{"id":199562,"date":"2025-09-19T05:53:23","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T05:53:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/199562\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T05:53:23","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T05:53:23","slug":"on-first-day-of-carolina-hurricanes-training-camp-the-operative-word-excited-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/199562\/","title":{"rendered":"On first day of Carolina Hurricanes training camp, the operative word: \u2018Excited\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rod Brind\u2019Amour moved swiftly, seemingly with a little extra bounce in his step, as the Carolina Hurricanes coach took the ice Thursday at Invisalign Arena.<\/p>\n

It was the first day of preseason training camp and Brind\u2019\u2019Amour, now in his eighth year as head coach, was eager to get things started.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis was my first practice, too,\u201d Brind\u2019Amour said. \u201cI\u2019ve been off for a long time and I have to get dialed in.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 48-man camp roster has been split into two groups, and the first on the ice Thursday morning had the regulars. Quickly noticeable: Defenseman Jaccob Slavin was not among them and might be out a \u201cfew days,\u201d Brind\u2019Amour said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just holding him off,\u201d Brind\u2019Amour said. \u201cHe trains pretty hard in the summer. He was feeling a little sore, so if you\u2019re not feeling good, you\u2019re not going out.<\/p>\n

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\u201cUntil he says he\u2019s a hundred percent, we\u2019re not going to put him out there. He could have been out there, but that\u2019s just how we\u2019re going to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Carolina<\/p>\n

Carolina Hurricanes right win Jackson Blake (53) skates with Jaccob Slavin (74) during practice as they prepare for their Stanley Cup series against the Washington Capitals on Friday, May 2, 2025 at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, N.C. <\/p>\n

In addition to Slavin being out, defenseman K\u2019Andre Miller and center Mark Jankowski both wore yellow, no-contact jerseys in the first session. Brind\u2019Amour said both were a \u201clittle nicked up\u201d during the summer.<\/p>\n

Miller, who Carolina acquired from the New York Rangers in July, had skated with a number of Canes players during informal workouts at Invisalign. But this was his first official practice with his new team, with Brind\u2019Amour on the ice, and he was paired on defense at times with Jalen Chatfield.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m sure in my five years there (in New York) I had a lot of doubters and people voicing their opinion about my game,\u201d Miller said. \u201cI\u2019m excited to use that fuel for my game \u2026 and as added motivation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always thought Carolina was the toughest team for me to play against on the other side, with their speed and skilI. It\u2019s a really good franchise and I\u2019m excited to be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

New faces, new places<\/p>\n

\u201cExcited\u201d was the operative word Thursday. It\u2019s always that way on the first day of camp, when the last season is fully forgotten and a new one begins, when players are fresh and frisky.<\/p>\n

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Across the Canes locker room, another newcomer was having his first face-to-face exchange with the media, smiling and shaking hands as he fielded questions: Forward Nik Ehlers, who caused ripples in July by leaving the Winnipeg Jets to sign a free-agent contract with the Hurricanes. After playing his first 10 seasons in Winnipeg, he took the ice for the first time with a different team Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited to find the chemistry with guys, and that\u2019s going to be fun,\u201d Ehlers said. \u201cI\u2019m excited for the challenges ahead. Hopefully we can make something great happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Carolina<\/p>\n

Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere (4) and Winnipeg Jets left wing Nikolaj Ehlers (27) battle over the puck during the second period at Lenovo Center.<\/p>\n

During Thursday\u2019s practice, Ehlers was used at left wing on Sebastian Aho\u2019s line opposite winger Seth Jarvis. And while Brind\u2019Amour likes to say \u2014 and did again Thursday \u2014 not to \u201cread anything\u201d into practice line combinations, odds are that could be the Canes\u2019 top line on opening night, Oct. 9 against the New Jersey Devils.<\/p>\n

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And Logan Stankoven could be the second-line center.<\/a><\/p>\n

After his trade to the Canes from the Dallas Stars, Stankoven was used on the wing by Brind\u2019Amour through the end of the regular season and in the Stanley Cup playoffs. But there he was Thursday at center with Andrei Svechnikov and Jackson Blake on the wings.<\/p>\n

The other lines had captain Jordan Staal centering Jordan Martinook and William Carrier, and either Jesperi Kotkaniemi or Jankowski at center with Taylor Hall and Eric Robinson.<\/p>\n

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Stankoven, 22, said he last lined up at center in junior hockey, smiling as he said it. Drafted by the Stars in 2021, he played his first 83 NHL games for Dallas over two seasons before the trade to Carolina, and was another starting preseason camp with a different team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was a productive summer for myself, and when you put the work in, you\u2019re looking forward to showcasing it in training camp and as the season progresses,\u201d Stankoven said.<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

New York Rangers defenseman K\u2019Andre Miller (79) jostles with Carolina Hurricanes center Seth Jarvis (24). The Hurricanes traded for Miller on Tuesday and signed him to an eight-year deal.<\/p>\n

\u2018A new life\u2019<\/p>\n

On the defensive side, other than Miller and Chatfield, Brind\u2019Amour had Alexander Nikishin paired with Shayne Gostisbehere, and Mike Reilly with Scott Walker. Reilly, another free-agent signee, has played more than 400 NHL games with six teams, but missed much of last season with the Islanders after a heart procedure.<\/p>\n

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A year, Brind\u2019Amour was left fretting a bit after the Canes lost such lineup staples as defensemen Brett Pesce and Brady Skjei in free agency and couldn\u2019t re-sign forward Jake Guentzel. He then came into training camp looking at a number of new faces. Not so this time.<\/p>\n

\u201cLess changeover is nice,\u201d Brind\u2019Amour said Thursday. \u201cThere\u2019s less explaining to do from my end. Instead of eight guys, you only have three you have to focus on because everyone else knows what\u2019s going on. So that\u2019s a little easier, maybe.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut every year takes on a new life. Whatever you did last year or past years, everybody is starting in the same spot. That\u2019s exciting, too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rod Brind\u2019Amour moved swiftly, seemingly with a little extra bounce in his step, as the Carolina Hurricanes coach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199315,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5107],"tags":[28,1742,1711,2866,194,29,5176,147,1111,5,195,122,1238,510,1331,1447,1743,1448,1284,520,1649,12933,151,35,4,19774,1535,1174,1177,2823,1110,33620,4835,1109,18],"class_list":{"0":"post-199562","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-carolina-hurricanes","8":"tag-alexander-nikishin","9":"tag-andrei-svechnikov","10":"tag-brady-skjei","11":"tag-brett-pesce","12":"tag-carolina","13":"tag-carolina-hurricanes","14":"tag-carolinahurricanes","15":"tag-dallas-stars","16":"tag-eric-robinson","17":"tag-hockey","18":"tag-hurricanes","19":"tag-islanders","20":"tag-jaccob-slavin","21":"tag-jackson-blake","22":"tag-jake-guentzel","23":"tag-jalen-chatfield","24":"tag-jesperi-kotkaniemi","25":"tag-jordan-martinook","26":"tag-jordan-staal","27":"tag-logan-stankoven","28":"tag-mark-jankowski","29":"tag-mike-reilly","30":"tag-new-jersey-devils","31":"tag-new-york-rangers","32":"tag-nhl","33":"tag-nik-ehlers","34":"tag-rod-brindamour","35":"tag-sebastian-aho","36":"tag-seth-jarvis","37":"tag-shayne-gostisbehere","38":"tag-taylor-hall","39":"tag-thursday-morning","40":"tag-training-camp","41":"tag-william-carrier","42":"tag-winnipeg-jets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}