After another long, too long, summer hockey is finally back. The team does physicals on Thursday and takes to the ice for the 1st time officially bright and early Friday.
The official groupings of the 51 players invited to Hurricanes training camp offers a first glimpse into what new Coach Bill Peters will be looking at. You can find that
HERE.
What jumps out are 4 NHLish forward lines and 4 D pairings. In the 1st group, you get Skinner/EStaal/Lindholm, Malone/McClement/Dwyer, Sekera/Murphy and Harrison/Bellemore. In the 2nd group, you get Tlusty/JStaal/Semin, Gerbe/Nash/Boychuk, Hainsey/Faulk and Gleason/Liles. Things are going to change many times through training camp and many more as the season rolls on, but I think it does offer a bit of a glimpse in terms of Peters' starting point.
I find a couple things most interesting:
--Zach Boychuk. At least on day 1, he seems to be the depth forward who is slotted on an NHL line.
--Ryan Murphy. He gets a look next to Sekera. My wild guess is that Sekera/Faulk find their way back together and the fact that they played so much together last year makes it easy to tinker a bit and audition other players, but could Ryan Murphy climb into the mix.
--McGinn/Rask. Picking up right where they left off in Traverse City, they try to take their success to a much higher level. The Canes do not technically have room where either of these players fit. The real opening in the top 9 is at right wing (the slot that Boychuk is currently in), but 2 things on that. First, both Bill Peters and Ron Francis seem intent on making training camp a real tryout where things are earned not given. Second, if they play well enough, the Canes desperately need youth that can contribute, so you have to think the door is open. It is a bit of a side note, but if he can boost his game enough, I really think Rask's skill set as a solid 2-way center with some offensive ability and NHL size fits well on a Canes team that needs the scoring depth and could use some size on the 3rd line like to carry at least 1 if not 2 from Gerbe, Lindholm, Boychuk and Skinner. It is premature to start shuffling things every which way, but if Rask is ready I like the idea of Skinner/Rask/Nash. Skinner gets a wing opposite him who can skate well enough to push back the defense and open up space and also a center with young legs who should be able to both keep up with the pace and bring enough offensive skill to the line.
--The opening at D4. Whether they are back together or separated, Justin Faulk and Andrej Sekera are 2 of the top 4. Ron Hainsey is back to man a 3rd slot. That leaves the Canes right where they were last year which is looking for a capable #4. It did not work last year. Brett Bellemore had a great season taking a huge leap forward from AHL/NHL fringe player to most nights top 4 defenseman. But unless he takes another huge leap, I just do not think he brings enough in terms of offense and puck moving to play most of 82 games in the top on a team bound for the playoffs. Ryan Murphy made huge strides last year jumping straight from juniors to regular minutes in the NHL, but as of last check, he still needed to round out his game in his own end and even to some degree with being able to move the puck offensively not just carry it. But he is clearly at the age where huge leaps forward are possible especially after some time to process his 1st year of professional experience. Finally, John-Michael Liles was once a legitimate NHL top 4 with a pretty decent offense-leaning skill set to match Hainsey's more stay-home style. He looked okay in a run as Hainsey's partner at the tail end of the 2013-14 season. With a little more confidence with distance between him and the tumultuous time in Toronto and a full training camp, could he be the guy? Also in the mix are Tim Gleason who is trying to find a level that he could not reach last season and veteran Jay Harrison. For the Canes to push for the playoffs, 1 of these players will need to be a good top 4 NHL defenseman, not just the best option available on a non-playoff team that cannot ice 4 real top 4 NHL defensemen.
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With that, I get to my "10 things I am watching" in training camp, more in stream of consciousness than priority order:
1) Zach Boychuk. He was a great story last summer. Instead of showing up sulking and on his way out of the organization, he showed up with a positive attitude and good play. Somehow he never made it out of Charlotte last season despite following up training camp with strong play there, but with a new coach and room for a forward or 2, he has to be licking his chops for the chance in front of him.
2) The left and right of Eric Staal. I really like the line of Tlusty/JStaal/Semin. It is just a pretty good 2-way line with size, defense, offense, hockey sense and the ability to log a lot of minutes against the other team's best. But to keep that together, the team must find a way to build a top 6/scoring-capable line around Eric Staal. The 1st try looks to be Elias Lindholm and Jeff Skinner, but neither of those players with top 6 NHL forwards last year. Lindholm projects to be someday, but in 2013-14 he was much more developing to that level than playing at it most nights. The glimmers of top 6 were clearly there, but they were glimmers not night in, night out fires. Jeff Skinner will score at a top-line pace again in 2014-15 just like he always has, but as of last season, he still had yet to develop enough as a 2-way forward to play 18 minutes per night against top 6 NHL forwards without being taken to the cleaners too often. The Canes do not have a lot of other options, so it seems like either these 2 stick or Tlusty/JStaal/Semin has to be broken up to balance the top 6 talent over the top 2 lines.
3) Alexander Semin. Is he healthy and ready to go if not immediately at last by early October?
4) Brock McGinn and Victor Rask. If either or both of these players is NHL ready, the Canes are suddenly deeper at forward. I do not know if he is ready, but the concept of Rask is enticing. He brings good NHL size with decent 2-way play. As I said above, I think the 1st indication that he is impressing Peters could be some tinkering that either sees Rask at LW or Nash shifted to RW.
5) Ryan Murphy's development. He impressed me last year. Going into training camp, my prediction was that it would take him a couple years to round into form to play in the NHL even as a depth defenseman. He was not Norris-ready by any means last year, but he also was not at all over his head at the NHL level. His ability to rush the puck translated well. The key for a player like him is to quickly improve all areas of his game. I am looking for improvements in 3 areas:
--His ability to move the puck up the ice not just carry it. He proved capable with a little space of flying up the ice a million miles per hour to gain the far blue line. While it was fun to watch, it was oftentimes more fun than productive. He did not yet have the ability to use his speed to push the puck and create passing lanes and angles to move the puck forward and then join the play from behind. Instead, he had a tendency to completely fly by his forwards and find himself in 1st with the puck wide of the faceoff circle at which point smart NHL forwards cut off any path the net and filled the passing lane behind him such that he had very little in the way of a true rush with numbers.
--Power play quarterback skills. He was not any worse than the rest of the Canes abysmal power play last season, but he was not better either. With his skill set, he needs to develop into a quarterback and a shot on the power play.
--His ability to defend with the puck in front of him. He was better than I expected sorting out rushes partly due to his backwards and forwards speed, but where he looked young was with the puck on a stick directly in front of him. He oftentimes gave too much space for playmaking and also had a decent number of times where he was just flat undressed on the way to the net.
6) Tryout come true. I would love to see preseason ice time and line slots completely dictated by effort and quality of play. Ron Francis made a commitment to the organization by not bringing in outside veterans for tryouts. Peters has talked about using ice time as his hammer. Training camp is the perfect time to make the real commitment to making training camp a true tryout.
7) Cam Ward. I have read articles that say otherwise, but I cannot see him entering training camp as another but the #2 goalie. Khudobin was on a Vezina contention type of pace except for the fact that he was light on games/wins because of his early season injury and except for a fade late in the season. But per my comments on making camp a tryout, I give Cam Ward his chance too. If nothing else, I am hoping that a fresh start gets him back to playing with confidence even if it is in the #2 slot.
8) The power play. For whatever the Canes were short on 2013-14, enough offensive talent to build an above average power play was not 1 of those things. The most interesting thing that I expect we will see is Alexander Semin manning a point. He has the heady playmaking ability, enough straight line speed to chase back if needed and enough of a shot that you have to respect him up there. I think the key is for the coaching staff to get him to look shot like a true trigger man often enough even if the shot is not perfect. That will open up everything else that he can do and make more room underneath him for the forwards to operate. Regardless of if it is Semin up top or something else, correcting the power play woes has to be point of emphasis in training camp.
9) Malone/McClement. Can this duo give the Canes some bang and jam in the form of a defensively solid 4th-line that can play 8-12 minutes per night without being a liability? I hope so. The Canes are many years removed from having that physical, energy element built into a line.
10) Brock McGinn's readiness. I was real optimistic for McGinn last summer partly because I thought there was a need and an opening for his rough and tumble style of play, but it only took a couple scrimmages to realize that he just was not quite ready to transition that to the faster NHL game yet. He had a phenomenal year in juniors last year and is a year older and stronger. Is he ready now, or will it take more seasoning and development in the AHL?
It's hockey time! FINALLY!
What say you Canes fans? Who are your dark horses to win spots in training camp?
Twitter=@CarolinaMatt63
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