Through the first three Group A practices, Canes coach Paul Maurice has been consistent with the lines he's used.
Eric Staal has centered Tuomo Ruutu and Erik Cole. Matt Cullen has centered Chad LaRose and Ray Whitney, and Rod Brind'Amour has been the center with wingers Scott Walker and Sergei Samsonov.
The fourth line: Stephane Yelle at center, with Tim Conboy and Tom Kostopoulos on the wings.
How much to read into it?
"A potential starting point is what it is," Maurice said today. "I think you saw there were times last year when we really left the lines alone just to build some consistency in our game. And I thought that once we started playing well, and part of it was due to injury that we really did start moving people around.
"Once we feel that everybody has an understanding of how we're playing without the puck and what we're trying to do offensively, then you can move pieces around and chemistry is not quite as important. And we had real good success in the playoffs with a number of players going from the fourth line to the first line over the course of a series and being impact players for us."
Jussi Jokinen, who has a finger injury, has not been cleared for contact work. When Jokinen returns — he says in a few days — it likely will have a domino effect, with Jokinen probably being used on the wing.
With Joni Pitkanen probably out for most of training camp after knee surgery, Maurice will do more mixing and matching on defense.
Yelle, who played with the Boston Bruins last season, said the transition has been smooth with the Canes and in working with Conboy and Kostopoulos.
"We've had a couple of practices and we're still trying to feel each other out as far as where we go on the ice," Yelle said. "But I don't see it being difficult. I think it will be an easy transition."
A Raleigh native, Chip has worked at the N&O since 1979 and is the Canes beat writer. He can be reached at 
Comments
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Say Chip, why is this?
Wed, 09/16/2009 - 05:57 — lewpulsIn baseball--hardly an exhausting game to play, compared with hockey--players are often platooned or given rest days. This doesn't happen in hockey, and I wonder why (probably: too much "macho" still in the game). Cole in particular seems to wear out and be invisible in some games, why not rest him on back-to-backs, say? Some of the older players would also benefit. Remember how much a week off helped Brindy get back to his old self, and then he became invisible in the playoffs--wearing out again, perhaps?
With as much depth as we have, and lots of good young guys available, why not rest some of the older players, especially against teams they don't do well against? A strong fourth line helps a lot, but in the end some extra rest, especially with games closer together because of Olympics, should be very beneficial.
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if we have a healthy season...
Tue, 09/15/2009 - 23:48 — canesr0ckwe will really r0ck! this team looks great on paper.
how rude
Wed, 09/16/2009 - 08:29 — Biff_BeersIf folks are going to post junk, I wish they would at least use well-formed HTML so it would not mess up the subsequent posts.
Yo Chip
Tue, 09/15/2009 - 17:22 — esteban1949great information sir...and i agree 1000% with Go & Abrams...has anyone had a chance yet to see what some of the other teams pairings might be yet as in Boston,Philly and Washington ? In possibly know some of that could or would help in how the Canes bench will respond...and yes Goshelf...our 4th line as it was posted could very well be a second line or better with some teams in either division...
Lord I'm excited !! Go Canes !!
Off Subject
Tue, 09/15/2009 - 15:16 — ammy144Does anyone know of "anywhere" you can watch the games FS-CA doesn't carry? Center Ice doesn't seem to be an option. My husband and I are not young and getting to all of the games is just not an option. Any help will be appreciated.
Hurricanes games on tv or internet
Tue, 09/15/2009 - 15:22 — abramsdougHere's a link for an internet site that often carries games in its streaming media:
http://atdhe.net/index.html
Also, at www.nhl.com they have a service one can purchase to watch games on the internet.
abramsdoug
Tue, 09/15/2009 - 15:29 — ammy144Thank you so much for the information. Do you know if the package at the nhl site will blackout the Canes games like Center Ice does?
Hurricanes on tv and internet
Tue, 09/15/2009 - 16:59 — abramsdougMy recollection is that there was one or two times the games were blacked out; but each time I was able to find a streaming video on the internet using the link I put in the past post:
http://atdhe.net/index.html
abamsdoug
Tue, 09/15/2009 - 18:04 — ammy144Thank you for taking the time to help me. Do you feel that buying that package on the nhl site is worth the money? I would like to watch several teams but the Canes are my primary interest.
Hurricanes tv and internet
Wed, 09/16/2009 - 05:42 — abramsdougI don't recall how many home games were blacked out because we are season ticket holders. I liked the NHL package and combined with Time Warner Cable's center ice package and the internet streaming, I was able to watch virtually all the Hurricanes games. For some of the games, I had to search around the opposing team's message boards to find where video links were available. One aspect I liked about the Nhl package was that it permitted up to four games to be watched at the same time.
Last season all the local
Tue, 09/15/2009 - 21:49 — caneshockeyfanLast season all the local games on the NHL online package were blacked out. I tried some "creative" ways around it, but in the end decided it wasn't worth the hassle and cancelled before the trial period was over.
Jokinen and the Lines
Tue, 09/15/2009 - 11:14 — abramsdougI would guess that Jokinen will be placed with Samsonov and Brind'Amour and that Walker will be used with Yelle and Kostopoulos. Conboy has such desire to play that I think he is going to earn more ice time this year as well. The fourth line is going to wake up some opposing teams, I predict, and will get significant minutes on the ice.
Jussi
Tue, 09/15/2009 - 15:34 — chipalexander (author)I think you're right, with B'A and Samsonov
Matchup Problems
Tue, 09/15/2009 - 12:42 — GoShelfI'm hoping it's going to create matchup problems for our opponents because our 4th line is a decent 3rd line on most teams. Ideally we roll 4 lines for 2 periods and have our 1st & 2nd fresh for third (fresher than our opponent at least) and roll from there. I felt there were quite a few times last year where Staal played 2-3 minutes (4-5 shifts) more than he had gas for and he was tired in the last 5 minutes of those games, which possibly ended up costing us points at the end of the season. I know it 's a fine line for marquee players in enough minutes versus too many minutes. If we're going to be successful this year Staalsy has to have a great year and if our 4th line can give him more effective minutes/better matchups then great - the money we spent on TKO & Yelle is well worth it.