Hurricanes confirm the worst regarding Andrei Svechnikov

TSN's Chris Johnston reported that Svechnikov will undergo season-ending surgery this week:

It's was first announced last night that the 22-year-old was ''out indefinitely'' with hopes of good news. But upon further evaluation, it was clearly evident that surgery was required.

This is a huge blow to the Hurricanes, who were - and still are - Stanley Cup contenders. It's just the Eastern Conference wasn't going to be easy to get through for any team, let alone suffering a significant injury now.

Svechnikov was on a career-high pace with 23 goals and 32 assists in 64 games this season.

He's also been a solid playoff performer with 25 points in 40 career postseason games.