Canes recall Brett Sutter; Pitkanen to play Saturday

Lots of news flying around in the last ten minutes or so.  First, in somewhat of a surprise, the Canes have called up Brett Sutter, Brandon's cousin and the second part of the return from Calgary in the Ian White trade, on an emergency basis and expect him to make his Canes debut tomorrow night against Tampa Bay.  A few minutes later, the Canes' Paul Branecky explained on Twitter why this was needed: according to GM Jim Rutherford, Ryan Carter has a back injury and is day-to-day.  This is Sutter's fourth tour of duty in the NHL, but his first callup with the Hurricanes and his first of this season.  Sutter will slide into Carter's position as fourth-line center, presumably playing with Troy Bodie and erstwhile Checkers teammate Zach Boychuk.

(Apropos of nothing, if you haven't followed Boychuk on Twitter yet, what are you waiting for?  Among other things, you're missing seeing Tripp Tracy do push-ups in dress clothes.)

Rutherford also told Branecky that Joni Pitkanen is expected to play tomorrow night in Tampa, meaning Brett Carson would likely be the odd man out and would need to be reassigned to Charlotte; since he was recalled on an emergency basis, if the player he's replacing on the roster returns, Carson will need to be sent back down.  As we pointed out on Wednesday when he was recalled, this is par for the course this season with Carson, who's only seen a few games at a time each time he's been called up this season.