Charlotte’s defensive corps has taken quite the hit recently. Keegan Lowe exited last Friday’s tilt in Hamilton with an injury and has been ruled out for an extended period of time, and then Monday saw Rasmus Rissanen head to Raleigh with his first NHL recall. Rissanen joins Michal Jordan and Ryan Murphy on the NHL club and, per head coach Jeff Daniels, all three will remain there for the rest of the season.
There is a rule stating that any player not on an AHL roster as of 3 p.m. Monday (the NHL’s trade deadline) is not eligible to return to their AHL club for the remainder of the season. To circumvent that rule, many NHL teams will send those fringe players down on paper before the deadline and then immediately call them back up. This makes those players eligible to return to their AHL teams. The Hurricanes, however, did not go that route with Rissanen, Jordan or Murphy, making them ineligible to come back to the Checkers this season.
Jordan, who was named the Checkers captain prior to the season, has seen his role on the Hurricanes grow as of late and has begun to produce. Since recording his first NHL point on Feb. 14, Jordan has added three more, including his first NHL goal, to give him four points in his last eight games. Murphy started to show more comfort at that level before being sidelined by a leg injury that landed him on injured reserve. The loss of Murphy, on top of the departure of Andrej Sekera to Los Angeles, made the Hurricanes’ blue line very thin, leading to the recall of Rissanen, who will get a good look from the Carolina organization during his stint.
“I’ve got to get to know him,” Hurricanes head coach Bill Peters told carolinahurricanes.com. "This is his opportunity to show us what he can do. We plan on playing him and giving him a real good opportunity so we know what we have. He needs to play. He’s still a young pro, but he’s had a good year in the American League. Now he’s got to come up to play at this level and show he can do that."
Levi, a third-round draft pick from 2010, has appeared in four games this season for the Checkers, while spending the rest of his campaign in the ECHL. The 6-foot-4 defenseman began his season with the Florida Everblades, where he spent his rookie campaign, before being assigned to the Stockton Thunder. With 40 games under his belt for the Thunder, Levi ranks third among team defensemen in scoring (4g, 10a). The 23-year-old has little experience at the AHL level, with a career total of 14 games with the Checkers, but will be given a shot on a depleted Charlotte blue line.
He will join Mike Cornell, who is signed to a PTO, in helping to plug the holes left by the team’s established defensemen. Cornell, 26, has brought a gritty toughness to the team during his four-game stint so far, racking up 19 penalty minutes.
“He’s fit right in,” said Daniels. “He’s a hard working kid who wants to be here.”
Those roster moves will affect the other Checkers defensemen as well, as their roles and playing time will keep increasing. One such player will be Trevor Carrick, who has already seen a much bigger role than most 20-year-old rookies would have. With the absence of Rissanen and Jordan, Carrick will start to take on a top pairing role.
“He’s been doing it all year long,” said Daniels. “He’s been playing a ton and he’s going to play even more. It’s going to be great for his development.”
