What the Dougie Hamilton injury means for the Canes

In a brutal turn of events for the Carolina Hurricanes, All-Star defenseman Dougie Hamilton went down with what appears to be a gruesome leg injury in the second period against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

With only 16.4 seconds remaining in the period, Hamilton got tangled up with Columbus’ Kevin Stenlund and his right skate was swept out from under him and he collapsed on his left leg. Hamilton did not return to the game, listed out with a lower-body injury, but those who have seen the injury will know that it looks bad.

It looks as if Hamilton will miss significant time, as when he was helped off the ice he couldn’t put any pressure on his left leg and he seemed to mouth “It’s broken.”

To tell it to you straight, there is almost nothing the Hurricanes can do to replace him.

Hamilton is the top pairing right-handed blueliner, leads the team in time on ice (23:28), quarterbacks the first power-play unit, kills penalties, is second among NHL defenseman in goals (14), and is fourth among NHL defenseman in points (40). Hamilton has been a Norris trophy candidate for the entirety of the season and to simply put, he is irreplaceable.

It doesn’t mean that the Hurricanes’ season is over, but it just got that much more difficult. At this time we don’t know the severity of Hamilton’s injury or how long he will be out, but we can assume it won’t be short-term. If you haven’t seen the video, you can find it below.

*GRAPHIC WARNING*

After the loss to Columbus, Carolina now sits in a three-way tie for the first wild card spot with the Philadelphia Flyers and Columbus Blue Jackets each with 56 points, and only one point behind them is the Florida Panthers. The Canes are also four points behind the third-place New York Islanders and seven behind the second-place Pittsburgh Penguins so the gap above grows while the one below shrinks.

With the wild card race becoming even closer, the Hurricanes’ are now looking at a grueling race to the finish without their top defenseman.

The Hurricanes have been carrying seven defensemen for a while now and as the old hockey cliche goes, it’s the next man up. The team will not have to make a callup from the Charlotte Checkers with both Haydn Fleury and Trevor van Riemsdyk being available to play, but it does mean that more than likely one of them, probably Fleury, will be playing on his offside. It’s really the only option and he has already had to do that for most of the season.

Defensive pairs could see the return of Jaccob Slavin and Brett Pesce back together as the Canes look to at least put together a shutdown pairing, but the loss of Hamilton opens huge holes in the second and third pairs.

Moving Pesce off of Jake Gardiner destabilizes the entire game Gardiner has been building up and leaves him prone to another shakey stretch paired with TvR or Fleury. Joel Edmundson too will see his chances drop as unless he is the choice to be moved to his offhand to fill in with Slavin, the third pairing will see an even bigger decrease in ice time.

There are options in Charlotte such as Chase Priskie and Jake Bean who are young, puck-moving defensemen, but head coach Rod Brind’Amour hasn’t been one to throw rookies into the fire. He likes to slowly incorporate them into the system so it is doubtful we see help coming from the pipeline.

The Hurricanes will look to skate by with the defensemen they have, so it isn’t likely that the team will turn to the trade deadline to address the hole Hamilton leaves. For now, the team’s deadline goals should still remain with acquiring offensive help, but somebody with a bit of an edge might also be of interest.

The Hurricanes are ranked 30th in hits this season and the team has obviously been missing a physical element, having most of their toughest match-ups against teams that love to throw the body.

The return of former captain Justin Williams is also something that the Hurricanes can lean on to support them in this grim time. Williams has been a force that brought accountability and a strong work ethic to the Hurricanes and it seems to be something strongly lacking in the locker room without him.

With Williams’ return, the Hurricanes may be able to squeak out of this situation not the worst for wear, but it has to be something the whole team buys into and soon. Hamilton’s injury is probably the worst that could have happened to this team, but it is up to how the players respond on where this season ends up.