In a recent interview with NHL.com’s Dan Rosen, Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour said it’s “a long shot” that Brett Pesce will be ready to return when the NHL resumes play.
This obviously isn’t the best news, but it’s a reminder that the Hurricanes made necessary moves at the deadline to prepare for this. I had talked before about how strong Carolina’s blue line could be with Pesce in the lineup, but even without him, the Hurricanes certainly have an above average defense group.
That said, it’s a defense group that has a bit of uncertainty surrounding it. Jaccob Slavin with a returning Dougie Hamilton makes for an excellent top pairing and one that can perform well against an opponent’s top players. However, after the top pairing, it’s likely we see Brady Skjei and Sami Vatanen round out the top-four. Without Pesce, there will be a focus on how Brady Skjei and Sami Vatanen adjust to the Hurricanes lineup.
Skjei only played in seven games with Carolina before the season was paused, while Vatanen has yet to play a game with the team. Neither is going to be overly comfortable with the Hurricanes yet and considering the duo is likely to take up two spots in the top-four, that’s not ideal.
The third pairing will most likely feature Jake Gardiner and Joel Edmundson, with Haydn Fleury and Trevor van Riemsdyk on the sidelines. The thing is, I probably wouldn’t trust Edmundson or Gardiner enough to give them a huge role in the playoffs, meaning there really isn’t much of an option but to rely on Skjei and Vatanen performing.
To clarify, I think Skjei and Vatanen will adjust fine, but as they’re adjusting, we’re probably going to see Hamilton and Slavin logging a lot of minutes for the Hurricanes, likely even more than they did this season.
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Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
How much less confident do you feel about Carolina's defense without Brett Pesce?
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