Big Deal Or Not A Big Deal?
Carolina Hurricanes’ Injury Woes
By David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network
(last updated Oct. 24, 2026)
Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour spent 11 years wearing the franchise’s various jerseys as a player, including five as team captain.
An ironman known for his chiseled physique and relentless conditioning, Brind’Amour competed in 1,643 NHL games as a player, including 159 in the postseason.
In his decade-plus with the Hurricanes, Brind’Amour missed significant time because of injuries only twice. In January 2003, he suffered a torn tendon in his right hand during a game and needed season-ending surgery. In February 2008, he suffered a torn ACL in a game, again ending his season.
With Brind’Amour, Carolina played in the 2002 Stanley Cup finals. The very next year, without him, the Hurricanes missed the playoffs entirely.
With Brind’Amour as their captain in 2006, the Canes captured the Stanley Cup. Without him, in 2008, they missed the playoffs entirely.
Mere coincidence? Probably not.
(NOTE: Our Hurricanes coverage is presented by our friends at Randy’s Pizza, which has big deals — meaning daily specials — for you every weekday at its soon-to-be eight Triangle locations in Raleigh, Durham, Cary, Morrisville and Holly Springs. Did you know that Randy’s Pizza offers a $5 lunch special, with one big slice of cheese pizza and a 16-ounce drink, every Monday through Friday? You can check out the rest of their lunch and dinner specials by getting the Randy’s Pizza app or by visiting their website at Randys-Pizza.com.)
As the franchise’s head coach, Brind’Amour has led Carolina to eight straight playoff appearances, including four trips to the Eastern Conference finals and — of course! — the 2026 Stanley Cup championship.
Here in Year Nine, however, Brind’Amour already lost his team captain, 38-year-old ironman center Jordan Staal, to a long-term calf injury and another very important veteran, soon-to-be 35-year-old winger Taylor Hall, to an upper-body injury.
That combination has led many Caniacs to ask the logical question — “Big Deal Or Not A Big Deal?” — about the team’s ongoing injury woes.
While it’s true that Staal is the oldest player on the entire team, it’s also true that the guy was good enough — just four months ago — to win the NHL’s Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the entire postseason as the Hurricane captured the Cup.
Also, just in case you’re wondering — and nobody would blame you if you are wondering — NHL teams definitely have studied whether older players are more prone to injuries than younger players. The answer, surprisingly, is no. Players in their 30s have roughly the same injury rate as players in their 20s.
A much more proven predictor of future injuries is actually any single player’s previous history with injuries, but that’s another topic for another day.
Back to today’s topic: A casual observer might look at Staal’s stat line from before his injury this season — six games, zero goals and zero assists — and wonder what’s the big deal here? He’s only a third-line center, after all, and he hasn’t finished among the Hurricanes’ top five point producers since way back in 2018, or nearly a decade ago.
Staal’s offensive explosion (eight goals in 19 games) in last year’s playoffs notwithstanding, #11 is far more well-known around the league — and in the Hurricanes’ own locker room — for all the other valuable things he does for the organization, on and off the ice, on an incredibly consistent basis.
Brind’Amour occasionally had scoring bursts during his highly respected playing career, too, but — just like Staal, the player Brind’Amour singles out most frequently for doing things “The Right Way” in Raleigh — Brind’Amour was far more well-known for the exact same things Staal personifies: unsurpassed leadership skills, a gold-standard work ethic, an elite faceoff winning percentage, invaluable penalty-killing skills, size and physicality, consistency by example, even an occasional willingness to drop the gloves or otherwise stand up for a teammate at the right moment.
All of those elements are things Brind’Amour personified with consistency during his 22-year playing career, and all of those same elements underline the value that even the 38-year-old version of Staal still can bring to the Hurricanes later this season.
#1—Even after a slow start to the regular season, the Hurricanes are still tied for the most points (18) in the entire NHL right now. With eight victories, two overtime defeats and just two regulation losses, the Canes continue to play with tremendous effort, confidence and consistency.
#2—With 47 goals through its first 12 games, Carolina leads the NHL in scoring, even with just three early tallies from Hall and zero from Staal. As Brind’Amour has emphasized in recent weeks, he’s getting various contributions from up and down the lineup — including all four forward lines and all three defensive pairings — and that sort of quality depth should help the Hurricanes withstand the loss of Staal for a month-plus and Hall for however long he’s out.
#3—If you’re going to have injuries, you’d rather have them early than late. Last year, remember, star defenseman Jaccob Slavin missed two full months with a lower-body injury he suffered in October, and he later missed three additional weeks with an upper-body injury he suffered in mid-December. Most importantly, however, Slavin — perhaps the best defensive defenseman in the NHL — was back to his usual self long before the start of the playoffs in April. He proved to be pivotal, even after those injuries, in the team’s long, exhausting journey to the Stanley Cup.
That’s the most important bottom line for Staal and Hall in their current situations, as well, and there’s still plenty of time for their stories to unfold that way this season.
Veteran center Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who’s now 26 years old, wasn’t very happy with his playing time last season, so now he has more of a chance to prove himself and earn more trust from Brind’Amour and the coaching staff.
Kotkaniemi played almost every game for Carolina during the 2023, 2024 and 2025 seasons, but he appeared in only 42 regular-season games for the Canes last year and didn’t get the call even once in the playoffs. Perhaps more consistent minutes will help him find a higher level and more consistency in his game.
Meanwhile, the Hurricanes have been able to get additional NHL-level looks at two of their most promising minor-league forwards.
Canadian left winger Bradly Nadeau (5-11/180) and Swedish right winger Felix Unger Sorum (5-11/170), both 21-year-old prospects, were the franchise’s top two picks in the 2023 NHL draft. The Hurricanes selected Nadeau late in the first round, at 30th overall, and Unger Sorum late in the second round, at 62nd overall.
Last season, while playing for Carolina’s top minor-league affiliate, the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League, Nadeau led the team in goals all season, with 27 during the regular season and seven more during the Wolves’ exciting run to the Calder Cup finals. After his mid-October call-up, he posted two assists in three games for the Canes before being sent back to Chicago.
Unger Sorum, meanwhile, led Chicago with 66 points (17 goals, 49 assists) in 72 regular-season games last season. He also was one of the Wolves’ best players in the postseason, with 12 points in 14 playoff contests. (He missed seven Calder Cup games with an injury.) In his first three games with the Canes after his mid-October call-up, he averaged about 12 minutes per game but did not register a point.
REMINDER: Our Carolina Hurricanes coverage is presented by Randy’s Pizza — home of “The Largest Slice In The Triangle,” with soon-to-be eight locations, in Raleigh, Cary, Durham, Morrisville and Holly Springs. Stop by a Randy’s Pizza location today and get one of their great deals, maybe that 16-inch cheese pizza deal they have for just $14 every Wednesday after 4 p.m. here in October. Don’t forget to download the Randy’s Pizza app or check out their many other great deals at their website, Randys-Pizza.com.
