Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind'Amour revealed today that goaltender Jaroslav Halak was no longer with the team, having been released from his PTO.
The 38-year-old veteran netminder had joined the team on a professional tryout, but after two weeks with the team, he decided to go back home.
"I think it was more on his side," Brind'Amour said. "It was a mutual kind of thing, but I think it was a tough spot for him to be and I think he realized that. It's tough at the end of the road to make those decisions with family and everything."
Halak had signed a PTO on Nov. 6 following the announcement that Frederik Andersen would be out indefinitely after a blood clotting issue was discovered in a medical test.
He had been practicing with the team routinely, but with being away from family (they live in the Boston area) on top of not getting paid outside of a per diem basis must have been hard on the netminder.
Halak had said he didn't have a lot of expectations for himself when he joined the team, but that he still wanted a chance to chase 300 career wins.
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The Hurricanes feel comfortable rolling with their goaltending tandem of Antti Raanta and Pyotr Kochetkov and feel even Yaniv Perets can be an option if the need arises.
"We have three in the organization at the moment so until that becomes an issue, it's not an issue," Brind'Amour said. "And I would be comfortable and have no problem [with Yaniv Perets]."
At Monday's practice, Antti Raanta was the only goalie under contract on the ice joined by equipment manager Jorge Alves.
After practice, Brind'Amour confirmed it was just a maintenance day for Pyotr Kochetkov.
"Just giving him another day," Brind'Amour said. "We had some time here and obviously we want to make sure we're taking real good care of the two we have at the moment. Anytime you get a little breather and anyone doesn't feel 100%, we're like, 'Okay, see you tomorrow.'"
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