Canes assign Necas, Fleury to Checkers

The Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday assigned center Martin Necas and defenseman Haydn Fleury to the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL, a move that will allow both more playing time.

The Canes also recalled forward Clark Bishop from the Checkers.

For Necas, the assignment to Charlotte came one day after the Czech center scored his first NHL goal in the Canes’ 4-2 road loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Necas, Carolina’s first-round draft pick in 2017, played in the Canes’ first seven games, but without a lot of ice time.

“The situation for me is he’s playing a tough position at center,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said Thursday. “He’s an NHL-caliber talent. We’ve just got to get him a little better away from the puck, and I want him to have confidence when he comes back to us that he’s ready to do that.

“I don’t envision him being down there very long. He’s competitive, he wants to learn. The talent’s there. He’s got some habits that aren’t great ... that we have to keep knocking out of him. He knows he has to get better.”

Fleury has played in just one game this season for the Canes, who have been carrying seven defensemen on the roster.

Fleury appeared in 67 games for the Canes last season but the addition of Dougie Hamilton and Calvin de Haan created a numbers game that was problematic for Fleury., who was a healthy scratch in six games.

“With Haydn sitting, I didn’t feel right about taking guys out of the lineup just to put a guy in,” Brind’Amour said. “That doesn’t sit right with me. If you’re playing well you should be able to stay in there.

“He needs to play. If somebody does go down, we want somebody ready and you’ve got to play to be that way.”

It’s the first recall for Bishop, 22, who has a goal and three assists in the Checkers’ first four games and had a strong performance in the Canes’ preseason training camp. Bishop was fifth-round draft pick the Canes in 2014.

This story was originally published October 17, 2018 at 5:29 PM.