Hurricanes activate Jaccob Slavin from IR, returns against Flyers

The Carolina Hurricanes have activated Jaccob Slavin from injured reserve, with the defenseman making his return on Sunday against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Greg Wyshynski

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Jaccob Slavin has been activated off IR by the @Canes

9:29 PM · Dec 14, 2025

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The activation came just ahead of the start of the game, with Slavin’s return a game-time decision. Of course, he ended up being ready for a return with him playing in Sunday’s game.

Slavin returns after missing the last 29 games with a lower-body injury. He had entered training camp with a brace on his knee, so he was clearly dealing with an injury from the previous season, and after playing the first two games of the season, more time was needed for the injury to fully heal.

The Canes managed to put themselves in a great position in the standings without him, going 18-9-2 in his absence and have managed to hang on to first in the Metropolitan Division and the Eastern Conference.

Slavin returns to the lineup alongside rookie Alexander Nikishin. The duo has played only seconds together this season with nothing happening on the ice in that time, as well as almost four minutes together in the playoffs last season, with only one shot against and three shot attempts against in that time. Slavin is also expected to play on the top penalty kill unit.

Slavin found himself without a point in the two games he played this season before needing to fully heal from his injury. He had six goals and 21 assists for 27 points in 80 games last season, although he’s better known for his defensive play, as he’s tied for the fifth-best 5v5 regularized adjusted plus-minus expected goals against per 60 minutes at -0.164.

To make room on the roster for Slavin, the Hurricanes reassigned Joel Nystrom to their AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves. Nystrom had five assists in 24 games this season, and also has one assist in three games in the AHL.