Pesce, who was injured at 13:36 of the second period of a 6-3 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 22, is expected to need 4-6 months to recover and should be ready for training camp.
The Hurricanes are also without defensemen Dougie Hamilton (leg) and Sami Vatanen (lower body), and their top two goalies, Petr Mrazek (concussion) and James Reimer (lower body); each goalie was injured in the same game as Pesce.
Pesce had 18 points (four goals, 14 assists) in 61 games this season, and 102 points (20 goals, 82 assists) in 350 games and five NHL seasons with the Hurricanes.
Carolina (35-25-5), which lost 4-1 at the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday, is three points behind the New York Islanders for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
