Down to one goalie due to injuries at their NHL affiliate in Carolina, the Checkers have filled out their lineup for tonight by signing goalie Allen York to a professional tryout contract.
York, 24, joins Charlotte from the ECHL’s Evansville Icemen. Though he has yet to play a game this season, he does bring the prior track record the team was looking for, having posted a 2.30 goals-against average in 11 NHL games with the Columbus Blue Jackets during the 2011-12 season.
Columbus’ sixth-round draft pick in 2007, York (6-foot-3, 194 pounds), has also played 28 total AHL games with Springfield dating back to his rookie season in 2010-11. That includes 19 outings for the Falcons last season, in which he went 13-6-0 with a 2.39 goals-against average and .907 save percentage.
York’s signing was made necessary after Carolina goaltender Cam Ward suffered a lower-body injury on Thursday night, prompting the Hurricanes to recall Mike Murphy from the Checkers. With Charlotte set to begin a set of playing three games in three nights at Grand Rapids Friday, York and John Muse, who himself signed a PTO on Wednesday, will likely split those games and potentially more next week as the team continues its six-games-in-nine-nights road trip.
Ward is expected to miss three to four weeks, while fellow Hurricanes netminder Anton Khudobin, also out with a lower-body injury, seems set to resume skating next week. Murphy and Justin Peters, the Checkers’ two goaltenders to start this season, will both dress for the Hurricanes in Friday’s game at Colorado.
As a result of the goaltending turmoil, Charlotte, which also used Jesse Deckert in a relief appearance last weekend, will on Friday become the first AHL team to use four goaltenders this season. They will have achieved that mark in just five games.
