RALEIGH - Chad LaRose limped back home with the Carolina Hurricanes late Tuesday night, his broken left leg immobilized. The Canes, meanwhile, are limping into the stretch.

With 26 games to go, the Canes are missing three of their most important forwards -- LaRose, Justin Williams (torn knee ligaments) and Matt Cullen (blurred vision).

Only Cullen has a chance of returning before the end of the regular season -- he took a spin on the ice by himself after practice -- and defenseman Dennis Seidenberg is day-to-day with an ankle injury.

That's good news for Keith Aucoin, whose fourth call-up from the minors this season is likely to last the rest of the year, but bad news for the Canes, whose playoff hopes are on the thinnest of ice.

"[Aucoin] came up, and he's a pretty good player," Canes forward Ray Whitney said. "I thought he played pretty well [Tuesday] night, and he played pretty well before he was sent down. Rosey's a good energy guy and one of our penalty-killers, but we still have the personnel to win. We just have to start scoring some goals."

The Canes went into Wednesday's games with a tenuous tiebreaker lead in the Southeast Division, but if results elsewhere don't fall in the Canes' favor, they could be in fourth place by the time they face the Washington Capitals on Friday.

But general manager Jim Rutherford still considers himself a buyer rather than a seller as the Feb. 26 trade deadline approaches, primarily because of the Canes' chances in the wide-open Southeast.

He has taken a positive message from Saturday's 4-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins and Tuesday's 1-0 loss to the Nashville Predators.

"The two losses don't change my opinion. It's actually the opposite," Rutherford said. "I see signs of this team coming together. We played five good periods out of six on the road."

A puck-moving defenseman remains at the top of Carolina's list, but Rutherford said he plans to avoid the rental market of potential unrestricted free agents.

"If we do that, it won't just be for now," Rutherford said. "It will be for future years. We're not bringing in a guy for a quick fix. If there's a guy that fits our team and we can do that, we'll do it."