Canes Training Camp: First day thread and quotes

Sep 22, 2022 - 3:04 PM

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The Carolina Hurricanes opened up training camp Thursday morning at PNC Arena, as a large group of skaters broken up into two groups started the trek to the regular season.

We’ll provide some updates throughout the morning on what’s going on in PNC Arena.

• For starters, here’s how the groups are broken up. Stefan Noesen, Jalen Chatfield and Calvin de Haan all skating with the veteran group.

• Andrei Svechnikov had the first shootout attempt of the morning. Got a little fancy, went to the backhand and skied it way past the bar. Skaters skate.
• Ethan Bear is skating with Calvin de Haan. Brent Burns is with Jaccob Slavin. Jalen Chatfield is with Dylan Coghlan. Brett Pesce is with Brady Skjei. For the most part.
• Sebastian Aho with the next shootout attempt, and it’s nasty. Goalies skate.
• Aho clearly not lacking for form early. Just completely outskated a defenseman and chipped a puck past Patrik Hamrla (I think). A few minutes later Aho gets shifty with the puck entering the zone against Brady Skjei and so nearly drops him. This Aho guy seems good.
• Jaccob Slavin with a lackluster shootout attempt. Skaters skate.
• Brady Skjei centers a pass to Aho, who roofs it past one of the NHL goalies. Next group down, Martinook is stifled from right in front of net. Next group gets to the goal, and Aho buries a rebound. I swear other people are doing good things, too, but Aho is so noticeable always.
• Martinook takes a puck from behind the net. Canes get it to the point and Chatfield’s shot is deflected into the net by Noesen. Good little play.
• Burns with the next shootout attempt. Forehand. Backhand. Saved. Skaters skate.
• Some early power play work, and it looks like the groups are: Aho-Jarvis-Teravainen-Kase-Burns and Svechnikov-Necas-Kotkaniemi-Stastny-Coghlan

• Some one-on-one work, and Jalen Chatfield and Teuvo Teravainen had a great little battle. Teravainen eventually creates some space, but Chatfield made it really hard for a really long time.
• Looks like that’ll do it for the NHL group’s time on the ice today. We’ll have some quotes in here in a little bit.

They Said It

Rod Brind’Amour

On getting the guys back on the ice: It’s always an exciting time for everybody to turn the page and look forward to what’s ahead. I don’t think anyone’s super excited about training camp because it’s a lot of hard work and a lot of systems and stuff that gets thrown at you, but I think everyone’s excited for the journey ahead.

On Jake Gardiner’s absence: He had a setback and is not healthy enough to do it. Unfortunately he’s had a lot of surgeries. We know he’s been nicked up, so it’s too bad for him that he wasn’t able to get healthy.

On the continuity in camp and building on last year: I don’t know. You don’t want to have changeover when you have a good group, but we still have seven new guys. Out of 20, that’s a lot. I think we had eight last year. It was the same kind of thing. It’s the nature of the game now. It’s how it goes. But what you’re referring to is the pieces that we do always seem to keep. That’s our core group. We love them obviously. So, I’m excited for sure.

On how much things are different now from his first camp as coach: I honestly don’t even remember my first one. It’s a different stage where we’re at as a group. I know in the first camp it was ‘ok, is this going to work?’ I didn’t even know if what I was putting in made sense. Obviously it works, so now it’s ‘how do you refine it? How do you keep sharpening the knife?’ That’s why it’s way different now versus the ‘I’m not sure’ phase.

On the consistency of the team to always be in the conversation: You want to be in that conversation. If you can have one of the best team’s in the league every year, it just gives you a chance. We want to have a chance. It’s pretty safe to say that with the group we have now that we have a chance. That’s a far cry from when we had those stretches where it was more of a hope. Now it’s more of a reality.

Sebastian Aho

On his motivation: 100 percent. I worked my tail off all summer. My body feels good. It feels like I’m physically a little better than last year, and I hope that carries into games and can take advantage of it.

On the new mix of guys: Awesome. Great guys, first of all. Great people. Every single new guy brings a new face and new personality in the locker room. It’s awesome to have it. The guys are elite players, so they’re going to help us for sure.

On if he’s starting to feel like one of the older guys: Not necessarily one of the older guys, but I’m definitely not a rookie anymore. I’ve been through a lot with this core and staff. It feels like home here.

Brent Burns

On training camp starting: I think we all know that it’s a long season. You’ve got to start doing the small things right right from the start. I think this group, from what I’ve seen, is a really special group. They work hard. They do the right things. They’re detailed. They all care for each other. They play for each other. It’s been a lot of fun to be a part of.

On Brind’Amour: You can’t say enough about him. When I got traded I flew in like midnight Saturday night. I came into the gym Sunday morning and it was pretty telling that he was in there working out. I had a good sweat on. As a player, what a legend of the game. It’s easy to look up and see what he’s done and what he’s created. It’s been a lot of fun to see how he coaches and the energy he brings behind the scenes and the level of detail and culture.

Jaccob Slavin

On his first impressions of Burns: It’s been great. The guy works his absolute tail off day in and day out. There’s a reason that he’s 36-, 37-years old and can play 26 minutes a night. It’s because of his work ethic off of the ice. You see his compete level. And just the care and way he takes care of his body and the way he cares about the people around him. It’s been really exciting.

On how it feels to be back: It’s great. It’s a new year. I’m going into year eight myself. It’s crazy how fast it can fly. I’m just excited for the opportunities this year with new faces. It’s the same expectation, but different pieces we’re playing with this year. I’m super excited for this year.