With all the challenges we've witnessed thus far in the Carolina Hurricanes 2011-12 season, you may have missed another important story brewing with the proposed NHL realignment. The possible benefits and/or consequences for the Canes playoff expectations are significant.

The details and a reader poll - after the jump.

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There is no nice way to dance around things nowadays if you are a Carolina Hurricanes fan. The team has disappointed so far. Many people, myself included, were very high on the Hurricanes being a competitive team that would be a major player in the playoff hunt come the end of the season. As things have turned out, we were wrong.

With Wednesday's 4-0 loss to the Montreal Canadiens, the Canes have dropped six of their last seven games and sit four games below .500. Their 15 points are good for 14th in the Eastern Conference and 28th in the NHL. Only the New York Islanders and the Columbus Blue Jackets have worse records than Carolina.

So what's the matter? Where have things gone wrong? Eric Staal can't seem to find his scoring touch, lines (for the most part) seem highly unstable, passes have been atrocious at times, defensive positioning has been suspect and the list continues to go on from there. Up to this point in the season, the effort was there but the breaks were not. Bad bounces and untimely goals doomed the Canes toward the beginning of the season. The Hurricanes seemed to be in every game (even in the lopsided losses they had leads or were tied in the third period) until a recent stretch of ugly games.

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It's been a long time since the Hurricanes have had the organizational depth that they currently possess.  The Charlotte Checkers currently lead the AHL's Midwest Division at 9-6-1 despite playing 11 of their 16 games on the road thus far.  Justin Faulk, who was described by Canes GM Jim Rutherford in the preseason as an NHL-ready player, leads all Checkers defensemen with six points.  Jon Matsumoto and Jerome Samson, both of whom have seen time with the Canes, are atop the scoring chart for Charlotte at nearly a point-per-game thus far.

Clearly, the Hurricanes organization has some skill in its pipeline.

Which brings us to the plights of Zach Boychuk and Zac Dalpe.

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It's still very early, but here is your YTD stat check.

The Carolina Hurricanes have nine games in the books and they couldn't have put together a more mediocre record so far if they tried, (3-3-3).   The good news is that they have only played three games at home, (1-1-1) and six, (2-2-2) away.  The bad news is, if they don't start playing better at home, the road record won't matter. 

Looking at their division, the Caps have yet to lose, Florida is playing better than expected, and Tampa should continue be tough if their goaltending holds up.  A loss to last place Winnipeg last week didn't help Carolina's standing as they currently sit in fourth place.

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With yesterday's announced recall of rookie defenseman, Justin Faulk, the Carolina Hurricanes started some tongue wagging among their faithful following.  Carolina management has made no secret that they love Faulk's game, to the point that Jim Rutherford called him a "top four defenseman" when asked if he made the team out of training camp.

But the Canes are in a bit of a quandary.  They now have eight defensemen on the roster and no room for Faulk to play.  (He is supposed to sit out tonight.)  That leads many to believe that there might be a deal in the works sooner rather than later on Tobacco Road. 

Yesterday during a fan luncheon, Rutherford reportedly verified those suspicions when he said "a top six defenseman" is in play.

So, who will it be?  Let's take a look at each defenseman and wonder a bit out loud if they might be on their way out of town.

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Weekend Notes:

The Carolina Hurricanes held practice on Sunday morning and Zac Dalpe was the only player not on the ice.  The Canes have listed him as "week to week" because of a lower body injury and will recall another forward from Charlotte to take his place. 

Dalpe has seen minimal ice time so far this season and is averaging a team low 6:51 per game.  Anthony Stewart is the only other player with less than double digits and is next at  8:12. 

Extremes:

It's only five games but:

Tim Gleason is tied for the best plus/minus stat in the NHL and is currently at +7.  At the other end of the spectrum, Eric Staal currently has the league's worst plus/minus stat at -8. 

Bryan Allen is tied for first in the league with 18 blocked shots.  Jay Harrison is next on the Canes with 11 blocks.

Brandon Sutter is eighth in the league with a 61.7 faceoff percentage. 

Chad LaRose has 10 hits, tops on the team and Joni Pitkaken is averaging 23:44 of TOI per game, also tops on the team.

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Since the lockout and subsequent rule changes, the Carolina Hurricanes have usually been a pretty disciplined and responsible hockey club regarding penalties. 

Last season they were called for a total of 302 minors, an average of 3.68 per game, good for 11th fewest in the NHL.  Total penalty minutes were 835, (including majors), sixth lowest in the league. 

The year before that, the club finished 15th in the league with 343 minors.

We're only three games in and of course it's early, but the Canes are blowing away that output so far this season.  They have been called for 18 minors, an average of six per game and are on pace for 492 for the season.

In 2008-09, the last time the team made the playoffs, they had the fewest total penalty minutes in the league and were second lowest in the NHL taking minor penalties, (322). 

Obviously, the penalties taken have hurt them so far.  They will most assuredly be looking to improve on that stat.

Justin Faulk is leading the way with five minors, followed by Jussi Jokinen with three. Then Bryan Allen, Eric Staal, Joni Pitkanen, and Alexei Ponikarovsky have two each. 

Other tidbits:

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The Carolina Hurricanes had a disappointing preseason in many respects.  One major problem was that they could not get much offense generated and ended up being outshot by an average of 10 shots per game. 

Even GM Jim Rutherford was quoted this week as saying that the team was slow in developing chemistry.  So the coaching staff responded with a major line shuffle this week.

Let's face it, lines on any hockey team can be fluid entities.  Sometimes they are changed period by period or even shift by shift, and it appears that might be the case now with the Hurricanes, at least to start the season.

Last year's successful line combo of Jokinen, Ruutu, and Skinner has been dismantled,  Zac Dalpe has been shuffled down to the fourth line, and Patrick Dwyer and Chad LaRose have both been promoted from where they ended up last season.  (LaRose missed much of the preseason because of an injury.)

What do you think about the most recent lines skating in practice today, which appear to be the lines of choice for opening night?

• Skinner, Staal, Ruutu
• Tlusty, Jokinen, LaRose
• Dwyer, Sutter, Ponikarovsky
• Dalpe, Brent, Stewart

Numbers 15, 53, and 12 should get the job done, but if we look at where the goals came from last season on a player by player basis, one might wonder where the other scoring will come from now.  What if the opposition can stop the first line?

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