March 16, 2025 • 44 mins
The Carolina Hurricanes' prospect pipeline is filled with promising talent across multiple leagues and continents, with players making significant strides in their development during February.
• Justin Poirier continues his remarkable QMJHL season, maintaining nearly a goal-per-game pace with 43 goals in 58 games
• Ryan Suzuki has found his groove as a playmaking center with Chicago, recently reaching 40 points while forming excellent chemistry with Bradley Nadeau
• Scott Morrow earned his first NHL recall and point, showcasing the sublime skating and offensive instincts that make him NHL-ready
• Justin Robidas has overcome size limitations through versatility and compete level, excelling as both center and wing while becoming a key penalty killer
• Bradly Nadeau remains on track for 25-30 goals in his rookie AHL season despite a recent scoring slowdown
• Alexander Nikishin continues as SKA's captain while producing offensively, recently signing with North American agency, Quartexx
• Nikita Artamonov broke the KHL's U20 goal-scoring record previously held by Kirill Kaprizov
• Seventh-round selection Andrei Krutov has impressed across three different Russian leagues as an 18-year-old
• Several prospects including Joel Nystrom and Vladimir Grudinin could potentially join North American teams after their European playoff runs
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Well, Carolina Hurricanes fans had the
opportunity to see some of thetop prospects in action recently
with the Canes, as ScottMorrill has been filling in for
the injured Dimitri Orlov, andwe did see a couple of games
with Ryan Suzuki.
Coincidentally, both of theseplayers are in the top five
prospects for February and I'mdelighted, as always, to welcome
(00:25):
in our StormTracker insider forCarolina Hurricanes prospects,
Nick Bass, Howdy Nick.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Hello.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Hey, nick, before we get started, I did notice
recently that you havecelebrated a one-year
anniversary with your CanesProspects sub stack and I just
wanted to say hey, congrats man,because it's a great piece of
work.
I love it.
I think a lot of fans reallyenjoy the work you put in to
(00:55):
keep us up to date on theprospects.
So congrats man.
No, thank you, no worries.
This month.
Not too many surprises.
We're seeing a lot of the sameplayers that uh show up on a
regular basis continuing theiroutstanding seasons.
And the first on the docket, ofcourse, at number five, is a
(01:17):
gentleman we've talked a lotabout a bit of a mighty might uh
.
We've talked about his excitingseason right from the get-go,
and that's Justin Poirier andJustin.
You might recall that McKeansaid something really
interesting about Justin.
He said he was the first17-year-old to score 50 goals in
the Quebec Major Junior League.
(01:37):
So he really tore it up hisfirst year.
And their other comment abouthim, I think, tells it all.
They said his shot accuracy andshooters instincts are
impeccable.
He's continuing it this entireseason.
What can you tell all of usabout, uh, justin's february?
Speaker 2 (01:55):
uh, it was pretty standard.
At this point, everybody kindof knows that he's gonna score
close to a goal a game.
Uh, he's going to hover around10-12 points every single month.
I don't think he'll hit 50goals, though.
I think he's probably going tocap out really high 40s,
somewhere around 46-47, with howmany games they have left in
(02:16):
the regular season.
Drakkar will probably have anice little playoff run.
I don't think they'll go superdeep just because in the queue
there are some better teams, buthe'll have a nice little
playoff run to look forward to.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
And it looks like he had an outstanding month or
period because he had sevengoals and three assists in just
eight games played.
So another outstanding monthand his numbers for the year are
43 and 37 for 80 points in just58 games.
So he's definitely putting itall together this year and
having an outstanding season, aswe might expect.
(02:52):
Next up on the docket, I didmention him with a cup of coffee
with the Hurricanes recently.
He's a player that we've talkedagain a lot about this year.
He's continued his fine playvirtually the entire season and
that's Ryan Suzuki, and the wordon Suzuki from McKean's was
interesting.
They said if he can remainhealthy, he's a very, very
(03:15):
promising prospect.
So again, the challenge withSuzuki all along has been the
same Can he stay healthy?
This seems like this is thefirst year in a while and it's
all coming together for him.
What did we see from Ryan inFebruary?
Speaker 2 (03:30):
He looked basically like he has all year.
He's found a really good grooveas being one of the Wolves' top
six centers, whether that betop line or second line.
He's very good at what he doesand that's just being a
playmaking and sometimes playdriving center.
He's very good at doing all theother stuff besides shooting,
which is kind of weird becausehe does have a good shot.
(03:52):
He just doesn't really use itthat often.
He just I want to say he justgot 40 points yesterday and he
was the third wolf to do itbesides Robida and Nadeau.
So that's always nice to see.
He's just kind of been where heis.
He's been good this year andthey finally reunited Nadeau and
(04:14):
Suzuki and they've looked a lotbetter over the past few games,
so I'm excited about that.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Yeah, that duel has been magic just about the entire
season.
They've just been phenomenal.
And you're right, Suzuki has 40points now and he's continuing
his fine play and I thought, youknow, even with the Hurricanes
I didn't think he looked out ofplace and so that was a good
first volley for him, andhopefully we'll see some more of
Ryan as he continues hisdevelopment.
(04:41):
So then we have the numberthree choice on the month for
February, and this was aninteresting one because it's the
first time that we have a tieso leading it off a player we've
been watching with the Canes.
I mentioned at the outset, scottMorrow, filling in right now
for Dimitri Orlov.
I think he's looked pretty goodand again he's continuing to
(05:05):
build his game.
There's some areas that RodBrindamore is looking for him to
continue to develop, but forthe most part he's starting to
show that he's going to be aserious contender with the
Hurricanes next year.
Again, a comment from McKean'sI think tells a lot about Scott
Moore.
They said he has sublimeall-direction skating ability,
(05:26):
crisp puck skills and a big shotfrom the point, and you've seen
a lot of that with his work inChicago this year.
What can you tell us aboutScott's fair work?
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Yeah, definitely, at least in 2025,.
Morrow has kind of proved he isa number one AHL defenseman.
He's kind of taken over thatrole.
He's been in that role but overthe past two months he's
definitely shown that he has theability to just run the blue
line and especially in Februaryhe did a very good job of that
and I'm glad the organizationhas seen what he can do and
(06:00):
given him some runs instead of,you know, guys like Stillman or
Smith instead and just playingScott Mororrow, because he has
NHL talent, he's NHL ready.
In my opinion, he's kind ofshown that over the last few
games, especially in the gameagainst Winnipeg.
He was exceptional, he wasgreat and he got his first NHL
point because of it.
And, yeah, morrow I think atthis point it's kind of an
(06:21):
assumption he's just going to beon the NHL roster next year.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Well and again.
A beautiful assist on the MarkJankowski goal.
It was an excellent play byScott and he was one thing I
noticed as he kind of gainedconfidence.
He was starting to do what hedoes with the Chicago Wolves.
He was heading into theoffensive zone and hanging
around making things happen.
(06:45):
The Chicago Wolves, he washeading into the offensive zone
and hanging around making thingshappen.
So I think, again a niceintroduction with Scott for sure
.
And I mean his numbers areoutstanding.
He's got 13 goals, 26 assistsfor 39 points in 51 games Not
too shabby for a defenseman inhis rookie year in the AHL.
So he's definitely a guy thatis putting it all together and
we'll continue to watch Scottclosely and hopefully see some
(07:07):
more games with Scott in aHurricanes uniform this year.
The other guy on the tie side,we love him.
5'8", 175 pounds and just apepper pot out there, he's
making things happen every timehe's on the ice.
I am so impressed with this guy.
Justin Robita Robita to me isputting it all together.
(07:28):
He paid his dues last year inthe East Coast League.
He's really, really making astatement this year Comment from
again Darren York.
When they drafted him I thinkit's kind of interesting.
He said this kid uses his speed, uses his compete, can be a lot
harder to play against and canplay bigger than his size would
(07:50):
suggest.
So again, he plays hard, hemakes things happen and he had a
number of outstanding playsthat led to goals or he scored
himself in February.
What can you tell us from yourviewpoint, what you saw with
Justin?
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Yeah, he just continues to play really well,
whether that be as a center, asa winger, he's just always
making things happen, whetherthat be shorthanded.
He's been very, very goodshorthanded as a rookie, whether
that be at even strength.
The power play work is stillcoming along as he figures out
how he really wants to work onthe power play.
But that's also just astatement in in totality for the
(08:28):
wolves, who have still not puttogether great power plays, but
they're, they're going throughit.
He's currently, uh, third inrookie scoring in the entire ahl
and you know they're only guysthat were drafted ahead of him.
Besides, I want to say justinritzkovkovian, but it's just all
guys that either played areally long time in college or
were drafted second, third roundor higher.
(08:51):
And for Robita to have thislevel of success in his first
year is very, very encouraging.
There is definitely an NHLfuture for him.
I don't know if it will be nextyear, but down the line he will
definitely be a guy that playsin a good amount of NHL games.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Well, when you've watched him, what has impressed
you the most?
As he's developed this year, Imean, he's been on quite a path,
so what have you seen?
That's really excited you.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
I would go either his ability to play center and wing
, because that'll be a big thingversatility-wise for the next
level.
He's been a very good center,he's been a very good winger, so
having the ability to playeither war is definitely going
to aid him going forward, aswell as just his overall compete
level being as high as it isand his effort level.
Just he never quits.
(09:37):
He is if he's on the ice.
He's going to keep going untilhe's off the ice and that's
something that's invaluable tohave as a player and I think
he's uh.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
From what I can see, he's getting uh.
He's getting playing time injust about every situation, so
has he been uh again?
Power play, penalty kill areyou seeing that as well?
Speaker 2 (09:56):
yeah, um, he's one of their.
He's one of chicago's mainpenalty killers, alongside um,
slavin and brindamore, okay, andhe's.
He's been a very, very, verygood penalty killer.
Him and Dominic Fensore havecombined a lot to make things
happen on the penalty kill andit's just impressive to see from
him, especially as a rookie.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Yeah, I did see some highlights with those guys
teaming up on a goal for sure,yeah.
So outstanding numbers so far56 games for Roby Daly.
He's got 14 goals, 29 assists.
So that's quite impressive forthis young man and he continues
to grow and I think you're rightin terms of his overall game,
(10:38):
and we'll look forward to seeinghow he continues to develop as
well with Chicago.
He's a guy that I agree withyou totally.
I think he'll be in the Caneslineup at some point in the
future.
I just don't know when that'sgoing to be, but he's definitely
making his case very, veryclear.
Now, number two on the chart,another one of your favorites as
well.
(10:58):
I know that he is having justsuch an outstanding season.
It's easy to see why he's onthe list virtually every month
and of course, that's BradleyNadeau, nadeau, gosh.
He's made the transition fromcollege hockey in almost a
seamless fashion this year.
I think he's again learning hiscraft and that's part of the
(11:22):
challenge as you become a pro toget your complete game in order
.
But, boy score, tell us aboutbradley nadeau yeah, um, we're
like recently.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
He slowed down recently, especially in march,
and I think that's just becausethe wolves have kind of shifted
game styles and maybe that'smore of just like a thing.
He's also played in a fewdifferent ways that he hasn't
gotten used to yet.
Maybe it's just a cold spell inhis rookie year, which you know
not many people are going toscoff at.
But Nadeau has just been very,very good.
(11:53):
Um, he's aiming for probablyabout 25 to 30 goals anywhere in
between that range in hisrookie season and that's the one
, if he just can get betterdefensively, more than anything
else.
Um, he, he's a surefire NHL guynext year.
I would think it's, if not very, very close.
He just, yes, he just has tocontinue getting better
(12:14):
defensively but like offensivelyand skating and everything like
that, he's, he's, he's ready,he's a very, he's going to be
very good and and you know withNadeau some concerns about size.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
How do you feel about that?
Speaker 2 (12:28):
I have zero concerns about his size, even when that
was another big thing when theytraded for Stan Coven, who I
kind of forget is a rookie thisyear.
It just slips my mind.
So technically he's a prospect.
So I guess I can kind of talkabout him.
You can talk about him, butlike even talk about stanco.
Yes, you, you watch a guy likestanco and play who's not big?
(12:50):
And he does.
It doesn't let him affect himat all, he just finds a
different way to adapt.
It's the same way to a lesserextent with justin pourier.
It's the same way with justinrobita.
It's just size is not the end,all be all.
And with nadeau he doesn't, itdoesn't affect him, like he'll
get hit, but he, he's not theguy that just get hit and
crumble, he's a guy that willjust get hit and be like all
(13:11):
right, sure it.
I'm not worried about size atall okay.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
So again, uh continues his fine scoring and
uh and of course teaming withryan suz for quite a duo.
So that's great stuff and we'llcontinue to watch Bradley and
we'll hope he gets to 25, 30goals this year.
That would be a nice firstseason in the pros, for sure.
The next guy, of course, atnumber one on the chart he's on
(13:39):
a lot of folks' minds these daysand clearly is a great, great
potential cane for the future.
And of course we're talkingabout Alexander Nikitin.
You know I was digging up someinteresting reports when he was
drafted some quotables as theycall it and I wanted to share
those with you because I thoughtyou'd get a kick out of them.
(14:01):
Tony Ferrari with the HockeyNews said this.
He said he's quite a gooddefender against the rush,
despite his flaws in skating.
So they had some concerns abouthis skating when he first
turned pro.
He excels in that area becauseof his willingness to close the
gap, stay tight and engagephysically.
His presence in the net frontis top-notch as well.
(14:23):
So Ferrari saw him as a verystrong defensive player, but
again looking to strengthen hisskating, and did not talk really
about his offensive game at all.
Alexander Taxman in FuturescopeHockey said his hands are those
of a top-line winger.
Now that's interesting.
When he has the puck and thestick it seems super glued.
(14:45):
This allows him to pull offsome of the most impressive
dekes and zone exits, entries ofall draft eligible players,
regardless of position.
Now that's quite a statement.
So clearly when he was drafted,folks could see some certain
skills in Alexander.
Of course, he's come such along way and had a great month
(15:06):
against again in February.
What can you tell us aboutAlexander Nikishi?
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Yeah, again, month against again in February.
What can you tell us aboutAlexander Nikisha?
Yeah, um, again.
It's one of those things whereyou just kind of run out of
words to describe a guy, and Ido think there's still definite
concerns about his skating justbecause he's not the fastest
player out there, but he doesn'tlet that slow him down just
because he's bigger than mostpeople, so he doesn't really
need to be the fastest guy outthere, right?
Um, yeah, he's a.
(15:32):
He's been sk's lead guy, I meanrealistically, for the past
three years, but he's been theirlike guy in almost every
situation.
The only one that he reallydoesn't have to lead is the
penalty kill, and that's goodthat he doesn't have to lead the
penalty kill, because at thatpoint you're probably looking at
, you know, 26 minutes of ice anight and and that's kind of
terrifying.
So with Nikishin he's just beenreally good.
(15:56):
It feels like he's finally backin form and back to doing what
he does best, which is justbeing the best defenseman on the
ice at all whenever he stepsonto it, and that's always
really good.
I don't know if you're going todo it, but he did sign with a
North American agency.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Yes, very recently I was going to talk about that.
Yes, yeah, cortex, yes, yeah,yeah, you know, interesting,
he's back.
I think he's back on the pointwhere he was on the power play,
so I think that's a big help.
His numbers were very strongFour goals, seven assists for 11
points.
His numbers were very strongfour goals, seven assists for 11
(16:33):
points.
That's more what we've beenexpecting from Nikitian and he's
got 17 goals, 29 assists for 46points on the year in 58 games.
So he's starting to get kind ofmore offense, which we've seen
in past seasons.
The start of this year was alittle bit different.
I think Tony D'Angelo was partof the mix there as well, so
starting to see that for sure.
But, yeah, a couple of things,as we do the Alexander Nikitian
(16:55):
watch, and that's a great point,nick, on the cortex thing, what
?
Speaker 2 (17:01):
did you think of that when you saw it?
Well, I mean, I think goinginto this year there was already
a lot of speculation,especially from North America,
that he was probably going tomove over.
Then, a little bit into theseason, you kind of or at least
I kind of saw more articlescoming from russian media saying
, hey, he's probably leavingthis season.
But I I still don't put a lotof stock into anything until it
(17:23):
actually happens, because thingscan change very quickly.
It's nothing is ever done untilyou see it's official.
So with something like that, it, with seeing him sign with a
north american agency, I thinkit gives you a really big
indication on what his futureplans are, as if people had
doubts.
But and I think it kind oftells you and it's nice that he
(17:44):
went to cortex because I made anote of it that they just they
have a large amount of clientsthat work with the hurricane.
So, like martin chatfield,several carrie a note of it that
they just they have a largeamount of clients that work with
the hurricane.
So, like martin chatfield,several carrie a lot of guys and
taylor hall, who's probablygonna stay for longer than this
season and jaylen chatfield aswell yeah, yeah, it's very nice
to see him go to that company,which probably means there's
(18:05):
gonna be a good relationshipthere.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
So well, and that's exactly the way I saw it.
Was that?
Uh, obviously, that obviouslyEric Tulsky has a relationship
with that organization and so heknows, you know, the key people
there so they can work togetherto get something done.
The other thing I want tomention too, of course, was the
recent press conference thatEric talked about Alexander
(18:29):
Nikitin specifically, that Erictalked about Alexander Nikitian
specifically, and again hecontinues to kind of play the
same story, which is that theCanes are very, very interested
to get Alexander here as quicklyas possible and of course that
might mean they have to do a bitof negotiation with SKA to get
an early release.
But he did talk about that aswell.
(18:51):
And clearly, as you've mentionedbefore rightfully so, nick
there's the other pieces andparts of this, which is clearly
getting visas and getting himover here and so on.
There's a lot of logisticalpieces, but I think the
announcement of a North Americanagency on board is going to
help with some of this and, Ithink, most importantly, the
contract side.
So, yeah, it's all going theright way, but, again, like you,
(19:14):
until we have Alexander here,you know it's still a little bit
of anxiety, and I mentionedthis recently in some other
comments I made about Alexanderthat for me the big thing is I
want to see him signed on withthe.
Hurricanes thing is.
I want to see him signed onwith the Hurricanes.
So whether he plays this year,which I'd love to see or next
year, that's fine, but justlet's get him under contract.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Yeah, I shouldn't completely mention any.
I don't believe, because Ihaven't told about this before.
Nhl teams can't reallynegotiate with European teams
for a release like that.
It has to be just the pureEuropean team, because it's
against the CBA.
Because somebody had asked aquestion about if it was during
(19:58):
the summer when Waddell was incharge and he made the comment
about trying to get Nikitianover early.
Somebody had asked like, hey,can't they just pay Nikitian
whatever he owes on his contractand they can get him?
And I initially said yes, but Iwas quickly told you know, you
can't do that.
That is very much so againstthe CBA.
So it has to be worked outbetween Nikitian and SKA.
(20:19):
The Canes can't really have anyinfluence in that whatsoever.
I just want to make sure thatwas clarified.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Okay, well, that's fine, and in that case you know
clearly Nikitian is going toplead his case, because you know
if he plans to come over, he'sgoing to want to come as soon as
possible.
So, and my suspicion is and I'msure you might've thought
something similar and he's inconversation with them and the
discussion is clearly is hestaying and signing a new deal
(20:47):
with SKA or is he going to moveon?
And he's been a great footsoldier for them, he's played
extremely well, he's been theircaptain and I think you know the
right thing for them to do, ofcourse, is to work with him to
get that early release.
So we'll have to wait and see.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
I just caution people to expect it.
And then people will goimmediately and say well, you
know, Matthew Meechkoff got his.
Matthew Meechkoff was loanedout Like within the season, like
and SKA, while they might'vehad plans for him going forward,
they obviously didn't see it,so they granted him that
(21:26):
Nikitian is their captain.
Yes, I understand I I stilljust don't see them giving him
an early release.
I think it may be like a week.
If that, I don't, I reallydon't.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
I just want to caution people to just don't
expect it and, and I thinkthat's, I think that's uh, I
think that's a fair point too,nick.
I mean, we don't know, we haveno idea.
Um, you know, some some of usare hopeful, but in the same
token, as I mentioned before,we'll be happy just to get him
under contract at some point.
So yeah, in the meantime we'llcontinue to watch his fine play.
(22:01):
He is certainly, he's certainlystepping up, as you mentioned.
He's really playing well rightnow.
So we'll keep an eye onAlexander and see if he shows up
again next month in the topfive prospects as well.
Okay, so that is the top five,and now we move on to the
(22:21):
honorable mentions, and right atthe top is a guy that, of
course, we've talked a lot aboutas well, and that's Alexander
Artemonov.
Again, chris Peters said someinteresting things at the draft
about Artemonov.
He said he's strong on hisskates and able to stand up to
the battles and pressure againstpros in the KHL.
(22:44):
He's not a big player.
So, again, talking about himtrying to play in the KHL, a
very young player seems to behaving a great season.
What are we seeing in Nikita inFebruary?
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Yeah, he had a much better month than he had in the
past.
It was definitely back to whatwe had seen earlier in the
season when he was gettingreally good time and getting all
that First hat trick in the KHkhl, if I'm not mistaken this
month, which obviously that'sawesome.
Uh, yeah, he.
Now it leads the.
(23:19):
He has the u20 goal record aswell.
He's at 22.
I want to say he's at 22, he'sat 21 or 22, I can't remember.
Off the top of my head, yeah,but he, yeah, he's that record.
He'll probably finish top fiveu20 seasons.
All time he had a very, verygood year, even if recently he
really hasn't shown up a lot,and I don't and maybe that's due
(23:41):
to ice time, because I think hegot less than 10 minutes in his
most recent game, while, likeandre krutov, who continued to
play it continues to play forTorpedo got over 16.
So I don't really know what'sgoing on there.
Larry Onoff confuses me as acoach sometimes, but they're
going to be the eighth seedgoing into their playoff matchup
(24:02):
.
They're going to play the topseed in locomotive, so that'll
be interesting.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Yeah, I mean for sure .
Artem Onoff setting somerecords.
Now do we have any sense as towho some of the other under 20,
uh, record holders were forgoals?
Do we have?
Speaker 2 (24:23):
any sense of that?
Uh, kaprizov had the recordokay, with 20 demidov's at 19
michkov up there, kuznetsov wasup there and I want to say Eli
Tolvanen was up there as well.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Okay.
So these are.
I mean, obviously, they'rerecognizable players for sure.
So he's in very, very goodcompany.
Yeah, again, he's had anoutstanding season.
You're going to have your upsand downs, as you mentioned, and
it looks like he's firing allcylinders again, so that's
exciting.
The next couple of guys Iwanted to talk about, again from
(24:57):
the Russian side, and we'reseeing more and more of this in
recent months.
We're seeing some of theseyoung Russian players really
start to rise in the prospectside.
Andrei Krutov of course we'vetalked a lot about Andrei.
He was drafted this year in theseventh round.
Andre Krutov of course we'vetalked a lot about Andre.
He was drafted this year in theseventh round.
We liked what we saw with him.
Darren York had this to sayabout Andre Krutov a really
(25:18):
high-quality offensive thinker.
It's hard to say whether he's abetter shooter or a playmaker,
but he's able to see everythingand make guys around him better.
So these are great words fromDarren York, and I noticed that
Krutov is lighting it up in allthe leagues he's playing in this
year.
He looks like he's been in theMHL, the VHL and now the KHL.
(25:39):
What can you tell us aboutAndrew?
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Yeah, he's been really good in every league he's
played in.
He's way too good for the MHLat this point.
There should be no reason hegoes back there.
He's been very good in the vhl,which is very awesome to see
because he had never played inthat league before.
So it's very good to see himjust become one of the better
players for torpedo or gorky inthe vhl and I mean he's an 18
(26:03):
year old playing in.
I want to say it was either his10th or his 9th.
I want to say it was his 10thkhl game this season and he has
four goals in that time and thatas an 18 year old you don't see
that very often.
So that, and especially as aguy who was picked 220th overall
last year, that's definitelysomething to be.
(26:24):
That's definitely.
If you're looking for guys whohave risen up, you know personal
rankings, especially for myself, it'll definitely be krutov.
Probably he's the biggest riser, because I went in not
expecting a lot and now he's oneof the better players in
Torpedo's system at leastutilize.
So it's definitely great to seehis development this season.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Yeah, and he's just 18 years old and you know he's
5'11", 180 pounds.
He'll probably bulk up a littlebit, but he's a guy, that boy,
by all measure.
He's really starting to rise inthe prospect group for sure,
and great to hear about Krutovagain.
I'm getting more and moreexcited about Krutov every
single month, so it's greatGreat to see him again.
(27:04):
The other guy I was going totalk a little bit about is
Nikita Guzlistov.
Now, Guzlistov is a bit of adifferent story.
He was drafted, I think, in2021, seventh round.
Again Not a big player.
He checks in at 5'9", 170pounds.
He hasn't really distinguishedhimself that much.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
What are you seeing with?
Because who's least off?
Yeah, this month, um, he kindof got more vhl time, which is
definitely what he needs morethan anything else, and with uh
minsk, the team he started with.
He was just not going to getthat, because I don't think
minsk has a vhl team, I thinkit's um belarus league.
So he got moved to admVladivostok in a deal where
(27:48):
Minsk got a really good goalie,which I thought was funny.
So with Guslitov, now he'sgetting VHL time, which is
definitely where he should be,and he's looked like a player
that should have been drafted,and that's always great.
After moving from a differentclub, from Severstal to Minsk,
he needed to find something andjust didn't find it with Minsk.
(28:09):
So now he's with Admiral, butnow he's with Admiral's club
team and he's actually looked alot better over the past few
weeks.
I'm interested to see how hedoes in the playoffs coming up.
But, yeah, definitely a bettermonth for Gus Lietzoff, who at
this point might just be a deepcut for people to try and
remember.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Well, he definitely is well down on the depth chart
for sure.
Interesting that he's risen tosome of your attention.
I think that's quite a story.
The Ks have drafted so manyplayers over in Russia that
sometimes we forget certainnames, and certainly Guzlistov
is one of them.
Okay, so the next guy is kindof the other end of the spectrum
(28:51):
.
We talked about a small playerin Gus Listov, but this is a big
player for sure, and that'sLucas McCurry.
And of course he's a guy thatwe've liked a lot.
I like what I saw of him lastyear with UMass alongside Scott
Morrow in the pre-Frozen Fourgames and I like what he says.
(29:11):
And here's a scouting reportfrom Hockey Forecaster on Lucas
which I thought was interesting.
He has excellent size and heknows how to use it to his
advantage in a checking capacity.
He's a solid hitter as well asgood defender who can play the
two-way game from the centerposition, and the long-range
potential they have for him isbig two-way center with upside.
(29:32):
You're seeing a lot of that.
I know you've talked a lotabout lucas in the past and it
sounds like he's continuing hisfine play.
What can you tell us about hisfebruary?
Speaker 2 (29:40):
yeah, um, I don't know if it was february, january
, but he got moved to the topline for umass and their top
line has become incredible andhe's been a big reason for that.
Um, he, he knows how to use hisbody effectively, which is
always really important.
Um, and you know, going intothe ncaa tournament which I
believe umass should make atthis point, with hockey east
(30:03):
being as tough as it is andtheir record I know for anything
UMass plays Boston Universitytomorrow in the quarterfinals of
hockey tournament, so that'llbe something I'll probably keep
my eye on just to see how hedoes.
But he should he'll be.
If UMass does well in thetournament, in any tournament,
(30:25):
whether that be hockey or theNCAA, he's going to have to be a
big reason for their success.
Obviously, you have guys forumass like michael craubel and
net, who was a very good goalie.
You have guys like cole o'haraand um dan's like melis or the
two that I know off the top ofmy head that are good, but
mercury needs to be their numberone center and he has the
opportunity to do that.
(30:46):
Um, I do know the hurricaneshave until august like late
august this season to sign himright and it was very
interesting to note with lastyear where they traded kade
weber because he wasn't going tosign with them, they didn't
trade mercury's right.
So I would take that as someindication that they might have
an idea that they are probablythey might be able to get him
signed.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Yeah, and that would be great because he's a player
that you know you can see himkind of solidly positioned in
that fourth line or evenpotentially third line at some
point because of his size, hisgood skating and his basic
hockey acumen.
So, yeah, going to keep an eyeon Lucas for sure, and I, like
(31:28):
you, I'm going to be keen to seewhat he does in the getting
ready for the Frozen Four thisyear.
Okay, wrapping it up for thehonorable mentions.
We've talked about thisgentleman before as well.
Another Russian forward whocontinues to gain more attention
, of course, alexander Perevolov, talented winger who can
(31:51):
manufacture offense off theflank with his ability to
facilitate and create out wideor work his way or the pucks
through traffic.
That's Scott Wheeler in theathletics.
So again, some good, positivethings said about Perevolov when
he was drafted by the Canes.
What can you say about hisFebruary?
Speaker 2 (32:11):
Ever since moving to his club now in Metalurg
Novokuznetsk, he's been just adifferent player.
I don't know what was going onin Omsk that he just didn't look
good to now getting moved andnow he looks a lot better.
I don't know what was going onthere, but I'm glad he found
that move because he's found alot of the skill that he had
(32:32):
when he got drafted and he looksa lot better and I'm interested
to see if he continues to be abig playmaker going into their
playoffs, which I believe startwithin the next week or two.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
So interested in that for sure well, for sure, and
and again, he was.
Uh, when he was drafted by theCanes he was very highly
regarded and it's nice to seehim starting to find some of his
game and really show what hecan do.
A lot of Russian prospects wedon't see much of, and for sure
(33:03):
we're going to see more of themin the months ahead, and it's
great that you're covering thatgroup for us again, because
that's definitely a key part ofthe future for the Hurricanes.
Now, you mentioned coming up.
The Frozen Four, of course, iscoming up in the college ranks.
Are there any players as theyprepare for this?
You mentioned Lucas.
Are there other players that wemight want to keep an eye on as
(33:25):
we head into the NCAA FrozenFour stuff?
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Yeah, it's mainly at this point because Mary Mack,
which had Michael Emerson theygot eliminated, so they aren't
going to make the NCAAtournament, so his season's over
.
The guy that I'm probably moreintrigued about is Jaden Perron,
with North Dakota, because I'mreally interested to see if you
can actually find the secondgear that I've.
(33:52):
I mean not maybe not I, butthat people have been looking
for.
Um, because he stepped into therole of what jackson blake was.
He was expected to be one oftheir top playmakers, top point
getters, and an injury didn'thelp his season.
You know happening about thelater end, middle end of the
year, but you want to see himtake another step and while the
point production has been alittle bit higher, you wanted to
(34:15):
see it take off.
You wanted to see a lot closerto over a point per game,
especially for a UND team thatneeded to have some guys like
that that can't just rely on thefirst-round pick.
Well, I guess the one firstround pick on their roster that
is afforded and sasha boy bearthey needed another guy and
jayden perron.
He he tried admirably, but I Iwould love to see him take
(34:38):
another step in the playoffs,specifically to really cement
something.
I still think he goes back tocollege for at least another
year just to really continue hisprogression, but I'm really
interested to see if he can findanother year going into the I
believe it's NCHC playoffs.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
Okay, well, I mean Jaden.
When he was drafted, a lot offolks had him up in the second
and some even in the first round.
I mean he was very highlyregarded.
Keynes, I think, got him in thethird round.
He's a guy that again size isthe concern with Jaden, so we'll
have to see how he continues todevelop.
But clearly when he headed intothe draft, a lot of folks
(35:17):
thought he had just outstandingoffensive skills.
So I want to see more of thatwith North Dakota and I
definitely agree that I thinkhe'll be back with them next
year for sure.
So good stuff on Jaden Perron.
And looking at some of theother leagues and I know they've
got playoffs coming up as wellany players you're kind of
(35:37):
keeping an eye on and saying,hey, I want to watch them as
they head into the playoffs andmake sure I'm on top of them.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
I know people keep pointing to SKA and Alexander
Nikishin because obviously theywant to see how fast he can get
over here.
And, like I said earlier,please don't do that.
Do not.
You're going to set yourself upfor failure and I don't want to
see people fail.
I want to see them happy.
So please do not do that.
You can watch SKA all you want.
Just, you know, don't be sad.
Even when they lose, he doesn'timmediately have 13 bags ready
(36:09):
to go to get to North America.
I think, more importantly, yoelNystrom and Fargestad in the
SHL.
Fargestad was one of the betterteams in the SHL this season
and I would think they have adeeper playoff run.
I think they start theirplayoffs in a week because they
moved on to the, thequarterfinals immediately
(36:30):
because they were better.
Um, he is going to be close totheir number one defenseman.
I don't know if that means he'sgoing to get, you know, 23
minutes a night he had in thepast, but they've also
fluctuated their minutes asthey've kind of figured out what
they want to do with theirdefense.
I'm really interested to see ifhe can take over and become
that number one guy again.
(36:51):
And I'm also intrigued with ourjust dad, if noel franzen gets
in games, because he his seasonwith vastras came to an end, um,
and he had a very you know fora defenseman.
He was one of the yeah, I thinkhe was the top u20 point getter
in the hockey l svenskinkin,which, again, is a very tough
league, especially if you're 19years old.
So for Franzen to do that, it'simpressive.
(37:14):
I'm interested to see if hegets in a game.
I highly doubt it because, again, playoff time, you're not
taking a guy that's coming froma lower league and stapling him
in your lineup and going go forit, because that just doesn't
happen.
Again, people that are lookingfor Alexander Nikitin it's you
know.
So I'm intrigued to see if thathappens.
I doubt it, but Fargesta isdefinitely one I'm keeping my
(37:37):
eye on.
And then what I think peoplemight want to look at more, if
you want to look at guys thatmight come over after their
playoff run ends, severstalSeverstal will go into the
playoffs soon in the KHL andVladimir Grudinin still has not
signed a contract and I don'tbelieve he will.
(37:59):
So I'm interested to see whenSeverstal goes out.
He might be one of the guysthat actually does get an early
contract release and does comeover into North America.
I think that is something thatcould happen if tractor
chelyabinsk goes out reallyearly, which again I highly
doubt because they've been theyone of the khl's best teams.
If they go out early, alexanderreikhoff might be a guy that
(38:21):
gets that gets, that might getthat early out.
Um, you know, guys like thatmore than anything else.
And then obviously, college,the college.
Well, first off college hockeyplayoffs is just incredible.
In the first place, it's super,super fun to watch.
But the AHL playoffs are also,I want to say, like a month away
(38:43):
from starting, maybe a littleless than, and the wolves should
make the playoffs the way fromstarting, maybe a little less
than, uh, and the wolves shouldmake the playoffs.
So guys like, I would assume,moro and suzuki and nadeau and
robida are all gonna get like.
Well, maybe not for suzuki,because he does have ahl playoff
experience already, but withthose guys who are going to play
(39:03):
in their first ahl playoffseries, I'm intrigued to see how
that works out.
Because, like with Nadeau, doeshis goal scoring continue to
hang around?
With Robida, does he continueto do things when everything
becomes, you know, faster, wheneverything becomes chippier?
I'm intrigued to see that.
And especially with a guy likeLegault, please, for the love of
God, do not do anything stupid.
(39:24):
I love the kid, he knows how tofight.
Please don't cross-check a guyand get a penalty, please don't.
So I'm intrigued on a lot ofthat stuff.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
Well, the interesting thing about Legault.
I was looking recently at theplus-minus numbers in the AHL.
He's like in the top ten.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Yeah, it's because they finally put Fensori and
Legault together, which hasworked all season.
And they were like oh yeah,that works.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
So he's having an outstanding season and again,
you know, first year in the pros, yeah, cutting his teeth,
learning on the job and, I think, showing a little bit of
offense as well.
And I'm with you on Legault.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
He's a great one.
The one thing I would say isjust try not to use plus minus
as the end all be all forjudging defenseman.
It's sure it's, it's a helpfulmeasuring stick, but it's not
like, oh, this guy is a greatplus minus, he's the best
defenseman, it's.
It's just it comes down to whenand how they play more than
anything else.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
So I obviously the good, the plus minus is good but
I'm not going to be like, ohyeah, he's, he's fast-tracked,
he, you know.
Oh, I don't, I wasn'tsuggesting he's fast-tracked,
that's just a good.
I just thought that was a goodpositive sign.
He's.
Clearly he's got some more workto do, but he's definitely on
the right track and a lot offolks uh feel like charles
alexis legault is going to havea future with the canes as well,
(40:42):
um, and he certainly is uhtracking nicely and as a later
round draft pick Amazing.
So yeah, I mean, you know someof those names I'm really
excited about.
For sure.
Yoel Nystrom you've talkedabout him before and he's a guy
that, again, he could be overnext year, right.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
Sorry, who was that again?
Speaker 1 (41:04):
Yoel Nystrom.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
Yeah, no, he will be in North america next year uh I
figured that out.
He signed his uh elc lastseason, got a loan to far just
dad to finish out his shlcontract and then he'll come
back to north america.
So he is a guy that actually,if our just dad ends their run
early, yes, that happens.
He's a guy that could play AHLgames this season, okay.
Speaker 1 (41:28):
So we might see some of these folks, maybe Grudinin,
maybe Nyström maybe some otherplayers With Russia?
Speaker 2 (41:34):
guys probably not.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
Yeah, I get it.
It's a little bit more tricky,for sure.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
Yeah, with Swedish guys maybe.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
Yeah, vlad, I've been following Grudinin for a long
time and I'm really excited tosee what he's going to do when
he comes to North America.
I think he's another playerthat could be very, very
exciting as well.
So, yeah, wow, lost to cover,you're going to be busy.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
Always am.
Speaker 1 (42:01):
Well, listen, Nick, where can folks find you?
Speaker 2 (42:06):
Canes Prospects on Twitter.
Substack the same thing.
Developing Hurricanes is alsosomething that I do.
That's on Spotify, apple andwhere you like to listen to
stuff.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
Very nice.
That's excellent and all good.
I check virtually all of it out.
So, yes, very, very excitingand good stuff as well, nick,
and, as always, great to talkwith you about Carolina
Hurricanes prospects rightaround the globe.
And, of course, we'll beheading back in April to talk
(42:39):
about the top five prospects forMarch, and we'll keep an eye on
a lot of these players thatseem to be showing up regularly,
so hopefully they'll continuetheir fine play and maybe some
new names will show up as well.
Again, nick, as always, I reallyappreciate it and look forward
to getting together with youvery, very soon.
And for all of you who've beenwatching or listening, nick and
(43:02):
I are delighted that you spenttime with us.
If you like this episode,please press the like button.
If you have comments or youhave things you'd like to say to
us, or just questions whatever,please leave those in the
comment section down below.
Nick and I will try to respondas quickly as possible.
And if you'd like to be alertedof future episodes of the Top 5
(43:22):
Prospects of the Month or StormTracker in general, please
press the subscribe button andthe bell and you'll be alerted
just as soon as those areavailable.
As always, nick and I aredelighted to spend time with us
today and we'll look forward togetting together with you real
soon, right here on Storm you.
Well, Carolina Hurricanes fans had the
opportunity to see some of thetop prospects in action recently
with the Canes, as ScottMorrill has been filling in for
the injured Dimitri Orlov, andwe did see a couple of games
with Ryan Suzuki.
Coincidentally, both of theseplayers are in the top five
prospects for February and I'mdelighted, as always, to welcome
(00:25):
in our StormTracker insider forCarolina Hurricanes prospects,
Nick Bass, Howdy Nick.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Hello.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Hey, nick, before we get started, I did notice
recently that you havecelebrated a one-year
anniversary with your CanesProspects sub stack and I just
wanted to say hey, congrats man,because it's a great piece of
work.
I love it.
I think a lot of fans reallyenjoy the work you put in to
(00:55):
keep us up to date on theprospects.
So congrats man.
No, thank you, no worries.
This month.
Not too many surprises.
We're seeing a lot of the sameplayers that uh show up on a
regular basis continuing theiroutstanding seasons.
And the first on the docket, ofcourse, at number five, is a
(01:17):
gentleman we've talked a lotabout a bit of a mighty might uh
.
We've talked about his excitingseason right from the get-go,
and that's Justin Poirier andJustin.
You might recall that McKeansaid something really
interesting about Justin.
He said he was the first17-year-old to score 50 goals in
the Quebec Major Junior League.
(01:37):
So he really tore it up hisfirst year.
And their other comment abouthim, I think, tells it all.
They said his shot accuracy andshooters instincts are
impeccable.
He's continuing it this entireseason.
What can you tell all of usabout, uh, justin's february?
Speaker 2 (01:55):
uh, it was pretty standard.
At this point, everybody kindof knows that he's gonna score
close to a goal a game.
Uh, he's going to hover around10-12 points every single month.
I don't think he'll hit 50goals, though.
I think he's probably going tocap out really high 40s,
somewhere around 46-47, with howmany games they have left in
(02:16):
the regular season.
Drakkar will probably have anice little playoff run.
I don't think they'll go superdeep just because in the queue
there are some better teams, buthe'll have a nice little
playoff run to look forward to.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
And it looks like he had an outstanding month or
period because he had sevengoals and three assists in just
eight games played.
So another outstanding monthand his numbers for the year are
43 and 37 for 80 points in just58 games.
So he's definitely putting itall together this year and
having an outstanding season, aswe might expect.
(02:52):
Next up on the docket, I didmention him with a cup of coffee
with the Hurricanes recently.
He's a player that we've talkedagain a lot about this year.
He's continued his fine playvirtually the entire season and
that's Ryan Suzuki, and the wordon Suzuki from McKean's was
interesting.
They said if he can remainhealthy, he's a very, very
(03:15):
promising prospect.
So again, the challenge withSuzuki all along has been the
same Can he stay healthy?
This seems like this is thefirst year in a while and it's
all coming together for him.
What did we see from Ryan inFebruary?
Speaker 2 (03:30):
He looked basically like he has all year.
He's found a really good grooveas being one of the Wolves' top
six centers, whether that betop line or second line.
He's very good at what he doesand that's just being a
playmaking and sometimes playdriving center.
He's very good at doing all theother stuff besides shooting,
which is kind of weird becausehe does have a good shot.
(03:52):
He just doesn't really use itthat often.
He just I want to say he justgot 40 points yesterday and he
was the third wolf to do itbesides Robida and Nadeau.
So that's always nice to see.
He's just kind of been where heis.
He's been good this year andthey finally reunited Nadeau and
(04:14):
Suzuki and they've looked a lotbetter over the past few games,
so I'm excited about that.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Yeah, that duel has been magic just about the entire
season.
They've just been phenomenal.
And you're right, Suzuki has 40points now and he's continuing
his fine play and I thought, youknow, even with the Hurricanes
I didn't think he looked out ofplace and so that was a good
first volley for him, andhopefully we'll see some more of
Ryan as he continues hisdevelopment.
(04:41):
So then we have the numberthree choice on the month for
February, and this was aninteresting one because it's the
first time that we have a tieso leading it off a player we've
been watching with the Canes.
I mentioned at the outset, scottMorrow, filling in right now
for Dimitri Orlov.
I think he's looked pretty goodand again he's continuing to
(05:05):
build his game.
There's some areas that RodBrindamore is looking for him to
continue to develop, but forthe most part he's starting to
show that he's going to be aserious contender with the
Hurricanes next year.
Again, a comment from McKean'sI think tells a lot about Scott
Moore.
They said he has sublimeall-direction skating ability,
(05:26):
crisp puck skills and a big shotfrom the point, and you've seen
a lot of that with his work inChicago this year.
What can you tell us aboutScott's fair work?
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Yeah, definitely, at least in 2025,.
Morrow has kind of proved he isa number one AHL defenseman.
He's kind of taken over thatrole.
He's been in that role but overthe past two months he's
definitely shown that he has theability to just run the blue
line and especially in Februaryhe did a very good job of that
and I'm glad the organizationhas seen what he can do and
(06:00):
given him some runs instead of,you know, guys like Stillman or
Smith instead and just playingScott Mororrow, because he has
NHL talent, he's NHL ready.
In my opinion, he's kind ofshown that over the last few
games, especially in the gameagainst Winnipeg.
He was exceptional, he wasgreat and he got his first NHL
point because of it.
And, yeah, morrow I think atthis point it's kind of an
(06:21):
assumption he's just going to beon the NHL roster next year.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Well and again.
A beautiful assist on the MarkJankowski goal.
It was an excellent play byScott and he was one thing I
noticed as he kind of gainedconfidence.
He was starting to do what hedoes with the Chicago Wolves.
He was heading into theoffensive zone and hanging
around making things happen.
(06:45):
The Chicago Wolves, he washeading into the offensive zone
and hanging around making thingshappen.
So I think, again a niceintroduction with Scott for sure
.
And I mean his numbers areoutstanding.
He's got 13 goals, 26 assistsfor 39 points in 51 games Not
too shabby for a defenseman inhis rookie year in the AHL.
So he's definitely a guy thatis putting it all together and
we'll continue to watch Scottclosely and hopefully see some
(07:07):
more games with Scott in aHurricanes uniform this year.
The other guy on the tie side,we love him.
5'8", 175 pounds and just apepper pot out there, he's
making things happen every timehe's on the ice.
I am so impressed with this guy.
Justin Robita Robita to me isputting it all together.
(07:28):
He paid his dues last year inthe East Coast League.
He's really, really making astatement this year Comment from
again Darren York.
When they drafted him I thinkit's kind of interesting.
He said this kid uses his speed, uses his compete, can be a lot
harder to play against and canplay bigger than his size would
(07:50):
suggest.
So again, he plays hard, hemakes things happen and he had a
number of outstanding playsthat led to goals or he scored
himself in February.
What can you tell us from yourviewpoint, what you saw with
Justin?
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Yeah, he just continues to play really well,
whether that be as a center, asa winger, he's just always
making things happen, whetherthat be shorthanded.
He's been very, very goodshorthanded as a rookie, whether
that be at even strength.
The power play work is stillcoming along as he figures out
how he really wants to work onthe power play.
But that's also just astatement in in totality for the
(08:28):
wolves, who have still not puttogether great power plays, but
they're, they're going throughit.
He's currently, uh, third inrookie scoring in the entire ahl
and you know they're only guysthat were drafted ahead of him.
Besides, I want to say justinritzkovkovian, but it's just all
guys that either played areally long time in college or
were drafted second, third roundor higher.
(08:51):
And for Robita to have thislevel of success in his first
year is very, very encouraging.
There is definitely an NHLfuture for him.
I don't know if it will be nextyear, but down the line he will
definitely be a guy that playsin a good amount of NHL games.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Well, when you've watched him, what has impressed
you the most?
As he's developed this year, Imean, he's been on quite a path,
so what have you seen?
That's really excited you.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
I would go either his ability to play center and wing
, because that'll be a big thingversatility-wise for the next
level.
He's been a very good center,he's been a very good winger, so
having the ability to playeither war is definitely going
to aid him going forward, aswell as just his overall compete
level being as high as it isand his effort level.
Just he never quits.
(09:37):
He is if he's on the ice.
He's going to keep going untilhe's off the ice and that's
something that's invaluable tohave as a player and I think
he's uh.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
From what I can see, he's getting uh.
He's getting playing time injust about every situation, so
has he been uh again?
Power play, penalty kill areyou seeing that as well?
Speaker 2 (09:56):
yeah, um, he's one of their.
He's one of chicago's mainpenalty killers, alongside um,
slavin and brindamore, okay, andhe's.
He's been a very, very, verygood penalty killer.
Him and Dominic Fensore havecombined a lot to make things
happen on the penalty kill andit's just impressive to see from
him, especially as a rookie.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Yeah, I did see some highlights with those guys
teaming up on a goal for sure,yeah.
So outstanding numbers so far56 games for Roby Daly.
He's got 14 goals, 29 assists.
So that's quite impressive forthis young man and he continues
to grow and I think you're rightin terms of his overall game,
(10:38):
and we'll look forward to seeinghow he continues to develop as
well with Chicago.
He's a guy that I agree withyou totally.
I think he'll be in the Caneslineup at some point in the
future.
I just don't know when that'sgoing to be, but he's definitely
making his case very, veryclear.
Now, number two on the chart,another one of your favorites as
well.
(10:58):
I know that he is having justsuch an outstanding season.
It's easy to see why he's onthe list virtually every month
and of course, that's BradleyNadeau, nadeau, gosh.
He's made the transition fromcollege hockey in almost a
seamless fashion this year.
I think he's again learning hiscraft and that's part of the
(11:22):
challenge as you become a pro toget your complete game in order
.
But, boy score, tell us aboutbradley nadeau yeah, um, we're
like recently.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
He slowed down recently, especially in march,
and I think that's just becausethe wolves have kind of shifted
game styles and maybe that'smore of just like a thing.
He's also played in a fewdifferent ways that he hasn't
gotten used to yet.
Maybe it's just a cold spell inhis rookie year, which you know
not many people are going toscoff at.
But Nadeau has just been very,very good.
(11:53):
Um, he's aiming for probablyabout 25 to 30 goals anywhere in
between that range in hisrookie season and that's the one
, if he just can get betterdefensively, more than anything
else.
Um, he, he's a surefire NHL guynext year.
I would think it's, if not very, very close.
He just, yes, he just has tocontinue getting better
(12:14):
defensively but like offensivelyand skating and everything like
that, he's, he's, he's ready,he's a very, he's going to be
very good and and you know withNadeau some concerns about size.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
How do you feel about that?
Speaker 2 (12:28):
I have zero concerns about his size, even when that
was another big thing when theytraded for Stan Coven, who I
kind of forget is a rookie thisyear.
It just slips my mind.
So technically he's a prospect.
So I guess I can kind of talkabout him.
You can talk about him, butlike even talk about stanco.
Yes, you, you watch a guy likestanco and play who's not big?
(12:50):
And he does.
It doesn't let him affect himat all, he just finds a
different way to adapt.
It's the same way to a lesserextent with justin pourier.
It's the same way with justinrobita.
It's just size is not the end,all be all.
And with nadeau he doesn't, itdoesn't affect him, like he'll
get hit, but he, he's not theguy that just get hit and
crumble, he's a guy that willjust get hit and be like all
(13:11):
right, sure it.
I'm not worried about size atall okay.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
So again, uh continues his fine scoring and
uh and of course teaming withryan suz for quite a duo.
So that's great stuff and we'llcontinue to watch Bradley and
we'll hope he gets to 25, 30goals this year.
That would be a nice firstseason in the pros, for sure.
The next guy, of course, atnumber one on the chart he's on
(13:39):
a lot of folks' minds these daysand clearly is a great, great
potential cane for the future.
And of course we're talkingabout Alexander Nikitin.
You know I was digging up someinteresting reports when he was
drafted some quotables as theycall it and I wanted to share
those with you because I thoughtyou'd get a kick out of them.
(14:01):
Tony Ferrari with the HockeyNews said this.
He said he's quite a gooddefender against the rush,
despite his flaws in skating.
So they had some concerns abouthis skating when he first
turned pro.
He excels in that area becauseof his willingness to close the
gap, stay tight and engagephysically.
His presence in the net frontis top-notch as well.
(14:23):
So Ferrari saw him as a verystrong defensive player, but
again looking to strengthen hisskating, and did not talk really
about his offensive game at all.
Alexander Taxman in FuturescopeHockey said his hands are those
of a top-line winger.
Now that's interesting.
When he has the puck and thestick it seems super glued.
(14:45):
This allows him to pull offsome of the most impressive
dekes and zone exits, entries ofall draft eligible players,
regardless of position.
Now that's quite a statement.
So clearly when he was drafted,folks could see some certain
skills in Alexander.
Of course, he's come such along way and had a great month
(15:06):
against again in February.
What can you tell us aboutAlexander Nikishi?
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Yeah, again, month against again in February.
What can you tell us aboutAlexander Nikisha?
Yeah, um, again.
It's one of those things whereyou just kind of run out of
words to describe a guy, and Ido think there's still definite
concerns about his skating justbecause he's not the fastest
player out there, but he doesn'tlet that slow him down just
because he's bigger than mostpeople, so he doesn't really
need to be the fastest guy outthere, right?
Um, yeah, he's a.
(15:32):
He's been sk's lead guy, I meanrealistically, for the past
three years, but he's been theirlike guy in almost every
situation.
The only one that he reallydoesn't have to lead is the
penalty kill, and that's goodthat he doesn't have to lead the
penalty kill, because at thatpoint you're probably looking at
, you know, 26 minutes of ice anight and and that's kind of
terrifying.
So with Nikishin he's just beenreally good.
(15:56):
It feels like he's finally backin form and back to doing what
he does best, which is justbeing the best defenseman on the
ice at all whenever he stepsonto it, and that's always
really good.
I don't know if you're going todo it, but he did sign with a
North American agency.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Yes, very recently I was going to talk about that.
Yes, yeah, cortex, yes, yeah,yeah, you know, interesting,
he's back.
I think he's back on the pointwhere he was on the power play,
so I think that's a big help.
His numbers were very strongFour goals, seven assists for 11
points.
His numbers were very strongfour goals, seven assists for 11
(16:33):
points.
That's more what we've beenexpecting from Nikitian and he's
got 17 goals, 29 assists for 46points on the year in 58 games.
So he's starting to get kind ofmore offense, which we've seen
in past seasons.
The start of this year was alittle bit different.
I think Tony D'Angelo was partof the mix there as well, so
starting to see that for sure.
But, yeah, a couple of things,as we do the Alexander Nikitian
(16:55):
watch, and that's a great point,nick, on the cortex thing, what
?
Speaker 2 (17:01):
did you think of that when you saw it?
Well, I mean, I think goinginto this year there was already
a lot of speculation,especially from North America,
that he was probably going tomove over.
Then, a little bit into theseason, you kind of or at least
I kind of saw more articlescoming from russian media saying
, hey, he's probably leavingthis season.
But I I still don't put a lotof stock into anything until it
(17:23):
actually happens, because thingscan change very quickly.
It's nothing is ever done untilyou see it's official.
So with something like that, it, with seeing him sign with a
north american agency, I thinkit gives you a really big
indication on what his futureplans are, as if people had
doubts.
But and I think it kind oftells you and it's nice that he
(17:44):
went to cortex because I made anote of it that they just they
have a large amount of clientsthat work with the hurricane.
So, like martin chatfield,several carrie a note of it that
they just they have a largeamount of clients that work with
the hurricane.
So, like martin chatfield,several carrie a lot of guys and
taylor hall, who's probablygonna stay for longer than this
season and jaylen chatfield aswell yeah, yeah, it's very nice
to see him go to that company,which probably means there's
(18:05):
gonna be a good relationshipthere.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
So well, and that's exactly the way I saw it.
Was that?
Uh, obviously, that obviouslyEric Tulsky has a relationship
with that organization and so heknows, you know, the key people
there so they can work togetherto get something done.
The other thing I want tomention too, of course, was the
recent press conference thatEric talked about Alexander
(18:29):
Nikitin specifically, that Erictalked about Alexander Nikitian
specifically, and again hecontinues to kind of play the
same story, which is that theCanes are very, very interested
to get Alexander here as quicklyas possible and of course that
might mean they have to do a bitof negotiation with SKA to get
an early release.
But he did talk about that aswell.
(18:51):
And clearly, as you've mentionedbefore rightfully so, nick
there's the other pieces andparts of this, which is clearly
getting visas and getting himover here and so on.
There's a lot of logisticalpieces, but I think the
announcement of a North Americanagency on board is going to
help with some of this and, Ithink, most importantly, the
contract side.
So, yeah, it's all going theright way, but, again, like you,
(19:14):
until we have Alexander here,you know it's still a little bit
of anxiety, and I mentionedthis recently in some other
comments I made about Alexanderthat for me the big thing is I
want to see him signed on withthe.
Hurricanes thing is.
I want to see him signed onwith the Hurricanes.
So whether he plays this year,which I'd love to see or next
year, that's fine, but justlet's get him under contract.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Yeah, I shouldn't completely mention any.
I don't believe, because Ihaven't told about this before.
Nhl teams can't reallynegotiate with European teams
for a release like that.
It has to be just the pureEuropean team, because it's
against the CBA.
Because somebody had asked aquestion about if it was during
(19:58):
the summer when Waddell was incharge and he made the comment
about trying to get Nikitianover early.
Somebody had asked like, hey,can't they just pay Nikitian
whatever he owes on his contractand they can get him?
And I initially said yes, but Iwas quickly told you know, you
can't do that.
That is very much so againstthe CBA.
So it has to be worked outbetween Nikitian and SKA.
(20:19):
The Canes can't really have anyinfluence in that whatsoever.
I just want to make sure thatwas clarified.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Okay, well, that's fine, and in that case you know
clearly Nikitian is going toplead his case, because you know
if he plans to come over, he'sgoing to want to come as soon as
possible.
So, and my suspicion is and I'msure you might've thought
something similar and he's inconversation with them and the
discussion is clearly is hestaying and signing a new deal
(20:47):
with SKA or is he going to moveon?
And he's been a great footsoldier for them, he's played
extremely well, he's been theircaptain and I think you know the
right thing for them to do, ofcourse, is to work with him to
get that early release.
So we'll have to wait and see.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
I just caution people to expect it.
And then people will goimmediately and say well, you
know, Matthew Meechkoff got his.
Matthew Meechkoff was loanedout Like within the season, like
and SKA, while they might'vehad plans for him going forward,
they obviously didn't see it,so they granted him that
(21:26):
Nikitian is their captain.
Yes, I understand I I stilljust don't see them giving him
an early release.
I think it may be like a week.
If that, I don't, I reallydon't.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
I just want to caution people to just don't
expect it and, and I thinkthat's, I think that's uh, I
think that's a fair point too,nick.
I mean, we don't know, we haveno idea.
Um, you know, some some of usare hopeful, but in the same
token, as I mentioned before,we'll be happy just to get him
under contract at some point.
So yeah, in the meantime we'llcontinue to watch his fine play.
(22:01):
He is certainly, he's certainlystepping up, as you mentioned.
He's really playing well rightnow.
So we'll keep an eye onAlexander and see if he shows up
again next month in the topfive prospects as well.
Okay, so that is the top five,and now we move on to the
(22:21):
honorable mentions, and right atthe top is a guy that, of
course, we've talked a lot aboutas well, and that's Alexander
Artemonov.
Again, chris Peters said someinteresting things at the draft
about Artemonov.
He said he's strong on hisskates and able to stand up to
the battles and pressure againstpros in the KHL.
(22:44):
He's not a big player.
So, again, talking about himtrying to play in the KHL, a
very young player seems to behaving a great season.
What are we seeing in Nikita inFebruary?
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Yeah, he had a much better month than he had in the
past.
It was definitely back to whatwe had seen earlier in the
season when he was gettingreally good time and getting all
that First hat trick in the KHkhl, if I'm not mistaken this
month, which obviously that'sawesome.
Uh, yeah, he.
Now it leads the.
(23:19):
He has the u20 goal record aswell.
He's at 22.
I want to say he's at 22, he'sat 21 or 22, I can't remember.
Off the top of my head, yeah,but he, yeah, he's that record.
He'll probably finish top fiveu20 seasons.
All time he had a very, verygood year, even if recently he
really hasn't shown up a lot,and I don't and maybe that's due
(23:41):
to ice time, because I think hegot less than 10 minutes in his
most recent game, while, likeandre krutov, who continued to
play it continues to play forTorpedo got over 16.
So I don't really know what'sgoing on there.
Larry Onoff confuses me as acoach sometimes, but they're
going to be the eighth seedgoing into their playoff matchup
(24:02):
.
They're going to play the topseed in locomotive, so that'll
be interesting.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Yeah, I mean for sure .
Artem Onoff setting somerecords.
Now do we have any sense as towho some of the other under 20,
uh, record holders were forgoals?
Do we have?
Speaker 2 (24:23):
any sense of that?
Uh, kaprizov had the recordokay, with 20 demidov's at 19
michkov up there, kuznetsov wasup there and I want to say Eli
Tolvanen was up there as well.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Okay.
So these are.
I mean, obviously, they'rerecognizable players for sure.
So he's in very, very goodcompany.
Yeah, again, he's had anoutstanding season.
You're going to have your upsand downs, as you mentioned, and
it looks like he's firing allcylinders again, so that's
exciting.
The next couple of guys Iwanted to talk about, again from
(24:57):
the Russian side, and we'reseeing more and more of this in
recent months.
We're seeing some of theseyoung Russian players really
start to rise in the prospectside.
Andrei Krutov of course we'vetalked a lot about Andrei.
He was drafted this year in theseventh round.
Andre Krutov of course we'vetalked a lot about Andre.
He was drafted this year in theseventh round.
We liked what we saw with him.
Darren York had this to sayabout Andre Krutov a really
(25:18):
high-quality offensive thinker.
It's hard to say whether he's abetter shooter or a playmaker,
but he's able to see everythingand make guys around him better.
So these are great words fromDarren York, and I noticed that
Krutov is lighting it up in allthe leagues he's playing in this
year.
He looks like he's been in theMHL, the VHL and now the KHL.
(25:39):
What can you tell us aboutAndrew?
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Yeah, he's been really good in every league he's
played in.
He's way too good for the MHLat this point.
There should be no reason hegoes back there.
He's been very good in the vhl,which is very awesome to see
because he had never played inthat league before.
So it's very good to see himjust become one of the better
players for torpedo or gorky inthe vhl and I mean he's an 18
(26:03):
year old playing in.
I want to say it was either his10th or his 9th.
I want to say it was his 10thkhl game this season and he has
four goals in that time and thatas an 18 year old you don't see
that very often.
So that, and especially as aguy who was picked 220th overall
last year, that's definitelysomething to be.
(26:24):
That's definitely.
If you're looking for guys whohave risen up, you know personal
rankings, especially for myself, it'll definitely be krutov.
Probably he's the biggest riser, because I went in not
expecting a lot and now he's oneof the better players in
Torpedo's system at leastutilize.
So it's definitely great to seehis development this season.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Yeah, and he's just 18 years old and you know he's
5'11", 180 pounds.
He'll probably bulk up a littlebit, but he's a guy, that boy,
by all measure.
He's really starting to rise inthe prospect group for sure,
and great to hear about Krutovagain.
I'm getting more and moreexcited about Krutov every
single month, so it's greatGreat to see him again.
(27:04):
The other guy I was going totalk a little bit about is
Nikita Guzlistov.
Now, Guzlistov is a bit of adifferent story.
He was drafted, I think, in2021, seventh round.
Again Not a big player.
He checks in at 5'9", 170pounds.
He hasn't really distinguishedhimself that much.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
What are you seeing with?
Because who's least off?
Yeah, this month, um, he kindof got more vhl time, which is
definitely what he needs morethan anything else, and with uh
minsk, the team he started with.
He was just not going to getthat, because I don't think
minsk has a vhl team, I thinkit's um belarus league.
So he got moved to admVladivostok in a deal where
(27:48):
Minsk got a really good goalie,which I thought was funny.
So with Guslitov, now he'sgetting VHL time, which is
definitely where he should be,and he's looked like a player
that should have been drafted,and that's always great.
After moving from a differentclub, from Severstal to Minsk,
he needed to find something andjust didn't find it with Minsk.
(28:09):
So now he's with Admiral, butnow he's with Admiral's club
team and he's actually looked alot better over the past few
weeks.
I'm interested to see how hedoes in the playoffs coming up.
But, yeah, definitely a bettermonth for Gus Lietzoff, who at
this point might just be a deepcut for people to try and
remember.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Well, he definitely is well down on the depth chart
for sure.
Interesting that he's risen tosome of your attention.
I think that's quite a story.
The Ks have drafted so manyplayers over in Russia that
sometimes we forget certainnames, and certainly Guzlistov
is one of them.
Okay, so the next guy is kindof the other end of the spectrum
(28:51):
.
We talked about a small playerin Gus Listov, but this is a big
player for sure, and that'sLucas McCurry.
And of course he's a guy thatwe've liked a lot.
I like what I saw of him lastyear with UMass alongside Scott
Morrow in the pre-Frozen Fourgames and I like what he says.
(29:11):
And here's a scouting reportfrom Hockey Forecaster on Lucas
which I thought was interesting.
He has excellent size and heknows how to use it to his
advantage in a checking capacity.
He's a solid hitter as well asgood defender who can play the
two-way game from the centerposition, and the long-range
potential they have for him isbig two-way center with upside.
(29:32):
You're seeing a lot of that.
I know you've talked a lotabout lucas in the past and it
sounds like he's continuing hisfine play.
What can you tell us about hisfebruary?
Speaker 2 (29:40):
yeah, um, I don't know if it was february, january
, but he got moved to the topline for umass and their top
line has become incredible andhe's been a big reason for that.
Um, he, he knows how to use hisbody effectively, which is
always really important.
Um, and you know, going intothe ncaa tournament which I
believe umass should make atthis point, with hockey east
(30:03):
being as tough as it is andtheir record I know for anything
UMass plays Boston Universitytomorrow in the quarterfinals of
hockey tournament, so that'llbe something I'll probably keep
my eye on just to see how hedoes.
But he should he'll be.
If UMass does well in thetournament, in any tournament,
(30:25):
whether that be hockey or theNCAA, he's going to have to be a
big reason for their success.
Obviously, you have guys forumass like michael craubel and
net, who was a very good goalie.
You have guys like cole o'haraand um dan's like melis or the
two that I know off the top ofmy head that are good, but
mercury needs to be their numberone center and he has the
opportunity to do that.
(30:46):
Um, I do know the hurricaneshave until august like late
august this season to sign himright and it was very
interesting to note with lastyear where they traded kade
weber because he wasn't going tosign with them, they didn't
trade mercury's right.
So I would take that as someindication that they might have
an idea that they are probablythey might be able to get him
signed.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Yeah, and that would be great because he's a player
that you know you can see himkind of solidly positioned in
that fourth line or evenpotentially third line at some
point because of his size, hisgood skating and his basic
hockey acumen.
So, yeah, going to keep an eyeon Lucas for sure, and I, like
(31:28):
you, I'm going to be keen to seewhat he does in the getting
ready for the Frozen Four thisyear.
Okay, wrapping it up for thehonorable mentions.
We've talked about thisgentleman before as well.
Another Russian forward whocontinues to gain more attention
, of course, alexander Perevolov, talented winger who can
(31:51):
manufacture offense off theflank with his ability to
facilitate and create out wideor work his way or the pucks
through traffic.
That's Scott Wheeler in theathletics.
So again, some good, positivethings said about Perevolov when
he was drafted by the Canes.
What can you say about hisFebruary?
Speaker 2 (32:11):
Ever since moving to his club now in Metalurg
Novokuznetsk, he's been just adifferent player.
I don't know what was going onin Omsk that he just didn't look
good to now getting moved andnow he looks a lot better.
I don't know what was going onthere, but I'm glad he found
that move because he's found alot of the skill that he had
(32:32):
when he got drafted and he looksa lot better and I'm interested
to see if he continues to be abig playmaker going into their
playoffs, which I believe startwithin the next week or two.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
So interested in that for sure well, for sure, and
and again, he was.
Uh, when he was drafted by theCanes he was very highly
regarded and it's nice to seehim starting to find some of his
game and really show what hecan do.
A lot of Russian prospects wedon't see much of, and for sure
(33:03):
we're going to see more of themin the months ahead, and it's
great that you're covering thatgroup for us again, because
that's definitely a key part ofthe future for the Hurricanes.
Now, you mentioned coming up.
The Frozen Four, of course, iscoming up in the college ranks.
Are there any players as theyprepare for this?
You mentioned Lucas.
Are there other players that wemight want to keep an eye on as
(33:25):
we head into the NCAA FrozenFour stuff?
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Yeah, it's mainly at this point because Mary Mack,
which had Michael Emerson theygot eliminated, so they aren't
going to make the NCAAtournament, so his season's over
.
The guy that I'm probably moreintrigued about is Jaden Perron,
with North Dakota, because I'mreally interested to see if you
can actually find the secondgear that I've.
(33:52):
I mean not maybe not I, butthat people have been looking
for.
Um, because he stepped into therole of what jackson blake was.
He was expected to be one oftheir top playmakers, top point
getters, and an injury didn'thelp his season.
You know happening about thelater end, middle end of the
year, but you want to see himtake another step and while the
point production has been alittle bit higher, you wanted to
(34:15):
see it take off.
You wanted to see a lot closerto over a point per game,
especially for a UND team thatneeded to have some guys like
that that can't just rely on thefirst-round pick.
Well, I guess the one firstround pick on their roster that
is afforded and sasha boy bearthey needed another guy and
jayden perron.
He he tried admirably, but I Iwould love to see him take
(34:38):
another step in the playoffs,specifically to really cement
something.
I still think he goes back tocollege for at least another
year just to really continue hisprogression, but I'm really
interested to see if he can findanother year going into the I
believe it's NCHC playoffs.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
Okay, well, I mean Jaden.
When he was drafted, a lot offolks had him up in the second
and some even in the first round.
I mean he was very highlyregarded.
Keynes, I think, got him in thethird round.
He's a guy that again size isthe concern with Jaden, so we'll
have to see how he continues todevelop.
But clearly when he headed intothe draft, a lot of folks
(35:17):
thought he had just outstandingoffensive skills.
So I want to see more of thatwith North Dakota and I
definitely agree that I thinkhe'll be back with them next
year for sure.
So good stuff on Jaden Perron.
And looking at some of theother leagues and I know they've
got playoffs coming up as wellany players you're kind of
(35:37):
keeping an eye on and saying,hey, I want to watch them as
they head into the playoffs andmake sure I'm on top of them.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
I know people keep pointing to SKA and Alexander
Nikishin because obviously theywant to see how fast he can get
over here.
And, like I said earlier,please don't do that.
Do not.
You're going to set yourself upfor failure and I don't want to
see people fail.
I want to see them happy.
So please do not do that.
You can watch SKA all you want.
Just, you know, don't be sad.
Even when they lose, he doesn'timmediately have 13 bags ready
(36:09):
to go to get to North America.
I think, more importantly, yoelNystrom and Fargestad in the
SHL.
Fargestad was one of the betterteams in the SHL this season
and I would think they have adeeper playoff run.
I think they start theirplayoffs in a week because they
moved on to the, thequarterfinals immediately
(36:30):
because they were better.
Um, he is going to be close totheir number one defenseman.
I don't know if that means he'sgoing to get, you know, 23
minutes a night he had in thepast, but they've also
fluctuated their minutes asthey've kind of figured out what
they want to do with theirdefense.
I'm really interested to see ifhe can take over and become
that number one guy again.
(36:51):
And I'm also intrigued with ourjust dad, if noel franzen gets
in games, because he his seasonwith vastras came to an end, um,
and he had a very you know fora defenseman.
He was one of the yeah, I thinkhe was the top u20 point getter
in the hockey l svenskinkin,which, again, is a very tough
league, especially if you're 19years old.
So for Franzen to do that, it'simpressive.
(37:14):
I'm interested to see if hegets in a game.
I highly doubt it because, again, playoff time, you're not
taking a guy that's coming froma lower league and stapling him
in your lineup and going go forit, because that just doesn't
happen.
Again, people that are lookingfor Alexander Nikitin it's you
know.
So I'm intrigued to see if thathappens.
I doubt it, but Fargesta isdefinitely one I'm keeping my
(37:37):
eye on.
And then what I think peoplemight want to look at more, if
you want to look at guys thatmight come over after their
playoff run ends, severstalSeverstal will go into the
playoffs soon in the KHL andVladimir Grudinin still has not
signed a contract and I don'tbelieve he will.
(37:59):
So I'm interested to see whenSeverstal goes out.
He might be one of the guysthat actually does get an early
contract release and does comeover into North America.
I think that is something thatcould happen if tractor
chelyabinsk goes out reallyearly, which again I highly
doubt because they've been theyone of the khl's best teams.
If they go out early, alexanderreikhoff might be a guy that
(38:21):
gets that gets, that might getthat early out.
Um, you know, guys like thatmore than anything else.
And then obviously, college,the college.
Well, first off college hockeyplayoffs is just incredible.
In the first place, it's super,super fun to watch.
But the AHL playoffs are also,I want to say, like a month away
(38:43):
from starting, maybe a littleless than, and the wolves should
make the playoffs the way fromstarting, maybe a little less
than, uh, and the wolves shouldmake the playoffs.
So guys like, I would assume,moro and suzuki and nadeau and
robida are all gonna get like.
Well, maybe not for suzuki,because he does have ahl playoff
experience already, but withthose guys who are going to play
(39:03):
in their first ahl playoffseries, I'm intrigued to see how
that works out.
Because, like with Nadeau, doeshis goal scoring continue to
hang around?
With Robida, does he continueto do things when everything
becomes, you know, faster, wheneverything becomes chippier?
I'm intrigued to see that.
And especially with a guy likeLegault, please, for the love of
God, do not do anything stupid.
(39:24):
I love the kid, he knows how tofight.
Please don't cross-check a guyand get a penalty, please don't.
So I'm intrigued on a lot ofthat stuff.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
Well, the interesting thing about Legault.
I was looking recently at theplus-minus numbers in the AHL.
He's like in the top ten.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Yeah, it's because they finally put Fensori and
Legault together, which hasworked all season.
And they were like oh yeah,that works.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
So he's having an outstanding season and again,
you know, first year in the pros, yeah, cutting his teeth,
learning on the job and, I think, showing a little bit of
offense as well.
And I'm with you on Legault.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
He's a great one.
The one thing I would say isjust try not to use plus minus
as the end all be all forjudging defenseman.
It's sure it's, it's a helpfulmeasuring stick, but it's not
like, oh, this guy is a greatplus minus, he's the best
defenseman, it's.
It's just it comes down to whenand how they play more than
anything else.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
So I obviously the good, the plus minus is good but
I'm not going to be like, ohyeah, he's, he's fast-tracked,
he, you know.
Oh, I don't, I wasn'tsuggesting he's fast-tracked,
that's just a good.
I just thought that was a goodpositive sign.
He's.
Clearly he's got some more workto do, but he's definitely on
the right track and a lot offolks uh feel like charles
alexis legault is going to havea future with the canes as well,
(40:42):
um, and he certainly is uhtracking nicely and as a later
round draft pick Amazing.
So yeah, I mean, you know someof those names I'm really
excited about.
For sure.
Yoel Nystrom you've talkedabout him before and he's a guy
that, again, he could be overnext year, right.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
Sorry, who was that again?
Speaker 1 (41:04):
Yoel Nystrom.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
Yeah, no, he will be in North america next year uh I
figured that out.
He signed his uh elc lastseason, got a loan to far just
dad to finish out his shlcontract and then he'll come
back to north america.
So he is a guy that actually,if our just dad ends their run
early, yes, that happens.
He's a guy that could play AHLgames this season, okay.
Speaker 1 (41:28):
So we might see some of these folks, maybe Grudinin,
maybe Nyström maybe some otherplayers With Russia?
Speaker 2 (41:34):
guys probably not.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
Yeah, I get it.
It's a little bit more tricky,for sure.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
Yeah, with Swedish guys maybe.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
Yeah, vlad, I've been following Grudinin for a long
time and I'm really excited tosee what he's going to do when
he comes to North America.
I think he's another playerthat could be very, very
exciting as well.
So, yeah, wow, lost to cover,you're going to be busy.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
Always am.
Speaker 1 (42:01):
Well, listen, Nick, where can folks find you?
Speaker 2 (42:06):
Canes Prospects on Twitter.
Substack the same thing.
Developing Hurricanes is alsosomething that I do.
That's on Spotify, apple andwhere you like to listen to
stuff.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
Very nice.
That's excellent and all good.
I check virtually all of it out.
So, yes, very, very excitingand good stuff as well, nick,
and, as always, great to talkwith you about Carolina
Hurricanes prospects rightaround the globe.
And, of course, we'll beheading back in April to talk
(42:39):
about the top five prospects forMarch, and we'll keep an eye on
a lot of these players thatseem to be showing up regularly,
so hopefully they'll continuetheir fine play and maybe some
new names will show up as well.
Again, nick, as always, I reallyappreciate it and look forward
to getting together with youvery, very soon.
And for all of you who've beenwatching or listening, nick and
(43:02):
I are delighted that you spenttime with us.
If you like this episode,please press the like button.
If you have comments or youhave things you'd like to say to
us, or just questions whatever,please leave those in the
comment section down below.
Nick and I will try to respondas quickly as possible.
And if you'd like to be alertedof future episodes of the Top 5
(43:22):
Prospects of the Month or StormTracker in general, please
press the subscribe button andthe bell and you'll be alerted
just as soon as those areavailable.
As always, nick and I aredelighted to spend time with us
today and we'll look forward togetting together with you real
soon, right here on Storm you.
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