RALEIGH, N.C. – The Carolina Hurricanes continued their training camp on Tuesday with a little more focus on systems in preparation for their first exhibition game of the season against the Columbus Blue Jackets that will take place at PNC Arena on Wednesday.
Since on-ice sessions began at camp last Thursday, head coach Kirk Muller and his staff have been progressing the players from small-area one-on-one battle-type work along the boards and in front of the net to more systems-related play that will eventually focus on fine-tuning specifics at both ends of the ice.
“I think everyone’s ready to get goin’”, Muller said.
“They’re eager to start playin’. It’ll be good to get a good evaluation at the next step with exhibition games.”
For Muller, the step that he’s looking to see his players take is to put their individual skills and abilities to the test in actual NHL games and that starts with preseason play against the Blue Jackets.
With four straight exhibition games coming up, the Hurricanes will evaluate individual player performances more closely and should start shedding a number of them as early as Wednesday in order to start shaping the team’s core that will start the season on Oct. 4.
With its final two preseason games, including the second home and final exhibition test against Buffalo on Sept. 27, the team’s remaining roster should show more of a semblance of the style of play that it will start the season playing with.
With that, what should Hurricanes fans expect to see against Columbus besides the sharp-looking new jerseys that they donned during the Red-White scrimmage on Sunday?
Firstly, forward line combinations will vary, as Drayson Bowman has earned some time to play alongside Eric Staal and Alexander Semin as a result of Jiri Tlusty being injured since last Friday.
Even with Tlusty skating with a non-contact jersey on over the past few days, Bowman will get the chance to play as part of the Big Three as Muller referred to the group as.
“That’s the nice thing that camp is,” Muller continued.
“Playing around with combinations in case we need ‘em during certain times. He’s (Bowman) been workin’ hard, skatin’ well, shootin’, scorin’. Just have a different look for a game.”
Having only returned to camp since Monday, Nathan Gerbe is anticipated to skate on a line with Jeff Skinner and first-round draft pick Elias Lindholm.
The two remaining forward combinations to touch the ice will include Chris Terry, Jeremy Welsh, and Zac Dalpe on one, while a hardworking and potentially entertaining group comprised of Nicolas Blanchard, Brett Sutter and Kevin Westgarth will follow.
On the back end, defensemen Tim Gleason, Mike Komisarek, Michal Jordan, Brett Bellemore, Jay Harrison and Ryan Murphy are expected to play.
Secondly, according to Muller, goaltender Cam Ward will get the start in at least four of the team’s six preseason games in order to get a good look at how effective his recovery has been since the season-ending knee injury he suffered last March.
“With Cam, we’re lookin’ at probably four out of six games. Play him tomorrow (Wednesday), give him like the first 40 (minutes) and then evaluate. If he’s playin’ pretty good, health-wise and everything, maybe keep him in for the full 60. We just want to be safe too. It’s the first time he’s played and it’s been a little while.”
Intended backup netminder Anton Khudobin will see his fair share of playing time along with Justin Peters and Mike Murphy making appearances as well.
Peters is listed to dress along with Ward against Columbus.
Thirdly, with minimal, single-day focus on offensive and defensive special teams work, it will be more individual evaluations that Muller and his staff will make during the first set of exhibition games to assess how to move forward.
“We don’t expect that stuff to be perfect, but I think it’s (looking at) that competitive level and who can sustain it,” Muller said.
“Some guys can come out great for the first couple of days of camp. Now with these four games, individually where do they fit in? It’s all about chemistry. More than anything, the first four games are more on personnel evaluation than really looking at our systems, breakdowns, and that type of stuff.”
Thus, if the Hurricanes lose against the Blue Jackets, who’ve already played three games since Sunday (two on Tuesday as a split squad), it won’t be the end of the world, but poor play from individual players will likely cause them to fall lower down the roster sheet, if not entirely off of it.
Puck drop is at 7 p.m.