Filling in for Chip today with this debate question: The NHL trade deadline is now three weeks away, and the Hurricanes are in eighth place after Saturday night's overtime win over Atlanta.

If the Hurricanes had the budget to add a player (that's up to owner Peter Karmanos), what area of the team could most use a boost?

Obviously, the Hurricanes aren't going to trade any of the young forwards they have so painstakingly assembled, so any deal will probably have to be for draft picks, which limits the field, but which impending unrestricted free agent would push the team over the top into the playoffs?

Discuss.

Chip is on vacation, so I'm filling in this week with the Monday question. In desperate need of another experienced NHL defenseman, the Hurricanes signed Joe Corvo for a relatively affordable $4.5 million over two years.

The question: Given the presence of other offensive-minded defensemen like Anton Babchuk and Jamie McBain, would the Hurricanes have been better off spending that money on a more defensive-minded player?

Or, given Carolina's financial constraints as well as Corvo's salary and desire to return, would they have been hard-pressed to do any better than Corvo? (Not to mention the failure of last summer's push to add more defensive defensemen....)

Have at it.

With all of Carolina's top-nine forwards back for this season, and no new arrivals in that group, which players would fit the best on either side of Eric Staal?

Ray Whitney and Tuomo Ruutu, who will probably start there? Or some other combination of Erik Cole, Chad LaRose, Sergei Samsonov, Jussi Jokinen and Scott Walker?

Fire away.

Exit Anton Babchuk and Dennis Seidenberg. Enter Aaron Ward and Andrew Alberts.

Question: Do the changes on defense leave the Hurricanes better equipped to handle teams like the Penguins?

Fire away.

We know the opponent, know the seedings and know the playoff schedule. It's the Canes and Devils, again, and it starts Wednesday in Newark.

So let's keep it short and simple today:

What do you like the most about the Canes heading into the playoffs and what worries you the most? Can they make a deep run, even grab the Cup again, or could it be one and done?

The floor is open.

We all know there are five games still to be played, anything can happen, the Canes have fallen short before, there's a lot of hockey left — all that.

But let's say the Canes do make the Stanley Cup playoffs. We've seen 'em play the Bruins, Caps, Devils and Flyers.

Question: Should the Canes make it, which team would they match up best against in the first round, and why?

The floor is open.

Of all the trophies awarded in voting by the Professional Hockey Writers Association, the Masterton Trophy may be the most sentimental.

Honoring late North Stars center Bill Masterton, who died in 1968 after hitting his head on the ice, it recognizes perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.

(Click read more for more background, including a list of Carolina's nominees.)

Special Bonus Question: Who should be the Hurricanes' nominee for the Masterton Trophy?

The floor is open.

The Canes' Rod Brind'Amour is minus-26 for the season, last in the league, after his minus-3 game Saturday in the 4-2 loss to Boston. He also is second in the NHL in faceoff percentage. He serves as team captain. He's played with a broken nose, with a sore knee.

Brind'Amour says the plus/minus can be a misleading stat. Coach Paul Maurice agrees. Sometimes, they say, the intangibles, on and off the ice, are as important as a tangible statistic.

What are your thoughts -- on the plus/minus, on Brind'Amour's play this season?

The floor is open.

The decision has been made and the change made. Peter Laviolette is gone and Paul Maurice is back as coach. The Canes are moving on.

Was firing Laviolette the right move? Was it the right time? What about bringing back Maurice a second time? Was that the right call, or should the Canes have hired someone else?

You've had a few days, and a few games now, to digest it and mull it over.

The floor is open.

What to do? The Canes ended November in a deep power-play funk, 0-for-their-last-25. Nor do they have an answer as to what's wrong.

"If I knew it, it'd be fixed already," forward Ray Whitney said Sunday. "You don't need to ask anymore about those."

If you were Peter Laviolette, what would your top power-play unit be? Who'd be on the point? What would you change?

The floor is open.