Carolina Hurricanes assistant coach Rod Brind'Amour has thrown his hat into the ring to become the team's next bench boss.

"If you never try, you'll never know," Brind'Amour told Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer. "The reason for saying 'why not?' is I've been doing it for eight years and I really believe I can help out one way or the other and see if I can put us over the hump."

Brind'Amour has been an assistant coach with the Hurricanes since 2011, serving under Kirk Muller and the recently departed Bill Peters, whose resignation made the head coaching job available.

Brind'Amour feels he learned a lot from Peters, and he's ready to take on the top job. Prior to becoming an assistant coach, the 47-year-old, who's under contract for one more season, spent one season as the director of player development.

"I don't think as an assistant I'm going to get any better or learn any more. So now's the time," Brind'Amour added. "They're going to find the best guy to do it, and if it's me, that's great, and if not I understand. But I felt like I could at least step up and see if it could happen.

"I think the attraction to me is you can really put your plan in place and decide how to pull all the strings. You decide the ice time. You decide who's playing or not, and in certain situations. That's the allure of it. They know I'm interested and we'll see where it goes."

Prior to entering the coaching ranks, Brind'Amour spent 10 seasons with the Hurricanes, captaining the franchise to its lone Stanley Cup championship in 2006.

Copyright © 2018 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Anaheim Ducks forward Patrick Eaves missed all but two games this season with Guillain-Barre syndrome - a rare disorder that causes muscle weakness, reflex loss, and numbness or tingling in parts of your body - but it appears he'll be good to go for the 2018-19 campaign.

General manager Bob Murray announced that Eaves had surgery to repair a torn labrum - an injury he suffered during rehab from GBS, per Eric Stephens of the Orange County Register - and should be healthy by mid-October.

Eaves really started coming into his own prior to his diagnosis, scoring a career-high 32 goals while splitting time with the Dallas Stars and Ducks in 2016-17.

Copyright © 2018 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Bill Peters is not without options.

A day after resigning as head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes, Peters has been linked to two of the other three vacancies around the league.

The Dallas Stars spoke with Peters after seeking permission from the Hurricanes to do so, but TSN's Pierre LeBrun reports "all signs still point to Calgary at this juncture as the front-runner."

The Flames - who recently fired Glen Gulutzan - also reportedly asked for permission to speak with Peters. The Stars' vacancy was created upon the announcement of Ken Hitchcock's retirement.

Peters, who hails from Alberta, is currently preparing to serve as head coach of Team Canada at the IIHF World Championship.

Copyright © 2018 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The Columbus Blue Jackets will get Alexander Wennberg back in the lineup for Game 5 against the Washington Capitals on Saturday after the forward missed the past three contests with an upper-body injury suffered in Game 1, head coach John Tortorella announced.

Wennberg suffered the injury after he was rocked by Tom Wilson.

Despite partaking in just over 10 minutes in the series thus far, Wennberg has made his presence felt, as he scored Columbus' first goal of Game 1, and teammate Thomas Vanek scored on the power play that ensued from Wilson's charging penalty.

The 23-year-old had a breakout, 59-point season in 2016-17, but regressed this year, picking up just 35 points in 66 games. Regardless, secondary scoring has hampered the Blue Jackets all year and throughout their last two losses in Games 3 and 4, so they will surely welcome his return.

Copyright © 2018 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Nazem Kadri is ready to roll.

After serving his three-game suspension for a dangerous hit on Boston Bruins forward Tommy Wingels in Game 1, Kadri made it clear he's excited to get back on the ice Saturday night for Game 5.

"I can't wait. I can't wait. I'm sick of watching games," he told TSN's Mark Masters. "It's tough to be up there and watch. It's a little bit frustrating so I'm anxious to just get back on the ice."

The anticipation could serve Kadri and the Leafs well, as he's known to play better when he's on edge - as long as he controls his temper. Given that he was on record saying he didn't agree with the length of the suspension, the Leafs will certainly hope Kadri comes out flying in Game 5.

And down 3-1 in the series, Toronto will need every advantage it can get.

Copyright © 2018 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The 2017-18 season was a lost one for Anaheim Ducks forward Ryan Kesler.

He missed the first half of the regular season after undergoing offseason hip surgery, playing in just 44 games and picking up only 14 points. It was his lowest point-per-game average since his second year in the league.

Kesler opened up about some of the challenges he faced following the surgery.

"Learning how to basically skate again, and coming back behind the eight ball when everybody is in mid-season form and you're in training camp mode, is hard," Kesler said. "It's not an excuse. I'm way better off now than I was before the surgery."

Kesler added that he lost 20 lbs in an effort to regain some of the speed he lost from the surgery. He plans to play at the same weight again next season.

NHL.com, Hockey Reference, and HockeyDB all have Kesler listed at 202 lbs. Assuming these weren't updated midseason, that means Kesler played at nearly 180 lbs this year.

Even though Kesler will be entering his age-34 season, it wouldn't be surprising if he returned as one of the game's better two-way centers in 2018-19.

Copyright © 2018 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

New Jersey's Brian Boyle, Florida's Roberto Luongo, and Carolina's Jordan Staal have been named Masterton Trophy finalists, the NHL announced Saturday.

The trophy is awarded annually to "the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey."

At the beginning of Devils training camp, Boyle was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia, a type of bone marrow cancer. He was able to return to the ice for his season debut on Nov. 1, and recorded 10 goals over his first 25 games, including a memorable one on the night New Jersey hosted 'Hockey Fights Cancer Night.'

Boyle also represented the Devils at the NHL All-Star Game in Tampa Bay.

Luongo dealt with early hand and groin injuries but later helped the Panthers challenge for a playoff spot with his exceptional play. His impact, however, went far beyond the ice following a tragic school shooting in nearby Parkland.

In late February, Staal and his wife, Heather, announced their daughter, Hannah, was delivered stillborn due to a terminal birth defect previously diagnosed by doctors. The Hurricanes co-captain missed only three games and registered 46 points (19 goals, 27 assists) in 79 games while serving in a leadership role within the young roster.

The NHL Awards will be handed out June 20 in Las Vegas.

Copyright © 2018 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Bryan Little wasn't going to spend too much time celebrating the first playoff series win in franchise history.

The Winnipeg Jets center said it was definitely nice to get the series win over Minnesota, but they're looking forward to continuing the run, and apparently Little knows their next opponent.

"We're celebrating for half an hour in here, then we're getting ready for Nashville," Little told reporters before quickly covering his tracks by adding, "Or whoever wins. Don't want to get ahead of myself.

That caveat is necessary, as the Predators failed to close out their series with the Avalanche on Friday, with Colorado pushing it to a sixth game Sunday in Denver on the strength of some heroics from Andrew Hammond.

A Jets-Predators showdown has been anticipated for some time. Little, however, has given the Avs some bulletin board material, at the very least.

Little has been with the Thrashers/Jets since being drafted 12th overall in 2006, and the five playoff games so far this season mark a new career high.

Copyright © 2018 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

With the Toronto Maple Leafs on the brink of elimination against the Boston Bruins, head coach Mike Babcock is pulling out all the stops for his team to live to see another day. That includes splitting up Auston Matthews and William Nylander, demoting the latter to the bottom six.

Here's a look at their lines during Saturday's morning skate, according to TSN's Mark Masters:

It can be debated as to whether an Andreas Johnsson-Tomas Plekanec-Nylander trio would actually serve as the team's third or fourth line, as many beat writers following the team have the latter two groups swapped. Nonetheless, it's quite a dramatic shakeup, which Babcock confirmed was legitimate after practice.

Babcock was not pleased with Matthews' and Nylander's performances following a Game 4 in which they failed to generate much offense, so this lineup shuffle isn't all that surprising.

Related: Babcock expected Matthews, Nylander to dominate Bergeron-less Bruins

As for Toronto's newly-formed top line, Matthews is no stranger to being flanked by Zach Hyman and Connor Brown. In nearly 500 minutes together at 5-on-5 throughout the past two regular seasons, this threesome has generated 49.1 percent of the shot attempts, but 62.2 percent of the goals scored while on the ice together, per Corsica.

Copyright © 2018 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

All signs are pointing toward Patrice Bergeron returning to the Boston Bruins' lineup for Game 5 against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.

"Looked good this morning, I anticipate he'll play," Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said. "We'll make a final decision after warmup. Looking good."

Bergeron was a surprising late scratch prior to Game 4 due to an upper-body injury, but the Bruins were able to pull off a 3-1 victory without their four-time Selke Trophy winner in the lineup.

Saturday's morning skate was nothing out of the ordinary, as Bergeron skated between Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak during line rushes, and took his usual spot on the power play.

Game 5 is set for 8 p.m. ET in Boston.

Copyright © 2018 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.