Left wing Cory Stillman underwent surgery on his right shoulder Friday morning and is expected to be sidelined three to four months.

The Hurricanes are hoping Stillman can return by late November.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp...3...ubName=nhl

Pretty big loss for carolina stillman was great in the playoffs and has good veteran leadership.

It's definitely a blow to their lineup.  I just wish him luck and hope he can get back soon without taking things too quick.

That's going to hurt. With all of the changes to last year's lineup, I think they will start off a little slower this year...

There weren't that many changes. They kept the core together. The only forwards they lost were a streaky offensive player in Cullen and two minor contributors in Weight and Recchi. Sure Stillman will be missed but it won't kill them. They have a really hard schedule in October with a 7 game road trip and 4 back-to-back series. The lines will probably look something like this:

Cole - Staal - Williams
Whitney - Brind'amour - Walker
Ladd - Letowski - Isbister
Adams - Adams - LaRose

They traded depth players/prospects in exchange for Weight and Recchi, they didn't come free. Then, over the offseason they lost Weight and Recchi to their original teams. Also, they lost the goaltender that carried them all season so it will put more pressure on Ward (who should be able to adjust). The only real improvement I think is Walker, who should play a reasonably large role. Tanabe's good defensively I guess, but nothing special offensively. I would say there are a fair bit of changes from last season.

So Shane.. I've been hearing a lot of rumblings about Ray Whitney, saying that he will likely step up and play on the top line. Williams seems to be the better player IMO, but maybe they just want to keep that second line intact. What do you think?

They may have lost some depth players but they've signed even more guys this offseason. They will have depth this year that they've never had in the past. I haven't heard anyone mention putting Whitney on the top line. He's the same type of player as Stillman (playmaker) but Williams is the better player overall. He's the next best winger after the guys on the top line so he'd be the next best choice.