The Hurricanes have elected to swap their depth defensemen. The team announced that they’ve recalled Domenick Fensore from AHL Chicago and assigned Charles-Alexis Legault to the Wolves.
Fensore made his NHL debut in the final two regular season games last season, averaging over 19 minutes a night with Carolina resting many of their regulars. The 24-year-old has gotten off to a strong start in the minors this season, picking up three goals and four assists in just four games; his seven points are second-best among all AHL defenders while he leads all Wolves players in that regard.
As for Legault, he received his first NHL recall a little more than two weeks ago. The 22-year-old signed as an undrafted free agent with Carolina back in 2024 and got into three games while on recall, logging just under 12 minutes per game while picking up for blocks and a pair of minor penalties. He had 14 points in 63 games with the Wolves last season.
Carolina’s back end has had more than its fair share of injuries in the early going this season, leading to some of these prospects getting opportunities. Jaccob Slavin has missed a couple of weeks with a lower-body injury, Shayne Gostisbehere has been out for a week with a lower-body issue, and K’Andre Miller has missed two straight games with a lower-body injury of his own. That has Carolina carrying nine blueliners on the salary cap right now but with the team comfortably below the Upper Limit, the extra players on the roster shouldn’t be impacting their plans much at this time.