Jordan Staal Out 1-2 Months With Calf Tear

Jordan Staal is going to be out a while. The Carolina Hurricanes captain has a tear in his calf and will miss anywhere from one to two months, coach Rod Brind'Amour said after Tuesday's morning skate. For a team that just won the Stanley Cup with Staal as the Conn Smythe winner, that is a gut punch.

Staal got hurt in warmups before Sunday's 4-1 win at the Philadelphia Flyers and never made it into the game. Brind'Amour called it a "freak thing" and did not sugarcoat the timeline.

"It's going to be a long-term injury, really," Brind'Amour said. "It's going to be anywhere from a month to two months, 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."

The Conn Smythe captain

Staal has not found the scoresheet yet in six games this season, but nobody in Raleigh measures him by points. He leads Carolina forwards in short-handed ice time at 2:53 per game and has taken more face-offs than anyone on the team with 124. He is the guy Brind'Amour sends out against the other team's best line every single night.

And fans have not forgotten last spring. Staal put up 12 points (eight goals, four assists) in 19 playoff games, six of those goals came in the Cup Final, and he walked away with the Conn Smythe as playoff MVP. In 15 seasons with Carolina he has 499 points in 978 regular-season games, second in Hurricanes/Whalers history in games played.

Who steps up now

Mark Jankowski already got the first crack. He slid up from the fourth line into Staal's third-line spot between Nikolaj Ehlers and Jordan Martinook in Philadelphia, scored, and logged 15:48 including 2:49 short-handed. He has a goal in four straight games.

"(Staal) gets the tough matchups every night, and frees up other guys to get a little bit lesser of that," Brind'Amour said. "But there's no hiding that now, so we're all going to have to step up a little more."

That is the real question for Carolina. The checking-line minutes and the penalty kill reps have to go somewhere, and the top guys are about to feel more heat from opposing top lines than they are used to.

Canes start the test tonight

Carolina is 5-1-1 and hosts the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night, the first game where everybody knows Staal is not walking through that door for a while. The good news is this group has handled injuries before. The scary part is that none of them were the captain who just carried them to a Cup. Canes fans, hold your breath for the next month and hope Jankowski keeps that heater going.