While Hurricanes goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov is in concussion protocol, it doesn’t appear if he’ll be out for too long. Team reporter Walt Ruff relays (Twitter link) that the 24-year-old took part in roughly half of Carolina’s morning skate today with head coach Rod Brind’Amour indicating after that the netminder “looks good and is feeling better”. Kochetkov has a 2.58 GAA and a .900 SV% this season in 23 games, numbers that don’t look great on their own but are a considerable improvement on what they’ve received from veterans Frederik Andersen (before his blood clots) and Antti Raanta. There remains no timetable for Kochetkov’s return but the fact he’s on the ice now suggests that
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- Also from Ruff’s note, winger Andrei Svechnikov didn’t participate in practice today as he isn’t feeling 100%. The 23-year-old potted the game-winning goal against Detroit on Friday and logged close to his season average for ice time so it’s unclear if he was banged up during that game or if he’s under the weather. After missing the start of the season recovering from a knee injury and missing some time with an upper-body issue in December, Svechnikov has been quite productive, collecting 11 goals and 19 assists in 29 games.
- The team announced that goaltender Yaniv Perets has been assigned to ECHL Norfolk. The move comes as little surprise after Carolina claimed netminder Spencer Martin off waivers from Columbus on Friday. Perets made his NHL debut during this recall, seeing 13 minutes of action in Monday’s loss to Los Angeles. Perets has a 2.62 GAA and a .906 SV% in 15 games in the ECHL this season; with Carolina not having an AHL affiliate, he has to drop a level in order to secure regular playing time.