Despite having a roster that lost most of their top players to injury and NHL graduation, the Charlotte Checkers managed to win two out of their three games this week and maintain a record that puts them tied for first in the AHL's Western Conference. None of these wins came easy, though as the Checkers had to make do with few players who were only recently called up from the lower levels and were vastly outplayed in two of their three games this week, getting outshot 65-101.

Given that piece of information, it's pretty easy to give the first star of the week to goaltender Justin Peters, who was phenomenal in stopping 95 of the 100 shots he faced and earning a 1-0 shutout over the Grand Rapids Griffins. The only goal scored in that game was by the newest member of the Charlotte Checkers, Luke Pither. You may remember that Pither what the Hurricanes got back from the Flyers in the Brian Boucher deal last Sunday, and he was initially thought to be a throw-in and not much more. It's safe to say that he has blown away most people's expectations thus far, as he had an outstanding week scoring three goals and notching two assists. Pither was acquired to provide depth to a Checkers club that needs it in the worst way right now and he seems to be doing that just far. It's a nice start to his career in the Carolina organization, but I kind of have my doubts about him maintaining a shooting percentage of 50% for the rest of the year.

Another player sporting a 50% shooting percentage this week is defenseman Michal Jordan, who was one of two Charlotte players who will be participating in the AHL's All-Star Classic. He had three goals on the week, two of them coming in the 5-3 loss to Grand Rapids. Jordan is going to be arguably the Checkers key defenseman going forward with Sanguinetti in Raleigh and Gragnani's injury problems.

Riley Nash was another big performer for the Checkers this past week with one goal and three assists. He was Charlotte's best player in their 5-3 loss to Grand Rapids, as he recorded a team high four shots on goal and had a pair of assists, as well. He also had a two-point game in the Checkers 6-1 win over Norfolk on Sunday. Nash was one of the players initially called up for Carolina's training camp but was sent down after one day. He's getting more ice time now that a few of his former teammates are now with the big club and he's definitely making the most of it.

The Checkers are going to have much less talent for the rest of the year barring poor NHL performances from Zac Dalpe and Zach Boychuk, so they are going to have to make the most out of what they have. The fact that they got vastly outshot could be a sign of trouble to come down the road unless Peters continues to be as outstanding as he was this past week. At the same time, they got two out of three wins and are in a good position to make the playoffs with the rest of the AHL experiencing the same things that they are. Wins are wins after all and it's good to see the Checkers banking them while their roster is going through a transition period.

The Hurricanes made their first round of roster cuts this afternoon by sending forwards Riley Nash and Jeremy Welsh to the club's AHL affiliate in Charlotte. Nash was a long-shot to make the team, but many expected Welsh to get a look at the third line center spot. He is going to have to wait until later in the season to get his shot there now. Some may say that neither player was given much of a chance since they were sent down three days in, but the Checkers were in need of at least two forwards for their game on Wednesday and training camp is only a week long to begin with.

One of the reasons why Nash and Welsh in particular were sent down is because neither player has to be exposed to waivers before returning to the AHL, as they haven't been under an NHL contract for enough years. Once a player is placed on waivers, any other team can put a claim on him and add him to their roster. Waivers are put into place to give everyone a chance at playing in the NHL and to prevent teams from stockpiling talent at the lower levels. Sometimes teams can find hidden gems on the waiver wire like the New York Islanders did with Michael Grabner a couple years ago, but most of the time, players on waivers aren't anything terribly valuable to an NHL club. They are a good low-risk option for teams looking for cheap talent, though.

A player's waiver eligibility relates to how many years he is under an NHL contract and how many games he played, and both Nash and Welsh fit the guidelines to be waiver exempt. In other words, it was easier for the Hurricanes to send down these two because they can be called up and sent down at anytime without much risk. Unfortunately, this isn't the case with almost everyone else the Hurricanes called up from Charlotte, as the Canes could risk losing a key player from the Checkers for nothing if they decide to send them down to the AHL before the season. With only 23 roster spots available and 26 bodies in camp, they are almost certainly going to have to take this risk.

After the jump, we will go over which players in the Hurricanes camp are waiver eligible and how likely it is that they might be claimed by another team.

This is an exciting time for many junior hockey players, as a select grouping of them just returned from participating in the World Junior Championships in Ufa, Russia. If that wasn't enough, the NHL training camps just started up and there were plenty of junior hockey players invited to join the teams who own their NHL rights for a chance at playing in the big leagues. Even if they only stick around for a couple games, the thrill of playing in the best league in the world has to be quite an experience for these players who are lucky enough to get an invite. 

Defenseman Ryan Murphy was the only junior player who Carolina invited to camp, and while I think he is a longshot to make the team, he is going to have the next week to make the best impression he can on the coaching staff so that they may consider giving him a full-time roster spot. I mean, if there is anyway Murphy can erase his lackluster performance at the World Juniors from his mind, it's making the NHL out of camp. I still don't think he is ready yet, but almost anything can happen in such a short training camp period. All he has to do is make the most of this opportunity.

Before he departed for camp, however, Murphy still had a couple games to play with the Kitchener Rangers and after the jump we will talk about how he and the rest of Carolina's junior prospects performed.

Ryan Murphy, Kitchener Rangers - 2 GP, 0 G, 2 A, 2 Pts, 0 PIM

If these were Murphy's last games with the Rangers, he can at least say that he went out on somewhat of a high note with two solid games. He had a pretty strong performance in their 6-2 win over Guelph where he tallied an assist and was on-ice for three even strength goals. He recorded another assist in their 5-1 win over the Sarnia Sting and was on-ice for two Kitchener goals in addition to that. Again, I think he is better off spending the rest of the year in Kitchener but I'm looking forward to seeing how he plays in camp and possibly the regular season. It just seems doubtful that he is ready for the NHL in this point despite his strong offensive performance as of late.

Brock McGinn, Guelph Storm - 3 GP, 1 G, 1 A, 2 Pts, 2 PIM

McGinn got his 11th goal of the season in Guelph's 5-1 win over Kingston where he scored the game-tying goal off a rebound chance. He also played a key role in Guelph's third goal of the game where he provided a screen in front of the net which allowed a long slap shot from the point to get past the Kingston goaltender. McGinn's performance in the other two games were not as noteworthy, as he was on-ice for two goals in their 6-2 loss to Kitchener and took two penalties in a 3-2 win over Barrie. Although he did record an assist in the Kitchener game.

Trevor Carrick, Mississauga Steelheads - 0 GP

Carrick was a scratch in all three Mississauga games this past week, all of which were losses I might add. I'm not sure if he was injured of if he was out of the lineup due to performance but it appears that the Steelheads defense needs some help right now regardless. They gave up over 40 shots in two of their three games this week. 

Keegan Lowe, Edmonton Oil Kings - 4 GP, 1 G, 2 A, 3 Pts, 5 PIM

Lowe had a tough game to start the week as he ended up being on-ice for a goal against after failing to cover a forward in the slot. He was able to rebound with a two-assist game in a 4-0 win over Lethbridge Hurricanes later in the week, though. Lowe showed some of his offensive potential on Edmonton's third goal, too as he made a great pinch down low to set up Trevor Cheek to put the Oil Kings in front 3-0. Lowe would also get involved offensively in Edmonton's next game, scoring the game winning goal in a 2-1 victory over Saskatoon. The next night, Lowe was kept off the scoresheet but he was a +2 in a 3-0 win over Medicine Hat where Curtis Lazar recorded a hat trick. Lowe is someone who could potentially be at Hurricanes camp next season and it's possible that he may creep higher on the team's radar if continues to stay healthy and play well.

Austin Levi, Plymouth Whalers - 3 GP, 0 G, 1 A, 1 Pt, 0 PIM

Levi was on-ice for a total of four goals against in Plymouth's first two games of the week, but he ended the week on a strong note by recording an assist on Plymouth's game winner in overtime against Erie. This was Levi's first point in awhile, so it was good to see him get back on the scoresheet and it's even better that Plymouth won two of their last three games. 

Tyler Stahl, Victoria Royals - 1 GP, 0 G, 0 A, 0 Pts, 2 PIM

The only game Stahl played in was Victoria's 6-1 loss to the Kelowna Rockets and he took a kneeing penalty in that game. He was inactive for the rest of the week and I'm not sure if it was a coach's decision or for disciplinary reasons. Stahl's gotten into trouble a few times this season, so there is a good chance it may have been the latter.  Victoria was outscored 11-15 on the week, so things could be going better for the Royals either way.

Victor Rask, Calgary Hitmen - 0 GP

Rask didn't play in any of the Hitmen's games this week. My guess is that he is still in Sweden after the World Juniors but I'll defer to someone who knows more about the situation than me. 

Matt Mahalak, Plymouth Whalers - 8 GA on 73 shots, .901 Sv%

I said last week that Mahalak's next start would come after a bad performance by Alex Nedeljkovic and that's exactly what happened in Plymouth's 6-5 loss to Saginaw. Nedeljkovic was pulled a little over five minutes into the game after giving up three goals and Mahalak gave up 3 goals on 24 shots in relief. He got the start in their next game against Brampton and performed very well by stopping 32 of 34 shots en route to a 4-2 win. His performance against Erie was slightly worse despite the Whalers picking up the win in overtime. He appears to have the starting job locked down for now, or at least until his next bad performance.

Daniel Altshuller, Oshawa Generals - 6 GA on 70 shots, .914 Sv%

Altshuller picked up his second shutout of the season with a 22-save performance to help the Generals defeat the Ottawa 67's 2-0. His other two performances last week were not quite as good as he allowed six goals on a combined 48 shots against Peterborough and Windsor respectively. The Generals offense was able to bail him out against Peterborough with four goals in support but they could only score on against Windsor, unfortunately. Altshuller's job should be safe for the rest of the year but it will be interesting to see how many games they win if they lose Boone Jenner to Columbus. Altshuller definitely hasn't been bad, but it's hard to say that goaltending has been Oshawa's prime strength this season.

Hurricanes General Manager Jim Rutherford made his second trade of the morning by acquiring Kevin Westgarth from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for forward Anthony Stewart, a 4th round pick in this year's draft and a 6th rounder next year.  Rutherford stated numerous times over the summer that he wanted to acquire an enforcer for the fourth line to "protect" some of the team's younger players and he got one in Westgarth. 

Calling this trade an overpayment on Carolina's part would be somewhat of an understatement, which sounds kind of silly at first because they didn't give up a lot. Stewart is a fourth liner who can't drive possession even with soft minutes. There was a good chance he could have been waived at the start of the year if one of the call-ups from Charlotte outperformed him in training camp. Late round picks aren't anything to lose sleep over either since they rarely turn into NHL-ers. So, if this is the case, then why is this trade an overpayment? Because the Hurricanes gave up assets for a player who they could have had for next to nothing.

Think about it. An enforcer is a player who skates less than 10 shifts a night, rarely plays every game in a year and doesn't contribute to any other area other than hitting and fighting opposing players. How much do you think that player should be worth? Better yet, would you give up roster players and draft picks to acquire him? If I were a GM, I probably wouldn't. The role of an enforcer has declined so much in today's NHL that it's hard to consider giving up assets to acquire one but that's exactly what the Hurricanes did here.

Westgarth was apparently big part of the CBA negotiations for the NHLPA, has a family in North Carolina and skated at the Canes' practice facility during the lockout so I guess I can understand why Rutherford wanted him instead of just signing a random goon off the scrap-heap. Still, he should have been able to get Westgarth for maybe 1/3 of the assets he gave up in this trade. I get that he is playing for the present but Westgarth didn't exactly play a big role in the Kings' success last year and I'm not sure how he makes the Hurricanes a better team than they were without him. Adding Westgarth while subtracting Stewart also does not open up any roster spaces for the players coming in from Charlotte, so we could see another move in the near future.

This is far from the worst trade in the world and Rutherford can probably re-acquire one of the picks he traded by dealing another player, but surrendering draft picks for a guy who isn't going to play every night isn't the smartest thing to do if you are trying to build a successful franchise.

The first trade of the new season was made about an hour ago when the Carolina Hurricanes sent goaltender Brian Boucher and defenseman prospect Mark Alt to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for forward 23-year-old center Luke Pither. This will be Boucher's third stint with the Flyers, the team who he began his NHL career with.

Boucher was battling a groin injury for most of last season and played in only 10 games as a result. He also suffered a shoulder injury over the summer and had to take some time over the prolonged off-season to heal up from that. There was a lot of speculation that the Canes were going to deal Boucher sometime this week because they had two goalies in their system in Justin Peters and Dan Ellis who were both playing well. Ellis was invited to the Hurricanes training camp and with Boucher now out of the picture, the back-up job to Cam Ward appears to be his to lose.

While Boucher didn't get to play that much last year, he was very poor in most of the games he did play in. His overall save percentage was .881 in 10 games and his even strength save-percentage was only .899, both of which are below replacement level. Boucher was also on a one-way deal, which means that they would be paying him a full NHL salary even if he lost the back-up job to Ellis or Peters, and that isn't something a team like the Hurricanes can afford to do. The Flyers, on the other hand, were in need of a back-up goalie as it appears they don't feel too comfortable with having Michael Leighton as their #2 for now. Boucher has played well in Philadelphia before and the Flyers can probably afford to keep or the other in the minors while paying them their full salaries.

The interesting part of this deal is that the Hurricanes decided to send Mark Alt to Philadelphia along with Boucher. Alt was one of their many second round picks in 2010 and there was a point where the team was pretty high on him as a prospect. His stock fell quite a bit this year, though as he is having a very tough junior season as the University of Minnesota with three points in 21 games. From the Minnesota games I've been able to watch this year, Alt has definitely looked uncomfortable in his own zone and it's pretty easy to see why he was scratched for a couple of games this year. He is still only 21 and isn't costing the Hurricanes anything right now, so I'm a little shocked that they decided to give up on him but there might be a chance that they aren't missing out on anything by trading him.

Luke Pither, the player the Canes received in this trade, was undrafted and has spent all of this season in the ECHL with the Wheeling Nailers and Trenton Titans. He currently has 11 goals and 25 points in 35 games in the ECHL and will probably spend the rest of this season with the Charlotte Checkers as a depth player. He spent the previous two seasons with the Adirondack Phantoms where he totaled 11 goals and 30 points in 106 games. In other words, they didn't get much in return with this deal and basically had to send Alt to Philadelphia to get the Flyers to take Boucher's contract. 

I'm not sure how I feel about the team giving up on Alt and using him as a throw-in, but this trade probably doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things unless Alt really turns it on after this year. GM Jim Rutherford did mention that there would be a few moves done to clear space for other players, and this looks like one of them. Will there be another one coming up?  We'll just have to wait and see.

The 2013 NHL season is all but ready to get off and running after an extremely long wait. There is just one more business that needs to be taken care of before we get things rolling; training camp. Teams will only have a week to get every player in shape and prepare their rosters for the upcoming season, so things are going to be even more intense than usual. Carolina's training camp will be very critical since this is Kirk Muller's first "full" season as a head coach and a rushed training camp with no pre-season could be very tough on the new players who have yet to learn his system. Training camps should be fun to watch and it will be interesting to see who makes the team because anything can happen in the span of a week with everyone giving it their all.

Carolina released their training camp roster last night and there were six players from the Charlotte Checkers invited. The players are; Zach Boychuk, Jeremy Welsh, Drayson Bowman, Tim Wallace, Bobby Sanguinetti and Dan Ellis. Boychuk and Bowman will likely be competing for roles in the top-six with Tuomo Ruutu's injury opening up a spot there. Boychuk leads the Checkers in goals and points with 16 and 32 respectively and Bowman is close behind with 14 goals, although his overall total is boosted from a strong month of October when he was scoring on over 30% of the shots he took. He has cooled down since then. Still, Bowman was technically never "sent down" to the minors before the lockout and Muller used him in a top-nine role with the Canes for most of last season. It seemed like he was going to make the team regardless. Boychuk, on the other hand, has something to prove this year and will hopefully make a lasting impression on the coaching staff in a good way unlike last year.

Welsh is an interesting choice since he has only 13 points in 37 games, but let's remember that the team needs a third line center and Welsh fits the mold for that. The third line doesn't exactly need to be a shutdown unit now that Jordan Staal is on the team, but most teams like to have a bigger body centering their third line and Welsh can potentially give them that. Zac Dalpe was another player who many expected to get an invite but he is staying in Charlotte for now. It's kind of surprising when you consider how well he is playing there and that he is a natural center who can play on the third line. Dalpe will get his shot sometime during the year, I believe. He's playing too well to not at least deserve another look. 

As for Wallace, he will be competing for a fourth line spot with Anthony Stewart, Andreas Nodl and possibly Tim Brent. He was signed to a two-way deal in the off-season and has spent most of his career in the AHL and is more known for his forechecking and physical play at the NHL level. Wallace's 16 points in 37 games with Charlotte aren't terribly impressive, but he likely isn't going to be used in an offensive role if the Hurricanes decide to keep him. I could see him earning a spot on the fourth line out of camp, as that unit wasn't very good for the Hurricanes last year and Wallace's underlying stats aren't that bad (although they aren't good either). Carolina usually doesn't drown their fourth line in defensive zone starts, so it might be interesting to see if Wallace plays better territorially with sheltered minutes.

GM Jim Rutherford stated that he would be surprised if Bobby Sanguinetti doesn't make the team, and I tend to agree with that. He was playing well in Charlotte and can't return there without passing through waivers first, and while I don't think teams will be chomping at the bit to claim him, that's a risk the Canes probably don't want to take. Sanguinetti can be useful as a seventh defenseman and the job is probably his as long as he isn't awful in training camp. Although, things may change if Ryan Murphy is also impressive in camp. It was a bit of a shocker that he was invited after his performance for Team Canada at the World Juniors but the Canes want to get another look at him. He made the team out of camp last season but didn't play in any games, so it's possible that he could see some action this year but I doubt Carolina keeps him past the six-game limit. If Murphy is a third-pairing defenseman, it doesn't make much sense to burn a year of his entry-level contract.

Dan Ellis will likely be the back-up goalie with Justin Peters staying in Charlotte. This is the safe move for now because Ellis has played really well for the Checkers all season while Peters struggled until his last few starts. Peters is also on a two-way deal and can be called up without needing to pass through waivers. Which means that if Ellis plays poorly then the Canes can call-up Peters if needed. The only problem is that they risk losing Ellis to waivers but that doesn't mean much if he isn't performing well in the NHL.

Later, we will talk about some of the position battles and questions the Hurricanes will be facing during training camp.

Now that the lockout is officially over and the NHL is ready to begin an abbreviated 48-game season. As one would expect, the schedule is going to be jam packed this year with lots of back-to-back games and home-and-home series' to help the league get 48 games in before the end of April. Because the season is starting to late, the trade deadline is being pushed back to April 3rd and the season will end on April 27th instead of the beginning of the month per usual. It isn't ideal, but beggers can't be choosers at this point and I'm sure the fans are just happy to have the NHL back in general. Teams finally released their schedules last night, so now we know what lies ahead for the Hurricanes and everyone else.

The most important thing to remember in this shortened year is that every single games means so much more than it does in a full 82-game year. There are always stretches of games where teams go through rough patches and while not much is thought of them during a full season, it could end up being the difference in a team making the playoffs or not this year. This is something the Hurricanes really need to take note of because historically, this team has gotten off to poor starts and they really can't afford to have it happen again this year if they want to make the playoffs. The fact that most of the players on the team are going to be playing their first games in over seven months starting next week isn't going to help matters either, but the good news is that the Hurricanes aren't the only team facing that predicament.

There are a few places on the Hurricanes schedule that fans should keep in mind, because the team could potentially get an upper-hand or fall behind the rest of the division depending on how they perform. The Canes are going to be thrown into the fire early on in the season with a six-game, 10-day road trip which includes two games against the Philadelphia Flyers, who beat the Canes in three of four meetings last year. They will also play the Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators, New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders in this road trip. The good news is that there is only one back-to-back set of games in the road trip and they won't have to do that much traveling between cities. Still, playing on the road is tough and the Canes will have to make sure they come out of this relatively unscathed.

March is going to be a very important month for Carolina. The Canes will have two home-and-home series' against divisional opponents on the 2nd and 3rd (Florida) and the 12th & 14th (Washington) as well as a few back-to-back divisional games during the month. A good chunk of this team's schedule will be played within the Southeast Division and getting these wins will go a long way if they want to clinch a playoff spot and home-ice advantage in the playoffs. I already talked about how Carolina needs to be better in divisional play and it appears that they are really going to be put to the test during March.

A couple other games of note on the schedule is the team's first showdown with the Pittsburgh Penguins on February 28th, which will be Brandon Sutter's return to Carolina and Jordan Staal's first game against his former team. I expect Sutter to get a good reaction from the crowd at PNC Arena. I'm not sure how the reaction will be for Staal when the Canes go to Pittsburgh on April 27th, which will be the last game of the regular season for Carolina. Let's hope that won't be the last game of the season for the Hurricanes because there are higher expectations for them than usual this year.  Whether or not they make it in will likely depend on how many points they gain during the stretches of games noted above.

It all begins this Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. when the Hurricanes take on the Florida Panthers on the road. Carolina's first home game is the following Tuesday at 7 p.m. against the Tampa Bay Lightning. I'm sure that both of those dates can not come soon enough for Carolina fans as the season is finally just around the corner.

Anybody who has been following the Charlotte Checkers during the lockout knows that the team has more than a few guys on the roster who could possibly be in the NHL as soon as the new CBA is ratified. The Checkers currently have five players with at least 10 goals and the same amount with at least 20 points in less than 40 games. The best part of it is that most of these players are guys who are on the cusp of being "NHL ready" and we are going to find out whether or not they have a future with the Carolina Hurricanes in a matter of months. The lockout is obviously going to cause this process to be rushed and the competition between forwards in training camp is going to be a fracas with at least three players gunning for one roster spot.

According to News & Observer reporter Chip Alexander, Hurricanes head coach Kirk Muller says that he plans to have 15 forwards and 8 defensemen in training camp and plans for the roster to be relatively small since camp will last only a few days thanks to the lockout. Who might those 23 players be? We know that Eric Staal, Jeff Skinner, Jordan Staal, Alex Semin, Jiri Tlusty, Chad LaRose, Andreas Nodl, Jussi Jokinen, Tim Brent, Patrick Dwyer, Anthony Stewart, Drayson Bowman, Joni Pitkanen, Tim Gleason, Jamie McBain, Joe Corvo, Jay Harrison, Cam Ward and Justin Peters are going to be there since they are on the roster. There's twelve forwards, six defensemen and two goaltenders right there. You can probably make that seven defensemen since it was reported by Bob McKenzie that Ryan Murphy will be joining the team. That leaves room for three forwards, one defenseman and any goaltender Muller feels like bringing in.

After the jump, we will go through some of the possible candidates for the remaining four spots and discuss why they may or may not qualify for it.

This was an interesting week for junior hockey, as there were a few teams playing without some of their top players with the World Junior Championship in Ufa, Russia. You could consider this a time for some of the "secondary" players on their teams to step up while the stars are out, which it is for some teams like the Niagara Ice Dogs who were missing at least three of their best players this week. Another team missing two of their key players was the Edmonton Oil Kings, who had to spend the last few weeks without defensemen Griffin Reinhart and David Musil due to the WJC. This presented an opportunity for Carolina prospect Keegan Lowe to step up a little bit. Being the captain of the squad, Lowe is already playing a major role on the Oil Kings, but no Reinhart or Musil gave him a chance to play more minutes than usual and he certainly rose to the occasion with two goals in three games, giving him eight total on the season.

A couple of the Hurricanes' prospects also had to spent time away from their junior clubs to particpate in the WJC this past month as Victor Rask and Ryan Murphy both made significant impacts for their home country's teams in both positive and negative fashion. After the jump, we'll take a closer look at what went down in Ufa and across the CHL for Carolina's prospects.

With the NHL lockout finally coming to an end this weekend, the Checkers most recent set of games could be seen as a "final audition" for players hoping to get an invite to the Carolina Hurricanes training camp, which is set to begin very soon. It also helped that their game on Sunday against the Norfolk Admirals was held at the PNC Arena so more fans, coaches and members of the Canes scouting staff could get a first-hand look at some of these players. If Kirk Muller's intention is to only invite a few players from Charlotte to camp then he will have his work cut out for him, as there are many Checkers who are making good cases to earn a roster spot with the Hurricanes once the season starts in a couple weeks.

The "what have you done for me lately?" mindset always thrives in the sports world, so I would expect the Checkers' hottest players to get a look before others and right now, you'll struggle to find a hotter forward than Zac Dalpe. If Dalpe's sights are still set on making the NHL full-time, then he certainly made a great case for himself this weekend with three goals and four points in three games played. He was very impressive in Charlotte's 3-1 win over Norfolk at the PNC Arena on Sunday by scoring a shorthanded goal and forcing a turnover to set up Jerome Samson's goal in the third period. Dalpe also scored a pair of goals on Friday night in the Checkers 4-0 shutout over Lake Erie and could have easily scored another shorthanded goal on Sunday had it not been for a great save by Frederik Andersen. He also tallied six shots on goal in Charlotte's 2-1 loss to Lake Erie on Thursday, giving him 12 total shots on the long weekend. Dalpe started off the year a bit slow after recovering from an injury but he has really been on fire the last month. His point total is still modest (35-11-12-23), but he is still producing more offense than most of the Checkers forwards with a shot rate of 3.31 shots per game. It's hard to look at that and not be impressed with the way he has been playing this year. 

The other candidate for "hottest forward" would be Zach Boychuk, who added another goal and assist to his totals this weekend. His goal came on Thursday night in a loss to Lake Erie, which was also the Checkers lone tally of the game. Boychuk also looked very impressive in the Norfolk game with four shots on goal and he had a few very good chances that either missed the net or were stopped by Andersen. Despite that, I think it's safe to say he made a good impression on the coaching staff and his performance this year should be enough to earn him one more look with the Hurricanes.

Riley Nash also made quite a bit of noise this past week with a goal and two assists. Nash is more known for his defensive skills at the professional level but he showed some of his offensive talent in the 4-0 win over Lake Erie by scoring on a powerful slapshot from the top of the faceoff circle. He also made a great feed to Dalpe from the side of the net to set up a goal and tallied another assist in the third period. Performances like that from Nash are pretty rare but they are nice to see when they come around. Tim Wallace also had a three-point performance this weekend, as did Chris Terry who scored his 10th goal of the season.

All in all, this was a great three-game set for the Checkers despite it beginning on a frustrating note with a 2-1 overtime loss on Thursday night. They won both of their games after that, outscored their opponents 9-2 and outshot them 93-77. Outplaying your opponents always goes a long way into notching victories and that's exactly what the Checkers managed to do in all three of their games. Solid goaltending from the Peters/Ellis tandem also helped a lot. It will be interesting to see what happens to this team after training camp because there are going to be a few players leaving for the Hurricanes. The strong start the Checkers got off to likely puts them in good position to make the playoffs right now but will they keep up this great pace after losing a few key players? We shall see.