Tweetmail No. 242: Offseason, Upgrades & Routines

Hello and welcome to Tweetmail, a regular feature on Hurricanes.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.

Are the players there and practicing or on vacation? How is Svech's foot/ankle injury doing? - @DugginsBetsey
At this point, most players are back home, wherever home is around the world, and most - unless they're rehabbing an injury, like Brett Pesce - are taking it easy for the time being. The pause was a black hole of uncertainty. Was play going to resume at some point? Was it the offseason? How could players best stay in shape, just in case?
Now, though there is no firm start date for the 2020-21 season, it's clear that this is the offseason. The Stanley Cup will be awarded in a month's time. The 2020 NHL Draft and free agency will follow. It's the typical offseason - it's just happening a few months later than usual. Players typically use this time in the summer to get away from the game for a bit, so that's what you'll find most doing now. Once we have a better idea of Opening Night for next season, that's when you'll start to see players ramp up their training.
When Andrei Svechnikov got tangled up with Zdeno Chara in a net-front battle in Game 3, the injury looked bad, and the replay was no less forgiving. Following a
series of medical evaluations
, though, the news wasn't so bad, all things considered: Svechnikov suffered a high-ankle sprain.

Two weeks removed from that injury, in his end-of-season virtual press conference, Svechnikov said that he felt "almost 100 percent" and would probably be playing in the Second Round had the Canes advanced.
"It was pretty scary," he said. "I think I got very lucky."
1. How would you rate this season for the Canes in terms of improvement on a scale of 1 is best and 10 is worst? 2. Who are some potential draft picks for the first round that you like? 3. What areas for the Canes need some upgrades? Thanks for everything. You were tremendous again! - @dabrams2021
Great use of the 280-character limit!
1. Using your scale, I would rate the season in terms of improvement at a 3. Better than average improvement of 5, but not quite at the upper echelon levels of improvement around a 2 or better. Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov, Dougie Hamilton and Teuvo Teravainen are four players who immediately come to mind when considering who made the biggest strides. Martin Necas was on his way to being a 20-goal scorer in his rookie season, and the Canes' deadline acquisitions proved to be a good fit. As a team, I think some tough lessons were gleaned in the First Round, and the group, as a whole, will be better for having that experience.

2. I haven't explored much draft-related content as of yet, to be honest. That's a post-vacation project, as we gear up for the virtual event, which will be held Oct. 9-10. In my cursory bit of research, one name I've repeatedly seen is Iaroslav Askarov, a highly touted goaltender from Russia.
   NHL.com's mock draft
   has Askarov going off the board as high as No. 9, but two writers have him in the 13-slot for the Canes. Also listed as a potential 13th overall pick is Canadian winger Jack Quinn, who scored 52 goals and posted 89 points in 62 games in the OHL last season.
   3. The Canes will assess each position in order to better their team, of course, but adding more depth scoring - a top-six scoring winger would be ideal, but perhaps pricey and tough to find - and taking a look at the goaltending - Petr Mrazek, James Reimer and Alex Nedeljkovic are all under contract for next season, but is there a better option available via a trade or free agency? - are the two areas I would address.
   4. Thank you for your kind words, Doug.
   Defensively, who do you think won't be around this coming season? - @wufpak8
   Joel Edmundson, Trevor van Riemsydk and Sami Vatanen are unrestricted free agents, while Haydn Fleury is a restricted free agent. You could make a valid argument on why each of the team's unrestricted free agents should be re-signed, but I think it's reasonable to think that at least two, if not all three, might sign elsewhere, depending on how the market develops over the next month. Fleury will be due a bump in pay, and he's also arbitration eligible, but I would think he's the most likely of the free agent blueliners to return.
   Will the term "unfit to play" flow into the next campaign? Or was that just for the bubble? - @StephenRiley99
   "Unfit to play" was created specifically for the NHL's return to play, and it's intentionally vague so that clubs wouldn't have to differentiate between an injury and a positive COVID-19 test. The bubble has been so effective, though, that all "unfit to play" statuses have referred to injuries.
   As a writer and reporter, even one on a club payroll, it's a hindrance to not be able to expound on a player's absence, even when an injury is known. I understand why "unfit to play" is being utilized now, but my hope is that the league will drop that nomenclature for the 2020-21 season and beyond.
   And, honestly? We could probably even go more specific than upper- and lower-body injury descriptions, too, but that's a conversation for another day.
   Gameday routine in the bubble? - @katie\_030305
   The players' gameday routine in the bubble was similar to that of a normal road trip. Breakfast, lunch and snack in the meal room, meetings, an afternoon nap, a bus ride to the rink and a game. Noon starts (the best, in my opinion) were obviously more condensed. Brunch in the meal room, meetings, a bus ride to the rink and a game. Adding to the uniqueness of everything was the daily COVID-19 testing, health screening and temperature check. And, at least for me, every day - gameday or otherwise - began with a trip to the Tim Horton's truck parked right outside the hotel. I miss that truck.
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   More questions and more answers coming your way next Wednesday!
   If you have a question you'd like answered or you also enjoy a double-double, you can find me on Twitter at
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