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The Training Camp Thread

cmaleski2 said:
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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Dude on your latter observation, I concur. Wholeheartedly. Like NEVER. Not only that, but you could extend this to many other organizations. All of a sudden, we are no longer included in those discussions. I mean, it took what, the whole of 2-3 years of drafting to get to where we are now? Maybe a year or two more? That is a pretty good turn around. I really don't think this org has ever operated this way. We've always operated mostly in acquiring players from trades with hopes that it 'works out' and often trading away draft picks for immediate 'remedies' that often just ended up with 'new ailments' as a result. I really like where were headed anyway. You are right, the depth on both sides of the defense corps is almost well embarrassing. :)
 
Once Hainsey comes off the payroll after this season, Faulk will be the old man of the core group. He turns 25 in March.
 
Team A at this morning's practice looks like a solid opening roster, including line combinations and defensive pairings.

No Murphy.

Just sayin'.
 
brassbonanza said:
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.
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Bottom line ... to mature as a franchise you HAVE to move past the point where you are constantly resting on the hope that your junior age prospects can somehow make the NHL club. All that means is that your NHL club has obvious roster short comings. Sure, every so often you nail the first round pick and he's ready to go right away. Fine. Let that be the exception, not the rule. We've jerked so many first round picks straight onto the big club that a lot of our fans seem to think that's normal and get disappointed when it doesn't happen. IMO that's sad to the point of pitiful.
 
Team A at this morning's first practice session, including a separate special teams session:

Skinner / Rask / Stempniak
Nordstrom / Staal / Nedstrastil
Aho / Lindholm / Teravainen
Bickell / McClement / Stahlberg
McGinn / Ryan / Di Giuseppe

Slavin / Faulk
Hainsey / Pesce
Hanifin / Tennyson
Carrick / McKeown

Ward
Lack


(Sources: various on Twitter who are actually there)
 
It wouldn't surprise me if the top 9 on opening night looks exactly the same as practice today. And that Ryan line has been together since day 1 of camp.
 
Elsker said:
Team A at this morning's practice looks like a solid opening roster, including line combinations and defensive pairings.

No Murphy.

Just sayin'.
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Clarification on Murphy's absence from this morning's practice from Michael Smith via Twitter about 10 minutes ago (@MSmithCanes):

#Canes defenseman Ryan Murphy has flu-like symptoms, so he's been working out away from the team.
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Those top 4 forward lines look like lines we put together in prior threads....I bet you can find those exact 4 lines posted somewhere on this board at least a month ago.

Injuries of course will change all that up over time, but if not then Bickell, DiGuiseppi and Nestrasil are likely going to form some sort of rotation OR DiGuiseppi is going to find himself starting the season in Charlotte.
 
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cmaleski2 said:
Those top 4 forward lines look like lines we put together in prior threads....I bet you can find those exact 4 lines posted somewhere on this board at least a month ago.

Injuries of course will change all that up over time, but if not then Bickell, DiGuiseppi and Nestrasil are likely going to form some sort of rotation OR DiGuiseppi is going to find himself starting the season in Charlotte.
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I am thinking that Lindholm is most likely to be early season trade bait if he starts off non-productive or even in a funk. He doesn't necessarily have to become Wayne Gretzky but we need him along with whoever he's playing with to develop some chemistry that is more or less consistent.
 
JamesNorthern said:
I am thinking that Lindholm is most likely to be early season trade bait if he starts off non-productive or even in a funk. He doesn't necessarily have to become Wayne Gretzky but we need him along with whoever he's playing with to develop some chemistry that is more or less consistent.
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Excuse time for Lindholm is definitely over. We need him to anchor that #3 pivot slot and be productive. It's his job to lose.
 
If Lindholm can't turn the corner and put up 40+ points with guys like Aho and Teravainen on his wings that is a problem. The thing about Lindholm though is we rushed him to the NHL. He's only 21 (turns 22 in December). If he was drafted by the Red Wings he would have played in Sweden as an 18 and 19 year old, played in the AHL as a 20 year old, and this would be his first full NHL season. Hopefully he proves something this season (and not that he is a bust).
 
JamesNorthern said:
I am thinking that Lindholm is most likely to be early season trade bait if he starts off non-productive or even in a funk. He doesn't necessarily have to become Wayne Gretzky but we need him along with whoever he's playing with to develop some chemistry that is more or less consistent.
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And I am thinking that if they decide to shift either Teravainen or Aho to center he might be trade bait sooner than that. Which would explain why he was literally the only forward throwing checks on the first day of camp, methinks. Personally, I like the kid's skill set, but if it doesn't translate to goals and assists, he's pretty much Jacob Sliverberg or Victor Stalberg in training.
 
jeffbear said:
And I am thinking that if they decide to shift either Teravainen or Aho to center he might be trade bait sooner than that. Which would explain why he was literally the only forward throwing checks on the first day of camp, methinks. Personally, I like the kid's skill set, but if it doesn't translate to goals and assists, he's pretty much Jacob Sliverberg or Victor Stalberg in training.
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Yup. Or even Tuomo Ruuttu part deux.
 
Michelle McMahon is doing tv for the Big 10 network, I assume that's just until the Canes season starts. Or maybe she can work for them on Sats. when the Canes are off. (she worked for them before joining the Canes)
 
As you could probably tell from the loss to the Wild, don't expect much in terms of winning on this road trip. The focus is firmly on figuring out where the kids are in the development process. It'll probably be next week before they put out lineups that start to look like the finished product.

Oh ... and here's hoping we're out there trolling for a veteran defenseman to add to the mix late in camp. We could use one.
 
jeffbear said:
Yeah ... I get that. But apparently they didn't trust Wiz's knee to hold up. Either way we SERIOUSLY need another guy with some actual experience in the mix.
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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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