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Well, the Carolina Hurricanes are playing hockey Thursday night, I guess.
The COVID-depleted Canes had Tuesday night’s game in Minnesota postponed due to an outbreak on the team, but it looks like Carolina will hit the ice shorthanded against the Red Wings Thursday with six players in protocol.
Missing Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis, Jordan Staal, Steven Lorentz, Andrei Svechnikov and Ian Cole, it looks like the Hurricanes will have to play two skaters short Thursday and role out a 10/6 lineup.
The Hurricanes’ Walt Ruff got into some of the minutiae of the options for the team here, and I strongly encourage you to take a look at that. The tl:dr of it though is the Carolina will be able to call up three players Thursday, one thanks to LTIR exception and two on an emergency basis to bring the team total to 16 skaters. The Canes simply don’t have the cap space to do any more than that.
So with that, the Hurricanes will likely hit the ice with 10 forwards and six defensemen. The six defensemen are known: Jaccob Slavin, Brady Skjei, Brendan Smith, Ethan Bear, Tony DeAngelo and Brett Pesce (with a reminder that the latter two will be playing their first game since Nov. 28).
The forward group is up in the air. Vincent Trocheck, Derek Stepan, Nino Niederreiter, Jesper Fast, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Teuvo Teravainen and Martin Necas make up the known available group.
UPDATE 10:15 a.m. — The Canes have made their moves, as Jack Drury, Stefan Noesen and Andrew Poturalski have been recalled from Chicago. Thursday’s game will be Drury’s NHL debut.
As for the Red Wings, they have a slight COVID issue of their own. Robby Fabbri and Michael Rasmussen were placed in protocol Wednesday, but Detroit has already made two call ups.
Vital Statistics
| Category | Hurricanes | Bruins |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Hurricanes | Bruins |
| Record | 54-20-8 | 51-26-5 |
| Goals/Game | 3.38 | 3.08 |
| Goals Against/Game | 2.44 | 2.66 |
| Shots/Game | 34.12 | 36.12 |
| Face Off Win % | 53.9% | 54.2% |
| Power Play % (Rank) | 22.0% (13th) | 21.2% (15th) |
| Penalty Kill % (Rank) | 88.0% (1st) | 81.3% (9th) |
| ES Corsi For % | 43.86% | 56.14% |
| ES PDO | 113.44 | 86.56 |
| PIM/Game | 12:00 | 22:00 |
Goaltender #1
| Category | Frederik Andersen | Linus Ullmark |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Frederik Andersen | Linus Ullmark |
| Record | 35-14-3 | 26-10-2 |
| Save % | .922 | .917 |
| GAA | 2.17 | 2.45 |
Goaltender #2
| Category | Antti Raanta | Jeremy Swayman |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Antti Raanta | Jeremy Swayman |
| Record | 15-5-4 | 23-14-3 |
| Save % | .912 | .914 |
| GAA | 2.45 | 2.41 |
Game Notes
- Carolina is 39-44-8-5 all time against the Red Wings, but 23-19-1-4 at home.
- Frederik Andersen has had the Red Wings’ number over the years. He is 9-0-1 with two shutouts in his career against Detroit.
- If he gets the start in net Thursday, it will be Alex Nedeljkovic’s first game against the team that he began his NHL career with.
- Brady Skjei is one assist away from 100 NHL assists.
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