RALEIGH — The Hurricanes hit the ice Thursday for the start of training camp as they prepare for the 2024-25 season, and there are a handful of jobs to be decided before the season opener on Oct. 11.
With several players having moved on, Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour will need to reconfigure his lineup from a group of newcomers and prospects.
Three camp battles stand out as the most important over the next three weeks.
Opposite Orlov
For the second straight season, there is a battle to play alongside left-handed Dmitry Orlov. Last year, Tony DeAngelo and Jalen Chatfield were the candidates to slot on the right side of the third pairing opposite Orlov. DeAngelo won the job out of camp, but the tandem struggled.
An injury to Brett Pesce in the fifth game of the regular season kept both Chatfield and DeAngelo in the lineup, but by mid-November, Chatfield established himself alongside Orlov, and the tandem thrived together.
With Pesce and Brady Skjei — along with DeAngelo — gone this season, the second pairing is now open. Orlov will fill one of those spots in the final season of his two-year contract, but who will play alongside him?
Brind’Amour knows Orlov and Chatfield work well together, and the Hurricanes showed a commitment to the latter by giving him a three-year, $9 million contract this offseason before he could become an unrestricted free agent.
But Carolina gave an even bigger deal to Sean Walker, handing the 29-year-old a five-year contract totaling $18 million on July 1. Walker had a breakout year last season, scoring a combined 10 goals and 29 points with Philadelphia and Colorado. Chatfield’s numbers were similar: The 28-year-old had eight goals and 22 points a year ago.
The odds are in Walker’s favor — at least to start the year — for two reasons. One, Brind’Amour knows he can always reunite Orlov with Chatfield should an Orlov-Walker pairing stumble. Secondly, whichever player instead ends up on the third pairing is poised to be matched up with Shayne Gostisbehere — something Chatfield has experience doing.
When Carolina acquired Gostisbehere at the 2022 trade deadline, he played almost exclusively with Chatfield. The duo totaled 225:26 even-strength minutes in 19 regular season games, according to NaturalStatTrick.com, while Gostisbehere had just 39:04 with other players. The underlying numbers were good for the pairing, so Brind’Amour should have confidence in playing Chatfield with either partner.
Who’s having seconds?
The Hurricanes have top-end talent at forward: Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov, Seth Jarvis and Martin Necas would be first-line players on many NHL teams. At least one will end up on the second line, but who will fill out the rest of the top six?
Second-line center will be up for grabs. Evgeny Kuznetsov, acquired at last year’s trade deadline, is gone to the KHL after he and the Hurricanes agreed to terminate his contract. With Jordan Staal entrenched in a bottom-six role, that leaves Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Jack Drury to battle for the spot.
They had the same number of points last season (27), though Drury played in five fewer games and Kotkaniemi had 12 goals to Drury’s eight. Carolina certainly has more invested in Kotkaniemi, who has a $4.82 million cap hit through 2030 compared to Drury’s new two-year deal worth $1.725 million annually. It should be an open competition.
One of Jarvis or Necas will likely be on that wing, but whoever fills the other side is up for grabs.
Rookie Bradley Nadeau could provide some instant offense if he can adjust to the pro game as well as he made the jump from the BCHL to college hockey last year (at the draft, Hurricanes associate GM Darren Yorke said the transition Nadeau made last year might be tougher than leaping into pro hockey).
Felix Unger Sorum, Jackson Blake and Gleb Trikozov all played well in the Prospects Showcase in Nashville, but, like Nadeau, are any truly ready for major NHL minutes?
Jack Roslovic could force his way into the top six — perhaps even at center should the other two options falter — and one can never rule out Jordan Martinook as a tone-setter, at least in the short term. Camp invitee Sam Gagner hasn’t played 15-plus minutes a night since 2020-21, so that’s not the answer either.
Nadeau may have a better chance than one would think.
Freddy or Pyotr
The Hurricanes’ three goalies are locked in, with Frederik Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov in the top two spots and Spencer Martin as the No. 3.
But who will be the true No. 1? If things go as planned, Carolina will likely have something like a 50/30 split in games. Who will get the 50?
Andersen certainly has the track record as a No. 1 but has played just 50 regular season games once in his three years in Raleigh. He will be 35 before opening night.
Kochetkov is a decade younger and played in 42 games a season ago, but he will need to prove he can be more consistent to fully seize the top job from Andersen.
