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stormTRacker Podcast
Canes' Prospects Artamonov, Nikishin & Fransen shine in September
Join us as we uncover the future stars of the Carolina Hurricanes, featuring insights from esteemed insider Nick Bass of Canes Prospects and Dobber Prospects in our new series, "Top 5 Prospects of the Month". Discover the standout performances that have propelled Nikita Artamonov and Alexander Nikishin into the spotlight, as they make waves in the KHL and Russian leagues. Artamonov's exceptional hockey sense is turning heads with impressive point streaks, while Nikishin's towering presence on the ice sparks speculation about his future with the Hurricanes. This episode offers a deep dive into these dynamic players, revealing the potential they hold for elevating the team's prospects.
We also explore the journeys of Alexander Siryatsky, Alexander Rykov, and Fyodor Avramov, who are each carving unique paths towards a potential NHL future. Siryatsky's offensive talents contrast with Rykov's injury struggles, yet both remain prominent figures in the VHL. Meanwhile, Avramov's strength as a winger exemplifies the Hurricanes' strategic investment in young talent. Beyond Russia, we highlight emerging stars in the AHL like Felix Unger Sorm and Charles Alexis Legault, and discuss European talents such as Oscar Vouellet shedding light on their offensive prowess and development. Get ready for an engaging discussion on the promising future of the Hurricanes' prospect pool!
Well, the Carolina Hurricanes prospect list is certainly outstanding these days, of course. They've drafted 30 players in the last three years and we talked about some of those players in some of the episodes previously. Of course, with this year's draft and as well, they've drafted 15 Russian players during that time as well and that has surprised an awful lot of folks in the NHL. And of course we did a piece on the Russians are coming. That as well, I think, talks a little bit about the Russians, but no question, the Canes have some outstanding prospects in North America several sent to Chicago recently and of course, their prospects over in Europe and Russia. And I'm delighted to introduce a new segment here on Storm Tracker and, that course, their prospects over in Europe and Russia. And I'm delighted to introduce a new segment here on Storm Tracker and that's going to be the top five prospects of the month. And, of course, joining me none other than the prospect guy himself, gaines Prospects and Daubert Prospects, insider for us, nick Bass. Nick, it's great to have you on board.
Speaker 2:Great, great to be here, thank you.
Speaker 1:Okay, nick, so I know you've been busy. I've seen a lot of your work on X and of course you've been delivering some excellent work on your sub stack, kane's Prospect sub stack, and of course that's also available on stormtracker23.com. So very excited with that work. But to kick it off, not surprised the guy that you and I talked a lot about in the summer as the draft was coming up. Of course, the Canes were successful in picking him up at number 50.
Speaker 2:And he's number one on your September prospect list. That's Nikita Artemov. Yeah, he went on an eight-game point streak Unbelievable. His IQ and his hockey sense and everything like that really stood out draft-wise whenever that came around. He's a fork-checking machine. I described him as an Energizer bunny. You put a nine-bolt in it, you supercharged it and you just let him run loose. Energizer Bunny you put a 9-bolt in it, you supercharged it and you just let him run loose. He's awesome and this year specifically, a lot of his chances are getting converted. So shots are going in more for him and players are converting more on his opportunities that he's giving them, which has led to the big point streak, led to him playing on the top line, led to him getting power play time. He was a very large proponent in Torpedo's little win streak in the KHL A lot of good stuff to like with Artem Monov, and this month he just turned it up to another level.
Speaker 1:Well, he's a guy too that, as we had discussed in the summary, he's got that feisty part of his game. He's kind of like, as you said, Michael Bunting-type player. He gets in your face and tries to make things happen and, of course, he's a guy that sees the ice well. He's got great skill and I think you know he's again a very young player. He got into what he was 18 when he started playing in the KHL last year. So he's a young player and I think I remember you said something recently on X Nick that a lot of folks have been previously asking when is Alexander Nikitin coming over? And now they've started to ask when is Nikita Artemonov coming over and what's that timing again?
Speaker 2:So his contract officially runs out at the end of the next KHL season. I'm not 100% sure if he would make that jump over immediately. I wouldn't be surprised if he stayed longer with Torpedo, but I'm not 100% sure. But his contract does end at the end of next season.
Speaker 1:Well, that's great. So he's definitely on the radar of the Canes and outstanding forward. We've talked about him as kind of a middle six type guy, but he's showing a little bit more offense right now, so great to see him off to a great start this season with Torpedo. The next guy up is the giant guy. He checks in at 6'4" 216. He's a 22-year-old left shot defenseman who everybody is wondering what's going to happen with this guy, and of course that's Alexander Nikitin.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, just turned 23 on October 2nd, I believe, is his actual birthday, okay. But yeah, I've kind of not run out of words to describe him, but it's kind of hard. He's playing 25 minutes a night on the biggest team in Russia. He's putting up very good counting stats. He's doing really well on the power play, even though a lot of his he's been taken off the point on power plays. Now he's been moved to the bumper now, with D'Angelo coming over, yeah, he's really good. He eats minutes, even strength. He produces strong results. He gets a lot of points because he's involved everywhere. He's a very, very good hockey player and excited to see him whenever he does eventually come over.
Speaker 1:And, of course, there was a lot of noise around him earlier in the preseason period talking about possibly moving him from SKA. Could the Canes get involved in trying to pick him up from another team? What was all that noise about? What were they trying to do? I thought they were trying to pick up some other players, or something.
Speaker 2:So yeah, with me taking over the prospect account, I've been reading a lot more Russian stuff. I'm trying to get a lot more involved with all their journalists and everything like that, and one of their prominent ones had suggested, since SK was still looking to add, and they still are to this day that Nikitin might be one that they have to move because one he probably is not going to re-sign with SKA going into next season, and they would be able to get a gigantic trade haul for him.
Speaker 2:That was kind of all put to bed when they signed D'Angelo and then it came out that he took a $30 million pay cut. And then they're like, oh, he's just going to be a really good guy and do it for the good of the team. Obviously he's their captain. It would have been really hard to move him, but I guess they might have thought about it. It's not going to happen anymore and I think they've kind of come to the understanding that this is going to be their big year. They've loaded up a lot. They've, I mean they're finally giving Demidoff a little bit more ice time. They, I mean they're finally giving Demidov a little bit more ice time. They're giving Nikitin D'Angelo as a pairing that exists I'm not going to go further on that one. Nikita Zaitsev is on their blue line, which I think people forget about, because it's weird that he's there.
Speaker 2:They just recalled the Flyers prospect, zavrigan from Sochi, and now he's their starting goaltender. This is probably going to be their big run and then, if they don't win it this year, they kind of understand that. Okay, nikitian's going to be gone and Demidov's probably going to be gone and D'Angelo might get an NHL look, which?
Speaker 1:again, I'm not going to say anything about.
Speaker 2:But you know, I think they realize this is their last year for it.
Speaker 1:Well, you know you mentioned Tony D'Angelo and I know you're not going to say much about him, but this was an interesting one. You know an American heading over to Russia to play with SKA and, in particular, seeing some ice alongside Alexander Nikishin. I thought this is quite an interesting story and we'll see how it plays out. Tony, I've looked at his numbers. He's off to a huge start. I think he's got 12 points in his first seven games, so it looks like the bigger ice and maybe that kind of league situation is a very good one for him. So we'll follow that one with interest as well. Interestingly enough, too, if you look at SKA, there are several former Hurricanes. So you've got Valentin Zikov, you've got, of course, nikitin is coming. You've got D'Angelo you've got what's his name? From last year.
Speaker 2:Kuznetsov.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Kuznetsov. And there's also I'm trying to remember his name, but there's a small player who was with the Canes for a while, a short time, who's a pretty good offensive player for them as well, and I can't quite recall his name. But yes, they have like five former or future Hurricanes on their roster, which is kind of impressive when you think about it. So definitely a strong Hurricanes influence on SKA. Okay, so, moving off from the Russia League for a while, here's a defenseman I really am excited about, Noel Fronson. Now, Fronson, he's a guy that when Darren York drafted him, he really felt like he was getting a player that a lot of folks just didn't know how good Fronsanson was. That was one of the things that York was thinking about with Franson, and he was a guy again drafted number 69. Seems like we get these players in the third round and fourth round. That are pretty exciting players. How's Noel Franson doing this year?
Speaker 2:So before his season officially started, fargestad realized that he probably wasn't going to break through in their SHL roster and there was really no point in him playing with the J20 national team because he was far too good for it. So they loaned him out to Vassaras in the Hockey Osvensken, which is the second-tier league in Sweden, to my knowledge.
Speaker 1:I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure it's the second league.
Speaker 2:I think it is um, he's had very solid results so far. They're playing him again he's. He's getting played in all situations, which is definitely different for him because with far just that before he was mainly just a power play guy. Now they're asking him to play all facets. He's, I think, around 20 you know, 19 20 minutes a night with them and he produced some very good stuff. Obviously, offensively, his IQ and the way he passes the puck is something that is incredibly impressive for somebody like him, and if he continues to grow defensively, there's definitely an NHL player in there. His month of September was very solid, so I was happy with it.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, and he fits in with that group. There's three or four of them like Fronson that the Canes have, like Simon Forsmark and other guys that are around the globe that we don't hear a lot about but certainly have had excellent schooling in Sweden and in Finland and so on, and I think he's a guy that we want to keep a close look on as well. Now the next player is a new draft pick for the Hurricanes, little known, of course, and again a player that Darren York was so impressed with his development. Just prior to the draft he said the development that he had over the last 12 months is incredible. So Alexander Syriatsky, when he was picked up by the Hurricanes, was a guy that they really had their eyes on. They got him at 124. So it's interesting to see him on number four for September. What can you tell us about Alexander?
Speaker 2:So yeah, first off, he finally got measured again. I don't know what happened, but he measured at the draft. He was measured at 6'2", 157, I think. And then, like a month or two ago or like a few weeks ago, he got measured again and he's 6'4", 180-something and I was like, okay, that's. I don't know who's lying, I don't know if they're inflating a little bit, but I'm not going to complain about it. Yeah, Sariatsky is definitely an interesting player. He's another kind of offensively-minded guy. He runs a power play most of the time. Where he plays and that's probably the big thing is that his main team, which is Metalurg, is kind of sending him around everywhere.
Speaker 2:He's played two days ago he played at the KHL level. Today he played at the VHL level. He's already played, I think, five or six games at the MHL level.
Speaker 2:They're going to play him everywhere to try and just get him playing time, because they understand that he's probably going to be an interesting player for their future in the near term. I like a lot of his game Again. Offensively, he runs a power play and he does a very decent clip. His playmaking is very good. His skating is good. The one thing that might again draw him back is something that a lot of these more recent draft picks have for the Canes, and it's defensively.
Speaker 2:You guys, see him get better defensively, but once he does that, there's definitely an interesting player in there for sure.
Speaker 1:Well, the interesting thing, and you did mention he's been moving around. He had three points in four games with the MHL team, which is their junior team. This is the interesting thing, as we've talked about in the past too, I think, nick, with Russia, of course they have the ability to do that because the parent team in the KHL has both what would be like an AHL that's VHL, of course, in Russia and then a junior team, which would be the MHL, so they can move them up and down as long as their age is appropriate, and that's what they're doing with some of these guys, and we've seen it with some of the other players in the Canes system as well. So we'll keep an eye on Suryatsky, I think. Again, the Canes have loaded up with these young defensemen that are extremely talented. They can skate, they're bigger guys in many cases, so this is a good harbinger for some of the players that we'll see in the future, for sure.
Speaker 1:So that was an interesting one. A little surprised to see him show up in your top five. And number five, of course, is a guy that I really like and he's suffered through some injury-plagued seasons. A guy that I really like and he's suffered through some injury-plagued seasons. A guy that has incredible skill. I remember Darren York said that when he played in the VHL he was, as an 18-year-old, one of the top players, so that's kind of like the AHL, so I guess he really impressed them with his play with men in the VHL. In any case, that would be alexander rekov. Rekov. Off to a quick start with chelya binks yeah.
Speaker 2:So he as a player.
Speaker 2:Last year I was really impressed with him going to the khl, having a very good string of like four or five games, producing a good amount of points and then staying at the khl level even when he was not producing, and that was because, at even strength, he was a very solid player for a tractor team who has been historically very good the last few years.
Speaker 2:This year, unfortunately, he must have picked up an injury in training camp so he obviously hasn't really participated. He got sent to the MHL level, played one game there, picked up a goal or an assist, he picked up a point and then went to the VHL level to where he had, I want to say, three points in five or five points in three games. I'm sorry. Ok, he started fast, he started very quick and then a week ago he got hurt. So now he is injured again and I have no idea what the injury is and I have no idea for how long he's out. And that is the beauty of Russia is that you might never know what they have until they magically reappear in the lineup again.
Speaker 1:Well, as you mentioned, I mean Rykov. I think the biggest challenge with him has been injuries and definitely an extremely talented guy. They really liked him, saw him in that group with Ungerer Sorem and Bradley Nadeau and so on and they really felt he was going to be another kind of player like that. So we'll just have to see how Rykov can get his game in gear this year. He's got to produce at the KHL level for sure and hopefully he can. He can get rid of that injury bug and start to see some some good action there as well. Now let's talk a little bit about some of the players that didn't make the cut, the top five for September, and you mentioned Fyodor Avramov. We had talked about him after the draft. Avramov, a strong winger, a guy that was drafted 188. So he's way down in the draft. So again, kind of interesting to see you seeing some good work with Avramov. What can you say about Fyodor?
Speaker 2:So, to start his year, he made Sochi out of camp, which is incredibly impressive, even though Sochi is not a good team. I'm going to stress that right now, sochi is not a good team.
Speaker 2:He made the team out of camp, which is definitely rare for a guy who is 18, 17 or 18. It's very rare for guys to just do that in the KHL, for guys to just do that in the KHL. And then he got sent down to MHL level before Sochi had played a game, just to get game time, had two goals and assist and got immediately. They were like, all right, that's good enough. Come back and then he's basically played fourth line minutes and he's been the extra forward where he might get like four minutes a night. He produced very well at the MHL level and he's obviously better than the MHL level for where he might get like four minutes a night. He produced very well at the NHL level and he's obviously better than the NHL level for where he is. The issue is his KHL team is probably just not going to play him because he's too young. The skill is there, though he's a big guy, which I wasn't expecting.
Speaker 1:who can play with a lot of skill and has a very good shot.
Speaker 2:The issue is, again, it's the KHL, and unless you are blown away by the amount of skill he has, like Nikitian has for SKA, you're not going to get a lot of playing time and Abramov is just going to be in that little unfortunate cycle well, you said it.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, darren York said he can shoot, he has a massive shot that he's able to get off and to beat goalies from distance. So you're right on, he's got that big shot and we love those players with that big shot. Of course, bradley Deneau is another one that we talk a lot about. Who has a big shot? Any other players that caught your eye in September? Anybody else that we want to keep an eye on going?
Speaker 2:forward. So yeah, I mean I really didn't get to talk a lot about training camp on Twitter, that much, just because I wasn't really at the forefront of my mind and I never had the stats fully available to me. But obviously Felix Ungersorm looked like a very good player. I am of the belief that he probably would have made the team if he was playing as a winger and they were not serious about him sticking in the NHL as the center. And now you can send him to the AHL and just let him get reps and that's perfectly fine. Jackson blake obviously made the team and it looked very, very good. Um, fourth line minutes and some power play time is going to be good enough. He's gonna stick around. He's a very talented player and he looked like it. Yeah, um, everybody and I do mean everybody found charles a Charles Alexis Legault in the preseason.
Speaker 1:Oh, he was amazing.
Speaker 2:He's such a fun guy to be around. First up, he's a very bright personality, a very proud French Canadians I came to find out and he's he's a bruiser One, somebody that I talked to just on social media one of my friends described him as if he wanted to try and make a prototype of Brett Pesci in a laboratory. Charles Alexis Legault might be pretty close to that. He's gigantic, he is incredibly physical. He has decent two-way skill right now.
Speaker 2:He's going to play on a pair at the AHL level with Dominic Fensore, which is an awesome pair. I love that Because Fensore loves offense and Legault will just hammer people trying to go the other way. So I like the pairing a lot, and everybody obviously got to see Legault Trying to think. Nobody else in North America really. Obviously, gleb is a national icon because of his name. Everybody loves him.
Speaker 2:He looked really solid in his AHL debut Saturday I'm trying to remember when it was. He looked very, very solid. He looked the part of an AHL player. He had five shots on goal. He was letting it rip. His offense like his playmaking was really throwing through. Matt murray, the admiral's goalie, was just a brick wall I. That guy was unbeatable that night.
Speaker 2:Uh, in europe, though, if we're looking oscar voulet for scolefty aik. He had a hat trick as the extra forward like a week or two weeks ago. His offense is very, very good and he's starting to shy not shy away, but he's starting to head toward the middle and battle in front of the net more, which is definitely a positive development for him. Yeah, he had an assist today in the Champions Hockey League. It was a primary power play assist. That's awesome. He's a player that I've liked since his draft year and I think if he keeps doing the offense and he honestly stays at the SHL level which was not expected, at least for me. I didn't think he was going to stick at the SHL level this season, at least as early and to already be producing points.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. I think that's amazing. Justin Poirier is doing Justin Poirier things in the queue, yeah.
Speaker 1:I saw that.
Speaker 2:Scoring about a goal, a game, adding a few assists along the way. He's going to tear up the queue.
Speaker 1:He should dominate this year.
Speaker 2:He should beat the 51 goals he had last year. I know he's off to a slightly slower start solely because he got hurt. And he's off to a slightly slower start solely because he got hurt and he was supposed to be doing a little bit more at the prospect dev camp and don't really know what happened, but he's a fun player Obviously. His shot is incredible and yeah, I think that's about everybody.
Speaker 1:Well, a couple of comments On Gleb Trikosov. Of course he had a hat trick in the prospect showcase, so he definitely was showing that he's got that natural scoring ability and I think once Gleb kind of builds out his game and gets a little bit more strength defensively, he's going to be something to reckon with. You talked about Charles Alexis Legault and Dominic Fensori. I've talked a lot about them this year. Fensori to me last year in the Prospect Showcase he was dominant and I talked a lot about him when I did my review of the showcase. I think this guy's got tremendous talent. You know he was even playing in some defensive roles, which was interesting killing penalties and doing other work. But he and Legault are just amazing and I think, as they get comfortable in the American League this year, I think they're going to be an outstanding pair and I believe and a lot of folks have talked about this this concept of the twin towers going forward, with potentially Charles Alexis Legault and Alexander Nikitian getting together, if not playing together on the team, at least on the team itself. Those two guys are going to bring a nice dimension to the Hurricanes for sure. They can both skate, they can both shoot and they are both tough as nails. So clearly the Canes are loading up with some really outstanding prospects and I'm sure we're going to have lots to talk about, as we do the Top 5 Prospects Plus each month, because there's some great ones out there.
Speaker 1:And, nick, of course, it's always a lot of fun to talk prospects with you and we're going to do this real soon. And for those of you who've joined today, if you have any comments, please place those down below for us and we'll respond just as quickly as possible. If you like this episode, please press the like button. And, of course, if you want to be alerted of future episodes, please subscribe and hit the bell and we'll make sure that you know the episodes are coming. As always, great to talk hockey right here on Storm Tracker. We'll catch up real soon.
