When action resumes in the National Hockey League (NHL), the Carolina Hurricanes will have to make important decisions about their training, and first and foremost about their starting goaltender.
Occupying sixth place in the Eastern Conference, head coach Rod Brind’Amour’s team will face the New York Rangers in the qualifying round. If she wants to turn things around against the Blueshirts, who have defeated her four times in as many games during the season, she will have to count on good performances in front of the net.
The Hurricanes bet on Petr Mrazek and James Reimer. The first should, on paper, be the lucky winner, who has played 38 games, maintaining a record of 21-16-2, a goals-against-average of 2.69 and an efficiency rate of .905. He had returned on March 10, after an absence of six meetings related to a concussion. As for the second, he had 24 appearances in front of his team, but missed their last seven duels due to a lower body injury.
“Now it’s easy to say, ‘Okay, I’m going to go with Petr.’ But I do not know. He could be in bad shape. I cannot comment on the players until I have seen them, ”commented Brind’Amour in comments reported by NHL.com.
Lots of candidates
At the blue line, the portrait appears just as obscure. The “Canes” have nine backs for six regular places. Before the trade deadline, they acquired Brady Skjei and Sami Vatanen to make up for the absence of Dougie Hamilton and Brett Pesce. These two defenders were to miss the rest of the campaign. However, with the resumption of activities, they will have a chance to return to the game faster than expected.
“There will surely be a process during which everyone will have to see how they feel. On the other hand, we have very good options in the team, specified the instructor who can also use the rear Jake Gardiner, Haydn Fleury, Jaccob Slavin, Joel Edmundson and Trevor van Riemsdyk. There will be competition. If everyone is healthy and we have surplus players, I think it will be determined by their pace at the end of the camp. It’s not like you’re finishing too long. When it starts again, every match will count. So you have to be ready, no matter who ends up on the ice. ”
“It will be interesting because, no matter when it resumes, we don’t know where the guys will be,” he added. It’s different. It is not as if we were picking up where we left off. Players tell me they are doing the right things, but I don’t know how much they train or how they will perform when they return. ”
