With this morning’s reassignment of Tim Conboy, Trevor Gillies and Joe Jensen, the Hurricanes have essentially reached the roster limit they’ll need to have for opening night on Friday.

Paul Branecky

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The official number of players currently on the roster is 25, but Scott Walker and Justin Williams will be placed on injured reserve and won’t count against that number, so no more cuts are necessary.

That doesn’t mean they won’t happen, though.  If the Canes were to add to the roster via the waiver wire or a trade, they would still have to cut someone loose.  That means Zach Boychuk’s immediate future is still in some doubt, despite the fact that he’s still in camp only three days away form opening night.  He skated prior to this morning’s practice, but isn’t expected to be cleared for contact until early next week.

All three players reassigned today have a chance to be called up this season depending on the team’s needs.  Conboy and Jensen did well last year when with the Canes but picked up injuries at the tail end of camp that kept them off the ice.  Gillies was among the last cuts from camp for the second straight year, and would be capable of filling an enforcer role if need be.

Here are the lines from this morning’s practice, which is just getting underway.  Tuomo Ruutu is back and playing with Rod Brind'Amour and Sergei Samsonov.

Whitney – Staal – Eaves
Samsonov – Brind’Amour – Ruutu
Bayda – Cullen – LaRose
Brookbank – Sutter – LaCouture

Gleason – Pitkanen
Kaberle – Corvo
Seidenberg – Wallin
Melichar - Babchuk