January 18, 2012 6:17 PM
The Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers swung a trade on Wednesday night that will have a significant impact on the Checkers.
Coming in are San Antonio Rampage forwards Evgenii Dadonov, who has 55 games of NHL experience, and A.J. Jenks, who has split this season between San Antonio and the ECHL’s Cincinnatti Cyclones. Headed the other way is Checkers leading scorer Jon Matsumoto, along with organizational prospect Mattias Lindstrom, a winger currently playing in his native Sweden.
 In Dadonov, the Checkers get a scoring winger who should immediately fit in on one of the team’s top lines. The 22-year-old, third-round draft pick of the Panthers in 2007 has 9 points (5g, 4a) in 20 AHL games this season to go along with 3 points (2g, 1a) in 15 games with the Panthers. Dadonov, a 5-foot-10, 178-pound native of Russia who participated in the 2011 NHL All-Star Game in Raleigh as one of the league’s top rookies, posted a goal and an assist in the Rampage’s recent two-game set in Charlotte.
Jenks, a 21-year-old, fourth-round pick by the Panthers in 2008 who has been listed as both a center and a left wing, will contribute as a depth player. In 25 AHL games this season, the Michigan-born Jenks (6-foot-2, 200 pounds) has yet to register his first point. However, he was a prolific scorer in junior hockey with the Plymouth Whalers (193 points in 249 games), where he was teammates with the Checkers’ Brett Bellemore, Michal Jordan and Chris Terry.
Despite adding Dadonov, who likely has the most NHL potential of any player involved in the trade, the loss of Matsumoto, recently named to the AHL All-Star Classic, will create an immediate hole at center ice for the Checkers. With Zac Dalpe recalled by Carolina earlier in the day, Riley Nash, fresh off a return from injury, becomes the No. 1 center for the time being. Others on the roster include Brett Sutter, Cedric McNicoll and ECHL tryout Sean Dolan, with Chris Durno currently out due to injury.
Lindstrom, a third-round pick by the Hurricanes in 2009 who missed almost all of the following season due to a knee injury, was a candidate to play in Charlotte this season but ultimately headed home to play out the last season of his contract with Skelleftea.
The Checkers were en route to Abbotsford at the time of the deal, with games scheduled for Friday and Saturday night against the Heat. Charlotte’s four-game season series with San Antonio has already concluded. |
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