RALEIGH The Carolina Hurricanes released Wednesday its 24-player roster for next month’s 2016 NHL Prospects Tournament in Traverse City, Mich. The eight-team tournament, which features draft picks, prospects and camp invitees, will be held from Sept. 16-20 with each team playing four games. Carolina’s entry includes six of the team’s nine 2016 draft picks Jake Bean, Julien Gauthier, Janne Kuokkanen, Hudson Elynuik, Jeremy Helvig and Noah Carroll along with top prospects Alex Nedeljkovic and Haydn Fleury. Players who will play in the NCAA in 2016-17, including Carolina’s three other 2016 picks, are not allowed to participate. The Hurricanes will be led by new Charlotte Checkers coach Ulf Samuelsson.Sergey Tolchinsky, who had 14 goals and 22 assists for the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers last season, returns to the tournament for the fourth time. He had three goals and an assist in the four tournament games last year and has totaled 17 points (10 goals, seven assists) in 12 games over the past three Traverse City tournaments.Three undrafted and unsigned players were also invited to join the Hurricanes in Michigan: former Michigan State forward Mike Ferrantino, and defensemen Alex Peters (Flint-OHL) and Ben Gleason (Hamilton-OHL). Peters and Gleason each took part in Carolina’s prospect conditioning camp last month as invitees.Making up the rest of the roster are:Forwards: Clark Bishop, Warren Foegele, Steven Lorentz, Andrew Poturalski, Nicolas Roy, Aleksi Saarela, Spencer Smallman, Lucas Wallmark, Valentin ZykovDefense: Roland McKeown, Josh WesleyGoaltenders: Callum Booth, Jeremy HelvigCarolina opens the tournament Sept. 16 vs. the Rangers, then plays Minnesota the following night. After a day off, the Hurricanes end pool play against Dallas on Sept. 19. Based on the results of pool play, Carolina will play a team from the other pool on Sept. 20 determine the final standings. Click here for a full schedule of the tournament.
