With two NHL exhibition games out of the way, the Carolina Hurricanes made their first round of assignments to Charlotte on Friday.
Fourteen players are making the trip from Raleigh to Charlotte to join the Checkers for their training camp that starts at Extreme Ice Center on Tuesday: forwards Zach Boychuk, Patrick Brown, Kyle Hagel, T.J. Hensick, Erik Karlsson, Carter Sandlak and Justin Shugg; defensemen Danny Biega, Jake Chelios, Tyler Ganly, Keegan Lowe and Rasmus Rissanen; and goaltenders Daniel Altshuller and Rasmus Tirronen.
Of that group, nine played for Charlotte last season, including Boychuk and Shugg, who rank second and fifth on the club’s all-time scoring list, respectively. They, along with fellow veterans Biega and Rissanen, will officially join the Checkers roster upon clearing waivers at noon Saturday, unless, of course, another NHL team places a claim for their services.
As they prepare to depart on a two-game trip to maritime Canada to play a pair of neutral-site preseason games against the New York Islanders and Ottawa Senators this weekend, the Hurricanes retain a sizeable group of players on two-way contracts. While the likes of Phil Di Giuseppe, Brock McGinn, Derek Ryan, Brody Sutter, Sergey Tolchinsky and Brendan Woods up front and Trevor Carrick, Brett Pesce and Jaccob Slavin on defense will continue to fight for NHL jobs to start the campaign, most, if not all, will end up with Charlotte before the start of the regular season on Oct. 10. In goal, Drew MacIntyre should remain a strong No. 1 option for the Checkers providing that Hurricanes netminders Cam Ward and Eddie Lack remain healthy.
Joining Friday’s assignments in Charlotte for the start of Checkers camp are forward Matt Willows, defenseman Justin Agosta and goaltender Anthony Peters, who recently joined the Checkers on AHL contracts and did not attend NHL camp. Forwards Ryan Rashid and David Wohlberg will also attend on a tryout basis.
An updated roster and training camp schedule can be found via those links.
