RALEIGH, N.C. - A lower-body ailment that forced Carolina Hurricanes forward Jordan Staal out of the lineup for Sunday's win in Philadelphia was revealed on Tuesday to be a muscle tear that is expected to keep him out "anywhere from a month to two months."
Head Coach Rod Brind'Amour labeled the injury a "freak thing" when delivering the news to the media following this morning's pregame skate, noting that it occurred sometime in the lead-up to the game against the Flyers.
"Unfortunately, he got a little tear in his calf, so it's going to be a long-term injury," said the Canes' head coach before offering the month-to-month recovery timeline. "So not good news there, but we've had a lot of injuries over the years, and we're just going to have to keep figuring it out."
As has been the case with the absence of Seth Jarvis, who continues to practice with the team during his recovery from offseason shoulder surgery, it will take everyone in red and black to fill the void left by the captain.
Mark Jankowski stepped into his spot between Nikolaj Ehlers and Jordan Martinook during Sunday's win and scored for the fourth straight game, but the burden of Staal's role in special teams, as well as his nightly matchups against the opposition's top players, will fall onto more shoulders than just Jankowski's.
"When you have guys out that we have – you know, high-end top players that do so much for your team – it's not replacing them with one guy. It's like, kind of, sharing the duties. With Jarvy out, we had to do that, and now with Jordo out, we're going to have to figure that out as well," said Brind'Amour. "Janks has definitely played well, certainly, for one game with Jordo out, but you're going to need it now, it looks like, for an extended period."
