The Abbotsford Canucks — AHL affiliates of the Vancouver Canucks — captured their first Calder Cup in franchise history Monday night, defeating the Charlotte Checkers in six games.
The Canucks had a trio of former Hurricanes, either on the roster or on the staff, who now will have their names in the history books.
Let's take a look at those three:
Phil Di Giuseppe
Drafted in the second round of the 2012 NHL entry draft by the Canes (the forward was actually the team's first pick that year as they had traded away their first to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Jordan Staal), Di Giuseppe would appear in 147 games with the Hurricanes and would play for the organization from 2014-2018.
Di Giuseppe made his NHL debut with the Canes on Dec. 5, 2015 and would score his first career goal on Dec. 8 in Dallas.
In 2019, he was claimed off of waivers by the Nashville Predators. He then played two seasons within the New York Rangers' organization and has spent the last three years in the Vancouver Canucks' organization.
Di Giuseppe had six goals and 11 points in 24 games this AHL postseason.
Manny Malhotra
A first-year head coach with the Abbotsford Canucks, Malhotra joined the Hurricanes organization in 2013.
The veteran centerman was coming off of a major eye injury that had required multiple surgeries and left him with permanent vision impairment and it looked like his career was practically over, but he was still committed to playing and Jim Rutherford and Carolina gave him a chance.
The Canes worked out a deal with the two-way, faceoff specialist to have him start on a PTO with the Charlotte Checkers in the AHL while he was tested by team doctors and having his physical ability was assessed, before ultimately deciding to sign him to a one-year deal.
Malhotra would play in 69 games that season, scoring seven goals and picking up 13 points, while also rocking a 59.5% faceoff win rate.
The veteran was also named an alternate captain after Tim Gleason was traded mid-season.
Justin Pogge
Abbotsford goaltending coach Justin Pogge had a brief stint with the Hurricanes organization over a decade ago.
He was traded to Carolina along with a 2010 fourth-round pick by the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for defenseman Aaron Ward.
He would play four games for the Albany River Rats in 2010 and then played in the Charlotte Checkers inaugural season after the relocation in 2010-11, posting a 22-18-4 record that year with a 0.907 save percentage.
The journeyman goaltender may not have had a long professional career in North America, playing in just 254 AHL games and seven NHL games, but he did travel the world, playing in Italy, Sweden, Germany, Slovakia and Russia too.
He took up coaching in 2022-23, serving as a consultant for Team Canada and eventually coaching the U18 and World Cup teams as well.
This was his first season coaching on an actual team's staff.
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