It’s been a season of extreme ups and downs for Hurricanes defenseman Dougie Hamilton.
First, he was on a career-high pace of 14 goals and 26 assists in 47 games at an average 23:17 TOI. It earned him his first All Star Game selection, until a regular-season ending broken fibula sustained mid-January. But wait — as the NHL paused its season and return to play was up in the air, he was able to stay in Raleigh and rehab with the Hurricanes’ staff.
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He made a full recovery in time for training camp. Then, sources told The Athletic that Hamilton sustained a different injury with a recovery timeline of two-to-four weeks. He missed the Hurricanes’ three-game sweep of the Rangers in the play-in round.
At the very least coach Rod Brind’Amour said he’ll be back for warmups tonight in Round 1, Game 1, against the Bruins team that drafted him.
“I am expecting him to play,” Brind’Amour said via Zoom Tuesday afternoon. “But we’ll have to make that decision — or he will — when warmup is over.”
Problem is, Hamilton hasn’t played a real NHL game — much less a playoff game — in seven months. First question: Where does he slot in?
“Well I think the plan, for me: If he can go he’s gonna go like we’d expect,” said Brind’Amour, indicating he’d jump back into his spot next to Jaccob Slavin on the first pairing. “Then if we have to back him down, you back him down. But I know with any player that’s used to playing a lot and is counted on, that’s what you’re here to do — and that’s certainly what he would want to do if he’s in the lineup. You can adjust or limit his minutes after if he’s not up to speed, but I think we would expect him to be as he was before.”
The Canes lived up to their high blue line expectations in the qualification round, even without Hamilton and Brett Pesce (who hasn’t been totally ruled out for the playoffs yet, but still hasn’t entered the bubble). Brind’Amour made the somewhat surprising decision of swapping Trevor van Riemsdyk for Haydn Fleury and rolled with it all series. Fleury had deserved a shot, though, and he proved Brind’Amour right.
So who comes out of the play-in pairings?
Jacob Slavin – Sami Vatanen
Brady Skjei – Joel Edmundson
Jake Gardiner – Haydn Fleury
“Well, that’s the tough question — we’ll bridge that one tonight,” Brind’Amour said. “But we’ve got a couple guys that will have to sit out tonight that are very capable of playing — all of that will be figured out tonight.”
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My best guess is Jake Gardiner sits for Game 1 and adjustments will be made for Game 2 depending on (obviously) the outcome of the game and individual performances.
Slavin – Hamilton
Skjei – Edmundson
Fleury – Vatanen
Vatanen, who had three assists in three play-in games, has been too effective to take out as a right-shot in a left-shot’s world — especially on the power play. Edmundson and Skjei worked almost surprisingly well together all series. It’s not that Gardiner played poorly at all against the Rangers, but a combination of too many solid performers, the now general ability to fit guys in on their comfortable sides, and not wanting to mess with Skjei and Edmundson all make a compelling case against playing Gardiner in Game 1.
Game Score leaders from the CAR-NYR series
Aho 😎
Skjei + Edmundson 👀👀👀
Tony D 🤡 pic.twitter.com/lyUNAoX6Zn— dom luszczyszyn (@domluszczyszyn) August 5, 2020
We know by now Brind’Amour isn’t afraid to make changes after a loss, and multiple Canes capable of playing well will be in the bubble press box. Regardless, Brind’Amour once called Hamilton their most valuable player in all facets of the game, and he’s likely back tonight.
(Photo of Dougie Hamilton: Jamie Sabau / NHLI via Getty Images)