Canes' prospects open tourney play

The Hurricanes haven't participated in a prospects tournament since 2005 in Ottawa. So why this year?

"We decided to go back because we've built up the number of prospects we have," general manager Jim Rutherford says. "We got away from it and we wound up inviting players we really didn't know that well to training camp."

UPDATE: The Canes won the opener 5-3 Sunday over the New York Rangers team in Traverse City, Mich. Elgin Reid had the game-winning goal with 1:26 to play and Brandon Sutter added an empty-netter. Zach Boychuk, Drayson Bowman and Matt Kennedy also scored.

The tournament is hosted by the Detroit Red Wings and played at the Centre Ice Arena, the Wings' training camp home.

The Canes will play the host Red Wings on Monday and Atlanta on Wednesday in the round-robin portion of the event before playing a final game Thursday, when the final tournament rankings are set.

"Detroit runs a really good camp and it's a well-done event," Rutherford says. "You play against players your own age, and the top players usually stand out."

Among the Canes' prospects are Brandon Sutter, Zach Boychuk, Drayson Bowman, Jamie McBain, Mike Murphy and Philippe Paradis, Carolina's first-round draft pick this year. After the tournament, Rutherford said a decision will be made on which prospects to invite to the team's training camp, which opens Saturday.

Defenseman Brett Carson was on the Canes' rookie team in 2005 at Ottawa. Carson, drafted in 2004, suffered a shoulder injury during the event and did not advance to the preseason training camp that year but has positive memories of competing.

"It was a lot of fun, a good experience," Carson says. "It's all young guys but the top young guys for the teams, so it''s good hockey.

"Like anything, you want to go out there and impress. You're trying to get the chance to come to the camp."

One of Carson's lasting impressions of the tournament was a big collision with Guillaume Latendresse of the Montreal Canadiens.

"It's the first time I hurt my shoulder, so I do remember that," a smiling Carson said.

Rutherford is joined in Traverse City by assistant GM Jason Karmanos, coach Paul Maurice and associate head coach Ron Francis. Jeff Daniels is coaching the rookie team.