James Guillory – USA TODAY Sports
The Carolina Hurricanes saw their 2013 season derailed by countless injuries, and at least one of their forwards will now be taking advantage of the long offseason to have surgery and heal. Center Tuomo Ruutu will have hip surgery this summer, and try and be ready to play a full season at full strength for the Hurricanes in the fall. He was limited to just 17 games this season while recovering from surgery that he had done on his other hip in the previous offseason, and given the Hurricanes’ struggles to stay healthy they should in this case be glad for the lengthy offseason.
Injuries to Cam Ward, Justin Faulk and Joni Pitkanen put a huge dent in the Hurricanes’ defense, while not having Ruutu up front was a blow as well. The addition of Jordan Staal added depth at center, but with mounting concerns that Jeff Skinner continues to have concussion issue the Hurricanes could really use Ruutu in the lineup. He still managed four goals and nine points, which was sadly enough to finish near the middle of the team in scoring. Ruutu may not be putting up numbers like he did in his first full season in Carolina (2008-09 – 26 goals, 54 points) anymore, but he has scored at least 14 goals in each of the past four seasons.
The Hurricanes averaged 2.6 goals per game this season, so bringing back another source of depth scoring can only help them as they try and bounce back from a nightmare season. Ruutu is signed for three more seasons, and his $4.75 million cap hit and injury risk make him hard to trade, so there is little chance he plays anywhere other than Carolina next season.
Jonathan Katje is an NHL senior writer for Rant Sports. You can follow him on Twitter or add him to your circles on Google Plus.
