With the qualifying round approaching, the Carolina Hurricanes will have some decisions to make for their defense group.
I looked into this a bit when we thought Brett Pesce may be able to return for the start of the playoffs, but with his return unlikely for the qualifying round, I wanted to look at which defensemen will make it into the lineup and which ones will be in the press box.
We can be confident that Dougie Hamilton and Jaccob Slavin will make up the top pairing, while Brady Skjei and Sami Vatanen will at least be in the lineup, if not together on the second pairing. That leaves Joel Edmundson, Jake Gardiner, Haydn Fleury and Trevor van Riemsdyk for the two remaining spots and I’d say we can be pretty confident that van Riemsdyk will be one of the scratches, based on his usage this season. I’d also say that Joel Edmundson is pretty much a lock to stay in the lineup, considering he played every game this season and even took on a larger role than expected.
So between Jake Gardiner and Haydn Fleury, who should start the series in the lineup and who will be scratched?
Well, when we look at playoff experience, it’s tough to say who has the edge. Fleury did play nine games in Carolina’s run to the Conference Finals last season, though it was in an extremely limited role, playing well under eight minutes per game. That said, he did join the Charlotte Checkers for their playoff run and played a key role in helping the team win the Calder Cup.
On the other hand, while Gardiner may have 26 games of playoff experience, he has a pretty brutal playoff track record in his time with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
During the regular season, Fleury was in and out of the lineup but did get more comfortable as the season progressed. He’s also used to playing in a smaller role that requires him to be decent defensively. With Gardiner, he also looked quite a bit better with the Hurricanes near the end of the regular season than he did in the first half, but that was in a larger role.
I’m a bit concerned about Gardiner playing on the bottom pairing, as he’s probably not going to be able to contribute much offensively but can still be a liability defensively. Even if he was moved up the lineup and Brady Skjei, for example, was moved down, the Hurricanes have enough defensemen who can add offense and I’m not sure that Gardiner is really necessary in the lineup.
I had previously thought it should be Gardiner in the lineup over Fleury but I’ve recently started to reconsider. I still think there’s a strong chance that Gardiner ends up with a spot to start, but if there’s an issue, the Hurricanes at least have the option to make the change and get Fleury into the lineup.
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Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
Who do you think should get the final spot in the Hurricanes' lineup?
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