Hurricanes goalie Darling is granted leave of absence

In another twist to the Scott Darling saga, the Carolina Hurricanes goalie has been granted a personal leave of absence, general manager Don Waddell said Sunday.

Darling, who sought to be the ’Canes’ No. 1 goalie this National Hockey League season, has played much of the year with the Charlotte Checkers, Carolina’s American Hockey League affiliate. He did not accompany the Checkers on their road trip this past weekend to face the Hershey Bears after Charlotte called up goalie Callum Booth from the Reading Royals of the ECHL.

“Since he’s been down there he’s had some good games and some bad games,” Waddell said in an interview. “He had a tough game the other night and his agent called me and said he would like to take a personal leave of absence and would we allow that to get his mind back together. That night he got rocked for about five (goals) and before he had a shutout (in regulation) before we lost in overtime 1-0. So we gave him the leave of absence.”

Darling’s agent, Matt Keator, confirmed Sunday that the request for a leave of absence was made but provided no other information on Darling, saying, “It’s a personal thing.”

Waddell said there was no set time limit to the leave.

“I told him to take a week and touch base with me in a week or so and we’ll go from there.”

Asked if it was a performancebased decision made by Darling, Waddell said, “No, I think it’s him trying to get his mind around it. He’s obviously has had a tough year on the ice and he needs, from a mental standpoint, needs to regroup basically.”