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Sebastian Aho, Carolina Hurricanes (Photo by Josh Lavallee/NHLI via Getty Images)

Hurricanes Notebook: Whalers Throwback Jerseys & No Gostisbehere

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers | By Zach Martin | Last updated Oct 22, 2025 9:55 AM ET

Tuesday was a scheduled off day for the Carolina Hurricanes after their recent game in Las Vegas against the Vegas Golden Knights. While they did lose 4-1, they’re still 5-1-0 on the season and 3-1-0 on their current six-game road trip. However, the North Carolina State Fair road trip does not get any easier with two stops remaining. What does not help is that they will be without one of their top-scoring defensemen. Also, news came out on Tuesday afternoon (Oct. 21) that the Hurricanes will be wearing their Hartford Whalers jerseys not once, but three times this 2025-26 season. In the newest addition of the Hurricanes Notebook, let’s talk about these recent developments.

Hurricanes to Wear Whalers Jerseys More

It was announced Tuesday morning that the Colorado Avalanche will be bringing back their Quebec Nordiques jerseys, with their first game using them on Thursday, Oct. 23, against the Hurricanes. They will also be wearing it six more times throughout the season, with one of them being when the team visits the Hurricanes in Raleigh on Jan. 3. That said, it has also come out that the Hurricanes will also be wearing their Whalers jerseys not only on Whalers Night (Jan. 29 vs the Utah Mammoth), but in both games against the Avalanche. The game on Thursday night will be a throwback to the old Adams Division, where the Whalers and Nordiques squared off before both teams relocated.

Now, all of these years later, the old Adams Division rivalry is back. It’ll be, without a doubt, the jersey matchup of the season with the powder blue Nordiques jerseys against the white Whalers sweaters. Did someone reboot NHL 94 and bring it to 2025? Either way, at long last, the Nordiques jerseys are back on the ice, and what a way to honor a tradition to see the Whalers jerseys be worn as well. Also, huge props to the Hurricanes’ equipment staff for lugging around the Whalers gear during a two-week road trip, and nothing being leaked until Tuesday’s announcement between the teams.

Good on both the Avalanche and Hurricanes for working out bringing the jersey matchup to Raleigh on Jan. 3, so Carolina fans can see this as well. Interestingly, neither team will wear their normal jerseys for either game this season, only throwbacks. If there are two must-watch games this season, Oct. 23 and Jan. 3 have to be those based on the jerseys alone between the Hurricanes and Avalanche.

Hurricanes Without Shayne Gostisbehere

During the game on Monday night (Oct. 20) against the Golden Knights, head coach Rod Brind’Amour, on the Hurricanes’ broadcast, gave an update on Shayne Gostisbehere. Gostisbehere left the game early against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday, Oct. 18, and was reported to have “tweaked something”. However, on Tuesday, it was revealed that he was sent back to Raleigh and will not be available for the rest of the road trip against the Avalanche and Dallas Stars. “I was hoping that we’d maybe see him in the next game, because I didn’t think it was going to be that bad,” Brind’Amour said on FanDuel Sports Network South, pre-game. “Hopefully, we’ll give him a couple of days, and we’ll see him in that not too distant future.”

The Hurricanes were already without their best defenseman, Jaccob Slavin, who hasn’t played since the Oct. 11 game against the Philadelphia Flyers. Losing Gostisbehere is a huge blow, especially since he was at the time tied for the point lead for defensemen with the Avalanche’s Cale Makar. Without two of their best defensemen and special teams gurus, the rest of the trip could be more difficult for Brind’Amour’s team. While they did win games without Slavin, and won in overtime after Gostisbehere left earlier in the game, it’s a totally different scenario, especially after losing to the Golden Knights, with the Avalanche and Stars coming up to finish the trip.

Now that they are without Gostisbehere, K’Andre Miller moved up to the first power-play unit. This then gave Mike Reilly second-unit time with Sean Walker. Furthermore, that led to Charles Alexis Legault making his NHL debut on Tuesday night in Vegas. Legault played 12:30 and finished with an even rating in the game. But now it seems like he could finish the road trip in the Hurricanes’ lineup with Gostisbehere back in Raleigh. As of this writing, no news has come out about someone being called up, but I could see it happening.

This is now a bigger test to see how the Hurricanes will fare, down two of their top defensemen against two huge contenders in the Western Conference, to win the Stanley Cup. They’ve had tough challenges before, and this is just another one for Brind’Amour and the Hurricanes. If they can manage at least a point or win one of these next two games, that will be a good step before the team returns home after the 12-day road trip. As if Thursday night wasn’t going to be intriguing enough with the jersey matchup of the season, now we will see what the Hurricanes are made of against the Avalanche without Slavin and Gostisbehere.