Hurricanes’ Charles-Alexis Legault Undergoes Hand Surgery
Hurricanes defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere “appears set to return” from his stint on injured reserve and will likely be activated before tonight’s game against the Capitals, according to the team’s Walt Ruff. Carolina does not have an open roster spot and will need to make a corresponding move to get Gostisbehere off IR. That will likely mean an IR placement for depth call-up Charles-Alexis Legault. He underwent surgery yesterday to repair multiple torn extensor tendons on his right hand after sustaining a skate cut against the Maple Leafs on Sunday and is expected to miss three to four months, the team announced.
Gostisbehere has had a rough start to the campaign health-wise. He hasn’t played a full game since Oct. 16. He left the following contest with a lower-body injury and, although he subsequently returned after a three-game absence, skated just 7:19 in his return on Oct. 28 against the Golden Knights. He suffered an abdominal injury in that game and has missed the last six games as a result. He was only moved to IR last Friday, but since the placement was retroactive, he was eligible to come off at any time.
Those injuries stunted what had been some incredible momentum from Gostisbehere through his first few games. Despite logging under 10 minutes of ice time in two of his six appearances, the 32-year-old has a goal and six assists for seven points – six of which came at even strength. Carolina’s top power-play quarterback also managed a +8 rating and controlled 67.4% of shot attempts when he was on the ice at 5-on-5, a 12.2% bump compared to the team’s CF% without him.
His return is a crucial one for the Hurricanes’ blue line, which has been decimated by injuries in the early going. On top of Gostisbehere’s in-and-out status, Jaccob Slavin‘s absence is closing in on the one-month mark, while K’Andre Miller was also recently sidelined for a six-game stretch. Jalen Chatfield also landed on injured reserve last week due to a concussion and is out indefinitely. That’s left Carolina without half their regular defense corps for multiple games.
Their depth has stepped up, though. The Canes remain second in the Metropolitan Division with an 11-4-0 record and have a +17 goal differential to lead the Eastern Conference. The play of names who started the season in the minors, like Legault, have played a significant role in that. The righty is still just 22 years old and is two years removed from being a fifth-round pick in 2023 after being passed over in 2021 and 2022. Through his first eight NHL appearances, the 6’4″, 220-lb rearguard has a goal and an assist with a +4 rating and saw 13:16 of ice time per game.
Legault was still set to be on the outside of the lineup when Carolina’s blue line was fully healthy again, but for now, they’re without a quality third-pairing replacement option who might have long-term staying power if his development progresses at its current pace.
As for Gostisbehere, he’ll make his return in second-pairing duties on his off side next to rookie Alexander Nikishin. He should also usurp Miller, who had been filling in on Carolina’s first power-play unit in the past few games, as the top man-advantage quarterback.
Hurricanes Recall Charles-Alexis Legault, Place William Carrier On IR
The Carolina Hurricanes’ defensive core continues to suffer injuries. Needing yet another blueliner to sustain a roster, the team announced they’ve recalled Charles-Alexis Legault from the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. Carolina placed forward William Carrier on the injured reserve, and he isn’t expected back for some time.
Legault’s recall corresponds directly to the injury sustained by Shayne Gostisbehere yesterday against the Vegas Golden Knights. Gostisbehere returned after missing the previous 10 days on the injured reserve, but skated in 7:19 of last night’s loss before exiting the contest. Team reporter Walt Ruff shared earlier that Gostisbehere suffered a midsection injury, and the team is hopeful he won’t be out long-term.
Still, that leaves Carolina without their three top defensemen for the foreseeable future. Jaccob Slavin is already on the team’s injured reserve after participating in only two games to start the year, and K’Andre Miller has missed the last three games with a lower-body injury.
Now, without Gostisbehere again, that leaves the Hurricanes with rookie Alexander Nikishin and Sean Walker as their top available pair. Both players have performed well this year, but they are not the top options needed to stay competitive, as evidenced by their performance against the Golden Knights last night.
Today marks the second call-up of Legault’s young career. He’s skated in three games for the Hurricanes already this season, going scoreless while averaging 11:53 of ice time. The former fifth-round pick spent the entire 2024-25 campaign with AHL Chicago, scoring three goals and 14 points in 63 games.
Hurricanes Recall Domenick Fensore, Assign Charles-Alexis Legault To AHL
The Hurricanes have elected to swap their depth defensemen. The team announced that they’ve recalled Domenick Fensore from AHL Chicago and assigned Charles-Alexis Legault to the Wolves.
Fensore made his NHL debut in the final two regular season games last season, averaging over 19 minutes a night with Carolina resting many of their regulars. The 24-year-old has gotten off to a strong start in the minors this season, picking up three goals and four assists in just four games; his seven points are second-best among all AHL defenders while he leads all Wolves players in that regard.
As for Legault, he received his first NHL recall a little more than two weeks ago. The 22-year-old signed as an undrafted free agent with Carolina back in 2024 and got into three games while on recall, logging just under 12 minutes per game while picking up for blocks and a pair of minor penalties. He had 14 points in 63 games with the Wolves last season.
Carolina’s back end has had more than its fair share of injuries in the early going this season, leading to some of these prospects getting opportunities. Jaccob Slavin has missed a couple of weeks with a lower-body injury, Shayne Gostisbehere has been out for a week with a lower-body issue, and K’Andre Miller has missed two straight games with a lower-body injury of his own. That has Carolina carrying nine blueliners on the salary cap right now but with the team comfortably below the Upper Limit, the extra players on the roster shouldn’t be impacting their plans much at this time.
Carolina Hurricanes Recall Charles-Alexis Legault
The Carolina Hurricanes have recalled defenseman Charles-Alexis Legault from their AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves. In a corresponding move, the Hurricanes placed netminder Pyotr Kochetkov on injured reserve, and made the move retroactive to Oct. 5 to provide some more flexibility as to when Kochetkov is allowed to be recalled.
The move puts Legault, 22, in line to potentially make his NHL debut on the Hurricanes’ western road trip this month. Legault’s recall appears at first glance to be directly connected to the injury news announced by the team related to top blueliner Jaccob Slavin. As we covered earlier, Slavin is currently being evaluated for an injury and may not travel with the team on its upcoming road trip. By recalling Legault, the Hurricanes have given coach Rod Brind’Amour another defenseman to work with in case Slavin misses some time.
Legault is a 6’4 right-shot defenseman who made his pro debut last season. His 2024-25 campaign was spent entirely with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves, and he scored 14 points in 63 games playing a defense-first role. Before his days in the pro ranks, Legault manned the blueline for Quinnipiac University, winning the men’s hockey national championship in 2022-23 and back-to-back regular-season titles in the ECAC conference.
The Hurricanes have thus far absorbed the loss of Slavin by slotting veteran Mike Reilly onto the left side of their defense, but this recall gives them a right-handed option with which to further augment their defensive pairings. Reilly has the experience advantage over Legault (he has played in over 400 NHL games) but Legault brings an element of size and a physical edge that Reilly cannot match.
Should he end up making his NHL debut, Legault will become the third member of the 2022-23 National Champion Bobcats to make his NHL debut with the Hurricanes, joining forward Skyler Brind’Amour and netminder Yaniv Perets.