Hurricanes prospects squad set for Traverse City tournament

Peter Koutroumpis, Triangle Sports Network
Peter Koutroumpis, Triangle Sports Network
Peter Koutroumpis, Triangle Sports Network

RALEIGH, N.C. – The Carolina Hurricanes announced the team’s roster for the upcoming 2016 NHL Prospects Tournament that will take place at Centre Ice Arena in Traverse City, Mich., Sept. 16-20.

The tournament is hosted annually by the Detroit Red Wings and features eight teams’ prospect teams competing in a two division, round-robin and single-elimination placement format.

Each roster is comprised of drafted players and signees, amateur tryout invitees, along with a limited number of players with prior professional experience consisting of no more than one full season.

Carolina Hurricanes – Traverse City Tournament Roster

Ulf Samuelsson, head coach of Carolina’s American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers, will serve as head coach for the Hurricanes’ team.

The 16-player roster includes recent first-round draft picks Haydn Fleury (2014 – 7th overall), Jake Bean (2016 – 13th overall) and Julien Gauthier (2016 – 21st overall), and second-round picks Alex Nedeljkovic (2014 – 37th overall) and Janne Kuokkanen (2016 – 43rd overall).

Several Hurricanes prospects acquired via trade from other teams will also play, including Los Angeles Kings second-round picks Roland McKeown and Valentin Zykov as well as New York Rangers third-round selection Aleksi Saarela.

Carolina will open tournament play on Sept. 16, at 4 p.m., against the New York Rangers.

Subsequent games against the Minnesota Wild (Sept. 17, 7 p.m.) and Dallas Stars (Sept. 19, 6:30 p.m.) will follow before each team plays a final game on Sept. 20 to determine final tournament ranking.

Carolina won the event in 2009, and finished fourth overall in 2014 and 2015 while placing sixth in 2013.