How the Canes are Navigating and Adapting to Unique Camp Experience

Justin Williams sat down at a laptop for a virtual chat with the media after the third day of Phase 3 training camp at PNC Arena on Wednesday.

"I've got a big ping-pong game with Jaccob Slavin here in a little bit, which I'm going to dust him," Williams said. "So, nothing has really changed in that aspect."

Shortly after, his opponent had an opportunity to respond.

"I guess after this I'll go battle him out," Slavin said. "I got the last win, so hopefully I keep that train going."

In an unprecedented time of uncertainty, question marks and unknowns, hockey and all that comes with it - the on-ice work, the off-ice work, the camaraderie of the locker room - has been a unifying sense of normalcy.

"We're doing our workouts, we're going on the ice, we're getting our treatment and we're pushing through a day at a time," Williams said, while also admonishing himself for a cliché answer. "The whole thing is unique. It is what it is. It's the situation we're dealt. I didn't think I'd be playing professional hockey at the end of July and August and maybe September if all goes well. It's different. It's different for everybody. … Everybody is adapting and doing what they can."

Being able to adapt effectively and quickly is the challenge for everyone involved in Phase 3 and 4 of the league's return to play plan.

It's an unprecedented challenge amidst unprecedented circumstances.

"I think the theme of the day is going to be adapting and improvising to overcome whatever comes our way," head coach Video: "I expect guys to be great.". "I just think the team that really values these two-and-a-half weeks the most or gets the most out of it is probably going to have the best result."

So, how do you prepare for something you've never experienced before? What's the play when there is no playbook?

For the players, it's using this practice time to get into as close to game shape as possible, while brushing up on the finer details of how Brind'Amour and the coaching staff want to see them play.

"It's going pretty smoothly. A lot of review right now, a lot of skating, a lot of getting back in shape," Williams said. "A lot of good times being around the guys again. All of us are excited about that."

"We're going to have to push each other and ramp up as best we can to get to a playoff level," Jordan Staal said after the Video: "I expect guys to be great.". "We've got a group that is hungry for another run and hungry for a Cup."

For the coaches, it's ensuring they're best using this practice time to review systems and situational plays and dos and don'ts, a crash course from where they left off when the team seemed to be hitting its stride four months ago.

"I think [two weeks of practice] is more than enough. If you ask these guys, I guarantee you, in about three days, they're going to say, 'What are we doing? Let's go,'" Brind'Amour said. "As a coach, you want as much practice time as you can just to go over everything and make you feel like you did your job … but players probably want to get going."

If this was a typical September training camp, there would be 40 or 50 players in town. A split squad would be whittled down to a final Opening Night roster. A slate of preseason games would help ramp up the physicality and intensity.

But, this isn't a typical September training camp. It's summer camp, a two-week stretch of practices in July, a prequel to the puck dropping on a 24-team postseason tournament.

"You almost wish we could play in about three days. The energy is perfect right now, and I know … there's going to be a lull at some point. I don't think these guys have ever practiced this much without a game, without something - ever," Video: "I expect guys to be great.". "We've got a good young group that's pushing each other."

One exhibition game is on the schedule, with the Canes facing the Washington Capitals on the afternoon of Wednesday, July 29 in Toronto, but that's it. A three-period friendly to feel some contact, to adjust to playing in an empty rink, to make some final tweaks.

"I'm not a fan of preseason games at all. Why play six more when we have 82 that count? I'd rather start them counting. This is a little different scenario because we've had such a long time off. I think one game is perfect," Brind'Amour said. "As a player, even though you probably feel like you're ready, that one game to get the kinks out and the pace, the pace - no matter how hard you go in practice, it's not game-like ever. It can't be. That will be, I think, exactly what all the players need. The opponent is kind of irrelevant. This is about getting yourself ready. I think it will be good."

After that, it's right into the Stanley Cup Qualifiers, in which the first team to win three of five games will move on to the First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

"It's not tip-toeing into exhibition games and hoping to have a good start to the season. It's right into a do-or-die situation," Video: "I expect guys to be great.". "We'll definitely have some urgency."

Perhaps the closest comparable to that dramatic shift in emotion and intensity from practices to playoff hockey would be an international tournament, like the World Cup of Hockey, for instance. Brind'Amour represented Canada in the 1996 inaugural tournament and played in seven games, as Team Canada finished runner-up to the United States.

"It's tough to even remember that far back for me. I was just happy to be there. That's an elite level of hockey. You're playing for your country," he said. "This, there's more at stake for me. This is way bigger. Playing for the Stanley Cup is what it's all about. The stakes are way higher."

No team, certainly not the sixth-seeded Canes, wants to grind through this process, only to leave the bubble after a disappointing end in a best-of-five series. It makes these two-and-a-half weeks of preparation that much more critical.

Three days in, the Canes like what they've seen, even if they've never experienced anything like it before.

"Four months away from the rink and away from the guys is never fun. There was great family time, but to be back in the locker room with the guys playing the sport we love is awesome," Slavin said. "The vibe in our room is excitement, I think. I think everyone is looking forward to the playoffs and what this postseason holds for us."