Patrick WilliamsTheAHL.com Features Writer
There’s something special about Charlotte Checkers.
Perhaps it was a difficult offseason that prompted the organization to bring in some top-notch veteran help. It could be a 6-1-0-1 start for that head coach Geordie KinnearThe group has come together. Maybe it would have come down to Hershey last weekend and snatched three of four points from the Calder Cup champion Bears. Or maybe the overall organizational swagger that grows when your parent NHL team wins its first Stanley Cup.
For any or all of the above reasons, it’s clear that the Checkers are one of the top teams in the AHL in the first month of the 2024-25 season. Many Charlotte players had a close-up view of the Florida Panthers’ Stanley Cup run last spring, swinging with the team like black aces. Development in Charlotte has become a proven track for the roster spot in Florida since the two sides reached a new partnership agreement in 2020. First round pick Mackie Samoskevich again Spencer Knight won the jobs with the Panthers after spending last season with Charlotte. Patrick Giles played his first nine NHL games after making the Panthers out of training camp. Guardian of the star Gustav Forsling you are a Charlotte student as well.
Joining the Checkers has been established help in the form of defence Jacob Megna and forward Kyle Criscuolo again John Leonardgiving high hopes before the season starts. Chris Driedgerwho took down Coachella Valley in the finals in 2024, is back with the organization where he started his career. Trevor Carrickwho won the Calder Cup in 2019 with the Checkers, is back in the Queen City and has points in each of his last seven games. Aidan McDonough came to the Checkers following one season with the Abbotsford Canucks and already has seven goals, including a hat trick on opening night in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
“I’m impressed with those guys coming in,” Kinnear said. “We have a certain way we want to play, and they’ve bought into it. I think they are good people and good competitors.”
There are also some interesting new names in the AHL. Forward Oliver Okuliar signed with Florida after a 24-goal season with Czech team Hradec Kralove last season. Another Czech addition is a 6-foot-6, 229-pound defenseman Mikulas Hovorkawho received a two-year contract with the Panthers and already has two years of high-level training in Europe. Rookie defender Marek Alscher he’s a second-round NHL draft pick who already looks like he belongs. In front is a rookie Sandis Vilmanisfifth-round pick who scored 38 goals last season in the Ontario Hockey League.
Blessed with speed, this is a Checkers team that puts a lot of emphasis on speed. It’s the kind of confident, assertive game that shows how the Panthers want their kids to play. The skill and finishing are evident – the Checkers’ 4.63 goals per game leads the AHL – but they can also control the puck and allow just 25.0 shots on goal per game, second fewest in the league. At the end of their most recent visit to Hershey, they held the Bears to 16 shots, including just three in the third quarter and overtime.
Charlotte’s special teams also continue to be a major problem for opponents; The Checkers went a combined 3-for-6 on the power play in their two games in Hershey and led the AHL with 40.5 percent (15-for-37), while their penalty kill clicked at 87.8 percent and nearly reached more . goals (four) as power play goals against (five).
In addition, the Checkers were able to win even without some of their veterans hitting. Captain Zac Dalpe he hasn’t played since opening night, and Driedger missed the weekend in Hershey, with Ken Appleby again Cooper Black to begin with. Another good test is set for this weekend when the Toronto Marlies, coming off a 6-1-0-1 record, visit Bojangles Coliseum for games on Saturday and Sunday. From there the Checkers began their first extended road trip of the season, with five games in nine nights traveling to Hartford, Springfield and Bridgeport.
Florida has worked long and hard to build a consistent winning tradition, which led to back-to-back championships and last season’s Stanley Cup title. It fits well with the well-rounded work the Checkers have done since entering the AHL in 2010. The atmosphere is one Kinnear compared to what he experienced as a prospect with the New Jersey Devils in the 1990s.
“I improved because I got to watch Scott Stevens, Ken Daneykoall those guys,” recounted Kinnear, a 1992 draft pick by New Jersey who spent seven seasons (1993-99, 2000-01) as a defenseman for the Albany River Rats. “You’re going to Florida now, and you’ve got it (Aleksander) Barkovhas Forsling, (Aaron) Ekbladall those guys. It helps development because those guys are top level players who play hard, train hard every day. It becomes a thriving place.
“As a young guy, you have no excuse not to follow that.”
In the American Hockey League for two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams and currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor to SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for the league’s top scorer in 2016.
