The ice was plenty crowded for the first skate of the season, with 21 skaters and three goalies making up the initial training camp roster, and the group certainly skewed heavily on the side of fresh faces.
"It’s getting to know a lot of the new players,” said Kinnear. “Getting them to understand how we want to play as a group and how we want to practice. We’re just getting used to everybody.”
Another contingent were players coming off a historic campaign with Charlotte’s ECHL affiliate, the Florida Everblades, who captured their second-straight title last season.
“What you do have is a lot of the east coast league guys who won the Kelly Cup last year,” said Kinnear. “You can tell they have a little bit of extra confidence in their step - when you win that last game of the year, that’s a big deal. We have a lot of those guys here, so we’re excited to have those guys.”
And then, of course, you have some of the names that Checkers fans are familiar with from last season - a group who bear a special responsibility in these early days of camp.
“You need to have those culture guys,” said Kinnear. “The guys that can drive practice and understand how the program works to get everyone up to speed. Those guys are extremely important and they have to take a step too - knowing the area, knowing the team, you don’t want to just take a back seat, you want to get to that next level. We’re asking those guys to take the next step this year.”
The eclectic group hit the ice full-steam ahead on day one.
“It was good,” said forward Wilmer Skoog. “We’re getting to work right away. Good practice with a high intensity and a lot of rushes. Starting to get a feel for how we’re going to play as a team.”
With such a short window between the start of camp and opening night - 11 days, to be exact - the coaching staff made sure to get straight to the point.
“You kind of have to remember how much work goes into getting to the final product,” said Kinnear. “So we made that crystal clear today, we have a lot of work ahead of us. Today was just the first day of our journey.”
As the team works toward that cohesion, these early days of camp are also the perfect stage for players to catch the eyes of the coaching staff.
“Obviously you want to see some skill level, some compete,” said Kinnear on the quickest way for a player to impress in camp. “You’re always evaluating, you’re always trying to pick up little nuances of how we want to play, but I think as we move on with the scrimmages, you’ll see a little more. I asked for three things today and the guys met all three of those standards today, so we’re excited about that. Again, have skill level, compete level, those are two big components.”
“Really just playing your own game,” said Skoog - a rookie on an AHL contract - of his mindset. “You’re here for a reason. Playing the best of your capabilities is something that will make everyone successful.”
The roster will shift daily from here on out as transactions filter players through the organization, but these first few days of camp can go a long way towards establishing the team’s core values.
“You have to start with how you want to play early,” said Kinnear. “I’m a big believer that standards are not what you say they are, they’re what you hold them to. So I just let them know how we want to play so we can play at a high level as fast as possible. We have a lot of work to do, but they’re a great group of kids that work extremely hard and want to get better. It makes my job easy.”
Even from day one, the message is simple.
“We want to take another step as an organization,” said Kinnear. “It’s no fun watching other teams win championships.”
