The Hurricanes have made a roster move, announcing that they’ve assigned defenseman Dylan Coghlan to Springfield of the AHL. As Carolina doesn’t have its own affiliate, they’ve loaned him back to St. Louis’.
The 25-year-old showed some upside a couple of years ago with Vegas, eventually making him the incentive that Carolina received for taking on the final year of Max Pacioretty’s contract back in July 2022. However, Coghlan didn’t play much last season, suiting up just 17 times while being a healthy scratch the rest of the way. That likely played a role in him clearing waivers earlier this month.
Coghlan had been recalled earlier in the week when Brett Pesce went down but he still didn’t see any action with the Hurricanes. He has suited up five times for the Thunderbirds so far, picking up a goal and an assist, and will now have a chance to add to those numbers.
For the time being, Carolina has just six healthy defensemen on the roster which is unlikely to be the case for too long. However, they’re now off until Monday night so they can wait until then to announce a recall whether it’s Coghlan or someone else. In the meantime, clearing Coghlan’s $850K off the books – even if it’s just for a couple of days – will give Carolina a little bit of extra cap flexibility to work with.