If you are stopping by looking for prospect camp practice notes, I hope to post another set around lunchtime. I attended half of the first morning session, all of the second morning session and all of the night session but did not find time to make sense of and post my notes at the end of a long day.

In addition, if you missed it yesterday afternoon, Canes and Coffee was fortunate to get deep insight on Dougie Hamilton, Micheal Ferland and Adam Fox from a pair of knowledgeable Calgary sources.

The week makes for an interesting one to highlight the importance of a people-skilled coach and a captain who gets it. On Sunday, the Hurricanes obtained Dougie Hamilton who seemingly was a bit of an outsider at times on the Flames and also Micheal Ferland who played at an incredibly high level (nearly 40-goal pace) for a chunk of the 2017-18 season before quieting in a significant way later.  The week also features a bunch of discussion about the prospect of Martin Necas and Andrei Svechnikov making the NHL team as rookies. And finally, Scott Darling was the guest speaker for lunch at prospect camp on Thursday. Just the names the flew by this week highlight the diversity of situations to be addressed people-wise on an NHL team.

Dougie Hamilton, at least per reports, might keep to himself a bit more than others on the team. With a variety of different personalities on the team, can the captain work to keep a player engaged with the team at the right level (which is not necessarily equal to every single other player).

Micheal Ferland shows flashes of high-end ability but has also been plagued by inconsistency. Can Rod Brind’Amour find the right words to say or buttons to push to coax consistency out a player who has recently exhibited a wide range in his level of play.

Per my Twitter post below, can Rod Brind’Amour play a significant role in helping Scott Darling face up to and defeat any mental challenges required for a 2018-19 rebound?

If Sebastian Aho makes a permanent transition to center, can Brind’Amour find the right balance of just letting Aho learn, coaching him to a higher level and making sure his confidence remains intact if he has some growing pains.

If rookies Martin Necas and Andrei Svechnikov crack the NHL lineup, can Brind’Amour help them adjust to the NHL? And can the team’s captain help the duo what it means to be a professional.

As I hinted at above, just this week’s Hurricanes news flow illustrates the volume of personalities on an NHL team. This is where people skills and leadership come into play. My hunch is that Rod Brind’Amour will be much stronger in this regard as compared to Bill Peters and also that Justin Williams will ultimately be named captain and take on a more significant role in the player management. The goal is not to take away individualism but rather to allow players to be individuals but at the same time still be connected to the locker room and team.

 

What say you Canes fans?

1) Do you agree that Brind’Amour will be a significant upgrade to Peters in terms of people management and motivation?

 

2) How much difference do you think Brind’Amour can make in terms of boosting the individual players on the Hurricanes?

 

3) Do you think Justin Williams will ultimately garner an ‘A’, the ‘C’ or just continue to lead in a non-formal role?

 

Go Canes!

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