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2024-25 Canes Miscellaneous Thread

jeffbear said:
Sure. He's not going to say much at this stage. I suspect Nikishin took warmups to give Carbery something to think about, more than anything else. But Chatfield looks like he needs this extra day before they'll even know. He was skating on one leg all game and didn't look good coming off from his last shift. With a game in the bank, I'm not so sure that the Nikishin freaks aren't right this time and maybe he should draft in on Thursday. That would give Chatfield all the way to Saturday to get right ... or right-ish.
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and playing him on the road instead of in front of a rabid fanbase dying to see him play will be better for his nerves. I think
 
jeffbear said:
Sure. He's not going to say much at this stage. I suspect Nikishin took warmups to give Carbery something to think about, more than anything else. But Chatfield looks like he needs this extra day before they'll even know. He was skating on one leg all game and didn't look good coming off from his last shift. With a game in the bank, I'm not so sure that the Nikishin freaks aren't right this time and maybe he should draft in on Thursday. That would give Chatfield all the way to Saturday to get right ... or right-ish.
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They’re practicing tomorrow at 11 at Invisalign Arena, so we’ll see who skates.
 
Fayettenamcanesfan said:
and playing him on the road instead of in front of a rabid fanbase dying to see him play will be better for his nerves. I think
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Well, even if the KHL ain't the NHL in terms of quality of play, the arenas are wild and he's been through several playoff campaigns. So the road environment might be the least of his adjustments. Maybe throw him out there with Orlov, who can communicate clearly and is deft at his weak side. Then you can keep the other pairings the same.

And I agree on Chatfield. No way he's practicing on Wednesday unless he's WAY healthier that it looked last night. If he doesn't go, it'll be interesting to see where Brindy does slip Nikishin into the pairings. Again, if he's serious about prepping him to play, I'd be looking to see if Boom skates with Orlov. And honestly, I don't think Morrow is up for this quite yet. But we'll see.
 
So, off day thoughts.

Carolina usually practices at 11am and then travels after everybody's had lunch. I'd guess we'll get whatever updates about who's skipping practice late this morning. Again, the D group could be in play depending on Chatfield's situation, but I don't think we'll hear anything definitive today. We might get a note of how Nikishin is being deployed in practice, but even that might be more white noise for the Caps than anything else.

Washington likewise has a team practice scheduled for today. They've been letting Ovechkin rest on off days, but they've been pretty healthy over all. Their only roster changes have been in the bottom six forward group and haven't accomplished much of anything. Unless they're going to rewind to the deadline and get a center instead of Beauvillier, then I don't expect that to change. In terms of tactics, I think we've seen 90% or Carbery's bag already anyway. They need to execute better before any of it means anything. I'd expect them to work on tightening up their positioning in the D zone first and then let the rest fall where it may. Carolina has twisted their zone D into pretzels WAY too often in the last two games for much else to be a priority. I think they'll work on assignments and structures and maybe shift how they pressure Carolina's breakouts to look for some turnovers they can transition out of. If the Canes have a consistent weakness in possession, it's against teams that can set the neutral zone coverage to take away Carolina's speed out of the D zone. That's not really Washington's game, but maybe they'll try to soften the forecheck a bit.
 
Tryamw said:
Expected and @jeffbear called it
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Brindy is harder to read than some coaches, but he's been hedging on getting Nikishin ready to go since he got here. If Chatfield can play, even at 85%, then he probably will. But if he can't then I think the big Russian is in. And if he does get in against Washington, Ovechkin better look out for that hip check. Because it'll be coming and he's too slow to dodge it.
 
Yeah, like I said, even if he's 85% or so, Chatfield is going to go so long as he can stay with the play. And FWIW, even if he was going with Nikishin, Brind'Amour wouldn't say that out loud today. He'd go "game time decision" and make the Caps figure it out on the fly.
 
I want Nikishin in more than most but not for Chatfield or if I am being honest, any of our D right now. I like they let him warm up and in the end Rod knows Boom's situation better than most as his first game was in the playoffs.
 
I could live to be a 100,000 years old and not hear a dumber sports take than what I heard just now on some Leafs' fan live stream (sdpn) on Youtube: a viewer said (and read aloud by the streamer): the Rantanen trade (from Canes to Stars) is like the Luka Doncic trade from the Dallas Mavericks to the LA Lakers.
 
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