If you missed it, I posted notes from attending most of Tuesday’s 2 practice sessions including the short version of a pretty funny Alexander Semin/Anton Khudobin show. You can find that
HERE.
At the start of training camp, I posed 10 questions for the first week of training camp leading up to the first preseason game which is Wednesday night at PNC Arena versus Columbus. Here is a quick review of those questions:
1) Does Eric Staal look comfortable/healthy? Yes. I commented after Sunday’s scrimmage that the EStaal/Semin duo looked almost regular season ready.
2) Where does Muller play Lindholm and Rask? Lindholm has been used almost exclusively at center (most recently centering Skinner and Gerbe), so it looks like the plan is still to use him as 3C. Rask has also played almost if not entirely his natural center position. My guess is that he needs to move to wing to play at the NHL level to start the season, so at this point he seems more likely to continue his development in Charlotte.
3) How does Dvorak look playing PK? Do any of the kids look capable? The team has not spent a ton of time on special teams especially PK. This should become clearer with 4 preseason games upcoming.
4) Are there any early clues on whether Muller will pair or separate Skinner and JStaal. Things are still subject to change but so far Muller has gone with the 2a and 2b separation that I voted for some time ago.
5) Do we see any use of forwards at the point on the power play? The team did some basic power play system work today and exclusively used defensemen. The addition of Hainsey provides another D option, but there still seems to be room for some trial and error here. We will see what preseason games bring.
6) How does Ryan Murphy look defensively. I was on record as thinking that he would need some AHL time to round out defensively. Through a couple scrimmages I feel even stronger about that opinion. But then I am not an NHL or scout, so it is possible the coaching staff sees it differently.
7) Do any of the last call players show up and look completely different? Per my blog yesterday, this has been a pleasant surprise. Zach Boychuk still has a difficult situation numbers-wise given his offense-leaning skill set, but at a minimum he gets credit for doing everything he can and at least playing his way into a longer look. Zac Dalpe has also looked good in camp and has to be amongst the frontrunners to fill 1 of the 2 open wing slots in the top 9.
8) Does Brock McGinn look like he is NHL-ready early? No. By no means has he looked bad, and by no means is his long-term potential changed, but in my opinion he is just not quite up to NHL speed yet.
9) How does Cam Ward look? He looks good and nearly ready to go for the start of the real season which is great news.
10) What does a Kirk Muller-led training camp look like? This has to be 1 of the top stories out of the 1st 6 days of training camp. He continues to push the pace daily even amidst days where there is more system work like today. There is a ton of skating, and it is the kind that has guys huffing and puffing for air at times. And by virtue of the volume of battling drills early in camp, there is a very clear effort to dial up the compete level right out of the gate.
Wednesday morning I will post a next set of questions that is sort of a game preview leading into Wednesday night’s game and also the 3 that follow quickly over the following 3 days.
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Since the first big round of roster cuts did not happen today, it leaves the opportunity for me to venture my wild guess for how it plays out over the next few days.
First the background/context:
--The team has 4 games in the next 4 days which will require a decent number of players and will serve as the primary factor in whittling the roster to something reasonably close to the 21-23 that will start the season in Raleigh.
--The Checkers open camp on Monday (probably not coincidentally following the 4-preseason game run), so Sat or Sun would be a logical time to send more players that direction.
--The last 3 of the 4 games are on the road, so the team will shrink the roster to guys needing tryouts in those games before they board the plane.
When you net it out, it probably means that the roster will be cut entirely (or darn close) to players who are legitimately competing for roster spots by Thu morning at the latest, probably more likely tomorrow.
So who stays?
Goalies: I think the NHL pecking order (Ward, Khudobin) is pretty much etched in stone, but the team might well take all 4 goalies on the trip since there are 4 games in 4 days. If not sooner, I would expect 1 or both of Peters and Murphy to be sent to Charlotte Sat to join the start of Charlotte’s training camp. One could stay in Raleigh if Muller wants to have a 3rd goalie for practice reasons.
Defensemen: I think the cut will be pretty deep here and will drop the group to a set needed to fill out the 6-7 opening night roster spots plus 3 more to teach the system to and gain familiarity with his first 3-4 injury call-ups. So that would be 5 pairs/10 defensemen. It could also make sense to reward the 2 most-deserving youngsters with some preseason ice time if Muller wants to lighten the load a bit for the busy 4-game stretch.
Stay: Sekera, Faulk, Hainsey, Harrison, Gleason, Komisarek, Bellemore, Jordan, Murphy, Flood.
Cut: Rissanen, Corrente, Levi, Lowe, Biega, Schmitz.
Forwards: I think very little has been decided here. The couple older youth who could have played their way out of contention with a weak showing (Dalpe, Boychuk, JaStaal) did not. They actually strengthened their cases for consideration. The next 4 days will be a bit of trial under pressure to start eliminating options.
Stay with NHL job for sure: Tlusty, EStaal, Semin, JStaal, Ruutu, Skinner, Dwyer, Westgarth.
Stay-Frontrunners to win job: Dalpe (W2 or W3), Lindholm (C3), Nash (C4), Gerbe (W2 or W3), Bowman (W4).
Stay-Dog fight trying to climb past a frontrunner: Dvorak, Boychuk, Rask, Jared Staal, Welsh, Palushaj, Brett Sutter, Terry, Blanchard.
Cut: Shugg, McGinn, Brody Sutter, Woods.
I still think Dvorak holds a wild card in his penalty killing experience that can play him onto the roster though I am not sure who it would push out.
We might get more clarity on this as early as tomorrow morning, so hopefully my guesses will not look too silly.
What say you Canes fans? Did I miss anyone completely? Is anyone else brave enough to venture a guess on the 1st big round of roster cuts? Have any of the youngsters on my cut list impressed enough to get a longer audition?
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