pg 55):

Quoting myself:
Today's CBA/CHL Canes prospect 'fact'....

Of our 2014 draft picks (Ronnie Franchise's first draft), Warren Foegele is the only player who remains unsigned and is still Canes property. When Foegele went from UNH to the OHL, the clock by which he must be signed before the Canes lose their rights to him got set to June 1st, 2018. However, Foegele is already an overage CHL player having turned 20 this past April. This is the last season he can play in the OHL. Barring some unforeseen circumstance, I expect the Canes will sign Foegele after his OHL season with Kingston is over. The Canes COULD sign him now or sometime before the OHL season starts and assign him to the AHL but I don't see them going that route since there is no reason to start his entry level clock yet and he's probably not yet ready for AHL play.

Really the options are wide open here with Foegele. I suspect the Canes wanted to give him a good look before offering him an entry level contract now as they still retain his rights until June 1st, 2018 and with just that one partial season in the OHL and one not good season at UNH its hard to evaluate him. Kingston has 3 overage players on their roster already so they are at the limit. SOMEONE in the OHL would be interested in him and he is still eligible as an overage player. Not sure if Kingston still has his rights (I'm assuming they do) so they would have to make some sort of trade. Foegele's other option is to sign and play this coming season in Europe (with or without the Canes support).

I'm still guessing he ends up in the OHL as an overage player this season somehow. If not I suspect he is going to end up in Europe for one season. I would say the chances of the Canes signing him to an entry level deal before this season is the least likely scenario, even though he can play in Charlotte without restriction, again because he is too much of an unknown and we retain his rights for a couple more years.
 
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I don't disagree with any of that, but I wanted to note that McKeown CLEARLY came into this camp ready to go to work. I think he's going to force their hand on that 6th slot on the right side sooner rather than later. He's a VERY mature looking player ... even more so than Slavin and Pesce were last fall.

Please let that happen. Mckeown has shown this type of advanced maturity poise pretty much at every level. I think the kid is ready for the next step/jump.
 
There was a time when i would have hoped someone like Kuokkanen would have at least be given a longer look see. But when I look at the roster, I come to the guarded conclusion that we are loaded with talent, and finally have the flexibility to allow these kids to mature properly.

I agree 100%. I would have no issue if that extends to Aho also starting in the A for some seasoning, if he shows he could use it. Let's proceed with caution and let these kids earn it and not force it with unfair expectations, derived from desperation. Indeed, depth = wait and see
 
I have to say though that having our defense corps a little mode advanced and with such depth really helps lend to taking our time with the rest. Of course, we don't want to wait to long... but like I said previously, now the kids can really earn these call-ups.
 
Please let that happen. Mckeown has shown this type of advanced maturity poise pretty much at every level. I think the kid is ready for the next step/jump.

One thing I will add about Mckeown that is probably not news for us as it has been said of him for a while now, but the guys really tight with his teammates, leader, future captain type material. We all know and support Faulk as our current captain, who knows down the line. It wouldn't hurt if he earns that 6th spot to start his experience and bonding with the rest of the defenseman and teammates. Especially bringing that right hand shot....
 
We still have 5 exhibition games and 2 weeks of camp to figure out who the 6-8 dmen will be. But if McKeown doesn't beat out Murphy, I'd rather the healthy extra be Matt Tennyson or Dennis Robertson. McKeown needs to play, not sit in the pressbox.
 
Ideally McKeown will get a full season in Charlotte to get adjusted to the pro game and then will be ready to complete for a role with the Canes next season. Of course that was the plan with Slavin and Pesce last year too and we saw how that all worked out.

McKeown's right shot competition is Faulk, Murphy and Pesce with Tennyson backing those 3 up at the moment. Its hard to predict what might happen because Ronnie may make some trades that shake up the mix, but Ryan Murphy is kind of a sitting duck. If he doesn't play well in the minimum of 35 games he needs to play then Tennyson is going to play the majority of the rest of the games OR if McKeown is having a huge year in Charlotte he might get some looks. If Murphy shocks us all and actually looks like an NHL player out there it increases the odds that Vegas will select him in the expansion draft (opening up an NHL RD spot for McKeown to fight for). Pesce definitely shouldn't be relaxed about his spot though, he needs to continue to prove he is an NHL DMan.

McKeown will get his NHL chance, but with 4 guys ahead of him and Murphy having to play at least 35 games, it probably (hopefully?) won't be this season. How great is it to have a talent like that as #5 on the right shot Dman Depth chart? On the Left side its Hainsey, Hanifin, Slavin with Carrick I assume being #4 and Fleury starting as #5 (just because he is in his first pro season). Jake Bean waiting in the wings. Having been a fan of this franchise for a very very long time, having that much young blueline depth is completely foreign to me. Never ever EVER has this been the case.
 
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