Canes Deeper Than Ever Heading Into Postseason

After being conspicuously absent from the first day of training camp in Phase 3, Martin Necas was back on PNC Arena ice with the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday.

Per the joint

, "clubs are not permitted to disclose player injury and/or illness information," leaving those outside the locker room with a catch-all "unfit to participate" description of why Necas wasn't on the ice Monday.

No matter. The 21-year-old Czech rookie, who arrived back in the United States just this weekend, was flying around the ice on the second day of camp like he hadn't missed a step.

"He's in good shape," head coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "I'm not worried about how he's going to be in a couple of weeks, that's for sure."

With the addition of Necas, the Canes had 24 players - 13 forwards, eight defensemen and three goaltenders, including Anton Forsberg, who rotated in for Alex Nedeljkovic - putting in another high-energy morning of on-ice work.

All 24 players, in addition to a few of the extras included on the team's 29-player return to play roster, have NHL experience, too.

That's quality depth, a great problem to have.

"It's a good thing, for sure. It makes it tougher because when we hopefully get to Toronto healthy, we're going to have to make tough decisions. No one likes that, sitting out guys who should be or could be playing, but that's the way it's going to be," Brind'Amour said. "That's a great problem to have. We've had a lot of years here, especially I can remember playing, that we had guys playing that had no business playing. We're not going to have that problem. That's good."

Especially considering the inherent uncertainties and fragilities of staging a sports tournament during a global health crisis, depth could be more important than ever this postseason.

The Canes certainly have that x-factor, due in part to a number of reasons, including trade deadline moves that bolstered the roster and the four-month pause that allowed previously injured players to recover.

One of those players is Sami Vatanen, who was injured when the Canes acquired him from New Jersey at the trade deadline. Though he was expected back in the lineup in early March, he never quite made it there.

Four months later, he's more than ready.

"I'm ready to go. Health-wise, I feel 100 percent. I'm have no worries about that," he said. "Of course, it takes a little time to get used to game speed … but we have a long time still until we start to play. I'll be ready."

Vatanen, a right-shooting defenseman, will have to earn his spot on a stacked blue line. Dougie Hamilton, who also benefitted from the elongated season pause after undergoing surgery to repair a broken left fibula, said on Monday that the team had "eight legit NHL D" on the ice.

Even though this training camp is a bit different, competition for a roster spot is very much alive, as 20-plus skaters jockey to be among the 18 to dress come Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers.

"We have a good group here, and everybody is pushing each other," Vatanen said. "It's a good battle for everybody."

Decisions, decisions. But a lot can happen between the second day of training camp and when the puck drops on Aug. 1.

"We have some good options there," Brind'Amour said of his defensive pairings. "Chemistry is a huge component to it - who's playing well with who? - but at the end of the day, once we get through these two-and-a-half weeks, I've got to play the best guys. Whoever we think looks the best or feels the best is probably who we're going to go with."

The same can be said of the forward lines. So far, what the coaching staff has rolled out has been very similar to how the team looked in early March. On Tuesday, Necas rotated with Ryan Dzingel on the right wing alongside Vincent Trocheck and Nino Niederreiter.

The coaching staff will likely toy with the line combinations as the next couple of weeks play out, but barring any unforeseen injuries, there will be another tough decision to make in that group, as well.

Brind'Amour said on Monday that the Canes are as deep as they've ever been. That also makes them arguably as dangerous as they've ever been.

Though depth begets difficult lineup choices, simply having a wealth of options puts the team in an advantageous position to succeed.

"The team that wins this, they're going to have to have depth, I can tell you that. I hope when you look back on this, you say, 'Man, we had a lot of depth,'" Brind'Amour said. "If you want to win it, you've got to have it."