Tweetmail No. 210: Concussions, Necas & Kuokkanen

Hello and welcome to Tweetmail, a weekly feature on CarolinaHurricanes.com in which I take your Twitter questions about the Carolina Hurricanes or other assorted topics and answer them in mailbag form. Hopefully the final product is insightful to some degree, and maybe we have some fun along the way.
Let's get to it.

I feel like Martin Necas is on the cusp.
After playing in the first seven games of the season with the Hurricanes, Necas was assigned to Charlotte. The team wanted him to round his game into form on the North American rink. Let's go to my
early-November chat with Hurricanes President and General Manager Don Waddell
.
"You have to learn how to play the 200-foot pro hockey game. You see his skill. We watched him play with us, and he's got that offensive skill. He skates really well. We told him to go down there and learn the position at this level. I'm not worried about points and all that. That will come. He's going to put points up in the National Hockey League, there's no doubt about it. What he's focusing on right now is learning to be a good pro, knowing how to defend in his own zone, things that he maybe hasn't had to focus on as much in his career."
As was the case with the Canes, Necas was slotted at center with Charlotte. Around Thanksgiving, Checkers head coach Mike Vellucci moved him to the wing, which has been a real boon to his offensive production. Necas has totaled 20 points (6g, 14a) in 22 games with the Checkers and was recently named AHL Player of the Week after recording an astonishing seven assists in two games.
I have to figure that Necas is on the shortlist of recall candidates should the Canes need another player to plug into their lineup in the near future. Even still, his recent production in the AHL might warrant another look for him at the NHL level.
As far as the World Junior Championship, I believe he will indeed compete for the Czech national team in that tournament unless he is playing an active role with the Canes at that time.

First of all, props for constructing this Tweetmail question as a haiku. I'll respond in kind (and then expound on that, because this is going to take more than 17 syllables).
Concussions are tough
Every one is different
The head is vital
Haydn Fleury, Jordan Staal and Micheal Ferland have each been diagnosed with concussions this season. In Fleury's case, it was clear when he sustained a concussion after taking a hard hit along the near wall in the neutral zone. In the cases of Ferland and Staal, the picture isn't as clear because there isn't one play you can pinpoint as being the root of the concussion, but both players reported feeling symptoms and were diagnosed.
Ferland was cleared through the concussion protocol and returned to game action on Tuesday, only to log just over five minutes of ice time in the first period.
"He's cleared all the hurdles as far as the protocol. He didn't feel great when he got out there, so we used caution," Brind'Amour said. "When he feels like he's ready to go, then we'll get him back in there."
What makes concussions so difficult and nuanced to assess is their unpredictability. After staying back east while the Canes made their way through California last week, Ferland rejoined the team at practice on Monday and felt fine. He participated in the morning skate on Tuesday and felt fine. He had been cleared through the concussion protocol. But, he didn't feel right in Tuesday's game.
"It's the right move. Always safety first," Brind'Amour said. "You always err on caution."

Ask and you shall receive
.
Janne Kuokkanen, who leads the Checkers in scoring with 27 points (11g, 16a), joined the Canes in Raleigh on Wednesday. Kuokkanen played in four games with the Canes at the start of last season and could provide an offensive spark for a team that needs one.

"I don't think he's a fourth-line player who will play five or six minutes and bang guys around. That's not who he is, so that's not what we're going to do with him," Brind'Amour said after practice. "We've got to make sure he gets the ice time and put him with good players in offensive situations that present in the game to see what he can do."
Nikki Stoudt wrote more about Kuokkanen's November (and Necas, too) in our
monthly prospect profile
.

I've done 209 of these, so we might have touched on it at one point or another, but it's a timely question with the Canes wearing their red uniforms on the three-game California road trip last week, so let's dive into it.
The current customary uniform designation in the NHL is color at home and white on the road. If a team wants to do something different - whether it's the home team wanting to wear their road whites or a light-colored third jersey or the road team wanting to wear their home colors - it takes coordination by and approval from both squads. Typically, this only happens on one-game road trips, since home and road uniforms feature different sets of helmets, sweaters and socks.
But, the Hurricanes wanted to try something different, and all three of Los Angeles, San Jose and Anaheim agreed to let the team wear its red sweaters on the road. The Kings and Sharks elected to wear their road whites at home, but Anaheim wanted to remain in black. The color vs. color match-up had to be approved by the NHL and was after a review process that included television camera testing to ensure proper contrast from a competitive and viewership standpoint. The Canes have played in color vs. color preseason games before, but
Chris Creamer of SportsLogos.net
estimates that Friday's game in Anaheim was the first NHL regular-season indoor game to feature both teams wearing dark uniforms in nearly 19 years. I liked it! I hope we see more creativity like this in the future.
Long answer short: There are logistical hurdles that must be cleared to wear color uniforms on the road, but the Hurricanes have been able to do so for
nine games this season
.

"Die Hard" isn't a Christmas movie, it's a Bruce Willis movie. He said so himself.
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Join me next week for more questions and more answers!
If you have a question you'd like answered or you'd like to discuss the best Christmas movies, you can find me on Twitter at
@MSmithCanes
, or you can
drop me an email
.