Carolina Hurricanes Assign Patrick Brown to Charlotte Checkers

The Carolina Hurricanes have assigned Patrick Brown to the Charlotte Checkers after the forward skated in 14 games with the NHL squad.

Brown, Charlotte’s captain, will skate in the team’s 1:00 pm matchup against the Chicago Wolves on Sunday. The Checkers have won seven consecutive games and currently hold the eighth seed in the AHL’s Western Conference.

The move could indicate the return of Valentin Zykov to the lineup. The forward has missed eight games with an upper-body injury after getting hit hard into the board against the Maple Leafs in his second NHL game. He scored his first NHL goal in the first period of his debut on March 9.

Zykov has been practicing and is listed as day-to-day.

The official team release is below.

RALEIGH, NC - Ron Francis, Executive Vice President and General Manager of the National Hockey League's Carolina Hurricanes, today announced that the team has reassigned forward Patrick Brown to the Charlotte Checkers of the American Hockey League (AHL). He will join the Checkers for their 1 p.m. game today at Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte against the Chicago Wolves.

Brown, 24, played in 14 games with the Hurricanes following his recall from Charlotte on March 1, and now has played in 28 career NHL games, notching one goal and earning one assist (2 points). The Bloomfield Hills, MI, native scored 11 goals and earned nine assists (20 points) in 54 games this season with the Checkers prior to his recall. Brown (6'1", 210 lbs.) has scored 26 goals and earned 29 assists (55 points) in 184 career AHL regular-season games with Charlotte since beginning his professional career in 2014-15. The Hurricanes signed Brown as a free agent in April 2014, after he completed his four-year collegiate career at Boston College.