Carolina Hurricanes Hockey Returns Tonight in Tampa Bay

Tonight begins the campaign for the Carolina Hurricanes as they take on the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena. This will be the first of six pre-season games for Carolina. The next match is scheduled for Friday against the Florida Panthers at the newly named Lenovo Center, still getting used to that name change.

Although it is early in the training camp, the Canes have some injuries that will prevent Riley Stillman and William Carrier from seeing any action tonight and soon. However, Carrier seems to be progressing towards returning to the team practice.

The lineups have been released and to no surprise, the three players in camp on a PTO will be in the game this evening. Rocco Grimaldi, Sam Gagner, and Skyler Brind'Amour will get a lot of looks early in the preseason to earn a spot in the organization.

Pyotr Kochetkov and Yanic Perets will share the duty in the crease and will likely split the minutes in half. We saw a glimpse of Perets but it will be important for Kochetkov to get off to a good start this season if he has any chance of taking the starting role from Frederik Andersen. Andersen played meaningful games for his country, Denmark, to qualify for the Olympics. He played well and I would not expect to see much of him early in the preseason.

The new faces from free agency will not be debuted this evening, having likely been scheduled to play in front of the home fans on Friday. Tyson Jost will make his Carolina debut after being brought in this summer as a depth piece. The former 10th overall draft pick in the 2016 NHL Draft by the Colorado Avalanche, will have a chance to play a similar, bottom-six role for Rod Brind'Amour. With the center position lacking true scoring prowess, Jost will have the opportunity to show off the skill that made him a top amateur.

The two names on the lineup card that will bring the most excitement and eyes to the broadcasts are prospects Jackson Blake and Bradly Nadeau. Both players are small in stature and likely headed to Chicago of the AHL to fine-tune their skills to jump to the NHL level.

Blake and Nadeau will have every opportunity this camp to make the opening night roster but the path is set for the two to be a bigger part of the team in 2025-26. This is the biggest intrigue in the game this evening, can these young men make a name for themselves?

Either way it is good to finally have Canes hockey back and the long season now begins!