The Carolina Hurricanes made it a hat trick of players heading to the AHL on Thursday as they assigned Andrej Nestrasil to the Checkers on a conditioning loan that evening.
Nestrasil, 23, has three points (1g, 2a) in eight games with the Hurricanes since his waiver acquisition from the Detroit Red Wings on Nov. 20. He is coming off an upper-body injury that has kept him out of the lineup since Dec. 8, with Carolina activating from injured reserve simultaneous to their reassignments of Zach Boychuk and Michal Jordan to Charlotte earlier in the day.
The 6-foot-3, 200-pound native of Prague, Czech Republic, will get a chance to face his former squad, the Grand Rapids Griffins, in what would be his Checkers debut on Friday night. Detroit’s third-round draft pick in 2009, he scored 46 points (22g, 24a) in 120 games over parts of three seasons with the Griffins from 2011-14, including a career-best 36 points (16g, 20a) in 70 games last season.
The day’s transactions, made possible by a completely healthy group of players in Carolina, suddenly give the Checkers a glut of lineup options. After having no extra players in each of their last four games since Dec. 31, they are expected to have three (four of Brody Sutter is able to return from injury) on Friday.
