Carolina Hurricanes Recall Andrej Nestrasil and Patrick Brown from Checkers, Jeff Skinner Expected to Return This Week

It was a quiet trade deadline day for the Carolina Hurricanes, but there is some news to speak of entering tonight’s tilt with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Ron Francis announced in Wednesday’s post-trade deadline press conference that forwards Andrej Nestrasil and Patrick Brown have been recalled by the Hurricanes and are expected to play in Tampa.

These call-ups will lighten the blow that the Viktor Stalberg trade and Brock McGinn and Jeff Skinner injuries had on the forward unit.

Francis did say that Skinner, who was a late scratch in Florida, had a stiff neck and returned to Raleigh for further evaluation prior to Carolina’s shootout loss on Tuesday. It isn’t a serious injury for Carolina’s leading goal scorer as he is expected to return to the lineup later this week.

Nestrasil has played in 18 games with the Checkers this season, scoring four goals and netting ten total points. He has five points in 18 games with the Hurricanes this season.

Brown gets his first NHL call-up of the season. He has scored 11 goals in 50 games in Charlotte this year.

Below is the press release from the Hurricanes.

RALEIGH, NC - Ron Francis, Executive Vice President and General Manager of the National Hockey League's Carolina Hurricanes, today announced that the team has recalled forwards Patrick Brown and Andrej Nestrasil from the Charlotte Checkers of the American Hockey League (AHL). Brown and Nestrasil will join the Hurricanes for the team's game tonight at Tampa Bay.

Brown, 24, has notched 11 goals and earned nine assists (20 points) while playing in all 54 of the Checkers' games this season. The Bloomfield Hill, MI, native is in his third professional season after completing a four-year collegiate career at Boston College where he was a member of the Eagles' 2012 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) national championship team. Brown (6'1", 210 lbs.) signed with Carolina as a free agent following his collegiate career, and has scored one goal and earned one assist (2 points) in 14 career NHL games with the Hurricanes.

Nestrasil, 26, scored one goal and earned four assists (5 points) with the Hurricanes before being assigned to Charlotte on Jan. 10. In 18 games with the Checkers, the Prague native has notched four goals and earned six assists (10 points). Nestrasil (6'3", 200 lbs.) joined the Hurricanes on Nov. 20, 2014, when he was claimed on waivers from Detroit. He has scored 17 goals and earned 31 assists (48 points) in 127 career NHL games with Detroit and Carolina.