Hurricanes Re Sign Zach Boychuk

The Carolina Hurricanes have made a few moves this summer, including when they traded for Vancouver Canucks goaltender Eddie Lack. They re signed one of their own this week when they signed Zach Boychuk.

Boychuk, who was a restricted free agent, has split his career between the Hurricanes of the NHL and their American Hockey League affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers.

The deal is for one season and it is a two way deal, between the Hurricanes and the Checkers. He’ll make $600,000 a year if he’s on the NHL club, and $200,000 if he’s with the Checkers.

Boychuk, who is 25 years old, played in 31 NHL games with the Hurricanes last season. In those games he scored three goals and three assists. He scored 24 points in 39 AHL games last season as well.

He has been with the organization for eight years now, since he was selected as a first round pick in the 2008 NHL entry draft.

“This will be Zach’s eighth season in our organization,” said GM Ron Francis in a press release. “He’s a reliable depth forward who we know is capable of contributing offensively at either level.”

Drafted with the 14th overall selection, Boychuk has been somewhat of a late bloomer but still could be a productive NHL forward. He’s young enough where there is still potential for him to improve. He’s bounced around before returning to Carolina, spending some time with the Nashville Predators and Pittsburgh Penguins organizations.

Boychuk initially returned to the Hurricanes in 2013 after his other two NHL stops. He has been with the organization ever since his return.

With 30 points in 127 NHL games, Boychuk has been a much more prominent scorer in the AHL. In the lesser league, he has 287 points in 335 career games between the Checkers and also Albany. He is the Checkers all time leader in goals with 144, along with 52 power play goals, another Charlotte record. He’s second in the franchise’s history in assists and all time points.

Boychuk was the leading scorer in the American Hockey League for the 2013-2014 season when he hit the back of the net 36 times. That made him the recipient of the Willie Marshall Award.