Carolina loses Pitkanen for the season

Peter Koutroumpis, Triangle Sports Network
Peter Koutroumpis, Triangle Sports Network

Defenseman suffered a major leg injury back in April

RALEIGH, N.C. – Carolina Hurricanes president and general manager Jim Rutherford announced on Wednesday that defenseman Joni Pitkanen will miss the entire 2013-14 season.

After waiting for confirmation from a CT scan that was performed this week, the team found out that the services of the 29-year-old Finnish defenseman would not be available for the season.

Pitkanen suffered a broken left calcaneus (heel) bone on Apr. 2 during an icing play against the Washington Capitals when he tried to stop as the play was whistled down but instead awkwardly crashed into the end boards with his skates first.

As a result of the injury, he missed the Hurricanes’ final 13 games of the 2013 lockout-shortened season, and was hoped to have had enough time during the summer to recover.

With confirmation that Pitkanen is not 100 percent ready to return to the ice as the Hurricanes opened training camp earlier in the day, the unfortunate news will deny the defenseman the opportunity to play his sixth season in Carolina and 10th in the National Hockey League (NHL).

During his career to date, beginning with the 2003-2004 season, the Oulu, Finland native has scored 57 goals and earned 225 assists in 535 career NHL regular-season games played with Philadelphia, Edmonton and Carolina.

Since the team’s relocation in 1997, Pitkanen currently ranks third among defensemen in assists (116) and points (140), tied for fourth among club defensemen in goals (240), and eighth among team blueliners in games played (266).