A Checkers’ forward corps struggling with injuries could get some help from the junior hockey ranks.
Nicolas Roy, Carolina’s fourth-round draft pick in 2016, has signed with the Hurricanes and will report to Charlotte for the remainder of the season on an amateur tryout contract. At 19 years of age, the center is not old enough to begin next season in the AHL – he must return to junior hockey or make the NHL squad – but he is eligible to play for the Checkers for the remainder of the regular season and, potentially, the playoffs.
A 6-foot-4, 197-pound native of Amos, Quebec, Roy led the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with 48 goals in 63 games this season. His 90 points scored ranked seventh in the league, while his 71 penalty minutes ranked second on his club team, Chicoutimi.
Roy has been eligible to join the Checkers ever since Chicoutimi fell to Cape Breton in the first round of the QMJHL playoffs on April 4. Roy totaled seven points (4g, 3a) in that six-game series.
While the potential impact of late-season additions from junior hockey is always uncertain, the Checkers’ injury situation could work in Roy’s favor. With Derek Ryan and Phil Di Giuseppe injured in Carolina and Dane Fox, Blair Jones, Andrew Miller and Valentin Zykov sidelined in Charlotte, the door could be open for Roy to enter the lineup despite the increasingly high stakes of each game.
Including home games against Milwaukee tonight and Sunday, the Checkers have four games remaining on their schedule. The volatility of the situation could allow for the Checkers, who currently hold the fourth seed in the Pacific Division bracket, to either clinch a playoff spot on Sunday or finish the weekend outside of playoff position.
