Canes Assign Kuokkanen, Recall Maenalanen

The Hurricanes have made a swap at forward, assigning Janne Kuokkanen to Charlotte and recalling Saku Maenalanen.

Kuokkanen has bounced between the NHL and AHL several times over the last month, most recently skating in Carolina’s New Year’s Eve victory over Philadelphia to bring his season total to seven NHL games. With Charlotte the second-year-pro has put up 27 points (11g, 16a) in 29 games, good for second on the team despite having played in just three AHL games since Dec. 13.

Maenalanen heads to Raleigh for the second time this season after making his NHL debut on Dec. 7. The 24-year-old Finn has logged 14 points (7g, 7a) in 31 games for the Checkers and has lit the lamp in each of Charlotte’s last two contests.

In a separate move, the Checkers have assigned defenseman Josh Wesley to the ECHL’s Florida Everblades. The blue liner, who was recalled in late November, has two helpers in six games for Charlotte this season but has played just once in the team’s last 11 contests. With the Everblades Wesley has put up five points (3g, 2a) over 16 games. The move comes after the Checkers inked defenseman Bobby Sanguinetti to an AHL deal earlier Tuesday afternoon.

The Checkers return to action Friday in Belleville to kick off a three-in-three weekend while the Canes visit Philadelphia on Thursday.