The Carolina Hurricanes activated forward Jake Guentzel from injured reserve on Tuesday, paving the way for the marquee trade deadline acquisition to make his debut with the team.
Guentzel has been sidelined with an upper-body injury since Feb. 14. He practiced alongside Martin Necas and fellow deadline addition Evgeny Kuznetsov before his activation.
"He'll take warmup and we'll see where it goes," Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind'Amour told team reporter Walt Ruff ahead of the team's clash with the New York Rangers on Tuesday. "But all indications are I think he will (play)."
Carolina acquired Guentzel from the Pittsburgh Penguins on March 7 for forwards Michael Bunting, Vasily Ponomarev, Cruz Lucius, and Ville Koivunen, as well as conditional second and fifth-round picks.
The 29-year-old, who has 22 goals and 52 points in 50 contests this season, has played all of his 503 career games with the Penguins.
If Guentzel remains unavailable, the next chance for his debut would be Thursday against the Florida Panthers.
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