The Carolina Hurricanes announced today that they were cutting 16 players from their training camp roster.
Zach Boychuk, T.J. Hensick, Justin Shugg, and Rasmus Rissanen were put on waivers, with the intent to end up in Charlotte.
Erik Karlsson, Patrick Brown, Carter Sandlak, Danny Biega, Keegan Lowe, Tyler Ganly, Jake Chelios, Kyle Hagel, Rasmus Tirronen, and Daniel Altshuller were all assigned directly to the Checkers.
Roland McKeown was returned to his junior team and Lucas Wallmark went back to play in the Swedish Hockey League.
There are no huge surprises here although Biega impressed many with his play. There is just not enough room on the blueline for him, with the likes of Noah Hanifin, Haydn Fleury, Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce, and Ryan Murphy all looking to make the team. The Canes also kept Trevor Carrick for now, who has played well in camp.
The club had high hopes for Karlsson and Wallmark, but with the acquisition of Kris Versteeg and Joakim Nordstrom, it more or less closed the door for them.
The Canes will still need to cut at least 10 more players to get down to the team maximum of 23.
Sergey Tolchinsky, Phil Di Giuseppe, Derek Ryan, Brody Sutter, Brendan Woods, Brock McGinn, and Nordstrom join other forwards Versteeg, Eric Staal, Jordan Staal, Jeff Skinner, Nathan Gerbe, Andrej Nestrasil, Elias Lindholm, Victor Rask, Jay McClement, Riley Nash, Brad Malone, and Chris Terry to give Carolina 19 forwards.
Justin Faulk, Ron Hainsey, John-Michael Liles, Michal Jordan, and James Wisniewski join Hanifin, Fleury, Pesce, Carrick, Murphy, and Slavin on the blueline, giving them 11 defensemen.
Drew MacIntyre stays in Raleigh for now to split time with Eddie Lack and Cam Ward.
The Canes travel north later today to take on the Islanders and Senators this weekend.