The Checkers have recalled forward Zach Nastasiuk and defenseman Derek Sheppard from the ECHL’s Florida Everblades.
Both players will join the Checkers as they kick off a six-game, post-holiday road trip with back-to-back games in Laval this Friday and Saturday. The addition of Nastasiuk will help offset the recent loss of Clark Bishop and Janne Kuokkanen to the Carolina Hurricanes, while Sheppard provides additional depth on defense.
Though he has yet to make his Checkers debut, this marks the second recall of the season for the 23-year-old Nastasiuk, who has posted 14 points (4g, 10a) in 64 career AHL games with Grand Rapids. The Detroit Red Wings’ second-round draft choice in 2013 (48th overall), Nastasiuk currently ranks tied for sixth on the Everblades with 17 points (9g, 8a) in 28 games. Charlotte signed the 6-foot-2, 202-pound winger to an AHL contract this past offseason.
This is the first recall of the season for Sheppard, a 24-year-old blueliner who is playing his first full professional season after a two-year junior career with Gatineau of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, where he posted 23 points (15g, 8a) and 212 penalty minutes in 82 games, and a four-year stint at York University in Canada where he recorded 100 points (33g, 67a) and 228 penalty minutes in 111 games. The Checkers signed the 6-foot, 215-pound Sheppard, who currently leads Everblades defensemen with 18 points (9g, 9a) and is second among all team skaters with 59 penalty minutes in 30 games, to an AHL contract on Dec. 12. He has yet to make his AHL debut.
