5 questions for Hurricanes in Stanley Cup Qualifiers

NHL.com is looking ahead to the Stanley Cup Qualifiers by examining five of the biggest questions facing each of the 24 remaining teams. Today, we look at the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Carolina Hurricanes were 38-25-5 (.596 points percentage) and will enter the Stanley Cup Qualifiers as the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference. They will play the No. 11 seed, the New York Rangers (37-28-5, .564 points percentage), in one of eight best-of-5 series. The qualifiers will start Aug. 1 at a site to be determined.

Here are 5 key questions facing the Hurricanes:

1. Will Dougie Hamilton get up to speed quick enough?

Hamilton hasn't played since Jan. 16, when he fractured his left fibula in a 3-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. The defenseman missed Carolina's last 21 games before the NHL season was paused March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus and wasn't expected to be ready in time for the scheduled start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. But he's had ample time to rehab and skate during the pause. Hamilton was having a season worthy of Norris Trophy consideration in voting for the top defenseman in the NHL before getting injured, with 40 points (14 goals, 26 assists) in 47 games.

2. Who will be their starting goalie?

Petr Mrazek should enter training camp -- which can begin July 10 as part of Phase 3 of the NHL Return to Play Plan -- as the favorite ahead of James Reimer, but that only gives him the advantage on Day One. A lot of who starts in Game 1 against the Rangers depends on which of the two goalies comes back in better shape and who performs better in training camp. There is no clear No. 1 even though Mrazek has played more than Reimer, who is healthy after missing the final seven games with a lower-body injury. Mrazek was 21-16-2 with a 2.69 goals-against average and .905 save percentage in 40 games (38 starts). Reimer was 14-6-2 with a 2.66 GAA and .914 save percentage in 25 games (24 starts).

3. What will the defense pairs look like?

This could be a work in progress because the Hurricanes are deeper at defenseman entering this series than they were at the pause, when Hamilton, Sami Vatanen (lower body) and Brett Pesce (shoulder) were on the injured list. Vatanen is healthy and will be ready to practice with the Hurricanes for the first time. He was acquired in a trade with the New Jersey Devils on Feb. 24 but was injured and didn't recover in time to get on the ice with his new teammates before the pause. Pesce is rehabbing from surgery March 5 and it's unlikely he'll play against the Rangers, but his return is not being ruled out. Even without Pesce, Carolina has eight NHL defensemen for six spots, with Hamilton, Vatanen, Jaccob Slavin, Brady Skjei, Joel Edmundson, Jake Gardiner, Trevor van Riemsdyk and Haydn Fleury.

4. Will past failures against the Rangers matter?

The Hurricanes would like to believe it's a thing of the past and won't matter when the series begins. But they lost all four games against the Rangers this season and they're 8-25-7 against them in the past 10 seasons. However, the Hurricanes can argue that they were beaten by bad luck and good goaltending this season, and those are mostly out of their control. They outshot the Rangers 161-104 in the season series but were outscored 17-9. Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist started the first three games and allowed seven goals on 132 shots (.947 save percentage), making at least 39 saves in each game.

5. What kind of impact will Vincent Trocheck make?

Trocheck, who was acquired in a trade with the Florida Panthers on Feb. 24, played seven games and scored two points (one goal, one assist) with 12 shots on goal and was minus-5 with the Hurricanes. Training camp will allow Trocheck to get up to speed with his linemates, potentially Nino Niederreiter and Martin Necas, and the Hurricanes' systems. He otherwise wouldn't have had that opportunity being thrown into the mix in the middle of a playoff race, which should help him in this series.