Injury Report: Drury To Undergo Surgery On Injured Hand

RALEIGH, N.C. - Carolina Hurricanes forward Jack Drury will be out of the lineup for the foreseeable future after breaking a bone in his hand in Tuesday's win over San Jose.

Rod Brind'Amour did not offer a timetable for his return on Thursday but confirmed that Drury will have a procedure as a result of the injury.

"He's either had or is having hand surgery today, so he's going to be out," said Brind'Amour. "I can't tell you how long, but he's got a broken something in his thumb."

The team's leader in face-off win percentage at 56.4% (min. 100 face-offs), Drury skated 3:06 in the first period of Tuesday's tilt but did not return to the game for the second period. Late in the frame, he blocked a shot that appeared to strike his hand and could have caused the injury, but returned for another shift before the intermission, drawing praise from his coach who called him a "tough kid."

In his stead, the Hurricanes have recalled Tyson Jost from the Chicago Wolves. Jost has appeared in seven games with the Canes this season and scored in a 5-2 win over Vegas on Nov. 11, and skated on a line with Jackson Blake and William Carrier at Thursday's practice.

"He's always been that guy (to get called up first). If we were keeping 13 forwards, he probably would have been here all year. He's played in the NHL for a long time, and he can play all the positions up front. And he can kill (penalties) and be on the power play, like he's kind of done a little bit of everything.

"Especially when a guy like Jack goes down, it's an easier kind of 'okay, here's an NHL guy that can skate and play any of the positions we ask,' that's an easy fit," said Brind'Amour.

Drury's absence also presents another opportunity for Jesperi Kotkaniemi to shoulder a greater load in the Canes' lineup. The Finnish center found the scoresheet in seven of his first 10 games of the season while playing alongside Eric Robinson and Martin Necas and was reunited with that duo on Thursday. Brind'Amour is looking for Kotkaniemi to "be impactful" as he takes on more minutes.

"He's a big body that needs to play big too. I think sometimes he tries to do a little too much of the fancy stuff, and it's not really his game," said Brind'Amour. "He's a real good player when he's more direct. Let the other guys do that and him do more like he did the other night, getting to the net, drawing a penalty, just being hard to play against. I think that will help him out."