‘Our roster might change a little’: Rod Brind’Amour Noncommittal on Opening Night Roster

When the Carolina Hurricanes submitted their opening roster yesterday afternoon, there were a few things that raised some eyebrows

For one, Bryce Montgomery, who was freshly signed to a three-year ELC was one of the 22-players on the roster.

However, Montgomery’s addition can strictly be seen as a salary cap move as his cap hit, which was not a normal value, put Carolina within $3 of the cap, allowing for a maximum potential utilization of LTIR relief.

“There’s a lot of cap stuff going on,” said Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour.

The second thing was that Jackson Blake was not one of the players listed on the roster.

Related: ‘He’s noticeable every shift’: Jackson Blake Making Case to Be NHL Starter

Many thought Blake would potentially be on the opening roster given his strong camp and by the fact that he wasn’t a part of the Hurricanes’ initial mass cut, but that was not the case.

However, that doesn’t mean he can’t still find his way onto the team’s roster.

Monday was simply the deadline for team’s to submit their rule compliant rosters to the league, but that doesn’t mean that teams can’t make moves following that submittal.

Brind’Amour, when asked, didn’t commit to the idea of Blake being with the team.

“I think our roster might change a little, but I don’t anticipate it to too much,” Brind’Amour said. “I don’t know if I can say, ‘Yeah, he may be coming back up here.’ We’re going to have another conversation here tomorrow and see where it goes.”

Perhaps a reason to believe he won’t be gone long is that Blake now has a stall within the Canes’ locker room at their practice rink in Morrisville.

Back during training camp, Blake was in a separate locker room entirely with the other prospects.

The team is scheduled for practice on Wednesday, so we’ll be able to see then whether or not he’s around.

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