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stormTRacker Podcast
Breaking Down The Canes' Rising Stars With Nick Bass: Trikozov, Khazeyev, Legault & More!
What makes a future NHL star? Join us as we unravel the answer by taking you behind the scenes at the Carolina Hurricanes' Prospects Development Camp. Held at Invisalign Arena from July 8 to July 11, this camp was a showcase of raw talent and potential. Hear from special guest Nick Bass of Canes Prospects and Dobber Prospects, who provides exclusive insights into standout players like Gleb Trikozov, Ruslan Khazeyev, Justin Poirier, Jayden Perron & Charles-Alexis Legault, as well as the promising new signings Joakim Ryan and Dominic Badinka. Learn how these young athletes are gearing up to make waves in the NHL and strengthen the Chicago Wolves.
Ever wonder what it takes to become an elite player in the NHL? Discover the fascinating stories of top-rated prospects like Gleb Trikozov and Ruslan Khazeyev. With Gleb's incredible offensive skills drawing comparisons to Vladimir Tarasenko and Ruslan's formidable presence as a goaltender, these young stars are poised to make significant impacts. We'll break down their strengths, the challenges they may encounter, and the opportunities that lie ahead as they transition to the big leagues. Our discussions also touch on the potential futures of other emerging talents within the Hurricanes' system, including Aleksi Heimosalmi and Joel Nystrom.
How do you build a winning team from the ground up? Uncover the strategic moves made by the Hurricanes, as we examine their focus on developing prospects for the Chicago Wolves. From Ryan Suzuki's potential to become a top-line center to Scott Morrow's key role as a right-handed defenseman, the blend of young talent and seasoned veterans is the cornerstone of their approach. We discuss Coach Cam Abbott's ability to balance these dynamics and foster growth, drawing parallels to his success with players like Moritz Seider. Tune in for an in-depth look at the Canes' offseason updates and what it all means for their future success.
One of the highlights of the summer months for the Carolina Hurricanes is the Prospects Development Camp. This year, the camp was held in Raleigh, north Carolina, at Invisalign Arena from July 8 to July 11. The Canes invited some of their recent draft picks, including Dominic Badinka, noel Fronson, oscar Boulay and Justin Poirier. They also invited a number of other key prospects, including Charles Alexis Legault, gleb Trikosov, ruslan Kuzaev and Felix Ungersorm, all ticketed for Chicago this year. You know the Canes have an outstanding prospect base and they continue to build on it.
Speaker 1:Now, an interesting thing about the development camp is that it gives the Canes an opportunity to look at invitees who have not been drafted by the Canes, and this year it was Josh Nadeau, brother of Bradley. Josh, of course, coming off an outstanding season in Maine last year and he's definitely been on the radar of the Canes for a while. We had a chance to get together with Nick Bass of Canes Prospects and Dauber Prospects and Nick told us what he saw at the camp. Okay, so excited again to have an opportunity to chat with Nick Bass. Of course, nick, with Canes Prospects and Dauber Prospects hey, nick, how's it going?
Speaker 2:I'm good. I'm a little tired but I am good. So far Hasn't been that bad. Been very busy last week, so I'm finally happy to sit down for the next two days and relax, hopefully.
Speaker 1:Exactly. I know it was a busy week for you and certainly follow closely all the posts that you made, and that was great information. You know, before we talk about that, I wanted to bring up some information on the Canes in the last couple of days and I wanted to get your feel for it. The Canes made some interesting signings. They signed Joaquin Ryan, who had been playing in Momo, as it turns out and that is the same place, of course, that Dominic Padinka was playing and they signed Dominic Bedinka, so I thought that was interesting. They signed both of those guys. Obviously, bedinka, you know, just getting started. He's going back to Malmo, I guess this year, and on the side of Joachim Ryan, of course, he had been with the Canes for a cup of coffee in 2021 and then went over to Sweden to play in the SHL. Thoughts on that?
Speaker 2:Complete honesty. He'll compete for the seventh defenseman role with Carolina, but he is going to be a very good Chicago Wolf. He's going to be very good in the AHL and be probably a stabilizing force, depending on where they have him in the lineup for one of those younger right-handed defensemen that they're probably going to have, because, looking at it, it's going to be like Morrow and Legault and probably Haim Osami and all those guys. They're just going to be younger and need some experience help. So Ryan's definitely going to be one of the people that's going to help out with that. Uh, and then badinka. Yes, as I was told by aaron schwartz yesterday, which freaked the heck out of me, um, it's an iihf rule. Uh, I believe that anybody under 18 that does sign an elc, they have to go back to their senior club.
Speaker 1:So he'll be with malmo next year okay, good, well, and of course, uh cam avid coming over from the shl. He's also going to have some knowledge of Joakim Ryan and I agree with you. I think with Chicago, what we're seeing is that the Canes are going to have certainly their best and brightest prospects there and at the same time, they definitely want to have some solid veterans to complete the squad. I think what we're seeing is that the Canes are serious about icing a competitive team this year in Chicago. So that's good news for Canes fans. So again, yeah, it sounds pretty exciting.
Speaker 1:So, going back to the Hurricanes development camp, several players kind of stood out. You have mentioned in your post recently five guys that I wanted to touch on today Charles Alexis Legault, justin Poirier, jaden Perron, ruslan Kozaev and Gleb Trikhizov. So those guys, obviously they're key prospects for the Hurricanes and we've talked about some of them in the past. But I thought it'd be good to kind of catch up on them as well and I thought we'd start with Charles Alexis Legault. Now, charles Alexis Legault I had seen last year in the Frozen Four games. Looked really good with Quinnipiac. Obviously he's come a long way. Looked really good with Quinnipiac Obviously he's come a long way.
Speaker 1:He's a guy that Darren York said plays the defensive style of game that we want to play, which you don't normally see from college kids. He's able to get up in the offensive zone, flush down the wall, seals off in the defensive zone, plays a really fast game, a defensive game, and that's something we want in our defensemen and of course he's been something we want in our defensemen. And of course he's been working on his offensive game as well. In fact, last year in Quinnipiac, in 39 games he had nine goals and 15 assists for 24 points. So he's a big guy 6'3", 207, right shot defenseman.
Speaker 2:They're great assets, for sure. What did you see in charles alexis lagarde? Yeah, um, obviously his defense. Consistently in drills he was, uh, very adamant on not giving up any goals. He was always putting his body on the line, especially which I was very shocked to see, especially in a dev camp. Um, but he was making sure that plays didn't happen to protect his goalie. He was very, very good with that. The offense was shining through.
Speaker 2:I made a very passing comment that in a past life he was probably a top six forward. His shot is something I haven't seen from a defenseman in a little bit. The power he can generate from his wrister is something incredible. Um, I like a lot of the stuff about his game. Obviously the defense was already there. His offense is finally coming together and put that all together. I think I did mention I want to call him nhl ready. I really really do. It's on like the cusp of it. But, um, with lego, I want to see him play at the professional level before I call anything. But I'd say lego is probably the second most ready nhl defenseman that I've seen.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know it's interesting. You mention that because I've been feeling the same thing and it's amazing because I mean they drafted him last year playing in Quinnipiac. He was kind of under the radar later around draft pick. I think he's going to be a real steal and everything I've seen of this guy, he's got all the tools to get it done. So, yeah, really excited about Charles Alexis Legault. Justin Poirier we talked about recently. Justin, he's an 18-year-old. He's a smaller player, 5'8", but he's stocky at 183. He's a right shot center. That's good news. He had a big season last year in the quebec major junior league. In 68 games he had 51 goals 31, 51 goals and 31 assists for 82 points. And in the playoffs listen to this 17 games he had 18 goals and nine assists for 27 points. So he just absolutely tore it up. And you recall Darren York's comment on him is he's just a goal scorer, justin Poirier.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have a fake award. There's no trophy or anything, it's just a title. But the UC Oakland Award for Never Missing in the Shootout went to him. He and the practices would go one-on-one with every single goalie and he, I don't think, missed at all and he would make sure those goalies knew he did not miss at all. Um, I got to talk to him a little bit. He's a very just competitive person. He figured out that when he probably wasn't going to grow that much anymore which I don't know if that's even the case uh, if he does grow, that'd be a healthy bonus. Yes, but he kind of figured out at that point he needed to use his size to his advantage, which he has done in bounds, especially in that three on three scrimmage. He was very much so not afraid of just going at the defenseman and making him make a tough play because he's going to run around you. He scored a lot in camp in the two on two scrimmages on short ice. He was dominating because, again, he's just a very tough player to knock off the puck, because he understands how to use his frame. His skating stride is a little funky, I don't really know how to describe it. It's just it's very short, but once he gets up to speed he's incredibly adept at it.
Speaker 2:I do like Justin Poirier. I do. I don't. It's not that I don't value the youth CHL leagues a lot, it's just. I think the SHL and the Liga might have a lot more talent, especially if you're playing at such a young age there. I do really like Justin Poirier, though. Obviously everything is well together. I just I want to see him have another big productive year and maybe fix up some defensive issues.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, for sure, and you know, you think about little players and you think about guys like Alex DeBricka and when he came in and folks said, hey, it's going to be tough for him to be successful, he was like Poirier. He just tore it up in junior and of course, you can see how successful he's been. I think Poirier is a natural scorer. You know. You can't teach that to players, as you know, and so I think that's something he's going to bring to the table. I'm really excited about him.
Speaker 1:When you think of small players, you talked about another one a fair bit, and that's Jaden Perron. Now Jaden just finished his first year at UND in North Dakota 39 games, 11 goals, 7 assists for 18 points. A bit of a slow start, for Jaden Started to pick it up as the season went on. He again 5'9", 163. He's a right shot, right left winger, he plays both sides. This guy again highly skilled, he can shoot the puck, he's great vision on the ice, he can really pass, and I think you know the comment that Darren York made was interesting. He said, probably in a little bit similar sense to Ungersorm there's playmaking, high-end skill and the ability to take the puck from the neutral zone and take it into the offensive zone. So again, another one of those guys that just has that ability and you know we see that kind of player, of course, in Marty Natchez the ability to take it from your defensive zone into the offensive zone. That's not easy to do and this guy is very, very good at it. What did you see in jayden perron?
Speaker 2:uh.
Speaker 2:Firstly, I think he did grow from five foot nine. He did have a few. He had at least uh two or three inches on four years. So I don't think he's 5'9 anymore, which is always a positive. But in any case, perron was one of the more. I called him the most improved Last year. I called Alexis Legault the most improved and obviously we see where that kind of led him this year.
Speaker 2:I was calling Perron the most improved because he was a lot better than what I saw last year. He was consistently winning puck battles. He was consistently making plays. One of the things he has found that he loves to do is get to the middle of the ice, which terrifies me, especially as a player that's not six foot. He scares the living crap out of me when he goes to the middle of the ice, but he is incredibly adept at getting to the middle and winning every single battle in the middle.
Speaker 2:Um, a lot of the, a lot of good things to like about perron. Obviously I think he's the most improved player. From last year's camp to this year's camp, I liked everything I saw and I think, now that UND has lost Jackson Blake, obviously, and a few other higher-end offensive playmakers. I think he's going to have a very big chance to grab a top-line, maybe top-six role permanently and make a very big impact for that UND team. So I really do like what I saw out of Perron top line, maybe top six role permanently and make a very big impact for that UND team.
Speaker 1:So I really do like what I saw out of Perron yeah, I mean Perron to me again. He came into North Dakota with lots of praise. A lot of folks thought he was going to be drafted much higher than he was Slipped down. The Canes got him, I think, in the third round, so that was a real coup for the Canes and I think he's definitely going to be a player as time goes on. I'm really excited about jayden perron. I want to talk about one other forward. That's gleb. Trick is up now. Glad, coming over this year. Uh, that's exciting. Gleb's a bigger player, so he's in checks in at 6'1 and 192 pounds. Again he's. He's a right shot guy, plays the left wing. He's still young, he's 19 years old, so he's coming over as a young player.
Speaker 1:Last year, anofsky in the NHL that's like junior. He had 10 games, 12 goals, six assists, 18 points. He tore it up and in the playoffs, seven games, four goals, five assists for nine points. And, as you've rightfully said in the past I think too, nick, he was kind of moved around a lot. He couldn't get his place in the KHL, did play in the VHL, which is like the AHL here and also, of course, the MHL, as I just mentioned. So he's a guy that, coming to Chicago, I think that's going to be a settling piece for him. He's got elite offensive skills. As you know, he's got to work on his 200 foot game and and his consistency. But this guy is an elite talent and Darren York's comment was he's an incredibly high-end offensive player and really young. So, again, coming over at 19, this guy is going to have a chance to to build his game. He's got some years to do it. We're not rushing him him, which is great, and I really am excited.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think I actually gave him an NHL comparable, which I don't normally do for a lot of guys, but I'm trying to get a little bit better at it. I think I gave him Vladimir Tarasenko, which might not have been the smartest idea, but everything in his game just reminds me a lot of like a very young, before his like breakout tarasenko, where everything was put together offensively and maybe defensively. It's not there, but you can't ask for much more out of a player offensively, especially from gleb. Um, I called him the best player at dev camp. Uh, the best player in the scrimmages. At least he was dominating them. He, I think, scored four or five goals, including a shootout goal. He was just dominating offensively. You couldn't. There wasn't much you could do to stop him. He just when he got the puck, he knew what to do and he always succeeded at what he did.
Speaker 2:I very much so love Gleb and speaking on the Russian stuff and like wire, where he played and why I was told that he was that he and his coach the khl level did not see eye to eye, which is incredibly weird because as soon as he got sent down, and especially in the playoffs, wherever I don't remember where he played exactly, but in the playoffs he was the captain. So you know, I honestly I think I do buy into that a little bit, because obviously the players love him and the coaches love him enough to give him the C, especially going into the playoffs. I love Gleb. I think he's a very talented offensive player. I did compare him to Tarasenko. I think he could get there eventually. I really do. He just has to keep applying himself and keep getting better At 19, he does not look 19. He is a special playmaker and he'll probably play a really good role for that Chicago team, yeah he's going to get a real opportunity.
Speaker 1:You know, when I've watched highlights of Gleb his goals he, just he is incredible. His skill level is off the charts and I think Canes fans are going to be very excited once Gleb comes over. And again, at 19 years old, I mean, he's just, you know, he's got some time to really hone his game and I think Chicago is the right place for him and I'm glad they signed him and they're bringing him over. I think this is great news. But boy, yeah, gleb Turk is off. He's going to be a cane in the not-too-distant future, for sure.
Speaker 1:And speaking of another Russian and this guy has really impressed the heck out of me is Ruslan Kazaev. This guy's huge, as you know, he's 19 years old, he's 6'4", he's 201 pounds and of course you know when you bring size into the net. And recently, of course, russian goaltenders have been all the rage. They've been incredible. We look back to Wabrowski and, of course, shostakhin and Vasilevsky, and you can go on and on. So definitely Exciting. He had a great season Last year with Chalabinsk In the NHL again junior. 28 games he was 16-5-5 With a 2.19 goals against average of 927 save percentage. Darren York's comment on him is that he's incredibly powerful, balanced and has unbelievable seasons in the last few years in Russia and our goalie coaches were just so impressed with the feet and the balance in combination with that power. And if you watch any of the highlights on Kazaev, he is something else.
Speaker 2:I think my first introduction to him. I walked into that first day and I was talking to Walt Ruff and Corey LaVallette and everybody. The first thing I said was oh my God, that kid is huge. He made the net look like a mini net. It was so fun. I guess we had, I mean, the hurricane. Honestly, I haven't had a guy who has towered over the net in a while and obviously because I am being so young, it's something nice. Yeah, he covers the net very well.
Speaker 2:I did like what I saw from him. Everything was good in the scrimmages. He was solid before somebody I don't know who it was Got him on the collarbone with a puck and had a good old. I don't really know that I call it a softball, but it was kind of like a baseball size lump just directly on his collarbone in the locker room. That thing was huge. Um, he came back and played and also played very well, but he's a very good goalie.
Speaker 2:Um, his personality, while not might not be as big as everybody's favorite goalie that I introduced them to over the past few days, and he's an incredibly funny guy, from what I understood. Like I'm trying to learn russian, it's very tough, but he was an incredibly funny person to be around um and in the shootouts they had. Before going into the locker room before scrimmages he was doing shootout lines with uh robadai porie trick is off, hymo saw me but then he was doing a shootout line with all of them. He was making save after save after save and he was making sure these people knew that he kept making these saves and they were not scoring. He would get up after making the save, look at him, point and then put his hand up to his ear like that he was making sure they knew that they aren't scoring.
Speaker 2:He's an incredibly fun goalie. They aren't scoring. He's an incredibly fun goalie. Obviously, I like his stats. I like his build, everything about him. I'm very interested to see how he handles life in the AHL. I know he'll be surrounded by a few Russians down in Chicago. I really do hope he starts performing well. I do think he's the future of the net. It's just he needs to keep doing what he was doing in Russia and apply it to Chicago.
Speaker 1:Well, it's interesting you mentioned that. You know he's a bit of a character.
Speaker 2:Can you just imagine Pyotr Kochetkov and Ruslan Kazaev as the goalies for the Hurricanes? I think people would have a lot more fun not trying to put down Kazaev. People would probably have a lot more fun hearing a Velmikin talk. I really wish I had a voice interview with the guy, but that I know we're not supposed to talk about him just because it wasn't on my little agenda. But I love igor velmican.
Speaker 2:Uh, people kept making jokes in the media. Good old cory kept saying oh, you had a date with the guy and I was like no man, he's just a fun guy to be around. He's just a bubbly personality guy that understands. He's only here for a few days, so he might as well just have a lot of fun with it. Obviously, the video of him in the tennis ball just hitting it on his head. Obviously, whenever Kazaev was doing it, he goes in Russia. You got to learn how to fight. And then on that last day, right before leaving the locker room going I'm going to be the next Fyodor Kochetkov, but better. I thought that was hilarious. The kid is just a fun guy. I wish him nothing but the best. I think he was traveling yesterday or today, but he was going back to Belarus for training camp. That is a I believe he said 40-hour travel day travel days. I guess he's going to watch a lot of Jason Statham movies. I love that kid. I just want to talk about him because I do really like the personality of him.
Speaker 1:Well, I know you talked a lot about it. I was going to bring him up actually, so I'm glad you did the challenge you have with the Hurricanes and you mentioned a couple of other goalies while we're on this. Of course, you had Jakob Bondrus, who was unable to get to camp and who was the other one?
Speaker 2:There was another one that didn't make it as well. So, yeah, the story behind that is. I'll just tell the whole story because I think it's funny.
Speaker 2:But hammerlin and bonders patrick hammerlin, jacob andres. They were on their way, I think. They were from the czech republic, and on that first day only the three goalies were out, and I was a little confused about it. And so I get a message from patrick's dad, who I have come to find out is a very, incredibly funny man, and he sends me all their flight information, a screenshot of where they are, and just goes. They are currently flying from Paris to Raleigh as we speak. Their plane got super delayed, and so I was like, oh, that stinks. So they got in late Tuesday.
Speaker 2:I think, and I didn't see them around or anything. I was hoping Wednesday they would appear and they just weren't. And I was like, oh man, this kind of stinks. So the scrimmage rolls around, we all sit down with the media and as we're like waiting for the game to start, I see a guy in a 39 hoodie start walking up the steps and I'm like, oh my god. And so it's Patrick Camerola. He comes up to me and shakes my hand and says hi, so apparently he knows me, which terrified me in a certain way, and I was like, oh dang, hey man, how's, how's it going? He just said, well, it would be a lot better if I was on the ice.
Speaker 2:Um, he couldn't get on the ice because I got in late and then they lost his gear somewhere in london or paris. They had no idea where it was because airlines I can't use the exact words he said, but airlines do not care about where people's stuff are, so if they lose it, he'll lose it. It's kind of over with. And then Vondris walked in behind us. He was the same way. Amarillo is a super funny guy. He and his dad are very close. He was making jokes about it. His dad might overshare a little bit more than he should, but they're incredibly nice people. And then they did obviously get some on ice sessions in, so they did find their gear, but I was hoping they would have a little bit of ice time but honestly, I was happy just again to talk to both of them.
Speaker 1:See how they were doing yeah, for sure. And you know I had seen Jakob Bondrus in the Prospect Showcase in September. This guy is a heck of a goalie. I mean you start to look at the depth the Canes have in young goaltenders.
Speaker 2:Man, it's incredible. Yeah, I mean my thing with calling it incredible. I'd always hesitate, especially with goalies, because they can just be a crapshoot. I think the only guy that I have seen as a legit NHL future at this point and I do mean legit is Josiah. I haven't seen a ton from Vondris. Hammerlow was very honest about his year in Finland, said he's still weighing options on where to play. He has a few things he's trying to work out. He wants to stay in North America. He very desperately does not want to go back to Finland, but he's still trying to work some things out. Velmiken, obviously back in Belarus. It's just trying to find places for these guys and I really need to see a lot more from some of these guys.
Speaker 2:They have a lot of depth, Do not get me wrong. I just it's depth and it's goalies.
Speaker 1:Goalies are always going to be a crap sheet to try and figure out, but there's no question that you know some of these guys, man they. To me they look like they definitely have the potential. Obviously it's there's a lot of work to do, but it's nice to have that number of goalies that you can work with in your system. And they're right around the globe, as you mentioned, some back in Europe and some will be playing here in North America. I'm not sure what we're doing in the Eastern Coast Hockey League, the ECHL, this year. We had some players who were in Norfolk last year, so I'm sure we'll be putting some back into that league as well this year.
Speaker 2:So that may be a place where Patrickrick hammerwood can play as well um, well, at least from what I know, uh, I don't believe they're gonna sign with an uca. They could always do a joint partnership with the team, but, um, I think the only one that I know confidently is probably going to play echl minutes next year is gonna be bryce montgomery with south carolina.
Speaker 1:I'm not a hundred.
Speaker 2:I'm yeah, I'm not confident any other guys going to the echl as of right now.
Speaker 1:Last year, of course, because they had several players down there um for a good part of the season until they move some of them up to chicago. So, yeah, it's just another place where they can put some of the younger players and give them a chance to, you know, play in North America as well. Some other guys that I just wanted to touch on you raised some comments about them in some of your written work as well Nick Lucas McCurry, alexei Haimosomi, joel Nystrom and Felix Unger-Sorm.
Speaker 2:Yeah, lucas McCurry I will continue to describe him as the ideal fourth line center until he proves me otherwise. He is a forechecking guy. He is a menace on the forecheck. He is the body of the fourth line forechecker. He just bullies people. His shot got noticeably faster in the time I saw him at UMass in person to the time I saw him at DevCamp in person. It's gotten better. As long as he can continue to refine skating and keep getting better in the dot, I think he might have something. Eventually. I do like him a lot. Haim Osami eventually I do like him a lot.
Speaker 2:Um haima saw me I've said multiple times, probably my favorite favorite skater to watch in a hurricane's prospect system. He just has some beautiful work. He um, during some of the drills on the second day he started out at kind of like the middle to the back of the line and then after two drills they moved him to the front, right after Ali Lacombe. He is just a graceful skater and I do mean that in the best way possible. He just he moves so effortlessly and he does everything with just precision and just it looks pretty to watch and it's very effective. I very much so like Jaime Salmi. His two way game is also good. He did a lot of things I liked in camp. I don't know Like I still have question marks about his offense. I think his defense is always good and I really do need him to play in north america this year not me personally, but he's played.
Speaker 2:It's kind of the same thing as anthony honka, who wasn't here but I think is going to be with the wolves this upcoming season. He has played too long in the liga and to make a decision on him, on whether he can have something down the line, you need him to play in North America and I would like to see him play for Chicago, but Chicago is going to have, I think, nine defensemen that they could play on any given night.
Speaker 2:They have a lot and I really want to see him in North America because I think he can be a very solid defenseman. To see him in North America because I think he can be a very solid defenseman. Yoel Nystrom I know Darren York's incredibly high on him and he has very good reason to be high on him. His two-way game is among the best in there. I kind of like how Morrow is just really good offensively and Charles Alexis Legault really good defensively. Yoel Nystrom is probably the best of both worlds where he is good defensively and good offensively. In both regards he is playing as a top pairing defenseman for Fargestad, which is one of the better teams in Sweden. He's an exceptional defenseman. He gets some power play time, even though it might not be the biggest. I like his offensive game. His stating is good. Everything about Joel Nystrom is something to like. He is playing this next year at far just dead, but after that I would not be surprised to either see him somehow snag a role with the hurricanes next season not this upcoming, but the season after or he gets a top pairing role with the wolves and he has a lot of ice time there and probably is the first one on the call-up sheet if an injury or something like that happens. And obviously everybody knows Dungerson. At this point he's top five prospect in the system. Everybody knows everything about him.
Speaker 2:The kid is still a wire. He is still undersized to a certain extent. I don't know if they were not feeding him a lot, even though they definitely were, because that's probably his biggest drawback. Everything about his game is good. His hockey sense. He's probably the smartest player on ice. His passing is spectacular. His skating is very good. His shots even gotten better, which I'm kind of shocked by. The one thing I need him to do is put some, some fast food in your body. Man, stop losing all this weight, get, get, make it to where you have a little bit of meat on your bones, because then you're probably an nhl player right out the gate. You probably wouldn't even be here, you'd probably be off training somewhere else. Um, the kid just needs to add weight, I think.
Speaker 2:And obviously now, knowing he's gonna play in north america which I've been saying for weeks upon the weeks, at this point, kind of knowing that he's going to be here, I don't think. I think lexan's actually announced that like three months ago that he was coming to north america, but obviously, hearing it from the agm is a little bit different. The kid's going to dominate, or he's going to dominate the ahl level, in complete honesty, because he is just that good with the puck on his stick. He's going to dominate there. I think there's a very real opportunity where he plays more than nine games at the NHL level this year. I don't know whether that's out the gate, because the Canes somehow have an overabundance of right wingers and an underabundance of left wingers, so it kind of just depends on some stuff there.
Speaker 2:I think Ungersorum, though, is going to play NHL games this year. He's probably going to play more than nine. Um, I think next year is going to be his big, big, big year. I think this year is going to be a spectacular year in chicago, but everything's kind of pointing toward next year well, you know it's interesting when you you start to look at some of these players that you're talking about.
Speaker 1:You know, nick, you've got you. You've got guys like unger sorm and gleb trikazov, who we both, you know, feel great potential for. And then you've still got, you know, bradley Nadeau and Jackson Blake. I mean you've got a number of fine young wingers that can come in and, I think in a not too distant future, can really take a role with the Canes.
Speaker 1:And it must be part of the strategy, as we've watched it unfold with Eric Tulsky and he's mentioned hey, we want to leave room for some of these players and they're probably sitting there just thinking, wow, we've got some outstanding talent here and you know, a little bit more seasoning with these guys and they're definitely going to be pushing for spots in the canes and that's exciting as we look forward, I mean, clearly, when you can start to build from within. And you know we've got some defensemen. We've talked about Gosh, you know you think about Nikitian and you think about Morrow, but we've got other defensemen, as you mentioned, with Nystrom and others, like Charles Alexis Legault and so on. We got a lot of young players that are going to be pushing in a couple of years for spots, which puts the Canes in a very enviable position. What do you think of that?
Speaker 2:always having guys that are making some million dollars, that can be a top nine difference maker, is always going to put you in a great position. It just kind of is on these guys to actually improve in the areas they need to improve to become these complete nhl players. Um, obviously, I talked with adam gold about this. Uh, he was very, very adamant that he knew nothing about prospects and I kind of I understood that. Um, I mentioned that I think Bradley Nadeau is going to stick this year and we had a talk about, hey, there's probably going to be that second line left wing role and I I made I said it very confidently and I will continue to say it confidently I think Bradley Nadeau is going to stick there. I think Bradley Nadeau is going to be the second line left winger going into this year. He's going to play elevated, he's going to play good in that elevated role. He's going to be a shooter. He is going to be a shooter and one more time, he's going to be a shooter. He's going to let that thing fly and he's not going to have much remorse for it. Obviously, in that one game at the end of the year, everybody saw him. They put him in the ob spot they said once you get the puck and if you have space, let that thing go. And he continuously did it. Obviously I like the kid.
Speaker 2:I've met him and his brother, josh, who I've said for I want to say, since march I don't know if there's actually a post about it, please don't look it up. I don't know if there's actually a post about it, please don't look it up. I don't know if there is. I've said that Josh Nadeau is going to be an NHL player. I have no idea where that's going to be. He is going to be an NHL player. Everything about him screams. He's playing at least 200, 300 games at the NHL level. That kid is good. I hope it's for the Canes. I really, really do. When I was up there in Maine I don't know if it is tampering or not, please don't quote me on this I mentioned hey man, you should join your brother. How cool would that be Two brothers playing the same NHL team. Haha, isn't that cool. I don't think he took it to heart. Think he's gonna be an hl player.
Speaker 2:I think his brother is going to be a top six difference maker this year. I think he might have that same spetchnikov impact. Even though spetch kind of played third line right wing when he came in the league with stall, I think you put him, you put him with uh, whoever you want to have at that second line center and you just let him play his game because everything about him is good. I think he's going to be a very high level impact player going forward. Yeah, they have a ton of guys that are probably going to push for spots. I mean, I didn't even talk about jackson blake, who I think is another guy that's nhl ready, but kind of along the same lines as unger sorum. He might just be blocked by the overabundance of veteran right wing options, unfortunately. But Jackson Blake is spectacular. He's a top nine playmaking winger. I love him. I think the kid's going to be very good. It just might be an unfortunate fact if he has to tear up Chicago because they just have too many right wingers going forward.
Speaker 1:Well, and that may not be a bad thing too, nick. I think the opportunity for these guys to come into the pros, get a chance to kind of, you know, get some experience. Obviously, they're going to be in a nice situation with Cam Abbott. The team's going to be a solid team. There'll be a lot of young talent there and also some good veterans. I think it's going to be a great situation for them and you know they're going to be getting some of the coaching from the Canes themselves. They have some of these folks that you know, go onto the road and work with the players as well, and they'll get some of that and they'll learn the system. And that's one of the biggest things that I think is an opportunity when they play in the minors like that, as they get to experience the hurricane system, which, as we know, is fairly challenging. Experience the hurricane system which, as we know, is fairly challenging, but once you get it, it's incredible, and so I think, yeah, we're going to see some exciting things with these players.
Speaker 1:Lots of talent, and we lost some good players in this offseason, for sure, but boy, we got a lot of interesting players to look forward to, and I do agree with you on Bradley Nadeau. I absolutely believe he's going to make the Hurricanes this year and he's really a guy that should be playing on the second line. In my view, as you say, he's a guy that can play with offense, he's a smart player, he's solid in his own zone. So he's definitely the kind of guy you want to be playing on the second line. I don't want to see him on the third or fourth, I want to see him up in the second. So hopefully he gets a shot there and I think he's going to do great.
Speaker 1:And you and I have talked about Josh Nadeau before, and boy I tell you, I'm with you. I think the Canes should sign him. I think it'd be great. He played a lot of his younger years with Bradley, as you know. They're very close and you know Bradley's going to be a key part of the case for a long time. It'd be great to get Josh as well. So, boy, lots of great players. We didn't even touch on some of the other guys. Is there anybody else we should be thinking of? That was at the camp.
Speaker 2:I wanted to actually touch on a few guys that weren't at the camp because I feel kind of bad I didn't mention them, uh, during the time. Ryan suzuki I will continue to praise. If they didn't have some of the guys that they have signed at the center position, he'd be your fourth line center going forward. I think he's gonna play first line center for the wolves going forward. I think this is going to be his biggest year known to mankind. Like if he wants to make it to the nhl, he's got to have a good year and I'm gonna say like four hail marys, cross my fingers, cross my toes, cross, everything that he actually does. Stay healthy. I like that's my big thing for the kid. I know somebody was talking like you know you and you're judging suzuki unfairly and it's kind of annoying in that regard. I know the pic doesn't look great now, obviously, but what are you going to do when the guy darn near loses his eye, one of his eyes during his, his, uh, first year out of the draft? That's like you can't predict that sort of thing and that's that was just annoying to me. Um, the two left-handed defensemen, ronan sealy and dominic fensore. Dominic fensore is up there with haima salmi in terms of skating. The one downside is unfortunately he's shorter, but at that same point his 200-foot game is spectacular and he runs a power play for Chicago. So I think he has something. Ronan Seeley is a just safe defenseman. He was a seventh-round pick. He was playing with Team Canada on that first pair with Owen Power also long ago at the World Juniors. He was awesome there. I do like Ronan Seeley a lot. I know a lot of people don't talk about him, but he's a very safe defenseman and I would not be surprised if he gets NHL games down the line.
Speaker 2:Anthony Honka, I've described him as if you ever wanted Tony D'Angelo, but a Finnish player he is that he is all offense, no defense, and finnish player he is that he is all offense, no defense and kind of everything. Skating mannerism wise, he looks exactly like him on ice. Uh, he ran a power play for the wolves whenever he was here and he's another one of the haimasami players where you're like, hey, man, you really gotta play north america for this year, like you've kind of done everything you can in finland and you've dominated finland. In complete honesty, you kind of need to play over here at this point. So I'm hoping for that.
Speaker 2:And obviously Scott Morrow. I was ready for him to play NHL minutes this year. Obviously now that probably is not going to happen, but at that same point he's going to be. I think he's already been penciled in. Since they signed Walker and Goss's Barrett, he has been penciled in as the Chicago Wolves first caring right-hand defenseman who is going to play their first power play. He's going to do everything for that team and praying to God they don't use him as a net front presence on the power play. I will never forgive that UMass coach, not saying anything against him, but big guy, that's not how we use Scott Morrow. But Scott Morrow is going to be just the guy in Chicago. When you ask about right-handed defensemen, it's going to be him, it's going to be Alexis Legault, and then you gotta see like Haim Osami, and then you gotta see Honka and then you still have the left side of things, where you have um, you still have Stillman and you have Ryan Sealy Fensore.
Speaker 2:Ty Smith, you have so many guys down in Chicago and I'm very intrigued to see how they handle that, because I know Cam Abbott who I got to talk to. Incredibly nice guy. He introduced himself to everybody and, as we're all going down the line, you had Walt go, oh, nhlcom Corey, oh the Athletic, you had Casey Hintz and you had Chip. And then it gets to me and I just go hi, I run a prospect page and it was kind of everybody kind of got a good chuckle out of that because it goes yeah, all these professional things, and then a kid that runs a prospect page, yeah, sure, but no, he's an incredibly nice guy. He spoke very highly.
Speaker 2:Obviously he kind of works like Brendan Moore in the regard that he's a gym nut. He obviously has a ton of mannerisms and his work with developing young guys his biggest example being most cider yeah, developed him into being that first pairing right-handed defenseman in detroit. He has an incredible track record with developing young guys. I'm intrigued to see how they balance all the young guys and all the uh vets. I'm very interested to see. But you're just gonna that wolves team is gonna be really interesting to see. Come their training camp. That's going to be something I have to keep a very large eye on going forward, because I don't really know how they're going to do that. They just have a lot of guys.
Speaker 1:Well, and it's definitely you know, you and I have talked about this we definitely want to have a session later in the year, talking as we head into September and so on, talking about the Chicago Wolves because they are becoming so interesting now. Oh, about the Chicago Wolves because they are becoming so interesting now. Oh man, you know, rodney Stillman was an interesting one too. When we signed him I had, when I had watched him in some of his NHL work, I was impressed with him. You know he was a guy that again, not fancy, but just went about his business and seemed quite solid out there and I think he's an under-the-radar signing. That is a guy that you can bring up when you need someone in an injury situation quite nicely. So I think the Canes are doing their homework and I think they're making some smart moves.
Speaker 1:Just to comment on a couple of guys that you mentioned Ronan Seeley when I first started him, when he was first in pro, I think it was with the Charlotte Checkers and then he went on to Chicago. Seeley is pro, I think it was with the Charlotte Checkers and then he went on to Chicago. Sealy is a smooth defenseman. He's silky, smooth out there, he can really skate and, again, he's smart in both ends of the rink and I was impressed with him and his development seemed to lag a little bit and maybe this will give him a chance to pick it back up. But boy, he's a guy that really impressed me.
Speaker 1:And, of course, in the prospect showcase this year, dominic Finsori blew me away. He was probably the most impressive guy on the ice and it's just like you said, he's got great wheels. This guy is smart on the ice. He sees it extremely well. You know what he did. That was interesting. It reminded me of Tony D'Angelo. You know what he did. That was interesting. It reminded me of Tony D'Angelo. If you watched Tony in the playoffs this past year, he made so many on-the-tape passes out of the zone and moving up into the offensive zone. He's probably one of the best and that's what Dominic was doing. When I watched him in the prospect showcase. He was just hitting the tape from anywhere and really impressive. And, again, a small guy but certainly plays bigger than his size. So I'm I'm glad he's going to be in chicago for the full season. Of course, last year he started in echl because they didn't have the hl team, but he's another guy that could surprise over time.
Speaker 2:So man, wow, it's, it's exciting there's just a lot of guys to talk about and it gets very tough to talk about all of them. And even, yeah, like one of the other guys I know, gold was high on, which I was incredibly shocked that he even knew not saying anything bad against him, but alexander reichhoff, with um tractor, um playing at the khl at 18 and playing decently well at the KHL at 18, went on a really hot. I think it was February, I want to say it was February, february or January, I honestly can't remember off the top of my head, but he was just a very dominant guy at the league at that point and he's another guy that I could see coming over next year. I think is his year. Russian contracts are so like.
Speaker 2:I need to really get a spreadsheet of these things because there's so many russian players that they have that I gotta figure out, because obviously the one that sticks at the top of my head is the one everybody knows because I've had that one glued to my memory since 2022, when I started working with matt a little bit more. I've had that one like stuck in my brain with a stapler Just here's when he's coming over, here's like the relative dates, and it's just like okay, but now they have, obviously they drafted, I think, six Russians in this past draft.
Speaker 2:They had, they took more on the other one. It's just they have so many. I need to make that and I think there is something out there for it. There's just a lot of guys overseas that, honestly, I don't talk about as much as I should, which is kind of a fault of me, but there's just too many to remember.
Speaker 1:Man, it gets tough Well there's Alexander Prevolov, you've got Vladimir Grudinin, you've got Timur Mukhanov. I mean, I can go up and down the list. These are guys we don't even talk about and, like Rikov, these guys are man, they're excellent prospects. So you know again, yeah, you've got lots of work you can do with Russians alone, which is technically saying it, Stanislav Yarovoy. You will be remembered, Stanislav Yarovoy that boy played every single level of russian hockey this past year he played thl, vhl, mhl and mhl.
Speaker 2:I won the cup at the nm nmhl level. That that boy will be remembered forever and live in infamy. I'm hoping he. I need that boy to come over next year just so you can escape the literal not hell hell that the Russian system is. But that dude went through everything. I just need him to escape it.
Speaker 1:They have an interesting system. Just to comment on this, it kind of reminds me to the old days in the NHL right, when we had the original six and they had their own farm teams, right back to juniors. So they'd have junior, they'd have maybe an American-type league team and then they'd have their own team, and that's the same way they do it in Russia, right? So they have a team that would be their junior team, their AHL-type team and their own team, and they're all owned by the KHL team.
Speaker 2:That's actually what I did my paper on was. A little bit ago I had an English paper. I did it on the Russian. It wasn't directly about the russian hockey system. It was about something else that I don't really want to get into because it's very political, which I don't like talking about. Um, but it's it's.
Speaker 2:I talked a little bit about it because you, when you first mention like, let's say, you're a player, and you mention anywhere that you might want to leave, which is what Yaravoy did there was the big rumor coming out that he was like hey, I'm ready to sign my ELC as soon as the season's over. And it got out in the media and he went from playing in the KHL to fourth-line minutes, getting 30 seconds a night, to the MHL fourth-line minutes, vhl line minutes. And then they stuck him in the NMHL and said, yeah, you're staying there now and he won the cup, obviously because he's way, way, way too good to be playing at that level. The kid's 20 years old. Stop playing with 16 year olds. That's stupid. But he, it's one of those things where you it's kind of Nikitian's doing the smart thing right now of just being quiet about it and not saying anything because you can't not risk it but, like with a lot of these guys, you just have to play out your contract and on your contract ends just be like hey, man, thanks, you did what you did.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna go over here and see if I can play at the top level, but, um, it's just a lot of hope at that point. I, like I said, I'm learning russian to try and get a better idea, better grasp of these things. But it's still so tough, especially with the russian league, because everything's so unpredictable. You just kind of have to not understand it to a certain point. But that's why I try, uh harder than most to get accurate russian information, and I appreciate the people who do reach out with accurate Russian information to help me out. It's incredibly helpful, but it's still just so, so tough to get accurate stuff from there. Man, it's tough.
Speaker 1:I give you a lot of credit, nick man. You're on top of a lot of this stuff and I know that you follow a lot of the folks that are closer to the action and and uh, communicate with them as well, which is great, and and we're just delighted that, uh, that we can have the opportunity to chat with you and your great knowledge on the canes prospects, for sure, and and young players right around the nhl, so, uh, thanks so much for doing that, and you know what there's always lots to talk about. I know you've got a busy summer so we'll have to pick this up later in the year, but, as always, it's great fun to talk hockey with you and find out more about the Canes prospects, and we'll look forward to doing the same thing very soon. Yeah, of course. Okay, we'll catch up and we'll plan something in the months ahead and have yourself a great summer, nick.
Speaker 2:Thank you, you too.
Speaker 1:Thanks again to Nick Bass, a regular here on Storm Tracker, for joining us and updating us on the prospects development camp for the hurricanes. We have some episodes planned for the future. Nick and I will talk about the Russian contingent. We'll talk about some of the other prospects later in the summer and also check in on what's happening with the Chicago Wolves and some of the prospects who will be playing in Chicago. So lots to talk about with Nick.
Speaker 1:In the meantime, we will be rolling out an episode shortly to talk about the moves that Eric Tulsky has made and maybe take a look at the canes as they start to come together. After all the changes we've seen in recent days, that should be a fun and exciting episode, for sure. And again, if you enjoy this episode today, please hit the like button and if you have any comments, happy to have those put those down below and we'll respond promptly. And finally, if you have any comments, happy to have those, put those down below and we'll respond promptly. And finally, if you would like to receive future episodes of Storm Tracker, please be sure to subscribe and you'll be alerted whenever they're available. Once again, as always, thanks so much for joining. We'll catch up with you real soon, right here on StormTracker.
