Hurricanes' Jordan Staal to miss one to two months with partially torn calf

According to Joe Smith, in speaking to Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour, Jordan Staal will be out for a little while with a partially torn calf.

The team captain was ruled out against the Canes in their last game against the Flyers due to a lower-body injury. The unexpected news was shared by the team half an hour before puck drop. It was unclear before what he was dealing with, considering the center finished a win in Chicago with 14:12 of ice time. It has since been revealed that this was something that occurred to the veteran during warmups. before the Hurricanes would win 4-1 over Philadelphia.

As projected, Nicolas Deslauriers picked up some ice time, playing nearly nine minutes against his former team. Mark Jankowski will continue in Staal’s 3C role, while Jesperi Kotkaniemi will line up down the middle just below. Seth Jarvis, who is trying to return from injury, is practicing as an extra among the Hurricanes’ forward group.

A beloved veteran since joining the Hurricanes 14 years ago, Staal has been highly durable and a lock to meet the 30-40 point range across the past several years. He has served as the Hurricanes’ captain since Sept. 29, 2019. Still seeking his first point across six games this year, this may finally be the year the 38-year-old’s offense slows down. Even if so, the annual Selke-vote-getter remains elite at the faceoff dot, winning 55.6% so far in 2026-27.

Staal had excelled last season in his role for the Hurricanes; he scored 20 goals and 16 assists for 36 points in 75 games in 2025-26, adding 8 goals for 12 points in 19 playoff games, winning the Conn Smythe Trophy in the process. Despite the Hurricanes’ impeccable 12-1-0 record, his playoff performance was statistically mellow in the first three series. The Eastern Conference Final against Montreal saw Staal ramping up, having registered only two goals and five points with a +4 rating, he added 64 hits while winning 52.1% of his faceoffs.

Then, in the Stanley Cup Final against the Vegas Golden Knights, Staal reignited his youth again, scoring six goals and seven points in six games with a +2 rating, throwing 22 hits and winning an impressive 68.0% of his faceoffs. He became the oldest player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy, beating Tim Thomas by 216 days.

This past offseason, Carolina extended Staal to a one-year contract extension for the 2027-28 season. While currently in the last year of his four-year, $2.975M AAV contract, the extension will count at a $4.9M cap hit, with a $900K base salary, $4M in signing bonus, and he can earn up to $5.1M in additional performance bonuses, totaling a potential $10M for what is likely his final season next year. Staal will be 39 years old when his new extension concludes, having played in his 22nd NHL season, with 16 of those seasons in Carolina.