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Fleury fails to crack ‘Canes roster, but McKeown makes it (for now)

Haydn Fleury

Haydn Fleury

AP

We’ve written plenty about Carolina’s promising young blueline, one that, last year, featured the likes of Noah Hanifin, Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce, Ryan Murphy and Justin Faulk -- all aged 24 or younger.

The youth didn’t stop there, either, as several other young prospects were knocking at the door.

But on Monday the knocking stopped for a few.

The notables? Haydn Fleury, the seventh overall pick in 2014, who was demoted to AHL Charlotte and Trevor Carrick, the 22-year-old that made his NHL debut last season.

A third good young d-man, Roland McKeown, is sticking around -- but nobody’s sure for how long. The ‘Canes added a pair of veteran defensemen in recent days (Klas Dahlbeck via waivers, Jakub Nakladal via free agency) and Nakladal’s status is “non-roster” due to immigration issues.

Fleury, 20, will no doubt be disappointed by today’s development, though it’s hardly a disastrous setback. The ‘Canes have been pretty methodical in bringing him along -- Fleury played four full years with WHL Red Deer -- and he’s barely spent any time in the American League.

In that light, going to Charlotte is probably a good thing.

Overall, today’s moves still give the ‘Canes a very young, very exciting outlook for the season. We’ve already mentioned the youth on defense, and the forwards aren’t much older: Sebastian Aho, Elias Lindholm, Phil Di Guiseppe, Viktor Rask, Teuvo Teravainen and Martin Frk are all 23 or younger.