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Carolina Hurricanes' Prospects Shine: Unger Sorum's Star Power, Nadeau's Synergy, and Chicago's Rising Talent!
This episode highlights the impressive performances of Carolina Hurricanes' prospects throughout December, focusing on their participation in the World Junior Tournament and other leagues. We discuss the top players of the month, including Bradly Nadeau, Felix Unger Sorum, Justin Poirier, and Ryan Suzuki, showcasing their skills and potential for success in the NHL.
• Analysis of Bradly Nadeau's challenges in the World Junior Tournament
• Felix Unger Sorum shines as Sweden's offensive leader
• Justin Poirier's quest for a 50-goal season in QMJHL
• Ryan Suzuki's point streak and potential for NHL debut
• Examination of NCAA prospects with promise
• Update on Alexander Nikishin's performance in the KHL
• Honorable mentions among the Canes' prospect group
The Carolina Hurricanes have done an outstanding job in recent years, assembling a wonderful group of prospects right around the globe. In fact, the Canes prospects are viewed very positively. Daily Faceoff has them at number 11 in the team prospect grouping, the Athletic has them at number 13 and Leisure Report number 12. So the games are sitting roughly in the top third and some of our top prospects showed up recently in the World Junior Tournament just held in Canada about a week ago. Joining me to talk about that and the top five prospects of the month, of course it's our prospect guy, nick Betts. Nick, how are you?
Speaker 2:I'm doing pretty good. A little tired from watching a lot of hockey over the past two weeks, but I'm doing pretty good otherwise.
Speaker 1:Well, I want to wish you a happy new year, of course, you too I wanted to start off and discuss this World Junior Tournament. You know, we had felix undersore, we had bradley nadeau and oscar roulet all participating. What did you think?
Speaker 2:um, well, I'll start with nadeau because we'll do roulet and undersore him in one. I know I liked a good few of his performances, I think as a whole with Canada it was just kind of a disappointment. He was put in roles that he was not used to, especially on the power play where you have a very noted sniper and he's playing below the goal and that's just not his role. I was happy to see him score and I was happy to see him have decent performances. Uh, just, team canada as a whole just had a very disappointing tournament. Um, and then sweden. I mean technically for them it's still a disappointment to not medal, but they still did get to the middle round.
Speaker 2:Uh, oscar roulet was fine. He scored the one goal against kazakhstan and then other than that he was kind of. He just didn't do a ton and, to be fair, he was averaging maybe five minutes of ice time a game, so it's kind of hard to do anything from that role, but uh, he was fine. Uh, the big one obviously was felix under sorum. Uh, he was tied for second in points he had. He had the assist, he played assist. Um, he was sweden's most creative player. Anytime they were looking for anything creatively offensively. They were looking for him. Uh, zone entries on the power play were all handled by him. Basically all plays start with him and his line. Uh, he was basically asked to create on that line with ed strom and stenberg and then ed strom and stenberg were just expected to score.
Speaker 2:Felix was awesome, like flat out. He had a very, very good tournament. I'm very happy that he was one of the top performers because you know, playing at the pro level, you're probably going to get a lot more experience compared to these other guys and seeing him dominate basically at that level is very, very encouraging. The one thing people are rightfully a little weird about is that he did it from the wing and not the center. But with Sweden he doesn't have to play center because they have David Edstrom. So I think playing wing and doing this well and applying what he's learned with applying what he's learned in Chicago, playing center for Cam Abbott and applying that directly to the wing with, like, driving the middle and so keeping up all his playmakings and winning board battles from being a little bit more physical that's just really good to see. So I was very, very happy with his performance here physical.
Speaker 1:That's just really good to see. So I was very, very happy with Felix's performance here. Yeah, and as you mentioned, he had 10 points, so he was tied with a group of folks at 10. I saw a number of his outstanding plays and one thing I noticed too Nick was Ungersorm, was very comfortable handling the puck.
Speaker 1:You see him moving around the zone, finding that open guy. He sees the ice so darn well. And again, still a young player. So he's got a lot of potential and we'll see what he can do as he heads back to Chicago of course. But, yeah, disappointing for Canada, great news for the United States as well. So great tournament and we'll look forward to the return of those players, and I know they're already back toiling with Chicago. So let's start off our top five of the month for December and, interestingly enough, number five is a guy you talk about a lot and an outstanding young player. Uh, interesting thing about this guy, justin poirier. Uh, he's, of course, uh, tearing it up with dracar this year and that looks like he's off to a great start yeah, uh well, by his standards, december was a kind of quiet month.
Speaker 2:Uh, just because he didn't almost average two points a game. But Borea had a good month. He was over a point per game. He looked good. It's kind of hard to just keep describing the player because he looks really good. He'll probably I would think he'll probably get 50 goals in the queue this year. He'll probably I don't want to say he'll win the goal award, but he'll probably come really close. Yeah, poirier looked really good in the month of December.
Speaker 1:The interesting thing about Poirier you mentioned 50 goals. He was the first 17-year-old since Sidney Crosby to score 50 in that Quebec Major Junior League. So this guy, of course you remember what Darren York said about him. He said he just scores. I mean, he's a scorer, he can put the puck in the net and he's doing that again. The big question, I guess, always remains a small player and we'll have to see, as he continues his development, if he's going to be able to overcome that. But his skill set is off the charts. So great to see Justin Poirier at number five. Awesome Number four, not a big surprise, a guy we just talked about a minute ago, Felix Ungersoor.
Speaker 2:He looked. He had a really good month. I combined world junior performances up until Januaryuary and performances in the ahl, but in the ahl in december he looked really good. Uh, in his last game before heading to the world juniors against the a very good texas sars team, he had a goal in an assist and he looked like a very comfortable center out there. Yeah, that's. And again, it's just the big thing of just getting more comfortable at the position. Um, I still see him fitting as a center long term because he's smart enough to do it defensively, he's responsible enough to do it. It's more the fact of he needs to gain weight, so unbelievably bad. He's a stick figure out there. Once he gains weight he'll be perfectly fine. And yeah, felix had a. He had a really good month of December. I was happy to see his development.
Speaker 1:Well, ungersorum interesting this whole Chicago team, of course has been red hot. He's been helping and some of the other guys as well really turn this team around. They're 8-2 in their last 10, so they're definitely smoking hot and Ungersorum is a part of that. Interesting thing that McKean said about Ungersorum, which I thought I'd read for us. He loves to attack east-west in the neutral and offensive zones and slants heavily towards passing instead of shooting, and that seems to be right on for Ungersorum. He can really distribute the puck. He showed that, of course, in the juniors and continues to do that with the Chicago Wolves, so we'll continue to watch Felix Still 19 years old, so he's a guy that has a lot of runway to get himself ready to move into the Kings, but he's definitely one of the top prospects for the Hurricanes. The next guy is another great top prospect from Chicago and we love this guy, of course, as well in the World Juniors and that's Bradley Nadeau.
Speaker 2:Yeah, nadeau, he's higher than Felix, even though they have the same points. Solely because Bradley's production mainly came with Chicago. I talked about it a lot, but him and Ryan Suzuki have insane chemistry. It's a chemistry you don't see that often, but those two, when they are out there together, are unbelievable. Both of them just know where each other are and Suzuki's playmaking compliments Nadeau's shot unbelievably. In this first game back from the World Juniors, suzuki gave Nadeau a great pass and Nadeau scored. So it's one of those things where he looks really good and he looked very good against pro competition. Yeah, nadeau had a really good month of December before the World Juniors and then still had a decent World Juniors.
Speaker 1:Yeah and he had a great role in the World Juniors as well. When he one-timed it, I know I listened to the broadcasters talking about. We've heard a lot about Nadeau and his ability to shoot the puck and he just demonstrated it so clearly. A guy that can make it happen. Here's what the hockey forecaster said about Nadeau.
Speaker 1:I thought it was interesting. He can play any position up front and oozes offensive flair and acumen. This guy is going to be a great player, there's no question, and he is also and I noticed he's again very strong defensively as well. He seems like he works hard at both ends of the rink. He's buying in to the Kane system down in Chicago with Cam Abbott. I think he's definitely trending upwards. As time goes on, he's playing better and better and at one time they had that line with he and Suzuki and even Juha Yosuke, and that line was frightening. They were just outstanding and so great to see Nadeau and another strong month for Bradley, which is really exciting. Now the next guy is a guy that I am really really, really excited about as we get down to number two. He has been on a heater with the Chicago Wolves and, of course, in talking about Justin Robitaille, he's got 13 points in his last 10 games. And Nick, he's smoking hot.
Speaker 2:Justin Robodi is awesome. Matt and I talk about Robodi a lot because we both share the common love of his game, where he's a pure effort guy number one. He's just all. Once he steps on the ice, he's giving you everything until both feet are off. He has a lot of skill in his game. His shot is crazy good. Uh, his playmaking is good and he's been asked at times to play either wing or center, which he'll do without question, and he's good in the face-off circle so he can do it. Um, his skating is really good and robodi's just. He's one of those players that everybody loves watching because he's just such a fun player. He was awesome in the month of December and he was a big reason why the Wolves didn't really falter at all when they lost two top six guys. It's because Robita stepped into a top six role and didn't look out of place at all and excelled in that role. So, yeah, robita was awesome in December.
Speaker 1:Well, robita, he had a solid year last year in Old Folk. He was, of course, he turned pro at 27 points in 32 games. So he got off to a good start and again, as the season has gone on, this guy is just demonstrating his skill and, as you say, he's an incredibly hard worker. He's fast, he's got real touch around the net as well. I think you know, know, I've seen him get some breakaway goals and some other goals that I mean he shows he can put the puck in the net.
Speaker 1:So he, uh, he seems like he's pretty stocky. He's definitely, uh, adding some bulk to himself. I think he's a guy that has a lot of potential and is showing that right now. So, very excited about Robitaille, of course, he had a massive year his last year in the Quebec Major Junior League before he turned pro. So we know he can put up the points and he's doing that right now with the Wolves. So, number one, we're going right back to the Wolves, and this is a guy that you talked about a little bit earlier. He seems to be putting it all together, and that's Senator Ryan Suzuki.
Speaker 2:I've talked about Suzuki a lot recently, just kidding, he was one of the guys that I really wanted to see fully healthy and he finally got fully healthy and he's looking like a very, very good player. Suzuki was awesome in the month of December. He had a I want to say it was a seven or an eight game point streak and he just looked really, really good. His playmaking is where you want it to be. His shot is severely underrated and he just doesn't like to use it that much. He's not really that much of a shooter, which kind of stinks because he can really rip the puck. He's being asked to play on the penalty kill, which he does a pretty good job at. He does work on the power play, which he does a pretty good job at because, yeah, passing, lets him do that. Um, I'd love to see the kid make his debut. It's just one of those things where contract, unfortunately, if he does get sent back down, if he ever gets gets called back up, he has to go through waivers.
Speaker 1:And NHL teams.
Speaker 2:As we just saw with Kalia, they're going to see a first-round pick. That's still young, on a half-reducing contract and they're going to go well. We can take a flyer on him. But I really do hope Suzuki makes an NHL debut because I think he's a good enough player for the NHL and I think he could stick very easily at the NHL level.
Speaker 1:Well for sure, and for the first time he's really healthy. He's playing at the top of his game. He's got a leadership role with the Wolves and he's starting to show some of the promise that Kane's had for him some time ago and clearly you know, when they re-signed him in the offseason. Mccain's had for him some time ago and clearly you know, when they re-signed him in the offseason Nick they had some expectation that he still had the ability to be a potential factor in the future for them. So great to see him having success. And again he's playing with some wonderful players. You know you've got Nadeau, you've got Yoska, you've got some of the other guys he's had on the wing and that's great stuff. You know the scouting report from the Hockey Forecaster I think really tells it well. For Suzuki they say a supreme playmaker. He has everything needed to rack up huge assist totals, great hockey sense, deft passing ability and an excellent skating strike and he's putting that all together now and I think he's showing that clearly with some of the plays he's been making in Chicago this year. So great to see Ryan at number one and hopefully he'll continue his fine season.
Speaker 1:I thought now we'd shift gears a little bit and move over to the folks who are the honorable mention folks. I know you've got some more Chicago Wolves on board and, of course, an interesting newcomer to the group. First of all, the Wolves you've got Ruslan Kazeev, who I think is starting to come on strong. You've got Dominic Fensori I've talked about him many times. I love Dom. He's a great defenseman. And, of course, charles Alexis Legault, who a lot of folks think is getting closer to being able to head to the Canes in the next year or two. So great stuff on those guys. And a newcomer to the list, alexander Pelleman. So what can you tell us about the honorable mentions?
Speaker 2:Because I definitely has been a lot better in the month of december. He's uh looked like a goalie that you can trust in right these situations. Um, he had a really good outing against the iowa wild and he put together some, some good outings against uh, I can't remember the teams, but he had a very good month. Uh, only three games played, but again he looked good in those games. So I'm never going to fault the games played metric, especially if you post the stats he posts. I'm not going to fault that.
Speaker 2:Fensore and Legault had a very good month as a pairing. They work really well together. They play on the penalty code together. Fensore is awesome. His skating is unbelievable. He does a lot of things right. He's really really good. Legault has definitely started to show more struggle over the past month. He still had a very good month of December, don't get me wrong points-wise. Just there's some things in his game that do need to be ironed out for him to be there. I think if you look at call-ups, if you're doing anything defensively, you're still doing Morrow over Legault, because Morrow has been better. But Legault is still progressing very well. From where he was at his sophomore year or junior year at Quinnipiac. He's made definite strides in his game and just needs to keep getting rounded out.
Speaker 2:Pelivan yeah, pelivan was definitely one that caught me off guard. He uh, he just had like a streak where he would get like an assist, an assist, two assists, then nothing for two games and then an assist. And yeah he's. He's a very weird defenseman. He's not the worst player I've ever watched. He's a very defense-oriented defenseman. He is a very physical defenseman. He had a really good point month for December. It just kind of caught me off guard that he was that good point-wise. But he's fine, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, it's interesting Kazeev, of course, interesting that he was kept with the Wolves and they sent Yana Peretz down to Bloomington. So I thought that was an interesting one. That clearly was a statement that the Canes are looking for Kazeev to have the time with the Wolves. The Wolves coaches, of course, some of the best on the goaltending side, and so on. So clearly he's starting to show more confidence, and the team playing very, very well in front of him as well Fensori and Legault have been together. They've been doing a great job, I think. Dom, the thing that I continue to marvel at is that he's not only doing his usual offensive strong play, but he's been killing penalties and he's been doing a lot of good defensive work as well. So he's filling out his game quite nicely and you know he's got the wheels. I mean, he's another guy that can get into a situation and do some wonderful things because he skates so well, both defensively and offensively. Legault hey, legault was a later draft pick. You know he came out of Quinnipiac. Not many folks talked about Legault, but boy, he's coming along and yes, he's going to have bumps in the road, but this guy, I think, is going to be a wonderful player and continues to show some of that potential. I want to talk about Pelivan for a minute. Not many folks know anything about Alexander Pelevin. He was drafted 205 and 22, so he was way down the list. Interesting thing, darren York said I think you'll get a kick out of this. He said a little similar to Grudinin okay in being able to hold tight gaps and be able to get up in the play and join the rush. I mean Grina and a smaller player as Pelavan is. Pelavan comes in at 5'11", probably 180 pounds, so these are really big defensemen. So very similar in that regard. Corey Prongman said this Pelavan is a mobile defenseman who's physical and competitive, which allows him to make a lot of stops. So he's a guy that again, he can get out there, he can skate, he can do some good work. So it's nice to see Pelivan in there. I'm glad you saw him and had some good things to say about him. He's playing in the VHL, which is like the junior leagues right now, so again, sorry, like the American Hockey League. So he's definitely a guy that is getting some pro experience and we'll see how he does when he's playing with torpedoes. So yeah, let's keep tracking what happens with Pelivan, and you know it's interesting, the Canes have players we don't even know or hear about lots of them, particularly in Russia, and it's great that you're, you know, keeping an eye on those guys as well, nick, because for a lot of folks they don't really know what's happening with these Russia prospects and because for a lot of folks they don't really know what's happening with these Russian prospects and you know, in the last three years the Canes drafted 15 Russians. So there's a bunch of them out there and, pelivan, clearly on that defensive side there's another one. So kind of cool.
Speaker 1:Now I noticed you started a new piece this month and looking at the NCAA guys and this is kind of fun. Again on the honorable mention side, and I saw that you had some interesting ones. Some guys you've talked about I mean Michael Emerson. You've talked about Michael Emerson before, of course, coming out of the Chicago Steel Again, the USHL, the Caves Love guys that come out of there, and he headed to North Dakota. Of course. Jaden Perron, and he's in North Dakota as well and hopefully he's finding his way. And finally, lucas Mercuri, and I like him a lot. He's with again with me. He's a guy that I think has a lot of potential as well. So what can you say about these guys?
Speaker 2:NCAA tier was just for this month, because those guys only played two or three games. It was like two, three and four games, so they didn't necessarily qualify games-wise for anything in particular. I just wanted to note, because each of them had a very solid start to the month Emerson I don't really know how to his shot is really good and he's being asked to do center at times for Merrimack, which is definitely new for him. He's being asked to play the wing, which isn't new for him, and over the past week, two weeks, he's definitely found his game a lot more. He's had a lot better performances. Numberson's slowly starting to come along.
Speaker 2:Perron is being asked to. It's kind of weird because he's being asked to play a lot more of a leadership role. He's a sophomore but he's their first line right winger and has been for a little bit. He, uh, he's looking really good and the thing with perron will always be his playmaking. Uh, he, he can make a lot of really good plays happen and skating is very complimented about that. His shot's halfway decent. He just uses it sparingly, which seems to be the case for a lot of these guys.
Speaker 2:And Mercury he's the batch brother. He is going to just be a very physical presence. He's going to make sure that you know he's going to be in front of your goalie making screens. But his playmaking is also pretty decent. He's had a lot of good moments. There was a pass, against whatever team they played right before the break where it just saucered perfectly to his forward guy, his line mate, and it just looked really really good. He's been really good. I'm interested to see because this is his senior year uh, canes have to sign him before some day, so I'm I'm interested in that a little bit, but I liked a lot from what I saw from mercury this month well, I think mercury um it's.
Speaker 1:Is it umass?
Speaker 1:yeah yeah, he's atass. He was with, of course, scott Moore last year, mccreary. To me he's a big center man. He's a guy that reminds me a little bit about Stahl. I mean, he's got that solid, you know kind of game. He definitely dominates at times in the NCAA because of his size. I mean, he's just a big man. So he's a guy that I think has some potential. I hope the Canes sign him. I think he's got some offensive upside as well and we'll see how his season progresses. And again, perron, he was drafted way lower than folks expected. So with Nadeau leaving this year, the expectation was he would pick up some of that gauntlet. So it seems like he's doing that as well. And, of course, finishing it off, michael Emerson. And Emerson moved from North Dakota to Merrimack. Right, yeah, and what was? Do you know anything about that? Why he did move? I don't recall.
Speaker 2:I don't know any exact reason, but if you look back he didn't really play a lot for North Dakota Right and then left midseason, went back to Chicago, played for them and then went to.
Speaker 1:Marymount.
Speaker 2:But I don't know any reason. I just remember the past very vividly.
Speaker 1:Well, the Canes love those players coming out of the USHL. So we'll keep an eye on Emerson. I'm not sure what the future holds for him Again, the Canes' prospect group is so deep, but we'll keep an eye on Michael as well. So lots of prospects to talk about, as usual, and, of course, the big one. I wanted to kind of bring us up to date and, on a regular basis, talk about the next guy, and that would be alexander nikishin. So what's happening with alexander these days?
Speaker 2:yeah, he's kind of just been the same. He still plays on the top pairing. He still plays in a crappy role on the power play. He is doing better points wise, but he's still eating minutes. He's kind of just been the same. Not really a ton of change. He's just been Alexander Nikitian.
Speaker 1:Well, of course, recently, during one of the broadcasts, Eric Tolsky mentioned that at the end of the season for Nikitian, when his season is up with SKA, the Canes will hopefully jump in and get him signed to a deal very shortly after that. So clearly he's on the radar and they're going to keep an eye on Alexander as the season goes on. But he's a guy that we're waiting for and we're waiting anxiously for. So we'll keep an eye on Alexander and, on a monthly basis, appreciate if you can update us, Nick, on what's happening with Mr Nikishi. Okay, so we've covered a lot of prospects. As I mentioned, the Keynes Prospect Group rated very highly and we will continue to do that on a monthly basis. Of course, Nick is available on his Keynes Prospects sub stack and, of course, on X under Caged Prospects. You can certainly reach out to Nick and follow him closely.
Speaker 1:In both of those environments Nick, of course, will be getting together again next month to talk about the prospects and keep folks totally up to date on what's happening around the globe with all of Kane's Prospect Group. In any case, for those of you who have been listening or watching today, we really appreciate it very much. If you like this episode, please press the like button. If you have any comments, please leave those down below. Nick and I will get back to you just as quick as we can and, of course, if you want to be alerted to future episodes of Storm Tracker, please hit the subscribe button. As always, nick and I would like to thank you for joining us here on the top prospects of the month and we'll look forward to getting together with you next month right here on Storm Tracker. You.
