The Canes today recalled forward Jerome Samson from the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL. Samson is an emergency recall, replacing forward Chad LaRose, who was injured Monday in Canes practice.
Canes coach Kirk Muller said today that LaRose, who has an upper-body injury when he banged into the net, did not suffer a concussion and that he hoped to get the winger back soon.
It's the first NHL recall of the season for Samson, 24, who currently leads Charlotte and ranks tied for 11th in the AHL in goals (15). He is second among Checkers skaters in scoring this season with 27 points (15g, 12a) in 37 games and is tops among all AHL players with 160 shots on goal in 2011-12.
On Samson's recall, Muller said, "He deserves to be brought up from his play. You can see the power of the merit system."
In past seasons, Samson has been called up only to be assigned fourth-line duties, for the most part. Tonight, he will be on a line with Jussi Jokinen and Alexei Ponikarovsky.
"Once you get the chance, you try to show them that they're wrong just letting you sit down there for so long," Samson said. "I'm looking forward to the game tonight and to the third line, and maybe have more ice time than I did last year and I'll be able to show them more."
Forwards Zac Dalpe, Zach Boychuk, Riley Nash and Drayson Bowman have gotten the call from the Canes this season ahead of Samson. And Samson noted everyone in Charlotte paid close attention to the amount of minutes being played by the callups sinced Muller was hired as coach -- Dalpe had 19 minutes in his last game before being reassigned to the Checkers.
"We keep a close look at what's going on up here," he said. "Dalpe and Bowman played power play, first line, top minutes. Obviously I would have loved for it to be me, but I was loving it because they were getting a shot at showing what they can do. Tonight is going to be my chance to prove what I can do."
In today's pregame skate, Muller had Staal centering Jiri Tlusty and Tuomo Ruutu; Brandon Sutter at center with Pat Dwyer and Andreas Nodl, and Tim Brent at center with Brett Sutter and Anthony Stewart on the wings. The defensive pairs remained the same from the Nashville game.
Cam Ward will start in goal against Sergei Bobrovsky of the Flyers. Bobrovsky, who has not started sinced the Jan. 2 Winter Classic game against the Rangers, is 8-3-1 with a 2.56 GAA and .914 save percentage.
A Raleigh native, Chip has worked at the N&O since 1979 and is the Canes beat writer. He can be reached at
Comments
To answer the first part of
Tue, 01/10/2012 - 18:19 — verbalkintTo answer the first part of your question, nope. Quite a few forwards still haven't gotten a call - Blanchard, Dolan, Durno, Matsumoto, McNicoll, Pistilli, Shugg, Soryal, Staal, and Terry have not come up this season. Matsumoto got some playing time last season under Mo, but the rest have not seen any NHL time.
Some Never Will
Wed, 01/11/2012 - 13:24 — sittler27Some of these guys will never get called up for various reasons. Some are on AHL only contracts. Some are on the Checkers as career AHLers. Some just have no NHL potential or are currently not ready. Of that entire list, I'd say only Shugg, Terry and Blanchard show any signs of longer term NHL potential. Matsumoto is a great utility guy to have in reserve in the minors if you ever needed an emergency 4th line call up. But he has AHL level skating and quickness and I think he will be destined to finish his career there.
Blanchard and Pistilli
Wed, 01/11/2012 - 15:37 — abramsdougSome big forwards take a while to get their coordination and skating together. I like the progress both Blanchard and Pistilli are making. Both are big, strong guys who battle. Pistilli is actually something of a sniper as well. Blanchard's game has come a long, long way.
Bout time
Tue, 01/10/2012 - 16:09 — Hockeydad92Samson deserves a shot, he has earned that with the minor league club. While this is temporary I believe that Jerome is a upgrade to LaRose if he is put in the right situations. Samson has hands, decent hockey IQ and he is significantly faster than Chad. The only other shots at the big leagues for Samson were under the watchful eye of the Mo regime. 6 minutes a game on the 4th line is hard to truly evaluate younger players.
Also the reason we don't carry more spare parts excepting waiver issues is that we are cheap. PK does not want to pay to have a young guy sit around and draw NHL pay when we can ship em back to the A and save big money on a per game basis.
have the Canes now called up
Tue, 01/10/2012 - 12:27 — bppackhave the Canes now called up every forward from the Checkers at some point this season?as bad as we are, it sure seems like one of them could stick around. are none of them NHL material, Jim?
maybe that's the whole idea
Tue, 01/10/2012 - 13:16 — Biff_BeersThis is just a guess, but maybe the Canes specifically intend to call up just about every forward from Charlotte to give them all a fair chance to skate for the new coach. Maybe Bowman wasn't sent back down because he didn't "stick" but because they wanted to signal to the other guys like Samson that their chance was coming.
Audition
Tue, 01/10/2012 - 13:41 — sittler27No question this is now looking like an audition where each prospect that is "close" will get a chance to show what he can do. JR did mention when he hired Muller that he wanted a new set of eyes on their assets and to get his (and the McLean's ) assessment.
I think this also signals that we will see more than one rostered veteran forward gone by the trading deadline.
Lastly, all these guys are on two way contracts and it is a nice way to reward effort in Charlotte with the chance to earn some extar buck while with the big club. The difference in pay is significant.
Do I still think Bowman should have stuck?.... my opinion is that he is the only call up that clearly established with his play that he should be kept with big team. But I recognize that they are stuck because they cannot send Nodl down due to the waiver rules. I have seen glimpses of what they must have seen in Nodl but not on a consistent basis and not enough to warrant the permanent roster spot he currently occupies.
If purely on merit Bowman would be up and Nodl would be down. However there is one other aspect that we don't discuss much here. Many team keep healthy extras. The extra cost is marginal to keep a player like Bowman on the NHL roster. The argument is does he benefit more with staying with and practicing every day with the big club or playing 20+ minutes in the AHL. There are arguments for both. At this time of year every player likely has some soft tissue issue or other tweaked body part. Would it not be more beneficial to give some guys a night off and rotate someone from the press box through certain positions. Dwyer likely was not 100% the other night. Jussi looks like he could use a night off. Prior to the current injury LaRose looked a but banged up on a couple of nights. Tlusty seems to have lost energy and could use some press box time. Poni struggles against quick teams. Stewart could sit a game. It keeps certain guys focused that they need to play every shift to ensure they are on the starting roster the next night.
The Long Pre-Season Leading Up to 2012-2013
Tue, 01/10/2012 - 17:07 — abramsdougThe Hurricanes are in the pre-season for 2012-2013. Muller is still learning which players fit in which spots. It also seems inevitable that at least two if not more than two forwards will be traded before conclusion of the trade deadline. Some of the auditioning is to see where the various prospects are in their development. Some of the auditioning is posturing to see which prospects are garnering interest by other teams.
Additionally, there is a new sheriff in town. Muller is making the point that time on ice is earned and is not an entitlement. When we see roster spots earned game by game rather than being essentially determined by the nature of the contract, the rule of accountabililty will take another major step forward.
If as some suggest Ruutu is going to be traded, I assume it will be for the asking price of Whitney, i.e., a first round pick and a prospect. I think it's short-sighted to trade Ruutu; but it seems that is where things are headed. Similarly, I believe Gleason will garner a first round pick plus somebody coming back for a salary wash to keep the Hurricanes slightly above the salary floor. If Allen and Spacek each bring a second round pick, then the Hurricanes will have a dominating position in the 2012 draft.
Dalpe's knee seems to be much better and he is regaining his explosiveness. Rask had a solid WJC tournament. Hofmann is the closest player the Hurricanes have to Ruutu in terms of his style of play. He needs to add some more muscle mass to play that way in the NHL; but Hofmann is a player nobody has to tell to play hardnosed hockey or to make open ice hits.
Tonight is a major test for Samson. In my view, if he plays with intensity and still is relaxed, the uptempo approach will help him. He, too, is a player who works hard every shift and he also is very difficult to drive off the puck.
The Muller quote below
Tue, 01/10/2012 - 14:14 — oldpoliticalsThe Muller quote below confirms the "auditioning stage" is in full swing. I can see this taking some time so as not to give the competition any advantage and JR at a trade negotiation disadvantage. No sense trading from weakness if you don't have to.
"He deserves to be brought up from his play, that’s what the feedback was," Muller said. "You can see the pattern of the merit system. If possible we want guys to earn it down there. If we can pop them into the right situation up here and they deserve it they should be up here."
Audition
Tue, 01/10/2012 - 14:00 — louis12580Ding. Ding. Ding. No more phonecalls, we have a winner! Your part about carrying/not carrying that extra forward is spot on. I can't figure out why the team would have a spot of 8 defensemen (when all are healthy); Allen, Gleason, Pitkanen, Faulk, Spacek, McBain, Harrison, and Joslin then not have that spare forward at the teams disposal. Guys do need that occasional day off and when you have that extra forward or two it helps create competition for playing time. With that extra forward or two, Chad can be sat when he continues to mess up (of course he then proceeds to score 11 goals), or sit any other who is not performing. I say carry that spare d-man and also 2 spare forwards. Of course, this all might be moot if the team does trade one of those extra defensemen later on.
It would really make sence
Tue, 01/10/2012 - 15:06 — HockeydogIt would really make sence to carry an extra forward right now. The staff have to have some ideas at this point who they may want to move at the deadline. They also know how dinged up those players might be. Use Januray to rest them a bit, then have them rested up so they make a better showing leading up to deadline day in February. I have always thought is was the norm for an NHL team to carry a spare forward and an spare D-man. The Canes must feel that with the short distance to Charlotte they can keep more players playing. However they do it I think the two priorities now should be Muller and McLean's assesment of all players, NHL and near ready AHL, and making sure the players who will be in play at the deadline are shown in their best light. If a miracle happens the team goes on a tear the way the Leafs did last year then they can always shift gears.