Training Camp Notebook: The Final Week Before The Real Thing

RALEIGH, NC. - With four exhibition games down and just two to go, an important seven-day stretch for the Carolina Hurricanes is upon us.

The team remains working in two groups at camp but now has just one practice day (Wednesday) left before the roster is trimmed down to one unit.

Personnel Decisions Looming

More than 40 players were required for Friday's doubleheader down south, but that's come and gone and the team still has 46 skaters in tow.

Why?

Look ahead to later this week and you'll have your answer.

The Canes will play a home-and-home back-to-back set against the Nashville Predators to put a bow on their preseason Thursday and Friday, and the team most certainly will not want their NHL regulars playing two meaningless games in two days.

It feels safe to say that we'll see most of the big club's lineup mainstays over the course of those two nights for one final tune-up, but it remains to be seen if they'll have that in the form of everyone playing one night, or dividing them up over the course of the two efforts.

"Most of our guys that are going to be here have only played one game, so we've got to get them up to game speed," Rod Brind'Amour said after Monday's skate at PNC Arena.  "But, we're also still trying to make an assessment on those guys that came here to try and get a spot."

After the final pair of exhibition games, the team has a scheduled day off on Saturday.  However, when they return to work on Sunday, the schedule shows that it will be just one skate.

With that being said, the most logical assumption is that a larger-scale reduction of the roster will come at some point between Friday and Sunday.

Svechnikov's Status Remains Up In The Air

As October 11's Opening Night moves closer and closer, the biggest question at the moment is whether Andrei Svechnikov will be in the lineup or not.

Continuing to work his way back to full health after his ACL surgery in March, #37 has skated with Group "C1" every day since the onset of camp in a yellow no-contact sweater.

Despite his daily work, each time both he and Brind'Amour have been posed a question about his availability for the regular season opener, the answer has essentially been, "We'll see."

Leaving the decision up to the team's medical staff, the initial diagnosis post-surgery was that it would be a 6-9 month return time for the star winger. Next Wednesday's regular season opener would be seven months to the day since his injury.

The head coach was asked last week if he'd like to see #37 in a preseason game before potentially throwing him right into a game that counts, to which he responded, "Yes and no. If it means giving him that extra week without anything, to get him in [the home opener, then no.] I'm probably the #1 guy that wants him, next to him, but we're going to do it right. He'll get in when he's 100%."

Unger Sorum's Stock Continues To Rise

With training camp more than 50% over, 18-year-old Felix Unger Sorum appears to have solidified himself as this year's breakout prospect.

Drafted in June, it was expected that following preseason play he'd return to Sweden, where he'd play the upcoming season with his Leksands club. Now? While that still very well could be the case, "there is no plan," according to Brind'Amour.

"We'll see where it goes. He's done well," the head coach offered. "He's a young kid. We'll try and get him at least another game here, maybe two, and make a decision after the final preseason game."

Physically, he looks every bit of the teenager that he is. Graciously listed on the roster as 5-foot-11, 170 lbs, Unger Sorum's mental side of the game has appeared mature beyond his years over the last 10 days though.

Receiving a plethora of praise from the coaching staff for the way he sees and thinks the game, the Swedish forward earned an assist in both of last week's exhibition bouts at PNC Arena.

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