Quotebook: Brind'Amour Talks Roster Cuts, Final Days Of Camp

RALEIGH, N.C. - With just one exhibition game remaining and a little under a week until their opening night roster is submitted to the league, the Carolina Hurricanes trimmed their training camp roster from 40 to 26 on Tuesday.

Starting the process of moving 12 more players to the Chicago Wolves - in addition to Skyler Brind'Amour and Ronan Seeley, who were placed on waivers for the purpose of assignment on Monday - the team also released forwards Kevin Labanc and Oliver Kylington from their professional tryouts.

Of the 26 remaining, the list notably still includes tryout Givani Smith and 2023 fifth-round draft pick Charles Alexis Legault. It also includes Juha Jaaska, who has been injured since the first days of camp, and three goaltenders - Frederik Andersen, Pyotr Kochetkov, and Cayden Primeau.

Following practice at Invisalign Arena on Tuesday, Head Coach Rod Brind'Amour discussed some of the decisions.

Rod Brind'Amour on Givani Smith sticking around for a few more days...

"He's a guy trying to make a squad and showing what he can do. In the four games that he's played, he's done a pretty good job. There's no reason not to keep him around and give him another look."

Brind'Amour on Charles Alexis Legault remaining aboard as the eighth defenseman...

"I thought he had a good camp, and we needed an extra defenseman with the uncertainty of whether guys are going to practice or not. I felt like he deserved to be sticking around with the big group."

Brind'Amour offering his thoughts on Bradly Nadeau going to Chicago (AHL)...

"It's tough because, yeah, we'd love to keep him here, but we also have to figure out what makes sense. You can see we have lots of forwards, so it wouldn't really make sense at this point with the way the schedule worked out. (We'd rather) keep him going and keep him playing. Plus, he's developing really well. We'll obviously keep our eye on him. He did everything he needed to do."

Brind'Amour answering if he'd consider Nadeau as a "first call-up option"...

"It just depends on the kinds of call up. It has to be the right fit. We don't want to call him up to play six minutes per night. It just depends on where we're at. Obviously, he's a high-end player for us and we love how he's progressing."

Brind'Amour on the large batch of prospects assigned to Chicago (AHL)...

"I thought, for the most part, every one of them took steps (forward). And that's what you should see. They were all pretty new to it last year, and now you can tell, they're way more comfortable with everything that went on. Their play was better for the most part too. I thought every one of them that we put in there was a little bit better than last year. That's what you need to see. You hope that they keep progressing, and you hope that we probably don't need them. At the end of the day, you don't want to have to rely on those guys, at least not yet or right now. I thought they all, for the most part, did a pretty good job."

Brind'Amour talking about 2025 second-round pick Ivan Ryabkin and the impression he made in camp...

"He's an 18-year-old and he's got a really bright future. He's very competitive, that's what I liked. For all intents and purposes, he really doesn't know how to play at this level, because he shouldn't. He's all over the place, and obviously, the language barrier is not optimal for him. But I thought he didn't back down one bit, and for a young kid, that's impressive. That's what stood out... He's not backing down. It's obviously a skill set that he has and will translate. He's not ready, but if that matures, we'll have something there."

Brind'Amour on if he plans to carry three goaltenders this year...

"We haven't made any decisions on how that's going to go. I think that's all determined on the health and where everyone's at."

Brind'Amour discussing Cayden Primeau...

"I think he's been solid. I had a good indication of what kind of goalie he was, but you never really know until you get him in there and see him first-hand. I thought he did a really solid job and that's what we need out of that position."

Brind'Amour on the approach to the final days of camp...

"We want to stay sharp. Obviously, we have the one preseason game left. It's just keep getting better and dialing in certain areas, for sure."

Brind'Amour when asked if Jaccob Slavin is expected to be available for Opening Night...

"I think so. He looks good. He just had a little something that we definitely want to make sure is behind us."

Brind'Amour after being asked about when he'd consider keeping Logan Stankoven at center...

"I don't really know that you ever have to decide. He's certainly played well, and he looks pretty good. That's probably going to be a really fluid situation, all year. It's a newer position for him, but he seems to be adapting pretty well, so far."