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RALEIGH, NC – Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes, today announced the 23-player roster for the team’s 2011-12 season opener on Friday, Oct. 7, against the Tampa Bay Lightning at the RBC Center (7 p.m., FOX Sports Carolinas HD, Hurricanes Radio Network). In conjunction with the announcement of the 23-player roster, Rutherford also announced that forward Riley Nash has been assigned to the Hurricanes’ American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers.

The season-opening roster includes 15 players from the team’s 2010-11 final roster, and five veteran players who will make their Hurricanes regular-season debuts with their first games played – forwards Tim Brent, Alexei Ponikarovsky and Anthony Stewart, defenseman Tomas Kaberle and goaltender Brian Boucher. Three rookies round out the roster – forward Zac Dalpe, who spent part of 2010-11 with the Hurricanes, 2010 second-round draft pick (37th overall) defenseman Justin Faulk and 2011 first-round draft pick (12th overall) defenseman Ryan Murphy. The Hurricanes’ season-opening roster can be found here.