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Carolina Hurricanes

What’s Next for Carolina Hurricanes Before Monday’s Trade Deadline?

What will the Carolina Hurricanes do in net, on defense and with other holes before Monday’s trade deadline?

Saturday’s win over the Toronto Maple Leafs was memorable for the Carolina Hurricanes. Not only because it was a big game in the Eastern Conference Wild Card race, but because emergency goaltender David Ayres came on in relief of two injured goalies and helped the Canes to a 6-3 win.

Both James Reimer and Petr Mrazek were forced leave the game due to injuries and Ayres is certainly not the long-term option.

Now with Mrazek and Reimer possibly out longer-term, where do the Hurricanes turn? They are still in an Eastern Conference wild card race and can’t afford issues in net.

Options for the Hurricanes in Goal

TSN’s Pierre LeBurn reports that the team plans to recall both Anton Forsberg and Alex Nedeljkovic from the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers today. But, this is also not the likely long-term play. LeBrun adds that a number of teams have already reached out to the Hurricanes and it seems likely a move is coming.

Further to LeBrun’s report, Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston notes that the team’s main focus is on Chicago Blackhawks’ netminders Robin Lehner and Corey Crawford. Should the Blackhawks not make either player available, the second run of options might include Jimmy Howard, Craig Anderson, or Ryan Miller, Aaron Dell or Louis Domingue.

Carolina Has More Holes to Fill

While the focus seems to be on the goaltenders, injuries to Dougie Hamilton and Brett Pesce remain a big concern and it’s expected the Hurricanes will attempt to add prior to Monday’s deadline in an attempt to fill holes on the blue line. Jeff Perry’s name has been mentioned but how willing the Canadiens are to move him remains unclear.

If that wasn’t enough, at forward, the Hurricanes have also been rumored to be in on New York Rangers’ forward Chris Kreider.

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