After returning to Charlotte on Monday, Michal Jordan had only positive things to say about his time with the Carolina Hurricanes. That’s a good thing, as he’s about to join them again.
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Hours after sending Marc-Andre Gragnani back to Charlotte, the Hurricanes recalled the Czech defenseman ahead of their game against Pittsburgh on Thursday. With Tim Gleason, Jamie McBain and Joni Pitkanen still injured, the NHL club is still in need of help on the blue line.
Jordan spent just two practice days back in Charlotte between NHL stints. In his first, he played five games from Feb. 14-24 – a streak that started with a surprise recall that brought him from the Checkers’ morning skate in Chicago to that night’s Hurricanes game at home against Toronto.
“That first day was just crazy,” he said. “When you think about all the years you’ve worked hard here and in junior and having to leave home at 17, it just shows that it was the right thing to do and that it got you closer to the NHL.”
Just two days ago, Jordan was touring Washington, DC, with some Carolina teammates during an off day. It was then that he saw a missed call on his phone that caused him to put two and two together.
“I thought, ‘Oh, here is is,’ and sure enough it was Kirk,” he said, referring to Muller, the Hurricanes’ coach. “He told me that I got better every day and they were really happy with me and I shouldn’t take it as a bad thing.”
Clearly he didn’t, as he was still gushing about his experience at Wednesday’s Checkers practice, well before learning that he was on his way back.
“All those guys like (Cam) Ward and (Chad) LaRose are such great people and nice teammates – it’s a big family up there and they treated me great,” he said. “Carolina fans should be really happy and proud of their team, because as good as they are on the ice they’re even better people off the ice.”
As a result of the week’s transactions, the Checkers have the exact same players on defense as they did in their most recent game, a shutout win in Abbotsford. At forward, they’ve lost Zac Dalpe to Carolina and Brett Sutter to suspension but gained Andreas Nodl via reassignment from the Hurricanes.
