SHOCKING NEWS: New signed player breakdown due to neck injury

RALEIGH, North Carolina – Rod Brind’Amour, the head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes, revealed some sad news on the Bally Sports South broadcast just before the puck fell in Game 3 on Thursday night.

Forward Jesper Fast sustained an upper-body injury in the team’s regular-season finale against the Columbus Blue Jackets, and Brind’Amour disclosed during the pre-game interview with Tripp Tracy that he is unlikely to participate in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

“He had another examination, and whatever the results, it doesn’t appear that he will return. That’s all I have to say about it,” Brind’Amour said in response to his team’s victory. “It’s not good news for us.”

A brutal turn of events, it was initially believed that Fast was going to miss a matter of days. Now, after playing in 73 of the team’s 82 regular season games, the Canes will be without one of their most trusted wingers.

Fast played a major role in last year’s postseason, scoring not one but two overtime winners.

Re-signed to a two-year contract last summer, the 32-year-old is one of two key injuries that the Canes are now dealing with this postseason. Defenseman Brett Pesce is not expected to play in any remaining Round 1 games after suffering a lower-body injury in Monday’s Game 2.

Skating Today & Anticipating Tomorrow…
With Fast out of the picture, Friday’s Canes visit to UBS Arena saw a limited skate, with only ten players taking the ice.

While the rest of the skaters stayed off the ice, Dylan Coghlan, Max Comtois, Jack Drury, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Brendan Lemieux, Scott Morrow, and Stefan Noesen took some shots at Pyotr Kochetkov and Spencer Martin.

“I’m willing to skate whenever I can,” Noesen said, grinning. “Our line didn’t play much last night, so we made the decision to add additional ice. Some of the other guys require more sleep than us because we have a game at 2 p.m. tomorrow.”

Many of the decisions made today were influenced by the approaching afternoon start time.

With a 3-0 record and a.922 save percentage (SV%) in the first three games of the series, Andersen has been outstanding. But it was the first time he had played three straight games since the playoffs the previous year.

Would the Canes contemplate adding the young goalie to the mix with just one day between games and a new Pyotr Kochetkov in the wings?

Brind’Amour responded, “Last night was a busy night for (Andersen),” stating that matters are still unclear. “We’ll make that decision here shortly.”

At the close of the regular season, Kochetkov made his final start on Sunday, April 14, in Chicago, where he won four straight games.

one of the league’s top goalies after the team’s