Vinnie Purpura

The Charlotte Checkers have made additions at every position with a series of one-way, AHL contracts. Forward William Bitten, defensemen Mitch Vande Sompel and Luca Fantilli, and goaltender Vinnie Purpura have each agreed to deals with Charlotte for the 2026-27 season.

Vande Sompel is the only re-signee of the bunch. He has spent the last two seasons with the Checkers after joining form the Chicago Wolves partway through the 2023-24 season. His 2024-25 season was cut to only 13 games by a nagging upper-body injury. He underwent a bi-lateral shoulder surgery to address the issue and returned healthy enough to double his appearances in 2025-26 – despite missing much of the middle-season with brief injuries. His season was marked by 11 points and a plus-14 in 36 games. On the heels of his highest-scoring season since the 2022-23 campaign, the oft-injured Vande Sompel will earn another year in his utility role in Charlotte.

Bitten will make a return to North America on this new deal. He spent the last two seasons in Russia’s KHL – split between stints with Moscow Spartak and HC Sochi. Bitten combined for 40 points in 80 games in his international tour, just below the mark of his typical AHL scoring. He’ll seek the higher marks in this return. The AHL veteran scored 103 points in 178 games with the Springfield Thunderbirds between 2021 and 2024. That includes 21 points in 18 games during the 2022 Calder Cup Playoffs and a career-high 45 points in 65 games during the 2022-23 season. Bitten was a physical and effective role player through four years with the Iowa Wild and three years with Springfield. He also played one assist in four games with the St. Louis Blues in the 2022-23 season.

While Bitten moves back to the AHL, Purpura will seek a promotion from the ECHL. That is where he has spent the last four seasons after signing into the pros out of Long Island University in 2023. Purpura worked his way into the Adirondack Thunder’s backup role in the 2023-24 season, earning 15 wins and a .908 save percentage along the awy. He swapped to the Reading Royals for 2024-25 and grew his save percentage to a .922 in 25 games. The Royals then swapped Purpura to the Savannah Ghost Pirates this season. The move brought Purpura the first starting role of his career, though it brought a dip back to a .910 save percentage in 36 games. On the heels of that step forward, he will now target the Greensboro Gargoyles’ starting role, with the Checkers’ backup role in sight.

Fantilli, the older brother of Columbus Blue Jackets star Adam Fantilli, will be the only newcomer of the bunch. He spent the last four seasons at the University of Michigan where he filled a nightly role dating back to his freshman year. Despite that, his role began near the bottom of the lineup and took one step forward each season. By his senior year, Fantilli filled a top-pair role and scored 17 points in 40 games – just four fewer than he managed in 108 games through the first three seasons of his collegiate career. He is nonetheless an effective, defensive-defenseman whose strong stick could earn him a nightly role in Charlotte.