Hurricanes’ Andrei Svechnikov to return following seven-game injury absence

Carolina Hurricanes right winger Andrei Svechnikov will make his return to the lineup Friday versus the Montreal Canadiens after missing the past seven games due to an upper-body injury, Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour confirmed per Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer.

Sidelined since early March, Svechnikov has made 63 appearances with the Hurricanes this season in which he has recorded 18 goals and 25 assists to sit fourth in team scoring with 43 points. With it, Svechnikov has registered a minus-eight rating and a team-leading 53 penalty minutes.

Originally chosen second overall by Carolina in the 2018 NHL Draft, Svechnikov has spent seven seasons with the Hurricanes in which he has amassed 149 goals and 210 assists for 359 points through 469 career contests. In 2021-22, the 25-year-old Russian-born set career highs in all leading categories counting 30 goals, 39 assists, and 69 points coming in 79 games.

Svechnikov has also been a consistent producer in the postseason where through 51 appearances in the Stanley Cup Playoffs he has registered 15 goals and 21 assists for 36 points. However, Svechnikov has battled injury challenges for much of his career, including the tail-end of the 2022-23 campaign that saw him miss the remaining 18 games of the regular season and all of Carolina’s 15 postseason appearances that spring after he underwent knee surgery.

An offensive force in the junior circuit, Svechnikov spent a single season with the OHL’s Barrie Colts in 2017-18 where through 44 games he racked up 40 goals and 32 assists for 72 points and was later recognized as the OHL’s Rookie of the Year.

For the Hurricanes, on the season the club sits 43-24-4 and second place in the Metropolitan Division with 90 points, powered by a recent stretch that has seen Carolina win eight of its past 10 games.