Hurricanes' Pesce out 2-4 weeks after undergoing lower-body surgery

The Carolina Hurricanes will be without defenseman Brett Pesce for two-to-four weeks after he underwent surgery to correct a lower-body injury, the team announced Wednesday.

Pesce has already missed two games with the ailment. He's collected a goal and two points in five contests this season.

Head coach Rod Brind'Amour was concerned over Pesce's status earlier on Wednesday.

"I was hoping he'd be a day or two away, but that's definitely not the case," Brind'Amour told team reporter Walt Ruff. "Way more than (week-to-week). It's not good."

The 28-year-old is in the final season of a six-year, $24.15-million contract he signed with Carolina in 2017. He's set to become an unrestricted free agent at the conclusion of the 2023-24 campaign.

The Hurricanes also remain without star forward Andrei Svechnikov, who has yet to make his season debut while recovering from a torn ACL sustained in March.

Carolina is 3-4-0 to start the season and ranks fifth in the Metropolitan Division.

Copyright (C) 2023 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.