Carolina Hurricanes ready to cautiously and safely begin training camp Monday
How long can a hockey team hold its collective breath?
The Carolina Hurricanes are about to find out. So are 23 other NHL teams as training camps officially and cautiously open Monday in Phase 3 of the league’s Return to Play plan during the coronavirus pandemic.
For about two weeks, until the Canes leave for their hub city for the game competition and enter their protective “bubble,” they will hold camp at PNC Arena. At times it could have a feel of skating on eggshells.
The coronavirus remains an ever-present threat. There is no vaccine. There could be a positive test or two for COVID-19 during camp. Should there be an outbreak of the contagious virus, on the Canes or other teams, it might bring the NHL plan crashing down.
“It could take out a whole team pretty quickly,” Canes captain Jordan Staal said during a media call last week. “We’ve seen some crazy things with this virus.”
Bur for now, the Canes will put on the skates and move on, trying to remain optimistic, preparing for a qualifying round series against the New York Rangers. If all goes as planned, they will leave July 26 for the hub — the Eastern Conference teams to compete in Toronto — to play the first hockey since March 12, when the NHL’s 2019-20 season was put on a very long “pause.”
Questions? Here are a few going into training camp:
How will the D shake out?
When the Canes lost defensemen Dougie Hamilton (broken fibula) and then Brett Pesce (shoulder) to injuries during the season, they countered at the trade deadline in February by acquiring D-men Brady Skjei from the Rangers and Sami Vatanen from the New Jersey Devils. They were preparing for a playoff run and needed help.
But that was then. All these months later, Hamilton is back. Vatanen, who was recovering from a lower-body injury after the trade, is ready to play. Pesce’s recovery period after his March 5 surgery initially was pegged at four to six months, but the Canes can take a slower approach with him given their myriad defensive options.
Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour is looking at a D corps that has Hamilton, Skjei, Vatanen, Jaccob Slavin, Jake Gardiner, Joel Edmundson, Trevor van Reimsdyk and Haydn Fleury. There’s also Jake Bean, a former first-round draft pick who was named the American Hockey League’s outstanding defenseman for 2019-20 with the Charlotte Checkers.
Brind’Amour has said the Canes might have too many D-men but defensive depth always is needed in making a playoff push. Here’s a guess: Brind’Amour will pair Slavin with Hamilton, Skjei with Vatanen, and Edmundson with Gardiner, to start.
What’s the approach in camp?
Canes winger Justin Williams said this does not feel like a resumption of the season. “It’s like starting the season again,” he said this week.
If so, that could bode well for the Canes. In Brind’Amour’s two seasons as head coach they’ve come out of training camp strong — a 4-0-1 start in 2018-19 and 5-0 this season.
Training camp can give Vatanen, a right-handed shooting D-man, a better handle on his new team, on the ice. The same for Skjei and center Vincent Trocheck, another trade deadline acquisition. They each played just seven games with Carolina before the pause.
“One thing to remember is we’re all on the same playing field,” Williams said. “Not everyone is going to be in great shape. You’ve got to fall back on your systems and in training camp that’s going to be the most important part, hammering that stuff out.”
In the 24-team NHL postseason format, a team must win 19 games in five rounds to claim the 2020 Stanley Cup. The Canes were 19-11-1 after 31 games this season. If they can do something like that again ...
How will the lines look?
It would be easy for Brind’Amour to go back to what he had before the season was suspended, It was working.
In the 5-2 road win against Detroit on March 10, Sebastian Aho was centering Andrei Svechnikov and Teuvo Teravainen. Staal was at center with Brock McGinn and Williams, Trocheck was centering Nino Niederreiter and Martin Necas, and Morgan Geekie was at center with Warren Foegele and Jordan Martinook on the wings.
Williams had scored goals in five straight games. Geekie, called up from the Checkers to make his NHL debut, was dazzling, with three goals — on his first three shots — and an assist in his first two games.
Winger Ryan Dzingel was out with an injury before the NHL pause but could go back in the lineup. That could knock out Geekie. Or not.
Is goaltending the key?
A year ago, Petr Mrazek and Curtis McElhinney got the job done nicely and efficiently through the first two playoff series, against Washington and the New York Islanders. Then came the Boston Bruins and goalie Tuukka Rask in the Eastern Conference finals.
It’s James Reimer’s turn to play the McElhinney role alongside Mrazek this time in the postseason. Mrazek should open in net against the Rangers but Reimer is ready.
The Rangers might have a tougher decision. Rookie Igor Shesterkin could be the starter but, yes, Henrik Lundqvist has long been a Cane killer in net. Lundqvist, 38, was spotty this season, showing his age, but beat the Canes three times and had 45 saves in the Nov. 7 game.
That’s two good options for Rangers coach David Quinn — Brind’Amour says it could be the best tandem in the league — and Quinn also has Alexandar Georgiev available. Mrazek and Reimer must be sharp coming out of camp.
And, no, David Ayres will not be in Toronto as an emergency backup goalie.
Can the Canes (and NHL) pull it off?
No one can fully exhale until the Cup has been decided. What if a team has a major outbreak a day or two before it’s to leave for the hub city? Or once in the playoffs?
Brind’Amour has been asked several times about his focus for camp. His answer: stay healthy. This time, that has a different meaning and connotation.
Once in the “Secure Zone” at the hub city, teams and their every movement will be closely monitored and the health and safety regulations will be strict. But in training camps, the players and coaches and staff will leave the rink and return home after the practices. What then?
“They’re going to get a speech on Monday morning about we’re all in this thing together,” Canes general manager Don Waddell said Saturday.
The Canes, Waddell said, are testing every other day for the virus. The locker rooms, weight rooms and training areas all are being constantly sanitized. Temperature checks are made before anyone is allowed in the locker room.
Waddell message to the players: be smart. Wear a mask, maintain social distancing. Be careful.
As Williams put it, “You need to tighten up the bubble of people you’re hanging out with and make your inner circle pretty darn small. Guys are going to be cognizant of that.”
And hope for the best.
Key NHL dates
(Tentative)
July 13 — Start of training camp
July 26 — Travel to hub city.
Aug. 1 — Start of qualifying rounds.
Canes-Rangers qualifying round
(best of five)
Game One: Saturday, Aug. 1
Game Two: Monday, Aug. 3
Game Three: Tuesday, Aug. 4
*Game 4: Thursday, Aug. 6
*Game 5: Saturday, Aug. 8
* -- If necessary
This story was originally published July 13, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
