NEW YORK — After a day off that gave the Hurricanes a moment to catch their breath, the team — and its two new additions — were back on the ice Monday at UBS Arena a day ahead of their game at the Rangers on Tuesday.
It was the first opportunity for Mikko Rantanen and Taylor Hall to better understand coach Rod Brind’Amour’s systems and adjust to their new teammates.
1. The lines at Monday’s practice were the same as the end of the game against the Islanders, with one exception: Jack Roslovic missed practice due to illness.
That means both Rantanen and Hall were in the top six. Rantanen stayed alongside Sebastian Aho on the top line opposite Jackson Blake, while Hall was slotted with Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Andrei Svechnikov.
Brind’Amour said Monday’s practice was the first step in getting the two new players acclimated to being Hurricanes.
“I think it helps,” Brind’Amour said. “I think just the more they’re around each other and in environments where we’re teaching and going through stuff that we do on a regular basis, I think it’ll help. But just in general, just the more time you’re around anyone, you’re going to feel more comfortable.”
Seth Jarvis, who often checks the opposition’s best players, had a succinct scouting report on Rantanen and how he felt before playing against the 6-foot-4, 215-pound forward.
“Scared. He’s huge,” Jarvis said. “I try to let (Jordan Staal) guard him and let me go on somebody else. But he’s a great player, someone who is impossible to get the puck off of, and someone that is going to be a a lot of fun to play with.
Blake was a little wide-eyed at how his recent big opportunity playing on the first line with Aho has evolved into playing also with Rantanen. His initial impression of his newest linemate? “He’s massive.”
Jarvis was also impressed with Hall.
“He surprised me with the speed last game,” he said. “I didn’t know he had that in him, and he was flying up and down the ice.”
Brind’Amour added that Hall was noticeable once he bumped up the lineup,
“I thought he was good in the third period and had three or four really good chances,” Brind’Amour said. “Just didn’t go for him. But if we can get that kind of play out of him as well, I mean, that’s what we’re hoping for.”
2. Hall struggled this season with the Blackhawks, getting scratched by Luke Richardson — since fired as Chicago’s coach — in November and averaging just 12:36 in his last six games with the team. He had nine goals and 24 points in 47 games in the Windy City.
Both he and the Hurricanes hope that a change of scenery — particularly to greener pastures with a Stanley Cup contender — will elevate his play.
“I think any player, but especially a guy who’s been around and played a lot of years at a high level, wants to probably rekindle that a little bit, that being in the hunt and all that I think is going to help him,” Brind’Amour said. “I certainly hope so.”
Brind’Amour and Hall had a long talk at center ice after Monday’s practice, a conversation Hall said was about expectations.
“We talked about the game the other night, how I need to play and what he kind of expects of me,” Hall said. “And that’s all you want as a player is just to understand what’s expected of you and how he sees you playing and all that stuff. … It’s really good to have that dialogue when you get here because it makes you feel welcome, makes you feel a part of it.”
Hall admitted it was difficult to go from Boston, where he was playing for a team expected to compete for a Stanley Cup every year, to the undermanned Blackhawks.
“It was tough in Chicago,” he said. “I’ve played a long time, and I tried my best to help the rebuild along and mentor people and set a good example, but it is hard when you’re not even in a playoff race.
“Just as a professional, you still have to do your job and do the best you can, but you don’t have to self-motivate when you’re here because there’s that end goal in mind. Every day is an important day for us to climb in the standings and make strides as a team and really come together for what the end goal is. So it’s really exciting and just adds a bit of pep in your step, especially when you’re at my stage.”
3. Much has already been made of the friendship between Rantanen and Aho, but these things have a tendency to get a bit blown out of proportion.
The two aren’t attached at the hip all offseason, but they do have a bond from playing together internationally as teenagers and early in their professional careers for Finland.
“Growing up, we played on the same national teams, and actually all three World Championships I went, he was my roommate,” Aho said after Monday’s practice. “He’s a great guy.”
When the schedule allows it, Aho and Rantanen would go out for dinner in their respective home team cities when Colorado and Carolina would play and occasionally text each other during the season.
Still, the Hurricanes are counting on the Aho-Rantanen connection to be a winner for them on and off the ice.
Aho heard about the trade just like the rest of the world.
“I saw that tweet everyone else,” he said, “and obviously the (team) group chat went buzzing after that.”
But there were also the emotions of losing two players, Martin Necas and Jack Drury, who had become key parts of the Hurricanes.
“It’s kind of weird because it’s emotional, and then he’s there,” Aho said. “You know, we’re family, and it’s tough when there’s change. I saw them pretty late at night when it happened, saw them for a quick minute after and it was kind of sad to see your friends go.
“But at the same time, it’s business. Everyone gets it, and then you know you’re not just losing, you’re adding, and you’re adding great players. So it’s also the excitement. So it’s like an emotional roller coaster almost. … It’s our job to now make it work.”
Aho did say he has room for Rantanen at his house if his new linemate needs somewhere to stay in the short term.
“That’s an option for him if he wants,” Aho said. “He’s more than welcome, obviously, but he’s got million things to figure out first. We’re going home tomorrow after the game, so we’ll see.”
3. The acquisition of Rantanen and Hall came 25 years and one day after the other biggest trade in Hurricanes history.
“I knew it was right around at that time,” Brind’Amour said of his trade from Philadelphia to Carolina on Jan. 23, 2000. “And you just don’t know, right? That’s the thing about, I guess, life in general, but in hockey terms too, just things happen quick. And it’s certainly a business, as we understand. But it is still personal too, and that’s why, for both teams and both players coming and going, it’s not easy.”
After Saturday’s game against the Islanders, Rantanen admitted he was shocked by the trade — understandable, seeing that he was drafted by the Avalanche and played 10 seasons in Colorado, including winning a Stanley Cup.
Brind’Amour was in his ninth season in Philadelphia when the Flyers traded him to Carolina, and he said he struggled to adapt to his new team and city.
“I think he’s handled a lot better than I did,” Brind’Amour said. “It took me a long time to really get my feet under me. So like I said, I’m sure he’ll get better and better — most of them will — as time goes by.”
Defenseman Dmitry Orlov went through a similar situation.
A 2009 second round pick by the Capitals, Orlov was traded to the Bruins at the 2023 trade deadline after 11 seasons and a Stanley Cup in Washington. Did he ever feel comfortable in Boston?
“It’s hard to say,” Orlov said. “It was a good team, Boston, when I was there. They helped you out to feel comfortable. It’s important.”
It didn’t hurt that Boston was on its way to having the best regular season in league history when he was traded there, and Orlov said coming to a Cup contender — like Carolina — makes things easier.
“We have a nice group inside, so you feel more comfortable, especially when the team is winning — that helps too,” Orlov said. “You’re in a good mood, and when everything is all well, it’s easier to have fun and be more comfortable.”
Orlov was traded a little more than a week before the deadline, but Rantanen and Hall will have much more runway to get acclimated with their new team.
“Maybe it’s good to get them early so they can get more comfortable and adapt quicker,” Orlov said.
5. The surface goal for the Hurricanes is to win games, get to the playoffs and then win four playoff rounds. But bubbling under there will be efforts to re-sign Rantanen to a contract that would undoubtedly make him the highest-paid player in Hurricanes history.
“Well, no secrets: Everyone wants him to stay here,” Aho said of Rantanen. “Absolutely a superstar in this league and a great guy too.”
Success on the ice will certainly help convince Rantanen, though Aho might be called on to do some salesmanship in pitching his countryman on making Raleigh his home.
“I guess just be myself and try to help in any way I can,” Aho said of how he can help sell Rantanen on the Hurricanes. “He already told me that the guys are awesome in the locker room, and that’s also important. Actually, every new guy — like when Juha (Jaaska) got up here, he was saying the same thing, it’s so easy to come in the locker room. And that’s a really good thing to hear.”
Aho added that showing Rantanen the team’s commitment to success will be just as valuable.
“Creating that culture, it’s fun, but it’s also ‘when it’s time to work, we work,’ and it’s kind of that balance that it’s not just a carnival,” Aho said. “When it’s time to work, we work, but it’s also really fun.”
Brind’Amour wasn’t too concerned with selling Rantanen on staying.
“I don’t look at like that,” Brind’Amour said. “The process, the whole thing about being here, winning — I mean, that’s my job. And the rest takes care of itself.”
