RALEIGH, N.C. – The Carolina Hurricanes cut their training camp roster down by seven players as announced by the team on Monday.
Forwards Clark Bishop, Brent Pedersen, and Sergey Tolchinsky; defensemen Tyler Ganly, Kyle Jenkins and Josh Wesley; and goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic were returned to their respective junior clubs.
The 44 remaining players continued to practice at PNC Arena with the Group B roster preparing to play in the team’s next preseason game, a road matchup against the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday.
Head coach Bill Peters indicated that more significant cuts would come following the next two preseason games – against Buffalo and the New York Islanders on Wednesday.
“We play Tuesday and Wednesday, so we’ll make some moves after Wednesday,” the coach said following practice on Monday.
“It’s huge right now, right? So, some of those young guys (who) we’ve wanted to get in a game we’ve gotten into a game. Tuesday’s game, same thing. We’re gonna’ make sure guys get in games, but after that you gotta’ earn the opportunity to play. It will get very competitive once we get beyond Game 3, and if you deserve to stay and takin’ steps, and show that you can play at this level, then we’ll keep ya’. If not, basically it becomes counterproductive.”
“We’ll continue to thin the herd again right away,” Peters continued.
“We’ll continue to get down, and it gets easier until you get down to one group which will be nice.”
For those players surviving each cut, the Hurricanes bench boss expects to see them develop the work ethic that they should play with throughout the season – “that’s where we play the same way we practice – at a high pace, consistent, and with good execution.”
“We have a plan and we know how long the preseason is. We’ll have everything done and hummin’ on all cylinders probably by Game 6 I would think.”