Checkers coach Jeff Daniels said Wednesday that he expected the 32-year-old forward, who signed an AHL contract in July, to soon resume skating as he continues to rehab a leg injury. LaRose, who played 508 games with Carolina from 2005-13, is attempting to return to hockey after taking last season off.
“He had a training injury over the summer and he’s trying to battle his way back from that,” said Daniels. “Hopefully he’ll be ready to go by the start of our camp.”
The Checkers’ first practice in Charlotte is set for Sept. 29 at Extreme Ice Center in Indian Trail. The Hurricanes begin camp this Friday.
The Hurricanes, who likely would have invited LaRose to their main camp had he been healthy, released their list of 51 invites on Tuesday evening. Of the 23 that have previously played in Charlotte, many will return there to start the season while others, notably Zach Boychuk and Chris Terry, are hoping to become full-time NHL players.
“He was really good,” said Daniels, who coached the Hurricanes’ team at the tournament. “He earned every point he got, whether it was scoring the goals or finding the guys for the tap-in on the back door, and didn’t lack on the defensive side of the game at all. He looked faster, he looked stronger and you could really tell that he put his time in over the summer. “We were really pleased with what we saw.”
“He played well all four games,” Hurricanes General Manager Ron Francis told the Raleigh News and Observer. “It wasn’t so much getting the points but how he did it. He has very good hockey sense and was good at both ends of the rink, and on special teams. He was consistent, every shift, every game.”
Rask’s performance marked the second consecutive year that a Hurricanes player led the tournament in scoring, with Sergey Tolchinsky, Rask’s right wing at the this year’s tournament who will likely return to his junior team in Sault Ste. Marie this season, doing so with eight points last time around.
Rask also showed some chemistry with Brock McGinn, another high-scoring junior forward who is set to begin his first pro season. Along with Justin Shugg, the two will open Hurricanes training camp on the same line, offering a possible preview of the Checkers’ top unit.
“We’ll see how it shakes out, but if they come down to us, they’ll have a chance to play together,” said Daniels of Rask and McGinn.
In saying that Rask more than lived up to expectations placed on one of the more experienced players in Traverse City (teams can only bring a few players that have played a full professional season), Daniels also said that the maturity and conditioning of recent college graduates Patrick Brown, a center from Boston College, and defenseman Dennis Robertson, a defenseman from Brown University, was noticeable.
“That’s what you hope to see and that’s what they did,” said Daniels. “The next step is to see how they do against the men and the pros.”
