Carolina blue line takes lumps

The already beleaguered defensive corps from the Carolina Hurricanes got some more bad news on Tuesday night, following their 3-2 victory over the Winged Wheel.

The team's alternate captain, and most veteran defenseman Glen Wesley was already out with an injury. On New Year's Eve, he suffered a sprain to the MCL in his right knee. He'll be out until mid-February at the earliest. The boys have been doing okay in his absence, thanks to the return of Nik "Secret Weapon" Wallin, but they suffered another setback on Tuesday.

Aaron Ward, who is the RBH pick for midseason Canes Norris, had to leave Tuesday's game with a hernia. He underwent surgery on Wednesday and will be out for three to six weeks. This is a HUGE loss for the Canes. AWard has been the most consistent dman and has been logging an average of 18:30 ice time per game. That's third on the team among defensemen and seventh on the team overall. He is first on the team among defenseman in shorthanded time on ice per game with just over four minutes per game.

As it looks now, the defensive pairings should be:

Hedican -- Kaberle

Tverdovsky -- Wallin

Commodore -- Hutchinson

Not too bad, but after Tevvy, those guys aren't used to logging lots of ice time. It'll be time for Commy to show what he's made of. He's played well in his time this season, but now EVERYone is going to have to step up a little.

It's likely that Danny "Harry Potter" Richmond will be called up just to have a seventh warm body on the blue line.

The first test will be a difficult one. Friday night at home against the Preds.