As expected, the Carolina Hurricanes made another round of cuts today and have trimmed their preseason roster down to 27 players. Drayson Bowman, Steven Goertzen, Justin Peters, Bryan Rodney, and Brett Carson were all assigned to Albany this morning.
Carson and Rodney would have to be surprises in this group as both performed very well last season when called upon. Rodney scored last night on the powerplay and has offensive skills the team needs.
The assignments are good news for Jay Harrison and Jamie McBain, the two remaining defensemen fighting for the 7th spot on the blueline.
Now the final roster is starting to take shape.
The forwards on the bubble still in camp are Zach Boychuk, Brandon Sutter, Patrick Dwyer, and Michael Ryan, (who suffered an upper body injury last night). The team can keep 23 players for opening night, but most likely will only need 22.
That total would include the 12 starting forwards, Staal, Cole, Ruutu, Cullen, LaRose, Whitney, Brind'Amour, Samsonov, Jokinen, Yelle, Kostopoulos, and Walker. Tim Conboy has a one way deal and would probably be the extra.
The goalies of course are Leighton and Ward.
The six starting defensemen are Corvo, Gleason, Ward, Pitkanen, Alberts, and Wallin. Jay Harrison seems to have the inside track to be number seven.
That makes a total of 22. The team could also keep Ryan or Dwyer as another extra, but it makes little sense to keep either Boychuk, Sutter, or McBain on press row here in Raleigh when they could be getting valuable experience in Albany.