The Checkers’ roster continues to get shaken up as the AHL’s trade/loan deadline has come and gone.
Charlotte has acquired veteran forward Blair Jones on loan from Utica in exchange for loaning them T.J. Hensick. In a separate move, the Hurricanes have acquired forward prospect Dane Fox from Vancouver for future considerations and have assigned Fox to Charlotte.
Like the Andrew Miller-Zach Boychuk deal that happened this morning, this transaction is technically an exchange of loaned players, made on the day of the AHL’s trade/loan deadline. As such, the players’ NHL rights have not changed, with the Carolina Hurricanes retaining Hensick and the Vancouver Canucks, Utica’s parent club, retaining Jones.
Jones, 29, is currently in his 10th pro season. In 36 games with Utica this year, the forward has turned in 15 points, including nine goals that tie him for sixth on the Comets.
A fourth-round pick by Tampa Bay in 2005, Jones has accumulated 287 points (112g, 175a) and 41 penalty minutes in 453 AHL games over his career with Springfield, Norfolk, Abbotsford, Lehigh Valley and Utica. He has twice eclipsed the 50-point mark in the AHL, including a career-high 55 points in 56 games in 2010-11 with Norfolk.
Jones has also racked up some NHL experience, with 17 points (7g, 10a) in 132 games under his belt with Tampa Bay, Calgary and Philadelphia.
Heading to Utica in exchange for Jones will be Hensick. The veteran forward signed with Carolina this past offseason and has spent the entirety of the campaign in Charlotte, where he recorded 25 points (7g, 18a) in 46 games.
While Hensick has been a solid contributor this season, tying for sixth on the team in scoring, he has found himself at the lowest point-per-game average in his nine-year career. Not helping that was a lower-body injury that sidelined him for a sizeable amount of games earlier on in the season. Hensick will head to a Comets team that currently sits in the playoff picture at third place in the North Division.
Fox joins the Checkers after spending the majority of his second pro year with the ECHL’s Kalamazoo Wings. The 22-year-old has appeared in 53 games for the Wings and leads the team in goals (26), points (50) and penalty minutes (87).
An undrafted free agent, Fox signed with Vancouver in 2013 after completing his OHL career, where he racked up 227 points (118g, 109a) in 243 games over five seasons with London and Erie, including an OHL-leading 64 goals in his final campaign. In his rookie season with Kalamazoo in 2014-15, he ranked second on the team overall in goals.
Fox has appeared in one AHL game this season, going scoreless in the Comets' 6-1 loss to Albany on Feb. 26.
