Stillman activated, Canes begin tour of Northwest Division.

On monday night, the Hurricanes activated Cory Stillman from the injured reserve list. He had late off-season shoulder surgery, has been skating with the team for some time, and has been participating in full contact practices for about a week now.

As the Canes embark on a seven day, four city tour of the Northwest Division, the 32-year old left winger could return to action. Defenseman Frantisek Kaberle, who also had shoulder surgery, is still a few weeks away.

Throughout the Canes blogosphere, and from the differing news sources, there are some differing views as to when Stillman will be back in the lineup. Based on a CBC story, Casonblog thinks that Stillman will be back tonight against the Flames.
Canes Country has a dissenting view based on what's been written by the News & Observer's Luke Decock. Here he says that we shouldn't expect to see Stiller. Here he's a little more direct:

Cory Stillman practiced as well, but despite erroneous reports elsewhere won't play tonight. He's still targeting Friday at Vancouver, barring a setback.

That same acticle said that Frantisek Kaberle is practicing with the team, but is still a ways off with his ability to really use his shoulder (read: shoot, pass), and won't be cleared for contact for a few more weeks. So hitting is obviously out.

I actually think that we won't see Cory Stillman until we get back home against the Leafs on next Friday. The real question, though, is who will be scratched. It's pretty freakin obvious who gets scratched or waived when Kaberle returns, but it's not cut and dry with the return of Stillman. I don't buy any of the Kevyn Adams in Laviolette's doghouse talk, but his production has been somewhat disappointing. However, he's a team leader, unless they strip him of his "A", I don't see him getting benched. Chad LaRose works way too hard to get shafted. So it comes down to Trevor Letowski and Craig "Hands of Feet" Adams. It doesn't seem right to break up the Adams Family line, and there's no way anybody above the third line gets the boot, so the smart money is on Trevor Letowski as the odd man out. Don't be surprised, though, if there's some sort of healthy scratch rotation between CrAdams and Letowski.

Johhny Crackers will be in the nets against the Flames tonight, and it should be a dandy. Puck drop is 9:00 eastern.