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The Training Camp Thread

andyt said:
Yep, it was a combination of that and the calculation that he'd be fighting for the 6-7 slot.

Peters said after the game yesterday that Ward and Lack would each get a full game on this trip. He said before they left that the lineups on Tuesday and Wednesday would be completely different too. Keep in mind that Pesce is sick and didn't play on Sunday and Murphy was sick before that. We haven't seen the top 6 in the same game yet. I'd bet that they're planning on Tennyson, with his 60 games of NHL experience, being the 7th dman.
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Yeah, yeah .... I'm still lobbying for a 3rd pairing vet. Tennyson, based on what I've seen of him, is a solid AHL guy and nothing else and I don't even like him as the emergency D. He's no better than Carrick, who is IMO miles away from NHL ready. I don't really rate the quality of the goaltending in my calculations because I pretty much assume that even the "starters" stink. I'm looking at the quality of chances allowed and the amount of mistakes made in possession. And I'm not even thinking about passing other than hitting the first guy on the breakout ... basic, basic survival level stuff. And I get that we're stuck with useless Murphy for the time being, but that doesn't mean it's smart to act like he can actually play at this level.

Here's what I see:

Faulk ... top pairing leader, solid PP guy

Huge Gap

Hainsey, Pesce, Slavin, Hanifin ... 2nd or 3rd pairing guys depending on matchup. One of them will get over-slotted to pair with Faulk, one will get under-slotted out of practicality.

Even Bigger Huge Gap

Murphy ... specialty flavor who should lead the AHL in points by D-men but instead will play out his 40 games so we can hopefully ditch him in expansion. Would absolutely flourish in Europe and I suggest that he does so as soon as possible.

Smallish Gap

Tennyson ... does what, again? NHL body, but doesn't move well, read the game well or pass well. And when I say doesn't pass well, I mean doesn't make up his bloody mind to pull the trigger on passes. Not impressed. NHL experience has him slotted here.
McKeown ... moves well, makes a decisive pass, good decisions in the corners. Downside ... zero pro experience
Lowe ... doesn't do anything especially great but makes decent decisions and is a battler.

Anyway you slice this thing I see 5 NHL defensemen plus Murphy with VERY little in the chamber behind them for right now. A 30-ish year old guy with a year or two on his deal would certainly shore things up and not muck up the pipeline. Even an older guy who might not be able to go more than 50 games would be fine. Just somebody that will keep that 3rd pairing from being a glaring liability in every single game.
 
We're probably going to see:

Slavin/Faulk
Hainsey/Pesce
Hanifin/Murphy

We're chronically short on right shots. We have 6; the top 3 above, McKeown, Tennyson and Tyler Ganly. McKeown either makes the top 6 or goes to Charlotte. At this stage, he can't sit and rot in the pressbox if he can't dislodge Murphy. Ganly split last season between Florida and Charlotte. But after the hit he took in the Red/White scrimmage, he either has shoulder or collarbone damage.

The rest are lefties. Carrick has 2 years in Charlotte. Hainsey played a good bit on the right side last year after Faulk went out so it's doable if necessary. Lowe has 3 years of AHL experience, but I don't see anything there. Dennis Robertson has 2 years of AHL experience.
 
andyt said:
The Lightning cut James Wisniewski from his PTO. Cooper said his skating was an issue.

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/lightning/why-the-lightning-cut-james-wisniewski/2296293
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Apparently Wisniewski also really struggled understanding Tampa's defensive systems and a couple of online articles from Tampa's camp said it was a bad fit overall.

Ronnie may just wait it out and see what kind of guys get cut or released and find a solid 6th defenseman with some experience towards the end of camp.
 
andyt said:
We're chronically short on right shots. We have 6; the top 3 above, McKeown, Tennyson and Tyler Ganly. McKeown either makes the top 6 or goes to Charlotte. At this stage, he can't sit and rot in the pressbox if he can't dislodge Murphy.
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And again ... I'd submit that finding an experienced right sider should be a HIGH priority in the short term. We certainly have a ton of assets to deal to make that happen if needed. The bigger issue with McKeown likely rounding into your "best" option as the third right side pairing guy (always rather safely assuming that Murphy remains who he has proven to be thus far) is experience. As solid as Pesce, Slavin and Hanifin have proven to be, that's half your D group with a total of 3 years of collective NHL service. Yeah, no WAY adding a rookie to that stew is a good idea. Even Murphy's meager experience is a benefit ... to some degree.

I mean ... that need is like a giant cliff wall. Acknowledge it or not, whether from the top or from the bottom, there she blows ... right in front of you. No denying it.
 
The assignment of Tennyson to Charlotte is somewhat perplexing. Once he clears waivers he will be eligible to be called back up and sent back down whenever he might be needed without having to clear waivers again until he reaches a certain number of games played or days on the NHL roster.

Tennyson might end up back on the Canes before the season starts, hard to say. I highly doubt the Canes are going to go on the season opening road trip with only 6 DMen, so if Tennyson doesn't get called back up to join the Canes for that roadie then it will be interesting to see who the Canes carry as the 'extra DMan'. It could be someone we claim off waivers or trade for in the coming days, or it could be McKeown or Carrick or someone else. Something to watch for over the next week.
 
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cmaleski2 said:
The assignment of Tennyson to Charlotte is somewhat perplexing. Once he clears waivers he will be eligible to be called back up and sent back down whenever he might be needed without having to clear waivers again until he reaches a certain number of games played or days on the NHL roster.

Tennyson might end up back on the Canes before the season starts, hard to say. I highly doubt the Canes are going to go on the season opening road trip with only 6 DMen, so if Tennyson doesn't get called back up to join the Canes for that roadie then it will be interesting to see who the Canes carry as the 'extra DMan'. It could be someone we claim off waivers in the coming days, or it could be McKeown or Carrick or someone else. Something to watch for over the next week.
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Unless they're thinking longer term like you imply, I'm confused too. McKeown has looked good so far. Maybe he's beaten out Murphy to be the #6 dman and Murphy is the extra? I would guess that we'll see the full NHL lineup on Friday night. They have 2 closed practices on Saturday and Sunday and then rosters have to be in by 5:00 on Tuesday.
 
No matter what Murphy has to get those 35 games in unless Ronnie somehow acquires another DMan eligible to be the expansion draft patsy.

McKeown seems pretty poised out there despite his only pro experience being a couple of end of season games for Charlotte and these handful of exhibition games. If I had to make a bet on this I expect Tennyson will be recalled and be on the roadie with the Canes while McKeown heads to Charlotte and plays in their opener On Oct 14th. I don't know just how nutty the Canes are going to get with Murphy. I'm sure they would love to get him those 35 games quickly and be done with it, but obviously the concern there is that he kills us out there with crappy play. You could approach this as trying to make most of those 35 Ryan Murphy games 'home games' so you can protect him as much as possible.

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After looking at Charlotte exhibition schedule I'm convinced that Tennyson will likely be back before the Canes leave on the road trip. Charlotte plays 2 exhibition games this Friday and Saturday. By sending Tennyson there early he gets some practice time with the Checkers and we ensure he can play in both of those games. I think Tennyson will get those games in and then will be recalled before the roadie. I also expect that the Canes will send McKeown to Charlotte very soon....possibly later today and the only reason he isn't already there is so he could play in last night's pre-season game with the Canes AND the fact that he doesn't need to clear waivers, so once the Canes assign him to Charlotte its immediate (Tennyson has to wait to clear waivers).

Look for the Canes to do a very big assignment of players to Charlotte today. Their 2 pre-season games are both in Philly, this Friday and Saturday.
 
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Tennyson looks to have make noticeable gaffs ala Michael Jordan from what I saw in the Hockeyville game. McKeown might be playing better then him already. Easy to swap at any time.
 
cmaleski2 said:
Look for the Canes to do a very big assignment of players to Charlotte today. Their 2 pre-season games are both in Philly, this Friday and Saturday.
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Yeah, they're still at 39 in camp (the roster posted on the website includes the 5 that were sent down yesterday). They also need to decide what to do with Foegele.

The camp schedule doesn't show a practice today and they got back from he Soo at about 1:45 this morning, so it might be a while. Tomorrow just shows the morning skate at 10:30, so I'd expect an announcement within the next hour or so. Those games Charlotte is playing against Lehigh Valley are the only 2 pre-season games they have so it's important that as many players as possible get there.
 
For the record .... VERY impressed with Bean and Gauthier from what I saw in drills and scrimmages. Both play with a purpose out there and have noticeable skills at a VERY early stage of development.

Glad to see the back of Tennyson and Torres. Again, I kind of get where Ronnie was coming from bring in Torres, but I'm relieved to see him gone none the less. Maybe we kind find somebody similar but with less violence issues once waivers start to fly thick and fast. Tennyson ... he just doesn't do anything at an NHL level. Somebody compared him to JorDAN, and that's fairly apt. Different types of players but similar downside in that neither one has any facet of his game that really says NHL player.

Glad to see Ronnie has hung onto Tolchinsky for now. Even with what amounts to a goal explosion from this team in the Soo ... only a slight over statement ... you have a serious skill deficiency even when compared to a moderate NHL team like Buffalo. Say what you want about Tolchinsky ... he's got buckets of skill. I like what I saw from Zykov too. He probably needs a year playing our system, but that guy was not just a throw in from LA. He's got some game.
 
So do they need to make sure more than Murphy gets the minimum games for expansion draft? What if you're 30 games in and he gets hurt? Also he doesn't have to actually play right? So if he's 7th Dman and gets zero minutes, that counts as a game right? They need to make sure they don't have to expose one of the kids. I'd think they would want to have options on guys they can expose to expansion - so maybe extend Hainsey? Sign someone else? I wouldn't want to put all my eggs in one basket in case the basket gets hurt.
 
All Murphy has to do is be on the 20 man lineup sheet for 35 games. If Murphy gets hurt and is only healthy enough for 30 games then he will not cover the mandatory DMan exposure for the expansion draft and the Canes will have to figure out another option.

I'm not that worried about it. Ronnie has given every indication by the contract they signed Murphy to that they absolutely want Murphy to cover the DMan exposure requirement for the expansion draft. If for some reason that doesn't work out I expect Ronnie will come up with a solution that protects Hanifin, Slavin, Pesce and Faulk. If you go the trade route just to cover this requirement, the player you get might not be picked in the expansion draft and you are left holding the bag on another DMan that we might not want or need for at least 1 more season. Extending Hainsey for one more season is probably the backup plan, but that assumes that Hainsey is willing to do that, knowing that its possible Vegas selects him. I don't know what Hainsey's situation is and how willing he would be to possibly lose his pending UFA leverage and possibly ending up in Vegas.
 
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OK ... so big picture, what the heck do you do when that little ruse fails and Murphy is passed over in the expansion draft? Then all this pain is for nothing.

Because I put the odds of that at just short of absolutely what will happen.
 
I believe their Murphy strategy is more about NOT having to expose Faulk, our only other D-man that qualifies for the expansion draft's mandate that there be at least one 70-games-in-two-seasons D-man of a certain age exposed.

Whether he's picked or not is just a bonus. If a forward is taken instead, then the level of talent exposed there is sustainable damage (Nedstrasil? Nordstrom? McGinn?).

And if the exposed goalie is taken...well...bye, Cam.
 
Murphy as 7th Dman for 35 games, playing only on the second PP Unit and an occasional shift on RW if necessary. Done and Done.
 
jeffbear said:
OK ... so big picture, what the heck do you do when that little ruse fails and Murphy is passed over in the expansion draft? Then all this pain is for nothing.

Because I put the odds of that at just short of absolutely what will happen.
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If he's passed over in the draft, he gets to be one of the alternate captains in Charlotte next year. Or he's the 7th dman for the Canes. Because I expect McKeown to pass him on the depth chart sooner rather than later. And in Charlotte, Murphy won't cost us anything against the cap.
 
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