Brind'Amour Takes Reins as Canes Open Training Camp

The first day of training camp is akin to the first day of school. New faces. Set expectations. Endless potential. A group brimming with excitement and ready to get going.
Thursday afternoon at PNC Arena was no different, as the Carolina Hurricanes opened their training camp a bit earlier than usual with a new head coach leading the charge.
Here are five takeaways from the first day of Hurricanes training camp.

Brind'Amour Takes the Reins
With the opening whistle of training camp, a new era of Hurricanes hockey was ushered in under first-year head coach Rod Brind'Amour.
He was vocal in what he wanted to accomplish. The pace was high. Everything was executed with speed. Hard work was the bare minimum, not the expectation.
"He was fired up, as well as everyone else. There was a lot great energy out there," forward Jordan Staal said. "I thought it was a good, hard practice and a good start to the season."

"It's a full day of camp. High tempo, full team practice," goaltender Scott Darling said. "It was great to be back."
Team Grit and Team Grind each spent a jam-packed hour on the ice. Breaks between drills were minimal: A one-player shootout decided whether skaters or goalies would skate, and time at the whiteboard was limited. A grueling sprint skate wrapped each session.
"Intense. A lot of skating," forward Sebastian Aho said. "I think that's what we needed. It's a good way to start camp."
"It was a lot of up-and-down. It was a good skate. Definitely got the heart rate up," Staal said. "Roddy is going to demand a lot with work ethic, practices and skating. I think we're going to be a quick team, anyway."
In 2005-06, Brind'Amour captained the Hurricanes to a Stanley Cup championship. Justin Williams was playing in just his sixth NHL season. Now, Williams is the wily veteran of a perhaps underrated group helmed by Brind'Amour.
"Watching Roddy evolve into what he's become today is pretty amazing," Williams said. "He's a terrific motivational speaker. He's very thorough with what he wants and expects of everybody. One of the good things is he's a player, a damn good one who belongs in the Hall of Fame. He knows the players, what the players are thinking and feeling."
So, what did the first-year head coach think of his first day of training camp?
"The first group I liked. I thought the second group was a little, kinda, meh," he said. "It's a long day for those guys. … It was OK. We're trying to get a couple concepts across, and we'll keep building on that. I liked a couple things we saw. We'll keep building."
A Team Comes Together
It was a summer of change for the Hurricanes. A new head coach. A new general manager. The second overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft practically fell into their laps. They signed a top free agent defenseman after trading for one of the league's best defenseman to bolster what was already one of the top blue lines in the league. And, there's young talent waiting in the wings.
"We're really deep. You look at all the D. Every guy can play, play well and play a lot," said Dougie Hamilton, who joined the Hurricanes in a draft-day trade from Calgary. "Right now, we're good on paper. We have to make it work on the ice."
"I like being here. I'm hoping we can turn it around," defenseman Justin Faulk said. "I want to be a part of that solution. I'm here ready to work and get things going."
Over the next three weeks, a final roster for Opening Night will be assembled. It will be young, but it won't be short on skill.

"Our new pieces are going to be huge. Our D corps is unbelievable. You can argue it's one of the best in the league, no problem," Darling said. "The new forwards coming in is huge. And Petr coming in is great. They're all great guys, and we're happy to have them here."
"We have some veterans, but we only have - well, Jordan just turned 30, so he's the only other guy in his 30s here. We're a young team, but we've got some guys who have been around a long time," Williams said. "We're going to let the play speak for itself."
Questions Down the Middle
The Hurricanes' injury report already had a name listed on it, even before the on-ice proceedings began. The team announced Victor Rask will be out indefinitely after undergoing surgery on his fourth and fifth right fingers due to an injury sustained in the kitchen.
"From his perspective, he was pretty sad because he really put in a lot of work. He had [shoulder] surgery to start the summer and really worked hard to get back. I thought he looked great," Brind'Amour said. "It is what it is. I talked to him about it. I had a very similar injury, so we talked it through a little bit."

Rask figured to be, at the very least, a center in the top nine to begin the season. His absence now begets questions and perhaps opens the door a little wider for a player like Lucas Wallmark. Or, maybe it's Sebastian Aho who will play his natural position. Ideas will be tinkered with in the coming weeks, as the Canes prepare to be without the Swedish center for an unknown period of time.
"I don't know how long. I know it's serious, and when you have a serious injury, it's not a good thing," Brind'Amour said. "We'll get him when he gets back. It's almost like adding a player or making a trade. That's how I look at it. We've got a good player coming at some point."
Florence Forces Schedule Shift
As Hurricane Florence barrels toward the North Carolina coast, the Hurricanes took advance precautions with their weekend training camp schedule. Originally slated to begin Friday morning, the first skates of camp were moved up to Thursday afternoon - an adjustment that required league approval - in order to give the team some flexibility heading into the weekend.
For a group that was already anxious to hit the ice, the schedule adjustment wasn't a big deal.
"I'm happy to get it done whenever we can. Obviously a little different when a hurricane is coming in, so things change," Staal said. "It was good to get out on the ice today, get the tests over with, move on and do the things we need to do to get better as a group."
"We needed that moved up like three months, to be honest with you. We were all set to go," Brind'Amour joked. "No adjustment for us, the coaches, but it was an adjustment for the players. I think everyone got through it all right."

Considering Florence's expected arrival and the scope of the storm's impact, the team plans to skate Friday and cancel Saturday's camp sessions in order to preserve the safety of players, coaches and staff.
"We told everyone that the number one priority is to be safe," Brind'Amour said. "We want to make sure everyone is safe. That's first and foremost."
Expectations
Brind'Amour was asked about expectations at Prospects Development Camp in late June. Someone in the crowed yelled out, "Playoffs!"
Brind'Amour responded: "Not playoffs. We're trying to be the best team in the league. That's our goal."
His message to the team today echoed that sentiment.
"We're going to lay it all out there," Williams said. "We're really excited about the direction of this team, and I think the fans and community should be as well."
"It's important to know that what's been going on isn't good enough. At the end of the day, we've got to raise the expectation level of the group and the organization and everybody in it. It's got to be higher," Brind'Amour said. "Too many teams in this league - it's pretty much every team - has the bar set at winning the whole thing. Why wouldn't we be doing that?"