Carolina Hurricanes Prospects: Hudson Elynuik Signs With Charlotte Checkers

With Spokane Chief’s season over, Hudson Elynuik signed an Amateur Try-Out contract with the AHL affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes

News broke today out of Charlotte, North Carolina, that a new face would be joining the team in their playoff push.  Hudson Elynuik signed an Amateur Try-Out (ATO) contract today which will allow him to play for the Charlotte Checkers for the rest of their season.  Elynuik was drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes in the third round of the 2016 draft.

Elynuik was impressive this year for the Spokane Chiefs in the Western Hockey League (WHL). In 64 games this season, Elynuik posted 29 goals and 73 points, a dramatic increase over his 19 goals and 44 points last year.  Sadly, the Spokane Chiefs did not qualify for the playoffs for the first time in ten years in the WHL.

Related Story: Hudson Elynuik Flying Under the Radar

With the contract signed, Elynuik could play as soon as tonight against the Iowa Wild.  This is a key game for the Checkers as they are chasing the Wild for the fourth and final playoff spot in the AHL central division.

What does it mean?

Basically, the ATO allows Elynuik to play for the Checkers for the rest of the season.  As of right now, Elynuik has not signed an entry-level contract with the Carolina Hurricanes.  The ATO lets Elynuik try to increase his chances of earning an entry-level contract.

An impressive few games for Charlotte would go a long way to showing that his improvement this season wasn’t due to being 6’5″ 190 playing among younger players.  Other Carolina draft picks have followed this route as well.  Both Hayden Fleury and Roland McKeown played a few games with the Checkers two years ago, and Nicolas Roy played a couple with the team last year.

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The Carolina Hurricanes have suffered quite a few injuries recently and have raided the Charlotte Checkers of some of their top players.  Phil Di Guiseppe, Patrick Brown, and Valentin Zykov are a few that are now permanently with the club.  Lucas Wallmark also was called up as well.

With the Checkers missing their top players Elynuik may have an easier time cracking the lineup. Since Elynuik is 20 years old this year he will also be eligible to play for the Checkers next year as well if the Hurricanes sign him to an entry-level contract.