Before the offseason kicks into full frenzy mode next week leading up to the 2018 NHL Draft weekend, today’s Daily Cup of Joe offers a short round of Canes catch up that has a collection of thoughts not yet covered (or covered in detail) in other articles.

 

Jeff Daniels named assistant coach

Last week, the Carolina Hurricanes announced that Jeff Daniels was named as an assistant coach to fill the gap left by Rod Brind’Amour’s promotion to head coach.

To be honest, I am not thrilled with the move. This is less an assessment of Daniels and more my opinion on the run of transactions filling out the management and coaching staff. I had hoped for someone with more head coaching experience, ideally at the NHL level, for Rod Brind’Amour to be able to lean on during ups and downs of a long NHL season. Instead, the Hurricanes again stayed internal and went with a coach who had a ‘meh’ run at the AHL level and is inexperienced at the NHL level.

More significant to me is missing another opportunity to inject new blood into an organization that has not been successful in some time. The team has now passed on opportunities to add from outside the organization for a general manager, head coach and assistant coach.

 

The preseason schedule

The team also announced its 2018-19 preseason schedule which you can find HERE.

The schedule is somewhat similar to years past with home and away sets with the Nashville Predators, Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals.

The Canes play the usual quick burst of three games on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday shortly after training camp opens. Those three games are the opportunity for players who are off the radar to make strong impressions and jump into the mix as roster cuts are made.

After that burst of three games, a significant round of cuts would be expected before the team takes to the road for its next two preseason games the following week. The second of those games which is on Friday is then followed by another on Sunday. That set represents what are usually tune up games for the regular season.

 

What say you Canes fans?

 

1) What are your thoughts on Jeff Daniels as the choice to fill the open assistant coach role?

 

2) Who has other Canes catch worth discussing before all of the fun starts next week?

 

3) Who is ready for what could be a busy week culminating with the 2018 NHL Draft weekend?

 

Go Canes!

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