Carolina Hurricanes: Play-In Qualifying Round Primer

The Carolina Hurricanes take on the Rangers in the Play-in Round

Here is your break down for the qualifying round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, featuring your Carolina Hurricanes versus the New York Rangers.

After months of uncertainty, the NHL is finally returning to action. Your Carolina Hurricanes will face off against the New York Rangers in the qualifying round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.  There are numerous details that have been accounted for, so let’s get into it.

The Eastern Conference and Western Conference will report respectively to hotels in hub cities Toronto and Edmonton (check out the hyperlink for a fantastic graphic). The Carolina Hurricanes, along with the other Eastern Conference teams, are to report to the hub in Toronto on July 26.

The NHL has released a series of questions and answers about protocols within each hub. Each city will allow players access to restaurants, a facility for practice, the hotel that will house each team, and of course the arena where the playoffs will take place.

Thankfully, it appears that the league is taking the threat of Covid19 seriously.  The testing protocol appears to be stringent:

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“Each person will be tested three times, 48 hours apart, in the seven days prior to their team’s charter flight to the hub city. Once inside the secure zone, individuals will undergo daily COVID-19 tests, symptom checks, and temperature screenings. The protocols for a positive test result are similar to Phase 3.”

Additionally, the penalty for breaking this “bubble” as it has been called is severe. “Teams that break the protocol rules will face significant penalties, including fines and/or loss of picks in the NHL Draft.” I think it is safe to say that teams will take this penalty seriously given the risk of breaking protocol.

The players and staff really won’t have the luxury of time to break these bubbles anyway.

The schedule for the first nine days of hockey is nothing short of tremendous, with a minimum of five games scheduled each day. Game times and network will be announced soon, but the first three games against the Rangers will occur on August 1st, August 3rd, and August 4th, with games four and five potentially scheduled for August 6th and August 8th if needed.

The Carolina Hurricanes’ playoff roster is absolutely stacked, and Caniacs will most likely see several players that will be called up in the upcoming regular season. Additions to the playoff roster include recent fan-favorite Morgan Geekie, exciting training camp invitee Ryan Suzuki, and Checkers’ standout Jake Bean.

Although the New York Rangers’ playoff roster has yet to be announced, Rangers’ reporter Vince Mercogliano is predicting that among the Rangers’ extras could be a promising prospect is Vitali Kravtsov.  As for the goalie situation, all three netminders have reported for training camp so it will be interesting to see how the Rangers choose to handle that situation in the qualifying round.

On August 1st, Caniacs will be treated to the legendary calls of John Forslund and Tripp Tracy, with some discussion of Taco Bell sprinkled in, and some outstanding playoff hockey from your very own Carolina Hurricanes.  Before you leave, check out the hype video below by the best social media team in hockey. Happy playoff season folks, the time has almost arrived.

Question For CC Readers: How excited are you for this?