The Charlotte Checkers were the dominant team during the 2018-19 American Hockey League regular season and went on to be crowned Calder Cup Champions.

Teams that hoist AHL silverware rarely stick together due to the ‘moving parts’ nature of the league but the Checkers dismantling has come at a rapid pace with some players searching opportunities elsewhere and the Carolina organisation not shy in trading assets.

Goaltenders:

Alex Nedeljkovic stays within the Carolina organisation and I would not be surprised to see him in the NHL sooner than later.
Experienced back-up Dustin Tokarski was on loan from New York Rangers and as a free agent this summer put pen to paper for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

Defensemen:

Only Jake Bean, Derek Sheppard and Haydn Fleury remain of the blue liners.

Roland McKeown and Bobby Sanguinetti are currently free agents and are not expected to sign with the organisation.

Trevor Carrick was traded to San Jose Sharks, Dan Renouf signed with Colorado Avalanche and Dennis Robertson opted to try his hand in Europe and will suit up for HC Balzano next season.

Josiah Didier (Providence Bruins), Josh Wesley (San Antonio Rampage) and Eric Williams (Colorado Eagles) all inked deals with AHL teams.

Forwards:

It’s almost a 50/50 split as far as the forwards are concerned, with the majority of those departed heading to NHL teams.

Aleksi Saarela and Nicolas Roy have been traded to Chicago Blackhawks and Vegas Golden Knights respectively.
Highly touted RFA Andrew Poturalski signed with Anaheim Ducks, Patrick Brown joins Roy having signed for Vegas and other free agents Tomas Jurco (Edmonton Oilers) and Zach Nastasiuk (St. Louis Blues) also inked contracts with NHL organisations.

Round out the departed forwards are Nick Schilkey who joins Bridgeport Sound Tigers and Zack Stortini who has retired from playing and immediately begins his career behind the bench as an assistant coach with Sudbury Wolves (OHL).

With the possibility that the likes of Martin Necas, Morgan Geekie and Julien Gauthier could make the Carolina roster this upcoming season then the Checkers opening night roster could be radically different than the one who clinched a first franchise championship.

In total there are fifteen players who will definitely not suit up for Charlotte in 2019-20 having played a part in their success and a further two free agents likely to add to that number.

General Manager and Head Coach Mike Vellucci shall also not be in Charlotte for the unveiling of the championship banner having chosen to take the top job with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.