The Carolina Hurricanes will be without blue liner Charles Alexis Legault for the next 3-4 months after he underwent successful surgery on his right hand on Monday.
Legault had extensor tendons repaired during the process, repairing damage from an errant skate blade suffered in his team’s 5-4 win over Toronto on Sunday. The 22 year old got into a fight with Toronto’s Bobby McMann following a hit on forward Nick Robertson. Replays suggest Legault may have cut his hand on Robertson’s skate blade following the hit.
The Hurricanes have subsequently placed the defender on injured reserve.
A former 5th round pick (139th overall) by Carolina back in 2023, Legault has registered 2 points (1G, 1A) across 8 games thus far in his rookie campaign. The 6’4″ right shot defenceman has been a steadying presence on the Hurricanes back end in his limited sample size thus far, bringing a physical element to the roster night in, night out.
In his absence, it’s expected that Carolina will activate Shayne Gostisbehere off injured reserve ahead of their game agains the Capitals on Tuesday. Gostisbehere has been dealing with a variety of injuries to start the 2025-26 NHL season, including a lower body ailment, and an abdominal injury which has limited him to just 6 appearances thus far.
Carolina currently sits in 2nd place in the Metropolitan Division with an 11-4 record. They’re 1 point back of the division leading New Jersey Devils with one game in hand.
Photo: Doug Kerr. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.