RALEIGH, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes’ locker room already featured many fathers — including Jordan Staal, Jaccob Slavin, Taylor Hall, Sebastian Aho, Shayne Gostisbehere and Jordan Martinook — and coach Rod Brind’Amour, who has four children. That group expanded three times during the team’s run to the Stanley Cup Final as defensemen Sean Walker, Jalen Chatfield and K’Andre Miller all became new parents, according to the team.
Walker was the first of the three to welcome a child. Recovering from Carolina’s Game 3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers in the second round, he learned his wife, Taylor, had gone into labor. Walker returned to Raleigh the next morning, FaceTimed with his wife until he boarded, and arrived at the hospital in time for the birth of his first child, a daughter named Quinn.
Owner Tom Dundon arranged a private jet for Walker to rejoin the team. Walker said he ate his pregame meal in the hospital cafeteria before flying back to Philadelphia and then took the team bus to the arena, where he skated 23:13 in Carolina’s Game 4 win. Coach Rod Brind’Amour acknowledged the birth before the game and teammates praised Walker for balancing family commitments with his on-ice duties.
Miller and partner Addison Clark welcomed a son, Kashton, on May 2 — about six hours before Miller played in Game 1 of the Flyers series in Raleigh. Miller called spending time with his newborn part of a “brain reset” during the playoff layoff. Chatfield also joined the group of new fathers and has been juggling playoff responsibilities with infant care.
Teammates and players’ families have supported the new parents with meals and supplies, Walker said, and the sweep of the Flyers produced an extended break — 11 full days off between that series and the conference finals, the longest layoff in the NHL since 1919 — which gave Walker and others additional time at home during the postseason.
