Kuokkanen and Roy are both preparing to kick off their second pro seasons after finishing fourth and tied for fifth on the team in helpers, respectively. McKeown, who ranked third in the AHL in plus-minus last season, and Nedeljkovic, who tied for the league lead in wins, are both returning for their third pro seasons, while reigning captain Patrick Brown would be back for his fifth year in a Checkers sweater and veteran McKegg is slated to go through his first full campaign with the team.
The two new faces come to Charlotte from overseas. A fifth-round pick by Nashville in 2013, the 24-year-old Maenalanen is making the jump to North America for the first time and spending five season in his native Finland, while the Slovakia-born Cajkovsky, who earned a contract from Carolina after joining the team for training camp on a tryout, has spent the last three seasons in the KHL and the top Czech league.