NHL

The MRI results are in and the news is as good as the Hurricanes could have hoped for. Staal will need three months to rehabilitate the injury but will not need to go under the knife. If all goes well, Staal should be good to go once training camp opens in September. All Staal owners in keeper leagues can exhale now.

He is undergoing the imaging on his knee sometime Saturday in Raleigh. The Canes and Staal's owners have their fingers crossed. The hope is that he has a severe sprain and not a torn ligament as a result of his knee-on-knee collision with Alexander Edler at the IIHF World Championships.

He suffered an apparent knee injury Thursday while representing Canada at the IIHF World Championship. Staal was the victim of a knee-to-knee hit from Sweden's Alexander Edler in the quarterfinals of the tournament and he appeared to be in serious pain.

He received a knee-on-knee hit from Alexander Edler, who was assessed a major for kneeing, with 4:14 left in the first period. Staal wasn't able to put any weight on his leg as he was helped off the ice. "It's unfortunate and hopefully it's not too serious," Carolina GM Jim Rutherford said. "If it is serious, hopefully there will be enough recovery time for him to be ready for next season. We'll just hope for the best." He will have an MRI exam in Stockholm from NHL doctors.

"People's right to choose whatever in their lives is important. It's important enough for the Hurricanes to support it," Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford said. "For people to have to carry certain things around in their life and not feel comfortable sharing it with other people, to me it isn't right. "You don't have to agree with everybody with what they do in their life, their different choices in their life. But everybody has that right." Canes winger Kevin Westgarth hopes the NHL "can become a beacon for other sports," as the NHL and NHLPA partnered with You Can Play in April.

The Hurricanes' defenseman has registered four assists in four games and is playing heavy minutes in all game situations. We have long been touting Faulk as a player to watch. He is now a player to draft. Don't wait too late to select him in your pools next season.

Carolina ranked 20th in payroll this season with a payroll of just over $57 million. They are committed to about $56 million next year as the cap will drop to $64.3 million. "We have been a budget team for a long time," Rutherford acknowledged. "But we are now at the point where we're going to be a lot closer to the cap than not. We'll probably be at about $60, $61 million next year. Now we're getting into that area. We know we had to do that with the change of divisions." The Canes need to add some leadership, role players at forward and upgrade their blueline.