Victor Rask, a rookie center on last season’s Checkers team, is tied for second among all skaters in scoring with four points (2g, 2a) in two games at the ongoing NHL prospects tournament in Traverse City, Michigan.
Rask, who finished fifth among Charlotte skaters with 39 points last season, had a goal and an assist in each of the Carolina Hurricanes’ first two games – a 6-1 victory over Buffalo on Friday and a 4-2 setback against Dallas on Saturday. The second-round draft pick in 2011 is playing in his third Traverse City tournament with the Hurricanes.
“I know Rask pretty well, and, for me, he’s just a solid two-way guy,” Checkers coach Jeff Daniels, who is also behind the bench in Traverse City, told CarolinaHurricanes.com. “He’s always in the right position, and he can make plays.”
Update: Rask scored two goals, including the overtime winner, in the Hurricanes' 3-2 win over the New York Rangers on Monday. Through that day's games, he led the tournament in scoring with six points (4g, 2a) in three games.
Other offensive standouts through two games were wingers Phil Di Giuseppe and Alex Aleardi, who potted two goals and three points (1g, 2a) against the Sabres, respectively. Rask, Di Giuseppe and Aleardi are all candidates to start the coming season in Charlotte.
Di Giuseppe, who also scored a pair of goals in the final scrimmage of the Canes’ development camp in Raleigh earlier this summer, continued to flash the offensive potential that made him a second-round pick in 2012.
“He has good speed, and the puck seems to find him around the net,” Daniels told the Hurricanes’ site following Friday’s game. “The second one was a goal-scorer’s goal.”
Another name familiar to the Checkers is rising rookie Brock McGinn, who had a goal and an assist on Friday before missing Saturday’s game due to injury.
Sergey Tolchinsky, who led the entire tournament in scoring last year, ranks tied for second on the Hurricanes thus far with three points (1g, 2a). Though he made his pro debut in the Checkers’ final game of last season, he is expected to return to his junior team in Sault Ste. Marie this season due to age restrictions.
The Hurricanes are off Sunday but return to action to face Charlotte native Bryan Moore and the New York Rangers in their final round-robin game on Monday. CarolinaHurricanes.com will continue to provide live updates and video highlights.
