Carolina Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook was leaving the ice Thursday, making a beeline for the locker room, when he loudly said to no one in particular, “That’ll make you forget the Stanley Cup.”
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The Canes were finishing up the first day of preseason training camp at Lane Arena, and the players did it with a grueling series of skating drills and sprints. Legs were burning, chests heaving.
Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour couldn’t fight back a hint of a grin when told about Martinook’s comment.
“We’re on a new journey, right?” he said. “It started with day one today, and that’s exactly what I kinda needed to hear.”
Winning the Stanley Cup was exhilarating. The parade and celebration in downtown Raleigh was a ton of fun, with Brind’Amour even being coaxed into ripping off his shirt to lift the Cup. The partying continued in July and August as the Cup was passed from player to player for their “day with the Cup.” Many beverages were consumed.
The bill came due Thursday, more or less.
Informal skates at Lane Arena were a start. But training camp is when it all gets serious, when the focus fully turns to the new season for everyone in the NHL, champion or playoff want-to-be alike.
Seth Jarvis was on the ice. The winger had shoulder surgery soon after the season and the initial report was the recovery period would be roughly 4-6 months. But Jarvis took the ice Thursday in a yellow, no-contact jersey and participated in the practice drills.
Jarvis, who had a team-high 32 goals last season, later said he might be ahead of schedule with his rehab.
“I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Jarvis said.
That was another comment Brind’Amour was happy to hear.
“He looks good, he’s skating well,” Brind’Amour said. “But I can promise you they’re not going to rush him back. He’s got to keep progressing along and getting stronger. And when he’s ready he’ll let us know, and we’ll get him in there as soon as we can.”
The Canes were divided into two groups, with the younger players and prospects taking the ice first, and then a second group of veterans. Missing was defenseman Alexander Nikishin, who remains unsigned.
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The lines had Sebastian Aho centering Andrei Svechnikov and Eric Robinson, Logan Stankoven with Taylor Hall and Jackson Blake, Jordan Staal centering Nikolaj Ehlers and Martinook, and Mark Jankowski between Nic Deslauriers and Will Carrier.
The defensive pairs had Jaccob Slavin with Jalen Chatfield, K’Andre Miller with Sean Walker, and Shayne Gostisbehere with Mike Reilly.
Brandon Bussi and Pyotr Kochetkov were the two veteran goalies.
The makeup of the two groups does not preclude Brind’Amour and the staff from inserting a younger player into the mix, the coach said.
“There’s going to be competition, and it’s good to have that, and we’ll see how it all shakes out,” Brind’Amour said.
Aho, 29, will be entering his 11th NHL season. In his early years with the Canes, there were no postseason playoffs for the Finnish center. Then, seven seasons of reaching the playoffs but falling short of the ultimate goal.
Aho’s 10th season was the one he wanted so badly — a Stanley Cup, a championship. But what now? What’s the motivation?
“It’s higher than ever, honestly,” Aho said Thursday. “Knowing how much it takes, how much work you have to put in, how great it feels when it finally happens, it makes you want more.”
Brind’Amour was the team captain when the Canes won the Cup in 2006. The next season, the Canes did not reach the playoffs. Injuries, Brind’Amour said, played a big part in that disappointment.
And this year’s Hurricanes team?
“The good thing is they’ve done it, so they know what it takes,” Brind’Amour said. “The passion and the grit and everything you have to bring to win in this league, that doesn’t disappear now that you won. It probably magnifies it, in that you have to figure out how to find that little more of an edge. We’re that much more of a target.”
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