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Hurricanes Reassign Callahan Burke To AHL

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10/22/23: The Hurricanes have reassigned Burke back to the AHL’s Colorado Eagles. He made his Hurricanes debut last night in Denver for the team’s contest against the Colorado Avalanche, registering 7:06 time on ice.

10/21/23: Late last night, the Hurricanes made a roster move, announcing the recall of forward Callahan Burke from AHL Colorado on an emergency basis.  It’s unclear at this time which Carolina player’s availability is in question for their game tonight against the Avalanche.

The Hurricanes acquired Burke from the Avs earlier this month in exchange for defenseman Caleb Jones.  The swap amounted to a cost-cutting move for the Hurricanes as they moved Jones’ one-way deal for Burke’s two-way pact which only carries a guaranteed salary of $125K.

Burke had his best season at the AHL level in 2022-23, recording 16 goals and 23 assists in 70 games with the Eagles.  That also earned the 26-year-old his first taste of NHL action as he got into a pair of games with the Avs.  This season, he an assist in two games with the Eagles; Carolina opted to keep him with Colorado’s farm team since they don’t have an AHL affiliate of their own this season.  Now, he might get a chance to play against his former team tonight.

Aho And Anderson Doubtful For Tonight

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The Hurricanes are likely to be without center Sebastian Aho tonight against Colorado, relays NHL.com’s Ryan Boulding (Twitter link).  The 26-year-old has missed the last two games with an upper-body injury but skated after the game-day skate today, suggesting he won’t be out much longer.  Aho has three points in his first three games so far this season and is coming off his fourth season out of the last five with at least 30 goals.

Meanwhile, while goaltender Frederik Andersen also took part in the morning skate today, he, too, isn’t expected to be available for this game.  He exited Tuesday’s game in San Jose early after taking a shot off the mask and hasn’t suited up since.  The Hurricanes brought up Pyotr Kochetkov earlier this week and he is currently serving as the backup to veteran Antti Raanta.

Anttoni Honka Loaned To Liiga

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  • Carolina Hurricanes defensive prospect Anttoni Honka has been loaned to JYP Jyväskylä of the Finnish Liiga, the club he’s played almost all of his 205-game Liiga career with. The 23-year-old 2019 third-round pick was originally slated to play ECHL hockey with the Norfolk Admirals, but rather than play third-tier hockey in North America he appears to have chosen to return to Finland’s top league. Since the Hurricanes currently do not have an AHL affiliate, the team has struggled to find places in the AHL for its prospects to develop. Honka joins 2020 41st overall pick Noel Gunler as Hurricanes prospects originally sent to the ECHL who have instead elected to continue their development in Europe.

Hurricanes Prospect Noel Gunler Linked To Finnish League

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When Carolina assigned Noel Gunler to the ECHL earlier this month, it felt like it was an untenable situation.  The Hurricanes don’t have an AHL affiliate and having one of their better prospects playing down a level is hardly ideal.  Earlier this week, a report surfaced that Gunler was likely to play in Sweden this season.

However, it appears that this is now unlikely to be the case.  SportExpressen’s Johan Svensson reports that the Hurricanes weren’t able to reach a loan agreement with an SHL team.  Instead, Gunler is expected to be going to Finland to play for Karpat Oulu.

It’s a bit surprising that no SHL team could work something out for Gunler as the 22-year-old came up in Lulea’s system and also spent time with Brynas as recently as the 2021-22 campaign where he had 23 points in 52 games.  Speculatively, the fact that Carolina would retain the rights to recall him might have played a role but adding a promising young player to the lineup is still generally worth doing, even if you wind up losing him to a recall at some point.

Gunler is in the second season of his entry-level deal and has had a bit of a nomadic journey since being picked in the second round in 2020.  Since then, he has played a full season in Sweden split between two teams, a half year in Sweden that also gave him some AHL action, and last season, he had 18 points in 31 games with AHL Chicago.  Now, it appears he’ll be off to Finland, further continuing that trend.

Ryan Suzuki, Vasily Ponomarev Not Close To Returning

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TSN’s Gord Miller quips that Letang has been a “gold medal magnet” in recent years, leading Canada to gold at the 2023 Hlinka Gretzky Cup this August and serving as an assistant coach for the championship-winning Canadians at the 2020 and 2023 World Junior Championship. Pete Anholt has served as the Lethbridge Hurricanes’ general manager since 2015. He also served as a head coach in the WHL for 15 seasons between 1989 and 2007.

[SOURCE LINK]

Hurricanes Not Shopping Any Defenseman

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Adrian Dater wrote on X today that the Colorado Avalanche and Devon Toews have made some progress toward a contract extension for the pending free-agent defenseman, but he is hearing that they aren’t nearing a deal yet. Dater added that he isn’t sure if Toews will negotiate into the regular season, but his sense is that both sides will continue talking.

Toews has been widely regarded as one of the NHL’s best bargains over the last few seasons since joining the Avalanche in 2020. He is in the final season of a four-year contract that carries an AAV of $4.1MM and could come close to doubling his cap hit on a long-term deal. The 29-year-old has posted 29 goals and 109 assists in 199 games as a member of the Avalanche and has received Norris Trophy consideration in each of the past three seasons.

In other evening notes:

  • Cory Lavalette of The Athletic tweeted today that Carolina Hurricanes General Manager Don Waddell has said that the team is not actively shopping any of their defensemen. The Hurricanes currently have four defensemen who are pending unrestricted free agents in Tony DeAngelo, Brett Pesce, Brady Skjei, and Jalen Chatfield, and appear uninterested in moving out any of their depth. While Waddell said the team isn’t actively trying to move out anyone, he didn’t close the door on a trade should a team come along with a good offer for one of the team’s rearguards.
  • Mark Divver of NHL.com is reporting that the Providence Bruins have signed 20-year-old undrafted center Adam Mechura to a two-year AHL contract. The native of Pisek, Czech Republic played for the Bruins at the Prospects Challenge before he was invited to the Providence training camp. The 6’4” 208-pounder spent last season in the WHL with the Tri-City Americans where he posted 26 goals and 26 assists in 58 games. The Bruins are looking for creative ways to build depth after spending many years moving out future assets, with this move they essentially get a young player with size into their AHL lineup without giving up an asset.

Noel Gunler Reportedly Will Play 2023-24 In Sweden

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  • According to a report from SportExpressen’s Johan Svensson, Carolina Hurricanes prospect Noel Gunler will return to Sweden for the 2023-24 season. Gunler was loaned to the ECHL’s Norfolk Admirals earlier this week, but could end up instead loaned overseas where he has played most of his pro career. Seeing as Gunler scored eight goals and 18 points in just 31 AHL games last season, there has been some belief that his development would not be best served by playing in the ECHL. Since the Hurricanes do not have an AHL affiliate of their own, the only option for Gunler to play in the AHL would be on loan to another AHL franchise. Since premium offensive roles in the AHL are typically reserved for proven AHL veterans or prized prospects of a team’s NHL affiliate, it would be no surprise if the Hurricanes struggled to find a suitable landing spot for Gunler. As a result, if this report out of Sweden is to be believed, Gunler will end up playing 2023-24 in the SHL rather than the ECHL.

Andrei Svechnikov Will Not Play Season Opener

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  • The Athletic’s Cory Lavalette reports that Carolina Hurricanes star Andrei Svechnikov remains in a yellow non-contact jersey, and as a result, is presumably out for tomorrow’s season-opening game. Svechnikov is still working his way back from a torn ACL that cut his 2022-23 season short. When healthy, he’s among the Hurricanes’ best players, and last season was on pace to score a career-high 70 points.

Avalanche Acquire Caleb Jones From Hurricanes

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Defenseman Caleb Jones is headed from the Carolina Hurricanes to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for minor-league forward Callahan Burke, per a team announcement. Burke will remain on loan from Carolina to AHL Colorado, as the Hurricanes are without an AHL affiliate for this season. The trade comes after the Hurricanes had also loaned Jones to AHL Colorado earlier this week, but they’ve now transferred his NHL rights to Colorado too.

Jones signed a one-year, league-minimum deal with the Hurricanes this offseason but failed to make a dent in their defensive depth chart and did not earn a spot on head coach Rod Brind’Amour’s season-opening roster.

While he would have served as capable depth for the Hurricanes, it does appear that he has a stronger opportunity to make it back to the NHL (where he spent the entirety of 2022-23) in Colorado.

Since the Avalanche now consider Kurtis MacDermid a forward, the club is only carrying six defensemen on its opening-night roster.

Veteran Jack Johnson is currently slated to be the team’s third-pairing left-shot defenseman. He only played in 25 games last season, though, and at 36 years old the question of whether he’ll be able to keep up with the pace of the NHL for a full season is a fair one. Now that his NHL rights belong to Colorado, Jones has a clearer path back to the NHL.

For Carolina, this move accomplishes two things. First and foremost, it’s a courtesy to a player who spent all of last season in the NHL, as this move as mentioned provides Jones a stronger chance of cracking an NHL lineup.

Beyond that, while this trade doesn’t make any impact on the Hurricanes’ salary cap picture, it does save them quite a bit of actual cash.

Jones was signed to a one-way deal, meaning he is slated to be paid $775k this season, regardless of if he plays in the NHL or AHL. Burke, on the other hand, is on a two-way deal that owes him $125k at the AHL level.

So assuming Burke ends up playing the whole season with the Colorado Eagles, this move could end up saving the Hurricanes $650,000 in cash.

That’s not to say Burke won’t find his way to Carolina this season, in all fairness to him. Now 26, Burke is a capable player, having scored 39 points in the AHL last season. He even made his NHL debut for the Avalanche last season as well.

But a recall does have to be considered somewhat unlikely. In the case of injuries on Carolina’s NHL roster, the Organization could very well prefer to recall a player the Hurricanes have a longstanding investment in such as Jamieson Rees, rather than Burke.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Hurricanes Assign Coghlan, Three Others To Minor Leagues

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The Carolina Hurricanes have made their final roster cuts, assigning seven players to various leagues or injury designation. Dylan Coghlan (Springfield), Caleb Jones (Colorado), and Pyotr Kochetkov (Syracuse) have been assigned to various teams in the AHL. Domenick Fensore has been sent to Norfolk of the ECHL. 2023 Draft prospect Felix Unger Sorum was sent back to Leksands in Sweden. And Vasily Ponomarev and Ryan Suzuki were assigned to the team’s injured non-roster list. The final Hurricanes lineup can be viewed here.

The process of assigning players to the minor leagues has been a tricky one for Carolina, who are without an AHL affiliate for the season after the Chicago Wolves opted to go independent. This has meant that every player Carolina wants to assign to the AHL must be loaned out, explaining why Coghlan, Jones, and Kochetkov were dispersed.

Unger Sorum was an exciting name to follow throughout Carolina’s training camp. The winger was just barely eligible for the 2023 NHL Draft, being born a day before the cutoff. That means that he only turned 18 on September 14th. And yet he was able to carve out a significant role for much of the team’s camp, even earning speculation over whether he was ready to join the NHL lineup. Instead, he becomes one of their final roster cuts and will rejoin Leksands in Sweden. Unger Sorum primarily played for Leksands’ U20 team last year, appearing in 42 games and recording 46 points. He also played in seven SHL games, although he didn’t manage to record any points. The 2023 second-round pick will be an exciting international name for Canes fans to follow throughout the 2022-23 campaign.

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