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Training Camp Thread

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"Carolina Hurricanes center Jordan Staal broke a bone in his right leg in a preseason game at the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday.

Staal, who was hit by Buffalo defenseman Josh Gorges in the third period, sustained the injury in his lower leg, general manager Ron Francis said in a statement released Tuesday night.

Staal will return to Raleigh, N.C., with the team Wednesday and be evaluated Thursday. A recovery timetable was not revealed.

"I'm concerned for sure. He's a big piece of what we're going to do moving forward," Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said before the diagnosis, according to The Associated Press.

The AP said Staal "was skating up the right boards inside the Sabres zone when he was checked into the boards by Gorges. Staal immediately fell to the ice and lay on his side for a few seconds before play was stopped. A trainer attended to Staal, who eventually needed help to get up. He was unable to put any weight on his leg while being escorted off the ice."

Stall played all 130 regular-season games for the Hurricanes the past two seasons since being acquired in a trade from the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Buffalo won the game, 2-0.

The Hurricanes play at the New York Islanders on Wednesday. Carolina opens the regular season Oct. 10 against the Islanders."
 
At least Jordan will likely be back before Cam gets into game shape and wins his first game of the season. Unless the fracture was horrendous and will require surgery, he should be back on skates by the mid November. Him leaving in a cast hints that it wasn't badly displaced, etc.
 
This definitely opens up another opportunity for Rask, Terry, Boychuk, McGinn, etc. to make the team at least to start the season. Especially Rask as a center. Certainly this is not good news though, hopefully Jordan can get back on the ice soon.

Battle for #1 goalie score

Khudobin + .5 (half game shutout)
Ware -.5 (half game suckage)

Khudobin is already up a full game on the scoresheet with 2 starts each to go.
 
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I hope they don't immediately elevate Rask to second line center as a result (unless this is some break that won't take a super long time to heal).

Rask has size and talent, but consistency has been his issue. He dropped to the second line because of it and last year in Charlotte, he started hot on the first or second line. Early in the second half, he was playing on the 4th line due to his inconsistent play. Late in the year, he picked it up again.

I'd like to see a sustained period of consistent play when it matters (v. development tourneys and camps), before throwing him into a key role.
 
The other option is playing Lindholm at center until Jordan can come back. That would open up his winger spot to pretty much all of our kids. Rask will be one option but not the only one. What I don't want to see is Riley Nash as the 2nd line center, McClement as the 3rd line center, and Ben Holmstrom (or Malone) at 4th line center. I suspect that Peters won't want to see that either.

Time to see how committed the Peters/Francis leadership is to giving kids expanded roles and putting them in opportunities that match their skill set.
 
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cmaleski2 said:
The other option is playing Lindholm at center until Jordan can come back. That would open up his winger spot to pretty much all of our kids. Rask will be one option but not the only one. What I don't want to see is Riley Nash as the 2nd line center, McIntyre as the 3rd line center, and Ben Holmstrom at 4th line center. I suspect that Peters won't want to see that either.

Time to see how committed the Peters/Francis leadership is to giving kids expanded roles and putting them in opportunities that match their skill set.
Click to expand...

Pardon the pun but the Canes can never seem to catch a "break". This is the type of injury that really highlights the lack of depth in the system overall. I would rather have Francis wait and see what some other teams with a center may do towards the end of camp and pick someone up over pressing a kid like Rask or Lindholm into a role they simply are not ready for. The over-slotting up front has been the achilles heel of this team for far too long!

Some of these teams with players that have to pass through waivers are willing to make a trade for a pick. The Leafs last year dumped Joe Colborne for a fourth rounder and this year they have big center Peter Holland that may not find a roster spot on the big club and certainly wont make it through the waiver wire.
 
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Ugh ... in fact, double ugh.

The problem with losing Jordan is losing his physicality and experience. We have absolutely nothing in the system to replace him even in the short term and you might just see Skinner back at center so Carolina can survive until he can return. You danged sure don't want an abject rookie in Rask playing your number 2 center minutes. Nash is Nash ... and is barely a legit NHL center in the first place. Lindholm is probably capable enough but there's now possible way you want to expose him to the banging he'd take in that role given the way last year went. And trading for somebody? Please. No way.

I think we're going to sit pat and live in Screwedville until November.
 
I remember watching Mario Lemieux play and he never seemed to get himself tangled up in a play which might, even remotely, expose himself to getting injured. Isn't that what you want in your "Star" players? Just go out and make good plays and don't take unnecessary risks. Was this check into the boards viscious enough to break a leg? I assume there was no penalty on the play.
 
I agree with you JB. This is exactly what Ronnie was referring to when he was saying the organization would utilize our prospects more than in the past. Certainly there is risk in that, but you can't go out and just replace Jordan Staal inside or outside the organization. We have players with NHL contracts, its going to be their job to cover as best they can while Jordan is out and Peters' job to decide how to best utilize the assets we have to deal with Jordan's absence.

Our depth at forward is already being tested, its up to the players we have to step up. We won't be able to replace Jordan Staal but I expect us to lean on Rask, Boychuk, Terry (McGinn?) and not simply slide up Nash and McClement and stick Holmstrom or Malone at center for the 4th line. Skinner at center? Lindholm at center? Imperfect options, but SOMEONE has to play center. I would be shocked to see us go out and acquire a player because of Jordan's injury, that would already deviate from the approach Ronnie and Peters seemed to suggest in the offseason.
 
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cmaleski2 said:
I agree with you JB. This is exactly what Ronnie was referring to when he was saying the organization would utilize our prospects more than in the past. Certainly there is risk in that, but you can't go out and just replace Jordan Staal inside or outside the organization. We have players with NHL contracts, its going to be their job to cover as best they can while Jordan is out and Peters' job to decide how to best utilize the assets we have to deal with Jordan's absence.

Our depth at forward is already being tested, its up to the players we have to step up. We won't be able to replace Jordan Staal but I expect us to lean on Rask, Boychuk, Terry (McGinn?) and not simply slide up Nash and McClement and stick Holmstrom or Malone at center for the 4th line. Skinner at center? Lindholm at center? Imperfect options, but SOMEONE has to play center. I would be shocked to see us go out and acquire a player because of Jordan's injury, that would already deviate from the approach Ronnie and Peters seemed to suggest in the offseason.
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That's all well and good when you have a large pool of talent to fill that kind of hole with the loss of Jordan, but history has shown that the so-called prospects like Boychuk, Terry, etc have never done a thing with the chances they have been given in the past. Our own Charlotte Checkers observers in here have said that Rask had an average year at best last year in the AHL, Riley Nash is a stretch being slotted as your third line center in the NHL. This club barely had enough talent to fill out a decent top 9 among the forwards before the Jordan injury...it looks like well aged Swiss cheese this morning now!
 
This hear the first two-three months are very critical. The canes cannot allow themselves to get into a hole. For this reason they can't afford to screw around 'testing' players to se if they can fit into jstaals skates.
By the end of camp they need someone to fulfill that role.
 
Has Boychuk REALLY gotten a full on top 2 line look with the Canes? I thought Boychuk looked pretty darn good last year with the Canes as did Terry in small doses. The difference this year, if Peters and Francis really follow through, is that they will not be looking to merely include these guys as fill ins. Boychuk is going to get NHL ice time with our top end offensive talent. When Terry plays he will too.

I'm reluctant to agree that Boychuk and Terry haven't done anything with the chances they were given. My opinion is that too many times we really didn't give these guys a reasonable chance to succeed. Ronnie said this will change and Peters said this will change. Does that mean these guys will be successful? Definitely not. But at least starting this year we are really going to give them a shot, for better or worse.
 
cmaleski2 said:
Has Boychuk REALLY gotten a full on top 2 line look with the Canes? I thought Boychuk looked pretty darn good last year with the Canes as did Terry in small doses. The difference this year, if Peters and Francis really follow through, is that they will not be looking to merely include these guys as fill ins. Boychuk is going to get NHL ice time with our top end offensive talent. When Terry plays he will too.

I'm reluctant to agree that Boychuk and Terry haven't done anything with the chances they were given. My opinion is that too many times we really didn't give these guys a reasonable chance to succeed. Ronnie said this will change and Peters said this will change. Does that mean these guys will be successful? Definitely not. But at least starting this year we are really going to give them a shot, for better or worse.
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I agree Cmal that Boychuk has never been given a long look in a scoring role with top end talent for any stretch long enough to show what he can do...but I guess the biggest knock on a guy like that in a #2 center role is his size. And at 5'10" and 175, that will always be his biggest knock at the NHL level, especially when you slot him at the center position.
 
I do think that either Lindholm or Skinner could serve as a short term solution ate center IF we can find suitable wingers. Tlusty on one side maybe would work, but I don't really like any of the other options. Say Skinner and Lindholm stick together and one of them centers that second line. Seems reasonable, but you'd need a guy with some physical presence to play with them to keep them from getting knocked around like skittle pins. And ... you guessed it ... we don't really have anybody to play the enforcer role that can keep up with those two in the possession game.

If they trot out a second line of Skinner, Lindholm and Pat Freaking Dwyer on opening night, I'll probably have to excuse myself to barf.
 
Anyone seen Lindholm yet this year? I've heard that he has gotten 'bigger'. Not that he is going to start throwing his weight around but when we drafted him he was noted as having good 2 way instincts and skills. Hopefully he has had a chance to put some muscle on that frame.

Just for laughs since its a little more than 2 weeks away from the season starting and who knows what additional horrors may befall us during pre-season:

Skinner-E.Staal-Boychuk
Tlusty-Lindholm-Semin
Gerbe-Nash-Di Giusseppe
Malone-McClement-Dwyer

If Rask somehow earns the spot put Lindholm back on line 1 with Eric and drop Boychuk to line 3 and remove Di Giusseppe. If not, then any other kid other than Di Giusseppe has a shot at that winger roster spot. That's not pretty, but that might be what we are faced with.
 
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