Hurricanes sign MacKenzie MacEachern to continue adding depth

With the Chicago Wolves continuing to shed their veteran depth, as AHL Champions often do, their NHL affiliate in Carolina is doing what it can to help the reigning Calder Cup winners in terms of the roster available to them. Carolina’s organization has won back-to-back Calder Cup Championships, in 2019 with the Charlotte Checkers and this most recent season with those Chicago Wolves.

In the hopes of keeping their run of AHL dominance going, the Hurricanes have added former St Louis Blues forward MacKenzie MacEachern. It is a one-year, two-way deal. It’s a league minimum deal so it carries a $750,000 cap hit, and it sees him make $225,000 at the AHL level, with $275,000 guaranteed to the Bloomfield Hills, Michigan native.

MacEachern is not just a warm body for the American Hockey League either. During his time in the Gateway to the West, MacEachern saw games in four separate seasons. He has 115 games worth of experience at the NHL level, with 11 goals and 8 assists to his name throughout his career. He’s not a world-conquering forward, but he’s a solid option in the event of an injury or a Covid outbreak.

At 6’2, 190 lbs, it is clear that MacEachern is capable of playing the role of a fourth-line guy where he blows up anything that comes near him. While that is certainly something the NHL team needs, I do not know enough about him to conclusively say that he will be spending the year in the big leagues. As much as we want the team to add some size and bite, this might not be it. It might be, but might not.

If he does spend the year with the reigning Calder Cup Champions, he’ll likely be asked to be in a leadership role as a veteran presence in the Windy City. At 28 years old, with multiple years spent around one of the best-run NHL teams in St Louis, whose AHL affiliate has combated the Canes AHL affiliate in both Calder Cup Championships the Hurricanes affiliates have won, he’s been around long enough to help bring some of the promising prospects around him along.