Eric Staal has been a constant in the Carolina lineup for all but one game of his career, but he's going to miss at least the next three games.

Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice described the "upper body" injury that knocked Staal out of Sunday's loss as a "week to week" proposition.

Sometimes, a few small changes can make a big difference. Coach Paul Maurice hopes that's the case with the Canes.

Maurice has shuffled the lines. He has moved Rod Brind'Amour from center to wing. He has Eric Staal on the point on the power play. He has the option of playing Jussi Jokinen at center or the wing -- the same for Brandon Sutter.

Will that translate into a victory Wednesday against the St. Louis Blues? No one can say, of course, but the Canes believe they're taking the right steps to ending their funk.

DENVER — Canes defenseman Tim Gleason was on the ice today at the Pepsi Center for the morning skate but will not play tonight against the Avalanche.

"That's a real good sign for us, that hopefully it won't be a matter of weeks," coach Paul Maurice said of Gleason's upper-body injury. "It's day to day."

Jay Harrison replaces Gleason in the lineup after being a healthy scratch the last two games. Harrison, by the way, has the only goal by a Canes defenseman this season.

You didn't really expect Eric Staal to miss this game, did you?

The Canes center missed part of Monday's practice and all of Tuesday's practice with some muscle tightness, but Staal was wheeling around the RBC Center ice today in the morning skate.

"I'm feeling a lot better and looking forward to tonight and hope we get a win," Staal said.

Eric Staal says there's no more apt term than "Caniac." Driving past the RBC Center lots, seeing Hurricanes fans tailgating, see all the homemade signs, always brings a smile to his face, he says.

"It's amped up, and especially for the playoffs," the Canes' center says. "Driving in, you can feel that energy and building adrenaline, which is tons of fun for us.

"They really know how to do it here. They've got their signs and waving, and you can build off that type of energy. It's a lot of fun. Maybe many years from now when I'm retired as a player I can do the same thing."

If Parker Lucas Staal was growing up in Thunder Bay, Ontario, like his dad and uncles, it would be a done deal. He would play hockey. No question.

But ...

"He's a North Carolinian now," Eric Staal says of his new-born son. "May be basketball.

"My wife is tall. I'm tall. Who knows?"

Now on the left wing for the Carolina Hurricanes, Eric Staal ...

Don't expect that to happen. Staal was used on the wing at Canada's Olympic orientation camp last week in Calgary and said he enjoyed it, but certainly not enough to tell Canes coach Paul Maurice he'd like to make a shift this season.

"It's different," Staal said today. "You're used to playing center most of your life. But in the end, it's still hockey, and it's still a game."

With all of Carolina's top-nine forwards back for this season, and no new arrivals in that group, which players would fit the best on either side of Eric Staal?

Ray Whitney and Tuomo Ruutu, who will probably start there? Or some other combination of Erik Cole, Chad LaRose, Sergei Samsonov, Jussi Jokinen and Scott Walker?

Fire away.

From Talking Points: 

It will be four or five years before we know how the Carolina Hurricanes did in the draft last weekend, although they deserve credit for breaking new ground, by their standards, in terms of location (their first-round pick was from Quebec and three out of six picks were Europeans) and philosophy (all six were 6 feet or taller).

Whether first-round pick Philippe Paradis will be regarded as a steal or a bust is yet to be determined, but the record is already clear on many of the Hurricanes’ past drafts, at least those from 2005 and earlier.

We all know the misses — Igor Knyazev, Jeff Heerema, Nikos Tselios — but among the hits, here are the Canes’ five best draft picks since the team moved to North Carolina, not necessarily in overall talent, but in terms of how well they did with the pick.

Eric Staal, for example, was a relative no-brainer at No. 2 in 2003, but Cam Ward was not late in the first round a year earlier, which is why they bookend Tuesday’s Top Five.

Read more here. 

It will be four or five years before we know how the Carolina Hurricanes did in the draft last weekend, although they deserve credit for breaking new ground, by their standards, in terms of location (their first-round pick was from Quebec and three out of six picks were Europeans) and philosophy (all six were 6 feet or taller).

Whether first-round pick Philippe Paradis will be regarded as a steal or a bust is yet to be determined, but the record is already clear on many of the Hurricanes’ past drafts, at least those from 2005 and earlier.

We all know the misses — Igor Knyazev, Jeff Heerema, Nikos Tselios — but among the hits, here are the Canes’ five best draft picks since the team moved to North Carolina, not necessarily in overall talent, but in terms of how well they did with the pick.

Eric Staal, for example, was a relative no-brainer at No. 2 in 2003, but Cam Ward was not late in the first round a year earlier, which is why they bookend Tuesday’s Top Five: