The Hurricanes do not yet know whether winger Jesper Fast will be available on opening night, according to Cory Lavalette of The Athletic. Fast surprisingly missed all of Carolina’s playoff games after a mysterious neck injury left him in a brace late in the season, which he still wore during final meetings.

Lavalette points out that the 32-year-old at least no longer wears braces, which we know thanks to pictures showing him during a meeting with his teammate. Sebastian Aho‘s wedding in the summer. But both the player and the team remained vague about the nature of his injury at the end of the postseason, and there have been no reports since about exactly what type of neck injury Fast sustained.

The Swede scored just six goals and 19 points in 73 games last year, his worst offensive performance since his rookie season with the Rangers 10 years ago. His average ice time of 12:36 was also the lowest since then. However, he is still a valuable penalty killer with great skating speed and has one season left on his contract with a salary cap hit of $2.4 million.

If he is not eligible to play again by October, this will significantly worsen the chances of the young players. Michael Blake, Bradley Nadeau And Felix Unger Soerum to crack the opening night squad in his place.

More news from the Metropolitan Division:

• Capitals Perspectives Pierrick Dube And Antoine Keller will both be called up to the French national team for this month’s 2026 Winter Olympics qualifiers, reports Sammi Silber of The Hockey News. Dube, a 23-year-old forward from Lyon, was signed as a free agent by the Caps last summer and made his NHL debut in his first year of the contract, posting a +1 rating in three games on the fourth line. He scored 28 goals and 48 points in 66 games for their AHL affiliate team, the Hershey Bears, who won their second consecutive Calder Cup in 2024. He most recently represented France in a major international tournament at the 2020 Division 1B World Juniors. Keller, 19, meanwhile, will likely play as France’s third goalie. The 2023 seventh-round pick will make his professional debut next season with Switzerland’s Lausanne HC after playing junior hockey last year with the QMJHL’s Acadie-Bathurst Titan. France must win a round-robin tournament against Latvia, Slovenia and Ukraine to secure a spot at the next Olympics.
• Long-time enforcer of the Islanders Matt Martin remains an unrestricted free agent but has every intention of returning to the club, he tells Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News.”My main focus is to play here”, he said. “We’ll see how things develop.“A reunion would be a reversal from earlier this month, when general manager Lou Lamoriello told Ethan Sears of the New York Post that he was unlikely to re-sign Martin or his frequent teammate. Cal Clutterbuck. Martin has played 823 of his 955 NHL games in the Isles uniform, recording 155 points and 985 PIMs. He was a fifth-round draft pick by the club in 2008.