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.

The general consensus among those who follow the NHL is that while the Hurricanes appear to be a better team than they were last year, they still have some holes on defense. I've discussed this a few times over the prolonged off-season and came to the conclusion that it's probably going to take more than a season for the Canes to have a "great team." We're talking about a team who gave up more shots than any other club in the league last year and currently has only one player who most would consider a solid shutdown defenseman. It's going to take time for things to improve and that's especially true with the Hurricanes having so many defensive prospects in their system. They also lost two of their better defensive players over the summer in Brandon Sutter and Bryan Allen, so this could be another tough transition year for the Canes defense unless a few players outperform their expectations or their forwards make up for their problems on the blue-line. 

Calling this a "transition year" for the Hurricanes defense might sound a little odd because the only moves they made over the off-season was signing Joe Corvo to a one-year deal while losing Bryan Allen to free agency and Jaroslav Spacek to retirement. Corvo should be able to take over Spacek's role as a soft-minute/third pairing defenseman but the loss of Allen changes the look of this defense quite a bit. Along with Tim Gleason, Allen did the bulk of the heavy lifting on the Carolina blue-line, being given the toughest assignments at even strength and on the penalty kill. No one was signed to replace Allen, which poses a problem for the Hurricanes defense. 

A lack of bodies isn't the Hurricanes problem, as they have enough NHL-caliber players. The bigger issue is whether or not they have the right players for their system and if they fill their team's needs. If you're running a team, you would want your defense corps to consist of at least 3-4 players who are capable of playing at least 20 minutes a game and being matched up against other team's top lines. In addition to that, you want a minimum of four players who can be used on the powerplay and penalty kill to fill out both special teams units. Do the Hurricanes have these pieces?

The answer to that question depends on how you feel about the players on the roster right now. Obviously we know that Tim Gleason is capable of playing in the top four and handling tough minutes but everyone after that is an uncertainty. Both Justin Faulk and Jay Harrison played tough minutes last year but that was the first season either of them had playing such minutes, and Faulk is still only 20 years old. Joe Corvo played the toughs for Carolina in 2010-11 but was used as a third-pairing defenseman in Boston last season, Joni Pitkanen can play big minutes but his territorial play against opposing team's first lines has never been the best and Jamie McBain has spent most of his NHL career in more of a sheltered role. Then there is Bobby Sanguinetti and Ryan Murphy who probably aren't going to be playing top-four minutes unless they really impress the coaching staff in training camp.

After reviewing this a little, it can be determined that the Canes have plenty of guys with experience playing in the top-four but they haven't exactly performed at a level that would put them in that class on a contending team. That being said, a healthy season from Pitkanen and progressions from the likes of Faulk and McBain could definitely change things for the better. Faulk's terrific performance with the Charlotte Checkers during the lockout could be an indication of great things to come for him, but we will have to see how his NHL development goes once the season resumes. McBain, on the other hand, is a borderline top-four guy right now who hasn't shown the ability to play against tough competition aside from a couple of occasions. McBain's performance in the NHL has been good for a third-pairing defenseman and he is capable of playing 20+ minutes a game thanks to his time with Pitkanen but those two were one of the worst Carolina defense pairings last year in terms of creating and preventing scoring chances. A new defense partner could be in order for McBain to determine if he is suitable for a top-four role full-time. Until then, Harrison showed last year that he is good enough to hold the fort down but I am personally not sold on him being a long-term solution just yet.

With the team having only one assured shutdown defenseman, it's very likely that we could see the defense pairings used much differently than what fans were used to seeing last year. Since there is no Gleason/Allen pairing who will automatically get the tough assignments every night, things are going to be much more spread out than they were last year. This means that the defense pairings could end up being shifted around a few times before the coaching staff settles on a few that they like. It could be even more with training camp being even shorter than usual. Predictions don't really mean much right now, but if I were running the Hurricanes defense, this is how I would roll the defense corps to start the year.

First Pairing:

Tim Gleason - Joni Pitkanen

Assignments: Opposing team's top lines, 20+ minutes a game, <50% offensive zone starts

The success of this pairing is all going to depend on whether or not Pitkanen can stay healthy and if his play doesn't drop off too dramatically from where it was last year. This is a bit of an interesting pairing because Gleason isn't going to be with a pure defensive defenseman like he was for most of last year and I think that might actually work out well. Pitkanen provides a good compliment to Gleason and can really help him when it comes to leading breakouts and getting the puck moving in the right direction. The one flaw with the Gleason/Allen pairing last year was Allen's struggles with advancing the puck out of the defensive zone, leading to these two getting pinned in their own end more times than not. Having a more offensive-minded partner will help out Gleason, who is more mobile than some give him credit for. The one question mark that comes with this pairing is whether or not Pitkanen can handle playing against tough competition. He plays enough minutes every night to be on the first pairing but everyone knows Pitkanen has trouble when it comes to coverage in the defensive zone. Gleason may be able to help him out here moreso than McBain, so I think this pairing is worth a shot.

Second Pairing

Justin Faulk - Jay Harrison

Assignments: Second and third lines, at least 20 minutes per game, 50% offensive zone starts

Faulk will probably be elevated to the first pairing sometime this year, but starting him with Harrison again isn't a bad idea. These two were the Hurricanes best defense pairing last year at creating and preventing scoring chances and showed some great chemistry when playing together. They also compliment each other well with Harrison's more responsible game covering up some of Faulk's aggressive plays. Faulk's defensive game is also very impressive considering his age, so it wouldn't surprise me if he is bumped up with Gleason in due time but starting him with Harrison should be fine for now. The two of them know how to work together and the Hurricanes might be better off not messing with a good thing.

Third Pairing

Jamie McBain - Joe Corvo/Bobby Sanguinetti

Assignments: Depth lines, 12-15 minutes a game, >50% offensive zone starts

I'm a little higher on McBain than most people and I think he can play in the top-four if needed, but starting him off on the third pairing is probably the right move for now because he has been able to succeed there in the past. He will likely get a shot in the top-four sometime later in the year, though. Pairing him with a skilled offensive-defenseman like Corvo in a sheltered role could turn out to be a very good plan after how well McBain played with Jaroslav Spacek last year. The other two pairings are going to eat up most of the tough minutes, so this allows the Canes to have a sheltered third unit and it also helps that the Canes have two players who can thrive in this playing situation. I know GM Jim Rutherford signed Corvo to play with Gleason as he did in the past, but I have my doubts about him being able to play in a tough-minute role. A third-pairing defenseman (and a solid one at that) is what he was in Boston and it's probably what he is at this point in his career. Bobby Sanguinetti will probably make the team as a seventh defenseman and play in a similar role.

While the Southeast is going to be far from the strongest division in the NHL this year, there is a good chance that it might be the most competitive. The Florida Panthers managed to dethrone the Washington Capitals as the incumbent champs last season and both of these teams appear to be weaker on paper heading into this year. Meanwhile, the other three teams in the Southeast made improvements last year and the race for the top spot could be much more entertaining than people are expecting. The 48-game season will also play a role in that because every game is going to mean much more than it does in a normal year.

I feel like the Southeast Division is arguably the hardest to predict in the NHL this season with every team being relatively close talent-wise, but something that will go a long way to determining who wins it will be how these teams play against each other. All teams will be playing within their conferences this year and 18 of those games will be intra-division. Divisional play is going to take up over 37% of the schedule which means that those wins (or points) will be even more important than usual. This could be a problem for the Hurricanes, who won only 9 of 24 divisional games last season, but this is shaping up to be a different team and a different division than it was in 2011-12.

Carolina should be better than they were a season ago and that could help them pick up some more wins against divisional foes, but let's keep in mind that they aren't the only team that improved this off-season. I mentioned earlier that both the Winnipeg Jets and Tampa Bay Lightning also have stronger rosters and while the Florida Panthers and Washington Captials are weaker, the Hurricanes won only one game against the Panthers last year and the Caps are always a dangerous team. In other words, the Southeast could go in just about any direction. 

Just how bad was Carolina's divisional play last year, though? Find out after the jump.

On Monday, I went over some of the players from within the Carolina Hurricanes organization who may receive an invite to training camp next week and there are more than a few who are worthy of an invite. As if things weren't going to be crowded enough, GM Jim Rutherford has also stated his intention to add another player to the mix as soon as possible. At this point of the off-season, the free agent pool is full of players who were passed over because they are too old, had a bad season or just don't offer much potential upside. Therefore, it's likely that Rutherford will sign one of these players to a tryout deal or trade for someone else. 

There are always a lot of interesting players signed to tryout deals every year and most of them are guys who make you say, "I didn't know he was still in the league." Not much is expected out of guys who come in on tryout contracts and most of them end up being cut before the season started but there are always some who manage to stick around. Take Petr Sykora for example. He was invited to the New Jersey Devils training camp on a tryout deal, ended up making the team and had a very successful year. The odds of that happening again are slim but bringing in a veteran player on a tryout contract is a low-risk way to bolster your roster.

Is there anyone worth taking from the remaining free agent pool, though? If you remember correctly, Rutherford also said this off-season that he was looking to add "grit" to the third and fourth lines or possibly sign an enforcer to "protect" the younger players like Jeff Skinner. I have my own views on whether or not the Hurricanes "need" to add grit, but if all JR is looking for is a third or fourth liner, then he may be in luck with this free agent pool because there are more than a few out there.

After the jump, we will take a look at what options are out there and whether or not they would be a good fit for Carolina.

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.