Checking in on the Checkers

The Checkers haven’t gotten off to the greatest start in the AHL with 11 points in 13 games, (5-7-0-1), but there’s still time to make up for that. As the Hurricanes roster currently has Justin Peters and Mike Murphy on board, the Checkers signed veteran goaltender Rick DiPietro to a tryout and he is sharing duties with John Muse.

Muse currently is one of the leaders of the AHL in goals against average.  DiPietro has had a rough tryout so far.

Muse - 6GP 3-2-0  GAA 1.29 SV% .957

DiPietro - 3GP  0-3-0 GAA 5.58  SV% .839

Elias Lindholm, the Hurricanes’ 2013 5^th overall draft pick, was assigned to the Checkers last week. "There’s no timetable that I’m aware of so he could be a game or it could be longer, but while he’s here, he’s going to play and play a lot of minutes," head coach Jeff Daniels told Paul Braneckey of gocheckers.com. Muller said Lindholm’s stay in Charlotte could be near two weeks.

Lindholm tallied his first goal in the three games he’s played for the Checkers last night in a 5-3 loss to the Hershey Bears. "He was better than he was the last two games and he’ll keep getting better. He was moving better, he was faster on the puck, he had the puck and he was looking to make plays. He got a nice shot off the rush there and hopefully he can build on that," said Daniels to Branecky.

Swedish center of the Checkers Victor Rask has been playing well so far this season. In the 13 games he’s played he is currently leading the Checkers in scoring with five goals and five assists. Rask could possibly be called up to the Hurricanes roster if need be to see if he can provide something at the NHL level and possibly before Lindholm is recalled.

"We’ve just got to keep positive, that’s all we can do right now," said Daniels. Charlotte plays Hershey again tonight and hopes to end a four game losing streak.

Home Game Preview - 11/14/13 - Hershey Bears vs. Charlotte Checkers (via CharlotteCheckers)