Who made the Hurricanes’ NHL roster? With preseason over, Canes make personnel moves

Their preseason schedule completed, the Carolina Hurricanes made some personnel decisions Sunday and reduced their roster to 25 players.

The moves include:

▪ Goaltenders Spencer Martin, Yaniv Perets and Ruslan Khazheyev; forwards Bradly Nadeau, Felix Unger Sorum, Noel Gunler, Justin Robidas, Juha Jaaska, Skyler Brind’Amour and Gleb Trikozov; and defensemen Aleksi Heimosalmi, Scott Morrow, Charles-Alexis Legault, Domenick Fensore and Ronan Seeley have been assigned to the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League (AHL).

▪ Defenseman Anttoni Honka has been loaned to HC Ajoie of the Swiss National League.

▪ Forwards Josiah Slavin and Ryan Suzuki and defenseman Ty Smith have been placed on waivers for the purpose of being reassigned to Chicago.

▪ Sam Gagner and Rocco Grimaldi have been released from their professional tryout (PTO) contracts.

The Canes kept offensive prospect Jackson Blake on the main roster. Blake, 21, was a Hobey Baker Award finalist with North Dakota in 2024

The Canes announced late Saturday that Skyler Brind’Amour had been signed to a one-year, two-way contract that would pay him $775,000 at the NHL level or $75,000 at the AHL level.

General manager Eric Tulsky, in a statement, said the team was impressed with Brind’Amour’s “defensive awareness” last season in the AHL and added that he had a strong preseason camp with the Canes.

Brind’Amour, 25, played with the Charlotte Checkers, the Florida Panthers’ AHL affiliate, last season. The Raleigh native, and son of the Canes coach, helped Quinnipiac win an NCAA championship in 2023.

The Canes said Sunday they have signed defenseman Bryce Montgomery to a three-year, entry-level contract. Montgomery will earn $854,910 at the NHL level and $55,000 at the AHL level per year beginning with the 2024-25 season.

The Hurricanes closed out their preseason schedule Saturday with a 5-3 road win at Nashville. Goaltender Frederik Andersen played the first two periods, stopping 29 of 31 shots, before Spencer Martin took over in the third.

Eric Robinson had a pair of goals and an assist, and Sam Gagner had a goal and two assists for the Canes. Bradley Nadeau also had a goal as the Canes finished 4-1-1 in the preseason.

“In this day and age everybody kind of knows who’s on the team.” coach Rod Brind’Amour said Friday after the Canes’ 2-1 overtime win over Tampa Bay. “But there’s always room for guys who earn their spot.”

The Canes open the 2024-25 season this Friday against the Lightning at the Lenovo Center.