COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Lost in all the gloom and dejection of the Canes' 3-2 loss Friday to the Maple Leafs was that Zach Boychuk made his NHL debut this season and played well.

Let's just say the winger, called up Friday from Albany (AHL), played well enough to make coach Paul Maurice more than comfortable with what he saw on the ice.

"What you're hoping for, on a team struggling for offense, you're hoping fo offense," Maurice said today. "At the same time, you want to be abe to play the young player, so you want that confidence and comfort level as a coach."

Tuomo Ruutu says he's playing tonight. Zach Boychuk says he was told he probably would be playing tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Coach Paul Maurice wasn't as sure, at least in his remarks after today's morning skate. He said the decisions on Ruutu, forward Ray Whitney and Boychuk, who was called up Thursday from Albany (AHL) , won't be made until just before game time.

The Carolina Hurricanes announced this morning that another five players have been assigned to the Albany (N.Y.) River Rats, the club's American Hockey League affiliate.

With the cuts, the Canes are left with 27 players in training camp, including young centers Brandon Sutter, 20, and Zach Boychuk, 19.

The five players assigned to Albany were: forwards Drayson Bowman and Steven Goetzen; defensemen Bryan Rodney and Brett Carson; and goaltender Justin Peters. The River Rats' training camp opens Wednesday.

The Albany River Rats (AHL) announced Friday that center Zach Boychuk had joined the team from the Lethbridge Hurricanes, his WHL junior club.

Boychuk, 19, then picked up his first professional point in his AHL debut Friday night with an assist in the River Rats' 4-2 loss to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

Boychuk has completed his fourth season of junior hockey with Lethbridge. The Airdrie, Alberta, native was drafted by the Hurricanes in the first round (14th overall) of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.

Boychuk began the season in the Canes' training camp and made his NHL debut on Oct. 17 at Los Angeles. After playing in two NHL games, he was returned to Lethbridge, where he had 57 points (28 goals, 29 assists) in 43 games.

Nothing is going to keep Zach Boychuk out of Canada's lineup in the 2009 World Junior Championship in Ottawa.

"One of the best feelings you can have is to put the Maple Leaf on your chest and represent your country," Boychuk said in an interview today.

Despite an ankle injury late in Canada's 7-4 comeback win over the United States on Wednesday, the Canes' 2008 first-round draft pick said he was able to skate today and will be ready come Saturday for the semifinal game.

The Hurricanes have decided to send forward Zach Boychuk back to his junior team, Lethbridge (WHL).

Boychuk, Carolina's first-round pick last June, played in two games after recovering from wrist surgery. The first year of his entry-level contract now rolls over to next season; the Canes cannot recall him or send him to Albany (AHL) until Lethbridge's season ends.

He sat out Carolina's third period in Friday's 4-3 overtime loss to the Kings, with all 9:21 of his ice time coming in the first two periods, and played 14:45 in Sunday's win over Anaheim.

Lethbridge's next game is Tuesday. 

ANAHEIM -- Center Eric Staal, who injured a shoulder Friday against the Los Angeles Kings, should play today against the Anaheim Ducks, Canes coach Peter Laviolette said.

Michael Leighton will get the start in goal, Laviolette said. Cam Ward was in goal against the Kings in the 4-3 overtime loss and has started the last two games. In his only start, Leighton was the winner in the Canes' 4-3 overtime win at Tampa Bay.

Rookie forward Zach Boychuk made his NHL debut against the Kings but was held out of the third period. He opened the game on the line with Rod Brind'Amour and Sergei Samsonov, but
Laviolette bumped up Chad LaRose or Dan LaCouture during the third.

"A 3-2 game, the kid hasn't played in a while, I just didn't want to put him in a situation he was uncomfortable with," Laviolette said today.

LOS ANGELES -- Eight hours to game time and Zach Boychuk was feeling it. Anxious, excited, ready.

The Canes' first-round draft pick will make his NHL debut tonight against the Los Angeles Kings. Coach Peter Laviolette said the 19-year-old forward probably would start on the line with Rod Brind'Amour and Sergei Samsonov, although there could be changes as the game goes on.

"I think I'm definitely a little bit nervous," Boychuk said today. "This is a completely different level and I haven't experienced it to the extent some of the other guys have, obviously."

LOS ANGELES -- The plan was for rookie forward Zach Boychuk to make his NHL debut Friday against the Los Angeles Kings, and to play on a line with Matt Cullen and Patrick Eaves.

That plan may have changed today when Tuomo Ruutu left the ice early in the Canes' workout  at the Toyota Center. Ruutu, who only skated for a few minutes, has been slowed by an injury that's related to the groin pull that kept him out of much of preseason training camp.

Ruutu said he hoped to get through practice but that there was too much soreness.

"Right now, he's day to day," Canes coach Peter Laviolette said after the workout at the Kings' practice rink. "He's probably doubtful (for the Kings' game.)"

Zach Boychuk, his left wrist fully healed, is getting closer and closer to getting into his first NHL game.

The rookie forward, the Canes' first-round draft pick, was medically cleared today to join contact work in practice. He hopes to play on the Canes' West Coast swing later in the week, either against the L.A. Kings or Anaheim Ducks.

"It was great to hear from the doctor today that everything has healed just perfectly," Boychuk said this morning after an on-ice workout at the RBC Center. "It's a new bill of health, like a brand new bone."