RALEIGH, N.C. — Jaccob Slavin is staunch in his faith, stout on the ice, and soft spoken about his talent, but there was no mistaking his body language when he finally got to share that he’d been given a green light to return to game action.

“Yeah, we’re good to go, ready to be back out there,” Slavin said with a smile Saturday morning.

And good to go, he was. Slavin didn’t start, but was first over the boards. He didn’t play long on his first shift — fewer than 30 seconds — but he was there.

And he made an impact.

With just over six minutes to play in regulation, Slavin pinched hard from the left point and drove the net. Jordan Staal fed the streaking defender and, with William Carrier running interference in front of goalie Joey Daccord — legally — Slavin slammed the puck toward the net, off Carrier and past the keeper, lifting the Hurricanes to a 3-2 win over the Seattle Kraken at Lenovo Center on Saturday.

You couldn’t have scripted it any better. The assist was his first of the season, and is the 300th point of his NHL career.

Jordan Martinook also scored for the Hurricanes — a tying goal earlier in the third period— and Logan Stankoven started the Canes’ scoring in the first.

Brandon Bussi stopped 10 shots in earning the victory.

After his initial short shift, Slavin played 10 more in the first period — most on the team. Normally among the team leaders in total ice time, Slavin eased his way back to action Saturday, skating 18:52 — fourth among the team’s six defenders.

More importantly, though, after he misplayed Matty Beniers on the Kraken’s first goal, Slavin was back to his normal, lockdown self, including eating minutes on the Canes’ lone penalty kill.

Having Slavin back in the lineup was a sight for sore eyes, both for the team and its followers. Slavin was the first of the Canes’ opening-night roster to miss significant time due to injury, and he was the last to return, having missed 39 games over two separate stints on the injured list, first with a lower-body concern and most recently an upper-body injury.

“It’s been a tough year that way,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said Saturday morning, before adding: “I don’t want to jinx it, but it’s nice to finally get him back … and then see how the team looks.”

As it turned out, it looked pretty good.

Kids and the Hall

With a healthy lineup comes difficult roster decisions for the Canes, and as players have been in and out with various ailments — and as healthy scratches — Brind’Amour has had to try different combinations of skaters to see what might stick, like throwing cooked spaghetti at a wall to see if it’s ready.

One combination that seems to have clicked of late is putting youngsters Jackson Blake and Stankoven with veteran Taylor Hall.

Blake and Stankoven are similar players – small in stature but swift, tough as nails and heady. A bigger but equally speedy Hall has meshed well alongside them.

In Thursday’s win over Anaheim, each of the three players had a goal and an assist, and the line was a collective plus-9. In the previous game, a 6-3 Canes win over Dallas, Stankoven had a goal and the line was a plus-3, and in the game before that, a 3-1 victory over the Devils, the trio combined for two goals and an assist and was again a collective plus-3.

“(Hall) still has a lot of speed and he’s certainly offensively gifted, he always has been,” Brind’Amour said Saturday morning. “He thinks the game at a high level. And you stick him with (Blake and Stankoven), who have that same kind of quality but also have a kind of grind, hunt-the-puck mentality, and it’s been good so far. Hopefully it keeps going.”

Saturday night against Seattle, Stankoven continued his hot streak, netting his fourth goal in as many games to put the Canes on the board in the first period.

Steady as he goes

Jalen Chatfield is typically easy to spot at Lenovo Center. About two hours before each home game, the Canes defender walks out onto the clean, dry ice in front of the home bench with his stick and a puck — in sandals or sneakers — his hoodie pulled over his head, and stickhandles quickly for about five minutes.

Two hours later, his long, black hair flowing freely from under his helmet as he streaks up and down the ice, Chatfield forces you notice him with his speed, and the fact that he always seems to be around the puck when it matters.

Where you don’t normally see him — his name, anyway — is in the “goals” column of the scoresheet. Last season, Chatfield scored just seven times. This year? He’s got one, and he scored it in Thursday’s win over Anaheim.

But, Brind’Amour said, trying to measure Chatfield’s contributions on a stat sheet is next to impossible.

“Take that away, that goal, and really he was all over it on the other side of things,” Brind’Amour said Saturday. “You look at all the plays he was breaking up, killing plays in the neutral zone and just being aggitative that way, and helping us transition the pucks and play on offense. That’s what he does, and he does it at a really high level.”

Saturday, Chatfield ate a lot of minutes, blocked a few shots and was a plus-1.

‘Definitely an honor’

In addition to returning to the ice Saturday, Slavin also spoke Saturday for the first time in a public setting about his inclusion on Team USA for the 2026 Olympics.

After drawing immense praise for his play for the United States during the NHL’s Four Nations Face-Off in 2025, Slavin was considered a lock for the Olympic roster before injuries struck. Still, despite playing just five games this NHL season, Slavin was among those announced to the team just after Christmas.

“It’s going to be awesome,” Slavin said Saturday. “It’s definitely an honor to put on that jersey, any chance you get.”

Slavin said Saturday he plans to bring his whole family to Italy, including his parents and siblings.

“It’s something that’s exciting, it’s something my family is excited about, so it’s going to be a super fun experience,” Slavin said.

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