For the first time, fans will choose the hockey player on the cover of the latest edition of EA Sports' series of NHL games, and in the first round of fan voting for NHL 13, Eric Staal and Jeff Skinner will battle it out to represent the Hurricanes in the next round.

One representative from each team plus two wild-card selections will advance to the next round of voting; and 16 will emerge from that round in a single-elimination bracket that will take place April 24-June 4.

Voting between Staal and Skinner will take place from March 29-April 11 on the NHL's website. The winner will be unveiled at the NHL awards in Las Vegas on June 20. Staal appeared on the cover of NHL 08.

The Carolina Hurricanes have activated forward Jeff Skinner from the injured reserve list for today's 5 p.m. game against the Washington Capitals.

Despite missing 16 games since suffering a concussion Dec. 7, Skinner is still the team's second-leading goal scorer, according to a news release from the Canes.

But the Canes are not lacking punch on offense lately, scoring three goals in the third period last night to beat the 2011 Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins 4-2.

The Carolina Hurricanes have been without Jeff Skinner for 14 games.

They have missed Skinner’s goals, his offensive creativity. They’ve missed him on the power play, missed having him in crunch situations in games.

The Hurricanes would like to get Skinner back for Thursday night's game against Tampa Bay (7:30 p.m., FSCR), but his first game back is more likely to come after a few more contact practices, possibly Sunday on the road against the Washington Capitals

While the Hurricanes acknowledged the bad news about Jeff Skinner and Joni Pitkanen on Wednesday -- both are out indefinitely with what have finally been confirmed are concussions -- Jay Harrison couldn’t have been happier to be back on the ice.

He has missed 10 games and three weeks -- the entire Kirk Muller Era -- with an “upper body” injury that has now been revealed as a concussion of his own. While the team muddled its way across Canada, Harrison was at home, recovering. Wednesday, he was cleared to practice with the team, one of 10 skaters to take part in a small-scale practice.

“You spend as much time with these guys as you do with your family,” Harrison said. “I definitely missed them, and I missed it, for sure.”

Canes forward Jeff Skinner and defenseman Joni Pitkanen have been diagnosed with concussions and will be sidelined indefinitely, general manager Jim Rutherford said today.

Skinner, the team's leading scorer, was evaluated Wednesday by Dr. Sandeep Gavankar at Carolina Family Practice and Sports Medicine in Cary. Skinner, 19, did not play in the Canes' last two games, against the Winnipeg Jets and Toronto Maple Leafs.

"This is a big step back and you hate it for the players," Rutherford said. "And especially with a young player such as Jeff, at this point in his career. He's a player who plays so hard and loves the game so much."

The Canes are 0-2-1 after their first three games, but coach Paul Maurice said today he isn't planning any major changes.

The Canes, who face the Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins on Wednesday, had a team meeting and a limited practice today at the RBC Center. Most of the players did not go on the ice.

Maurice indicated there would be no lineup changes for the Bruins, but left the door slightly ajar. Jamie McBain, Derek Joslin and Ryan Murphy were the only defensemen who skated today and appear to again be set to be healthy scratches for the Bruins, but Maurice said the coaches would "go through the video" and make a final decision tomorrow.

"When we look at our three games, there are big blocks that we really liked the things we're doing," Maurice said. "That's our challenge right now. It's not a matter of staying positive, it's staying together. We've got some things we can do better, but they were three, good, battling games and I think the battle was there."

The Canes' Jeff Skinner was on the ice Tuesday at the RBC Center, laughing, shooting the puck, smiling, stickhanding, being with the guys.

It has been a busy summer for Skinner. He went to Las Vegas for the NHL Awards ceremony in June, picking up the Calder Trophy. He has had numerous interview requests and made some appearances, including the All-Canadian Mentorship Camp. He again worked out with Gary Roberts and was at the BioSteel Sports Camp in Toronto in late August.

"It was a little bit more busy, but it was busy last year going through the (NHL) draft, then the rookie camp in Traverse City," Skinner said. "It was pretty busy but there was enough time for me to sort of relax and then to kind of gear up for the season again."

So the Hurricanes finally took a defenseman in the first round, for the first time in six years and the fifth time since Peter Karmanos and Jim Rutherford took over in 1994. Ryan Murphy doesn't have to do much in a Carolina uniform to rank as the best of the bunch.

The Hurricanes’ refusal to take defensemen in the first round has always smacked of stubbornness. It’s almost as if they said, “We’ve been burned before and we’re just not going to bother anymore.” And maybe for good reason: Two of the Hurricanes’ four previous first-round defensemen were total, complete and utter busts: Nikos Tselios, 22nd overall in 1997 and Igor Knyazev, 15th overall in 2001.

To no one's surprise, Hurricanes forward Jeff Skinner was among the three finalists the NHL announced today for the Calder Trophy, which goes to the league's rookie of the year.

The San Jose Sharks' Logan Couture and the New York Islanders' Michael Grabner, both forwards, are the other finalists. The NHL awards ceremony is June 22 in Las Vegas.

ATLANTA -- The Canes' Tim Gleason didn't want to watch the New York Rangers-Atlanta Thrashers game on Thursday night and hasn't tried to compute all the various playoff scenarios.

"If you do the matth you'll drive yourself crazy," Gleason said after today's morning skate at Philips Arena. "Our mindset is we've got to win."

Win tonight against the Thrashers, then again tomorrow night against the Tampa Bay Lightning: that's their goal. Do that and avoid shootout wins -- another one of those troublesome scenarios -- and the Canes will have hockey next week, in the playoffs.