• Moderators, please send me a PM if you are unable to access mod permissions. Thanks, Habsy.

2025 Canes Training Camp Thread

TheBigKahuna said:
He's an efficient skater. Long, strong strides. The kind that had neanderthal fans complaining about how slow and lazy Pitkanen was. He's got a good wrister. He's strong, and can lay people out with his hits. But he picks his spots, and doesn't do it often. He appears to be a smart player.
Click to expand...
I agree with all this except the last part. He's VERY smart up until he has to make a play under pressure in the defensive zone and then he gets real dumb, real quick. He pulled another BS between the legs pass in the D zone last night that led to Florida's first goal and even this early in his NHL career, you'd think that's the kind of thing you'd have learned to knock off by now. Bottom line ... he's still got a lot of rough edges to sort out and it's going to take time and hard work. Fans need to be patient with both the flashes of great play and the flashes of crappy play. And fans are not noted for their patience.
 
jeffbear said:
I agree with all this except the last part. He's VERY smart up until he has to make a play under pressure in the defensive zone and then he gets real dumb, real quick. He pulled another BS between the legs pass in the D zone last night that led to Florida's first goal and even this early in his NHL career, you'd think that's the kind of thing you'd have learned to knock off by now. Bottom line ... he's still got a lot of rough edges to sort out and it's going to take time and hard work. Fans need to be patient with both the flashes of great play and the flashes of crappy play. And fans are not noted for their patience.
Click to expand...
I think those brain farts will work themselves out. But he's really good at "anticipating" and knowing where the puck is headed. He doesn't seem to guess incorrectly very often. He missed a play last night at the blue line, he couldn't decide between stick check or body check, and instead whiffed and gave up a scoring opportunity. He's no 19yo. He has enough experience that these issues should be easily correctable once the language barrier lowers enough for Brindy to fill his ears with F bombs.
 
Another round of cuts. Nadeau most prominently heads to Chicago. Smith is the only PTO left. And Legault survives if for no other reason than half the defense is out. Miller is in a regular jersey though, so some good news. And Ryabkin goes to the Wolves instead of the Q, unless the Wolves release him from their camp. Jaaska is still with the team but can’t be sent down until he’s healthy.


View: https://x.com/ryanhenkel_/status/1973030057888432379?s=61
 
TheBigKahuna said:
I think those brain farts will work themselves out. But he's really good at "anticipating" and knowing where the puck is headed. He doesn't seem to guess incorrectly very often. He missed a play last night at the blue line, he couldn't decide between stick check or body check, and instead whiffed and gave up a scoring opportunity. He's no 19yo. He has enough experience that these issues should be easily correctable once the language barrier lowers enough for Brindy to fill his ears with F bombs.
Click to expand...
Yeah, my bigger point is that a LOT of people, including media types who ought to know better, are going to see his early results as a finished product when that's FAR from the case. There's a lot of KHL to scrub off and it's not just the language barrier/communication stuff. You can get away with a lot of looseness in that league that you simply cannot in the NHL ... or the AHL for that matter.
 
andyt said:
Another round of cuts. Nadeau most prominently heads to Chicago. Smith is the only PTO left. And Legault survives if for no other reason than half the defense is out. Miller is in a regular jersey though, so some good news. And Ryabkin goes to the Wolves instead of the Q, unless the Wolves release him from their camp. Jaaska is still with the team but can’t be sent down until he’s healthy.


View: https://x.com/ryanhenkel_/status/1973030057888432379?s=61
Click to expand...

Quapp to Wolves camp means they've got three iffy goalies. One assumes they'll battle it out to avoid being sent to Greensboro at least until Kooch gets healthy.

Nadeau honestly just needs to keep his head down and rock the AHL like he did in the second half of last season. He does that and he'll be fine. The rest of those moves were pretty obvious, although I have no idea what they're playing at with Smith. If he ends up sticking it will be as a guy they throw in every so often to stir the pot physically and even the vet minimum deal seems a lot lot pay for that. Kind of surprised to see him stick and Jost sent down, but hey ... it's not like those are core pieces.
 
After the cut, this is how they practiced today. Slavin skated in a yellow jersey. Andersen got the day off after playing last night. KK skated before practice with a tinted visor after getting high sticked on Friday.

Ehlers - Aho - Jarvis
Svechnikov - Stankoven - Blake
Martinook - Staal - Carrier
Hall - Jankowski - Robinson - Smith

Slavin - Walker
Miller - Chatfield
Nikishin - Gostisbehere (Legault)

Kochetkov | Primeau
 
andyt said:
After the cut, this is how they practiced today. Slavin skated in a yellow jersey. Andersen got the day off after playing last night. KK skated before practice with a tinted visor after getting high sticked on Friday.

Ehlers - Aho - Jarvis
Svechnikov - Stankoven - Blake
Martinook - Staal - Carrier
Hall - Jankowski - Robinson - Smith

Slavin - Walker
Miller - Chatfield
Nikishin - Gostisbehere (Legault)

Kochetkov | Primeau
Click to expand...
OK, so including Andersen, Reilly (presumably also getting the day off after playing a ton) and Kotkaniemi that's a 25 man roster. The final roster probably comes down to health, although Smith remains on a PTO and I think Primeau would have to clear waivers to go down to the A. Legault is easier, since he's waivers exempt. The Canes generally only carry a 21 man roster, but could go with 22 if there's multiple health concerns, and it sounds like there might be. I can't recall them going with a full 23 man roster ... maybe ever ... so there's still some movement to come. If the plan really is to play Hall and KK on the 4th line, I can't imagine a role for Smith. But that's just me.
 
IIRC, they’ve gone with 23 a couple of times on an extended west coast roadie. But with the AHL team in Chicago and convenient flights from there anywhere in the country, I don’t think it’s that big a deal anymore.
 
I expect we will continue to go with the smallest roster possible. With the elimination of the paper transaction where you could send down and recall players on an almost daily basis, teams will have to be more direct with their roster management and banking cap space.

I expect that we will settle in at 22 players as quickly as possible. There is no roster space for Smith. We already have 13 forwards, so someone is already not going to not be playing even without Smith on the roster.

Do we try to pass Reilly through waivers since Legault has looked capable enough? That remains to be seen. We won't carry 3 goalies.
 
On Reilly, he's looked solid enough in pre season to stick as that 7th D option. And you can't guarantee he'd clear waivers (depending on somebody else's need for a backup PP guy at any given point), so I'd guess they keep 13 F, 7 D and 2 G as a going concern. They got burned on less experience 7th defense options last year, thus Reilly's signing in the first place. I'm with you on Smith, but it could get tricky if they do sign McLeod ... and it just keeps sounding like they will. Jankowski can hit waivers, if that happens I guess. Which will add to the local angst over that move ... should it happen.
 
Something has to give with the forwards, we already have 13 NHL players:

Ehlers-Aho-Jarvis
Svech-Stanky-Blake
Martinook-Staal-Carrier
Robinson-KK-Hall

Jankowski

Jankowski already is a press box candidate if the other 12 are healthy and Jankowski is still on the NHL roster. If we sign McLeod later on and are actually planning on playing him, then Jankowski has to leave the roster AND someone else more consequential either needs to be in the press box or traded. We just signed Hall for 3 seasons, Robinson for 4. Take Jankowski out of there and then tell me who McLeod is going in for? Would that finally be the end of KK? Carrier has 5 more seasons on his deal, the next 4 of them with a full NMC.
 
Robinson has a 8 team NTC for the first 3 years and kicks in for the 4th year if he plays 75% of the games and averages 12 minutes in year 3.
 
Well, I did see a blurb somewhere (maybe DeCock, not sure) recently that indicated that the Canes had several offers for Kotkaniemi this off season but felt like they needed a replacement in hand before pulling the trigger. Maybe one of those deals is still on the table and they can move on from KK after they sign McLeod. Given the general lack of middle six center options around the league, it wouldn't shock me if this was the case. There's a lot of weight on a lot of ifs there, but the little bits of what I saw from Stankoven at center is already an improvement on basically anything I've seen from KK.

But either way, the reports on McLeod are not going away. In fact, it sounds more and more like reporters are just assuming it's happening at this point.
 
The Preds claimed Jost off waivers. That makes 1 fewer obstacle for Givani Smith to overcome.
 
Honestly, and yes I know it’s only preseason and I posted myself preseason performance means little, but I have actually been pleasantly surprised by Smith. While he hasn’t been great positionally at times, he has played pretty good outside of the first game. He’s been the physical edge this team has sorely missed without being a complete detriment to the team while on the ice. He’s even got a few goals. I don’t mind seeing what he’s got for a few months. Brindy has a knack for getting the most out of players.
 
Again, barring somebody leaving in a trade, I don't see a role for guy ... but yeah, he's done what they asked of him and more. Hit everything that moves, create chaos AND chuck in a few goals? That's what you want from a physical 4th liner.
 
jeffbear said:
Again, barring somebody leaving in a trade, I don't see a role for guy ... but yeah, he's done what they asked of him and more. Hit everything that moves, create chaos AND chuck in a few goals? That's what you want from a physical 4th liner.
Click to expand...
Yep. We’ll see how it shakes out
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top