Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
Trevor Carrick has a shot that he can dare opposing goaltenders to stop.
The Charlotte Checkers defenseman showed just why he can key a top power play when he bested the competition by uncorking a 100.9 mph rocket to win the hardest shot event at the All-Star Skills Competition on Feb. 2. But what separates Carrick from someone who reaches, say, 90 or 95 on the radar gun? Carrick isn’t sure, or at least he isn’t divulging too many of his secrets. But the 11th-year pro continues to move up the list of the top-scoring blueliners in AHL history.
“I think you just try to put your head down and skate as fast as you can and put everything you can into it,” said Carrick, who uses a 100-flex stick. “Hope for the best.”
And if he does pass up a shooting opportunity, he is also one of the AHL’s top puck distributors. His 27 assists tie him for third among AHL defensemen, and his 34 points in 42 games have him tied for second-most at the position. A potent power play that ranks second in the league at 24.2 percent (40-for-165) – anchored by Carrick and his 20 power-play points – has helped to carry the Checkers through a deluge of injuries this season to make them a contender in the Atlantic Division’s upper half.
That’s what the Checkers counted on when they brought Carrick back to Charlotte last July. Carrick signed a two-year AHL deal to return to Charlotte, where he had spent the first five seasons of his pro career as a Carolina Hurricanes prospect. That stint concluded with winning the 2019 Calder Cup championship.
From there Carrick went to San Jose (2019-20), San Diego (2020-22, 23-24) and Syracuse (2022-23) before returning to the Queen City. Carrick has only been able to play seven Calder Cup Playoff games since that 2019 championship run, and with the Checkers loading up, the opportunity intrigued him.
This time, Carrick isn’t an up-and-comer, a fourth-round draft pick looking for his big NHL break. Now a veteran of more than 700 regular-season and playoff games as a professional, he’s part of a deep core of experienced players being relied on to mentor Charlotte’s younger Florida Panthers prospects. There’s captain Zac Dalpe, defenseman Jaycob Megna and forward Kyle Criscuolo. Goaltenders Chris Driedger and Ken Appleby have been there to ease rookie Cooper Black’s transition from the college game.
And the Checkers have had to pivot as injuries have piled up during the season. Former AHL All-Star C.J. Smith came aboard last month, and Jesse Puljujärvi was inked to a tryout contract this past Monday.
The Checkers knew exactly what they were getting with Carrick, who has played more games than any player in Charlotte’s AHL history. Now with 92 goals, 278 assists and 370 points for his AHL career, he has cracked the league’s top 20 among defensemen in all three categories.
Carrick’s value goes beyond his shot, his knack for producing on the power play, or his reliability to take on heavy minutes. The Checkers knew that the affable Carrick would be an easy fit in the Charlotte dressing room, especially around a group of Florida blue-line prospects that includes rookie Marek Alscher, second-year pro Mike Benning, and 23-year-olds Tobias Bjornfot and Mikulas Hovorka. a 2022 third-round pick, is a promising talent. AHL opponents can make for a difficult adjustment for pro defensemen, and a big-brother figure like Carrick can counter those trials, especially in a long season’s most trying stages.
Coming back to Charlotte also reunited Carrick with Checkers head coach Geordie Kinnear, his assistant coach for his first two pro seasons and a long-time AHL defenseman as well. Senior vice president of hockey operations Derek Wilkinson, the go-between for Florida and Charlotte, is another holdover from Carrick’s first run with the Checkers. Assistant coach Bobby Sanguinetti was a teammate during their 2019 championship run. Stability defines much of how the Checkers operate.
“It’s nice having some familiarity there,” Carrick said of Kinnear. “I know what he expects and what his standard is, which is high. Going to that with peace of mind is huge. With time you realize what his expectations are.
“Earlier on there’s probably more he’s working with you on, trying to help you out and mold you into what he expects. But as you get older, you learn things easier, so it’s been an easy transition coming back.”
Off the ice in Charlotte is different now as well. When he came to town a decade ago, he did so as a 20-year-old making the adjustment away from billet life in the Ontario Hockey League. Carrick married his wife, Sydney, in 2023, and is a homeowner. It has been a quick adjustment back to the tight-knit, well-established Charlotte organization.
“We loved the city,” Carrick said. “We grew up there together.”
As the regular season moves into the heart of the race to the Calder Cup Playoffs, the intensity that Carrick seeks will only intensify. He also knows what playing inside Bojangles Coliseum in May and June can be like, and he knows the feeling that comes with lifting the Calder Cup. And his Checkers are showing they can be a threat in the Eastern Conference.
“It starts with our work ethic,” Carrick explained. “I think early on we’ve gone through a lot of adversity with injuries… (but) it didn’t affect the way we play. What I really like so far is the way guys have stepped up and have filled roles where they were given opportunities and they took it and ran with it. We play one way, and whether you’re first line or fourth line, everybody plays the same way. We’re always fighting.
“You want to win again. That’s what you strive for.”
On the American Hockey League beat for two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his outstanding coverage of the league in 2016.