Preseason Preview: September 22 vs. Florida

RALEIGH, N.C. - The Carolina Hurricanes play their lone exhibition game at Lenovo Center on Tuesday, taking on the Florida Panthers.

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When: Tuesday, Sept. 22

Puck Drop: 7:00 p.m. ET

Watch: Hurricanes.com (In-Market), ESPN+ (Out of Market)

Listen: 99.9 The Fan, Hurricanes App

Preseason Playing Roster Changes...

• Once again taking advantage of a change to the league's rules in the CBA, the Canes will ice a youth-forward roster for tonight's contest.
• The new rule states that a club shall dress a minimum of eight (8) veterans for any exhibition game. A veteran shall constitute:
  • (1) any Player who has played one hundred (100) or more career NHL Games
  • (2) any Player who has played four hundred (400) or more career games in the NHL and/or AHL
  • (3) a forward or defenseman who played in thirty (30) NHL Games during the previous season
  • (4) a goaltender who either dressed in fifty (50) or more NHL Games or played in thirty (30) or more NHL Games in the previous season
  • (5) a first-round draft choice from any of the five (5) previous years’ NHL Drafts, and/or
  • (6) a second-round draft choice from any of the three (3) previous years’ NHL Drafts.
• With just four preseason games instead of the previous six, Rod Brind'Amour and staff will have to be tactical in how they deploy their veterans between tonight and Saturday.

Competition On The Blue Line...

• As long as Alexander Nikishin remains without a contract, the Canes will have at least two open spots on their blue line. With a mix of veterans (P.O. Joseph, Mike Reilly, and Juuso Valimaki) and young talent (Charles Alexis Legault and Joel Nystrom) seemingly in the mix, tonight will feature four of those five.
• Thus far in camp, Reilly, who played 42 regular season games and two postseason contests for Carolina last year, has been working alongside Shayne Gostisbehere.
• Tonight will be Joseph's first appearance since signing a one-year contract with the team earlier this month.

New Faces...

• Dressing a mostly similar lineup to Sunday's exhibition opener in Sunrise; just two skaters are slated to appear in their first NHL contests as Hurricanes.
• In addition to Joseph, mentioned above, 2025 seventh-round draft pick Filip Ekberg will be the other.
• It's also worth noting that tonight's playing roster lists 22 players, meaning two skaters who are named will not play. Ekberg was one of the two odd men out on Sunday.

In Net...

• Tonight will feature one or both of Brandon Bussi and Cayden Primeau between the pipes for Carolina.
• Bussi, who arrived in Raleigh as a waiver claim last October and turned into a fairy-tale story, will look to follow up his stellar 31-6-2 campaign from last year. Out of this world for a first-year NHLer, the 28-year-old also manned the net for the final three games of the team's victory in the Stanley Cup Final.
• Primeau returns to the organization after signing a two-year deal earlier this month. Perhaps the best goalie in all of the American Hockey League over the past two seasons, he enters his eighth year as a pro with hopes of helping the team's depth beyond Bussi and Pyotr Kochetkov.

Injury Updates

• Forward Seth Jarvis is practicing in a yellow, no-contact jersey after offseason shoulder surgery. He was initially scheduled to miss "probably four to six months" from the end of June.

What Are We Wearing?

• The Canes are scheduled to wear their white uniforms for all four preseason games.

What's Next After This Game?

• The Canes are set to be off on Wednesday. They'll play their third exhibition contest on Thursday at First Horizon Coliseum in Greensboro, home of the ECHL's Greensboro Gargoyles.
• Next Preseason Game: Thursday, Sept. 24 vs. Nashville | 7:00 p.m. ET | WATCH: Hurricanes.com (In-Market), ESPN+ (Out of Market)