Carolina Hurricanes head into playoffs awaiting good news on the blue line yet again

It’s almost a tradition at this point: If the Carolina Hurricanes are in the playoffs, they’re probably worried about the availability of a key defenseman. In 2019, it was Calvin de Haan. In 2020, Dougie Hamilton.

And now, it’s their most important defenseman of all: Jaccob Slavin.

Slavin was pulled from the Hurricanes’ second-to-last game of the regular season last weekend for what Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour has called precautionary reasons after a “tweak” but Slavin also hadn’t practiced with the full team until Sunday.

Slavin was out early Sunday morning with third goalie James Reimer and the other extras for additional work but rejoined the team for practice a half-hour later.

With Cedric Paquette back on the ice, the Hurricanes had their full complement of players available for practice for the first time in months heading into Monday’s Game 1 against the Nashville Predators. The question now is whether they’ll have their full complement available at 8 p.m. Paquette (lower-body injury) hasn’t played since April 29. Brock McGinn (upper body) has been practicing but hasn’t played since April 4.

“We have a couple guys who are questionable,” Brind’Amour said Sunday. “That’s keeping me a little antsy. Obviously, we’d like to be 100 percent sure going into this. I won’t know until (Monday). (Slavin) got out there. So that’s good, hopefully.”

Slavin, a potential Norris Trophy and Lady Byng candidate, doesn’t put up the big offensive numbers that Hamilton does but his smooth two-way game is even more important to the Hurricanes, who routinely use Slavin against the opposition’s best forwards.

De Haan, who was coming back from a right shoulder injury in the spring of 2019, made his debut in Game 4 of the Capitals series and appeared in every playoff game the rest of the way. (He needed surgery in the offseason.) Hamilton missed the preliminary round series against the New York Rangers last August still recovering from the broken leg he suffered in January but was ready for the start of the first-round series against the Boston Bruins.

McGinn, meanwhile, is looking forward to his first action in more than a month.

“It’s definitely not fun watching,” McGinn said. “You want to be out there helping the guys. They did a great job finishing first in our division. It’s nice seeing everybody on the ice. We’ve kind of had that next-man-up mentality all season but to see everybody out there it’s great and everybody’s got smiles on their faces and ready to go.”

EXPECT MRAZEK IN NET

If practice is any indication, Petr Mrazek will get the call in goal against the Predators, although Brind’Amour has kept his decision-making process very quiet throughout the week leading up to Game 1. Mrazek continued on Sunday to occupy the net traditionally used by the starter in practice.

THESE GO TO 11

With an agreement with the NHL to set PNC Arena’s maximum attendance at 11,000 for Game 1, the Hurricanes were able to put a limited number of first-round playoff tickets on sale to the general public Sunday. Previously, they were only available to season-ticket holders.

The Hurricanes were still negotiating with the NHL on Sunday to increase capacity, Hurricanes general manager Don Waddell said. While the state of North Carolina has lifted capacity limits on indoor arenas, the Hurricanes will have to bring in additional ventilation and dehumidification equipment to meet NHL standards, which Waddell said Friday could take a few weeks.

Under North Carolina’s previous regulations, the Hurricanes were going to be limited to about 6,000 fans.