The Hurricanes sent one player back to the Checkers, but not without taking another in return.
On Sunday, Carolina reassigned forward Zac Dalpe to Charlotte while recalling Tim Wallace to take his place in the lineup. Dalpe had been in the NHL since its return, recording two assists in six games, while Wallace attended Hurricanes training camp but returned to Charlotte prior to opening night.
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Dalpe, a 23-year-old capable of playing both at center and on the wing, is tied for third on the Checkers in scoring with 28 points (13g, 15a) despite missing the team’s last nine games. Dalpe, who was not on the Hurricanes’ initial list of camp invites but still joined the team prior to the start of the season, has an active five-game point streak (5g, 4a) at the AHL level. He has not played for the Checkers since scoring a goal in the team’s win at Houston on Jan. 13.
Both of Dalpe’s NHL assists this season came in the same game, a 6-3 win over Buffalo on Jan. 24. He did not record a point in four subsequent games while averaging around 11 minutes of ice time per outing, most of which was spent on a line with Jordan Staal and Jeff Skinner. He has played a total of 37 NHL games over the last three seasons, scoring nine points (4g, 5a).
Wallace, 28, spent most of last season in the NHL with the New York Islanders and Tampa Bay but has yet to make his Hurricanes debut. He finished last season on the most productive stretch of NHL career, scoring eight points (3g, 5a) in his last 16 games with the Lightning.
Wallace, who has played on both the left and ring wing since joining the organization prior to this season, ranks ninth on the Checkers in scoring and is tied for fourth with 44 penalty minutes. Of the 20 points he’s scored with Charlotte this season (9g, 11a), 13 of those have come in his last 13 games, including a career-high, four-point outing on Jan. 11 (1g, 3a) that tied the franchise record for most points in a single game.
The Checkers are currently in the midst of the longest break between games in their entire schedule. Having earned a split in a back-to-back set at Oklahoma City on Thursday and Friday, they don’t return to action until facing San Antonio in their annual Pink in the Rink even on Saturday.
