The Checkers will add defensive depth from a familiar source thanks to a trade made by the Carolina Hurricanes.
Charlotte’s NHL parent club kicked off its deadline-day activities by re-acquiring Dennis Robertson from the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday afternoon. In return, the Hurricanes sent veteran goaltender Drew MacIntyre to the Blackhawks.
Robertson, 24, played 57 games as a rookie with the Checkers last season, ranking second among team defensemen with 17 points to go along with 70 penalty minutes. Since departing the organization as part of a trade involving Kris Versteeg and Joakim Nordstrom just prior to the start of training camps in September, Robertson played 37 games with the Checkers’ Central Division rival, the Rockford IceHogs, scoring five points.
Robertson’s return bolsters a defensive unit in Charlotte that had taken early hits due to the sooner-than-anticipated graduation of rookies Brett Pesce and Jaccob Slavin to the NHL and, more recently, a long-term injury to Danny Biega that has keep the experienced blueliner out of the lineup since Jan. 3.
This marks the third time that Robertson, originally acquired by the Hurricanes along with John-Michael Liles midway through the 2013-14 season, has been involved in an NHL trade.
Meanwhile, MacIntyre, who ranks eighth in AHL history with 223 victories, departs after playing nearly two full seasons with the Checkers. The 32-year-old was 11-13-1 with a 3.09 goals-against average and .890 save percentage this season. His departure leaves the Checkers with just one goaltender, Daniel Altshuller, on the roster.
At the time of this announcement, Carolina had two hours remaining before the NHL’s trade deadline. The team kicked off its activity in earnest one day earlier, making a pair of trades, one of which could result in the Checkers adding Russian forward Valentin Zykov in the near future.
