The Checkers have made defenseman Mike Little their second professional tryout signing of the day.
With Keegan Lowe officially day-to-day after being hit in the head with a puck in the Checkers’ most recent game in Texas on Saturday and Beau Schmitz remaining out due to injury, Little should be immediately pressed into action for tonight’s game against the Oklahoma City Barons. The Checkers signed Little’s Florida Everblades teammate, Gabriel Desjardins, earlier Tuesday to replace the Carolina-bound Justin Shugg.
Little, 27, went scoreless in his only three career AHL games with the Norfolk Admirals last season. Meanwhile, the Enfield, CT, native has been a prolific scorer at the ECHL level, posting 116 points (24g, 92a) 207 career games over five seasons with Reading, Stockton and Florida.
This season, Little, who checks in at 5-foot-9 and 185 pounds, is tied for second on the Everblades in scoring with 17 points (2g, 15a) in 19 games to go along with a plus-18 rating. The product of American International College is tied for sixth among ECHL defensemen in points and is tied for sixth among all players in plus-minus.
Little becomes the fourth PTO on Charlotte's active roster, joining A.J. Jenks, Andrew Rowe and Desjardins.