Cullen sees the bench

Vision troubles give Hamilton a chance

RALEIGH -- The Carolina Hurricanes placed Jeff Hamilton on waivers Wednesday, but he played Thursday night.

Hamilton skated in place of Matt Cullen, who missed Thursday's game because of vision troubles, on a line with Cory Stillman and Andrew Ladd.

Cullen has missed a total of 10 games now after a Dec. 26 injury. He received an open-ice hit from the New York Rangers' Colton Orr and missed two games. He could only play for six minutes when he returned on Dec. 31.

Cullen then took another seven games off and returned to play Jan. 17. He has two points in his past five games.

"He's been looked at and tested and cleared," Canes coach Peter Laviolette said. "And when he can't focus in, we give him some time off. I don't think there's an exact science to it. You can't look at it like a ligament or a bone and say, 'OK, this is four weeks.' "

Cullen's troubles allowed Hamilton to get an opportunity after being scratched the past five games.

Signed in July to a two-year deal worth $800,000 a season, Hamilton was a hit early on the Canes' power play. He has five goals and 12 assists. Four of Hamilton's goals have come on the power play.

Hamilton cleared waivers at noon Thursday. The Canes can either assign him to Albany (AHL) in the next 10 games or 30 days without having to put him on waivers.

Hamilton was on the ice for nine shifts for 7:51 on Thursday.

'D' GETTING OFFENSIVE AGAIN: When television cameras descended on Tim Gleason, the Canes defenseman stopped in the middle of his sentence and blinked in the bright lights.

Gleason scored his second goal of the season to start the Canes' rally. This is the fourth time in the past five games that a defenseman has scored.

"We've just thinking pure offense," Gleason said with a grin. "No, we're shooting the puck more, creating tons of opportunities and luckily, they're going in for us."

CANES, PENGUINS SWAP: The Canes acquired forward Joe Jensen from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for forward David Gove.

Jensen, 24, has played 27 games this season with Pittsburgh's AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, and has two goals, two assists and 23 penalty minutes. Jensen was an eighth-round draft pick in 2003.

CAR TROUBLES: Eric Staal really doesn't know a whole lot about the car he won Sunday at the NHL All-Star Game in Atlanta for being the game's MVP.

Staal was awarded a Dodge Journey after his two-goal, one-assist performance and the questions began. After Wednesday's practice, his teammates asked him what he was going to do with the car and Staal just shook his head.

"It's been pretty frequent for the last three days straight," Staal said with a chuckle. "I've been getting it nonstop."

TAILWINDS: The NHL Network will air a classic series special about the 2002 conference quarterfinals between the Canes and the New Jersey Devils at 5 p.m. Sunday. Digital cable customers can get NHL Center Ice on a free preview through Sunday. ... Several Canes were on hand Wednesday to cut the ribbon at the Wake Forest home that the team will give away at the end of the season.