Carolina Hurricanes stalwart defenseman Dougie Hamilton remains unfit to play, head coach Rod Brind'Amour told reporters Monday, including The Athletic's Sara Civian.
Hamilton suffered a broken fibula in January and was deemed ready to play again in April. However, he suffered an unspecified injury in practice last week and hasn't returned since. Civian notes the injury wasn't a re-aggravation of his broken leg, and it's likely a matter of weeks until he returns, not months.
The 27-year-old was producing the best season of his career before breaking his leg. In 47 games, he registered 14 goals, 26 assists, and 40 points while averaging over 23 minutes per contest.
The Hurricanes could be down two blue-liners for the qualifying round, as Brett Pesce has already been ruled out for the opening series against the New York Rangers, which begins Aug. 1. Luckily, Carolina has incredible depth on the back end.
Even without their top two right-handed defensemen, the Hurricanes were able to roll out these pairings on the final day of training camp:
| LD | RD |
|---|---|
| Jaccob Slavin | Sami Vatanen |
| Jake Gardiner | Trevor van Riemsdyk |
| Brady Skjei | Joel Edmundson (L) |
| Haydn Fleury | Jake Bean (L) |
Vatanen and Skjei were acquired by Carolina at the trade deadline. Without them, the club would be forced to rely on two youngsters in Fleury and Bean.
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