Notebook: Ready To Raise Up

RALEIGH, N.C. - Rod Brind'Amour is ready. He thinks his team is ready too. Tomorrow, we get to find out if they are.

The 22-man roster eligible to take the ice for Friday's Opening Night presented by Lenovo has been together basically every day for three weeks now. Most have known each other for much longer, but when it comes to learning and implementing the systems the coaching staff wants to play, they've been hard at work together with the newcomers since September 18.

Nineteen practice days and six exhibition games later, it's time to get going for real.

"The guys all came to camp in great shape. I think they would have loved it if we could have started playing three or four days in because they're amped up," Brind'Amour said following Thursday's skate. "We've got a good group. We're anxious to just get going."

Someone who is certainly amped up and made himself the biggest storyline in training camp is forward Jackson Blake.

From July 1, when General Manager Eric Tulsky said that the team had, "some players who are just a little bit away from the NHL who are ready to step into NHL roles," it felt like the door was open for one of the team's prospects to crack this October 11 lineup.

Sure enough, thanks to an impressive Prospects Showcase and a standout preseason, the 2021 fourth-round draft pick emerged as the guy.

"I'm super ecstatic. Super pumped to be here," Blake said following Wednesday's practice, going on to share that he found out on Sunday that he'd made the team. "I'm just super fortunate (for the) opportunity."

Skating alongside Eric Robinson and Jack Drury at practice the last two days, Blake has been known as an energetic player with a penchant for highlight reel goals. Finishing third in voting for the Hobey Baker Award this spring, the 21-year-old became only the second sophomore at the University of North Dakota in the last 30 years to hit the 100-point mark, the first to do so since Zach Parise (2003-04).

"He had a great preseason. Offseason [too], really," Rod Brind'Amour explained when asked about the decision to keep Blake on the roster. "He took big steps and earned his way to be here. We'll see where it goes. It's not written in stone, but he did all he could to get to this point."

Also skating on the team's second power-play unit with Brent Burns, Jack Drury, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, and Jack Roslovic, Blake knows that the work is not done and he'll have to perform to stick around for the long haul.

"[I still need to] work on managing the puck. In college, you can kind of get away with a lot of things and obviously, it's not as fast as it was in the preseason games," Blake admitted.

It won't be the first NHL game for the roster's newest member, who debuted in Columbus after signing his entry-level contract in April, but that doesn't mean there won't be any juice to tomorrow for him.

"I think this one will be a little more special. Last year it was the last game of the year. Now it's the start of a new season," Blake cheerfully shared. "It's pretty special being here, it's your dream as a kid. I'm super excited."

While Brind'Amour said definitively that he is not sticking around because of it, Blake's opportunity may have come about because Brendan Lemieux is the latest member of the team to be bit by the injury bug.

Leaving Saturday's preseason finale in Nashville during the third period, the second-year Hurricane did not skate on Monday, Wednesday, or Thursday and following yesterday's skate, the head coach said that the forward is "going to be out for a little while."

Lemieux joins a list of what will be at least four players unable to skate on opening night, adding on to the three who were designated as "injured non-roster" on Monday's "season-opening roster".

Jesper Fast will not play this season due to neck surgery that was completed in August, Riley Stillman (lower-body injury) has skated in a yellow no-contact jersey since the first on-ice session of camp, and Joakim Ryan went down early last week with "a tweak" of something.

In addition to the quartet of injuries, the Canes assigned forward Tyson Jost to Chicago of the American Hockey League on Thursday, leaving the team with just 12 healthy forwards for their first game.

Now, all that's left to do is drop the puck.

Parking lots will open at 4 p.m. on Thursday and the pregame plaza party will begin at 4:30 p.m. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. and all fans in attendance will receive a Canes hat giveaway courtesy of Lenovo.

For those not able to make it, the game will be broadcast on ESPN+/Hulu. John Buccigross and Ryan Callahan will have the call on the TV side, while Mike Maniscalco and Tripp Tracy call the action on 99.9 The Fan.

Raise up, Caniacs.