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Why Does Carolina Keep Betting on Russian Prospects When Others Won't?
Carolina's scouting department pulled off a remarkable feat at the 2025 NHL Draft in Los Angeles. What seemed like a quiet draft with just six picks—including a late first-rounder and no second-round selection—transformed into a potential goldmine as GM, Eric Tulsky, orchestrated multiple trades to acquire three second-round picks and a high third-rounder.
Nick Bass, from Canes Prospects & Dobber Prospects, joined me to breakdown the draft for the Hurricanes & discuss highlights from the Canes' Development Camp that followed shortly after.
The Hurricanes' strategy focused heavily on Russian prospects, selecting four players from Russia among their seven total picks. This continues their pattern of finding value where other NHL teams hesitate due to concerns about transfer agreements and development pathways.
Highlights:
• Goaltender Semyon Frolov (41st overall) was the Hurricanes' top-rated netminder despite being available in the second round
• Charlie Cerrato (49th overall) surprised draft watchers but brings a competitive edge after being the top-scoring rookie in the Big Ten
• Ivan Ryabkin (57th overall) combines elite offensive skills with surprising physicality despite falling from projected first-round status
• Defensemen Kurban Limatov and Roman Bausov continue Carolina's preference for massive (6'4"+) blueliners who can skate exceptionally well
• Filip Ekberg, selected 221st overall after leading the U18 World Championships with 18 points in 7 games, may be the draft's biggest steal
• The Hurricanes' development camp showcased these prospects alongside established names like Josh Nadeau, Jayden Perron & Justin Poirier
• Recent prospect movement included trading Scott Morrow in the K'Andre Miller deal, while Russians like Stanislav Yarovoy and Vladimir Grudinin will continue developing in the KHL
The NHL Draft took place June 27 and 28 in Los Angeles and not much was expected from the Carolina Hurricanes. After all, the Canes only had six picks, including a late first-round pick and none in the second round. But when all was said and done, Hurricanes Journal Manager Eric Tulsky, associate GM and head of scouting Darren York, and the entire scouting staff pulled off a number of major coups in landing several highly regarded picks. Tulsky did his usual magic, trading up and down to land three second-round picks and a high third-round pick, and in the end, the Canes selected a total of seven players in the draft, including four Russians. Joining me to discuss the draft and the Canes' development camp that followed from Canes prospects and Dogger prospects Nick Bass Howdy. Nick, Hello, hey, Nick, Nick Bass Howdy.
Speaker 2:Nick Hello.
Speaker 1:Hey Nick, I know you covered it closely and saw a lot of your good work on the sub stack, of course, and followed you on X with a lot of the Canes development camp stuff, and I thought it would be great for us to get together and share this with the folks as well. Okay, so let's kick it off. The number one pick for the Canes in the second round was at number 41, goaltender Semyon Frolov. Now, frolov is an interesting one. He's another big goaltender. He's 6'3", he's 200 pounds. Another Russian goaltender. The Canes have been doing a lot of work with Russian goaltenders, as we know, and we talked a lot about Ruslan Kazeev, who is in Chicago this year, and the other thing that I thought was interesting about Frolov is that the NHL Central Scouting Group for international goalies had him at number two, so that was interesting because, of course, there were some really top international goaltenders available, like Medvedev and some of the other guys, so I thought that was a good start. What can you tell us about Samian Follap?
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's kind of just the prototypical NHL goalie nowadays. He's 6'3", he moves really well. He skates really well for what he is in his size for the position. Technically he's really good. He just needs to rein in some of the extracurriculars that he likes to do and likes to be a little bit more chaotic in that. So as long as he reins that in, he has a real shot to be probably a 1A, more than like an everyday workhorse starter, but 1A, 1B type of goalie.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and again he's a guy that Darren York said something very similar to what you're saying as well, I think, Nick, and he said this was our top rated goalie, probably one of the best feet, with really athletic side to side movement. Being able to read the play going from across the crease is something that our goalie coaches really like. He also said that the Canes were a little bit anxious. They really wanted Frohloff and as they kind of slipped down to 41, they were kind of wondering are we going to have a chance to get him, Because of course he was so highly rated. But it makes an interesting situation for the Canes, and I know you've followed a lot of the Russian goalies. There's a bunch of them and you've got, you know you've got Piotr, of course, with the Canes, You've got Kazeev in Chicago and now you've got Frolov and there's guys like Velmakin and others that you followed as well. How do you feel about the goaltending for the future with the Canes, Nick?
Speaker 2:It looks better now with Frolov because he's a clear-cut no 1. With Huzayev, who had been the no 1 for a while, the no 1 goalie prospect, he's fine but he needs a lot more work because he's a lot more raw. With Frolov he's not as raw, he's a lot more refined and with the next two years of development should come out looking pretty solid. I spoke to him at development camp through a translator and they basically was. We got two years and then, after those two years, we'll find out. Wow.
Speaker 1:Well, again, he's another one of these big Russian goaltenders and of course, the Russians have been a factory for top NHL goalies for a while. So the Canes are in pretty good shape, I think, and, you know, certainly with he and Piotr and Ruslan Kazeev, I think they've got some really interesting potential for the future. That's excellent stuff. So, moving on to the second pick and this was an interesting one coming out of Penn State University was Charlie Serrato. Serrato was picked at number 49, and this was a shocker, frankly. He was rated way down, well over 100, by most of the sites that I looked at that were kind of forecasting what the draft would look like.
Speaker 1:He's a guy that again casting what the draft would look like. He's a guy that again passed through a couple of drafts, but last year at Penn State, his first year at Penn State, he really tore it up and as a rookie in the Big Ten he was the top scoring rookie in the Big Ten. I thought that was quite a story. So I know a lot of us didn't know much about Serato going in and I think you had a chance to watch him up close and personal. What can you tell us about Charlie? Yeah, serato going in and I think you had a chance to watch him up close and personal. What can you tell us about Charlie?
Speaker 2:yeah, uh Serato, he definitely. He caught us off guard too just because we hadn't really done a ton of research into him. But the more I kind of read about him, the more I kind of got the same feeling as I did with uh Charles Alexis Legault, where he was a double overager going in, had a really, really decent freshman season and you could see skills translating easily. And with Serato it's easy to see his all-around game, can just translate easily and create a really high floor for him at the NHL level. This is a guy that can probably step into professional ranks after another year or two if he needed to. He's a high-level competitor, he's going to piss you off and he's a. He's a guy that I think canes fans are gonna really enjoy over the next couple of years because he's gonna be a really good player on the penn state team that's gonna have gavin mckenna and a couple other guys so he'll.
Speaker 2:it'll be really fun to watch that and I think people are just gonna enjoy him because of the way he plays and they're gonna going to finally be like, oh my God, the Canes finally have an agitator. Yay, so it'll be good.
Speaker 1:Well, I know that some of your comments about development camp. He kind of surprised a lot of folks with his talent, his skating, his overall game and I think that's exciting. We've been hearing a lot about Penn State and their hockey program really starting to take off and I think the fact they've got Gavin McKenna is a strong statement for sure. I'm sure a lot of teams are probably lining up to try to get Gavin to join them for this season. And for those folks who don't know, Gavin McKenna is really the anticipated top pick in this coming draft. He's looked upon as a possible generational player. So this will be great for Serato as well to play alongside Gavin McKenna. So that's kind of cool.
Speaker 1:Darren York had some good things to say about Serato. He's gone through the draft a couple of times and it's really not fair to him. We didn't want to wait too long to get him. He probably could have been drafted last year after a strong season at Youngstown of times, and it's really not fair to him. We didn't want to wait too long to get him. He probably could have been drafted last year after a strong season at Youngstown. Then he goes to Penn State and had an unbelievable year, being one of the highest pointing 19-year-olds in the NCAA. So very positive words coming from Darren York. And once again, the Canes surprising a lot of folks by selecting Serato. And I think you know they talk about in the draft not selecting position but selecting best player. But I think the Canes are probably very pleased that they drafted a center in Serato because, as you know, the center situation for the Canes is a little bit thin on the prospect side. So good news for the Hurricanes and, I think, some great stuff for Charlie Serrato.
Speaker 1:The next guy. Okay, I want to tell you a little bit about the next guy, because I was all over Ivan Ryabkin heading into the draft. I really was excited about Ryabkin. I had suggested the Canes take him at 29 as kind of a wild card. I had some other guys, but he was one of the guys I talked about. This guy was looked upon as a high first rounder, no question, but he had a little bit of a tough start, as you know, in Russia and came over and ended up playing for Muskegon in the USHL and tore it up 19 goals in 27 games and you know what. We can talk about this at some time too, but the Canes love players coming out of the USHL for sure, and so that's exciting news. So what can you tell us about Ivan Ryabkin?
Speaker 2:So, going into the draft, I kind of penciled in Ryabkin. I made a joke about it, but he kind of seemed like a very prototypical Hurricanes pick. But the more I kind of read and the more I kind of listened, more I kind of heard is that this was a guy that had a ton of red flags coming into him at the, at the combine and you know, after his whole season with how stuff happened in Russia and then his transfer to North america, it was just a whole bunch of like weird things. But um the more I mean the kid, if he hits, can be a top, you know, 15 to 20 player in this class, just based off pure talent alone, because his offensive skill set is just that good.
Speaker 2:It's now a matter of matter of can he get there? And he he definitely can. You know, watching him at dev camp you can see why they took him where they did because he has gen, genuine dynamic offensive talent. It's a matter of harnessing that and getting him ready for that next level, wherever that's going to be this year, if it's the ushl, the ahl or uh, the q, but again, he's a really good talent. He just has to get everything under control and get to where he needs to be.
Speaker 1:Well, he's an interesting guy. I mean, if you take a look at some of the highlights of Ryabkin, a couple of things stand out to me. One of them is he's definitely a top-grade offensive player. He sees the ice extremely well and he can fire the puck. So he's definitely got, you know, top-level offensive skills. But the other thing I noticed which really surprised me is he's some kind of heavy hitter. He loves to lay the body on. There's a lot of situations where he just crunches people and he's big enough to do that. So it's kind of interesting. He's. He's a, he's a heavy player out there. But of course he's got, he's got elite skills. Darren York said he had a strong underage season in Russia, goes to Muskegon this past season, gets in there late, but basically is an unbelievable goal scorer with bite to his game. He drives the net, he can hit you, he can take hits, he can score off the wrist shot, he can score off the one timer, he can make plays in tight. I mean, obviously they really like him. So that's so. That's Ivan Ryabkin. And again, we're all kind of like you. I think on this too, nick, that yeah, he's got the skill, he's got the ability out there. But can he bring it all together? And you know, I'm kind of of the mind that it's great that he's in North America now and I hope he stays. I haven't heard exactly where he's playing this year, but it would be great if he's in North America and certainly would give the Canes a closer eye on him and have more influence on how he plays, and I think that's something that they're hoping to do this season for sure. So, ivan Ryabkin.
Speaker 1:The next guy is defenseman Kerbin Limitov. Now, limitov was at 67, and he was the guy they wanted to get in the third round. They really wanted Limitov. Again, big defenseman, checks in at 6'4", almost 200 pounds. These guys are huge, these defensemen, and I know you talked about that too in the development camp. Just a number of massive defensemen, and particularly coming out of Russia. We don't know a lot about Limitov, but he's a guy that, again, the Canes really liked him. What can say about, uh, about, kirby limita?
Speaker 2:this was a guy that probably should have went a lot higher than he did. A lot of people had him, you know, late first, early second, and his skating is just such a big asset, which is something the canes really value in defense is that you have to be a strong skater, and Kerbin is probably one of the better skaters in this class. He has true four-way mobility, can move really easily and for someone his size it's really good. He plays a really aggressive game which can get him in trouble from time to time, but other than that he hones it in real well. He was playing gigantic minutes for the MHL team last year. He looked really good. It kind of seems like he's going to get a KHL opportunity, probably as the seventh defenseman, probably fluctuate a little bit between leagues, but he's a guy that is definitely better than where he was taken and it's a guy that, if he hits on all of his potential, could probably play in your top four down the line.
Speaker 1:Well, you know you're hitting on something that we talked about so many times too, Nick. The Canes just keep going back to the well in Russia and they are able to secure players well down in the draft. We talked about that with Nikita Artemonov last year and they get these players well down. And I think you're right on Limitog. They definitely wanted him, they traded up to get him and they wanted to get him for sure. And I think again, it's that situation where teams are just not so comfortable drafting players out of Russia. The Canes have had good success. In fact, some of the Canes players that they're bringing over are coming over quickly, like we saw last year with both Gleb Trikazov and Ruslan Kazeev coming over as 19-year-olds, so they don't seem to have a concern. They were able, of course, to do the magic and get Alexander Nikitin out in a good situation, so I guess they're feeling very comfortable that they're going to be able to bring these players over over time. Any thoughts on on that whole discussion?
Speaker 2:I'm trying to figure out what I can say. I mean, yeah, people are going to point to that Dan Milstein clip but he really insinuates that Carolina just does it as a cap saving measure or just a money saving measure, which is inherently wrong in the first place. But I'm not an agent, so I can't say anything about that, I guess. But I mean, in some situations yeah, it's a little bit easier is your Gleb had some stuff that was going on, and Hajaev was another case where he just it was one of those things where it just kind of worked out. It's not going to be that way for everybody, as we kind of have seen with Artimonov, who could have been a free agent.
Speaker 2:Next, year or or Vladimir Grudinin, Alexander Rykov, Stanislav Yarovoy, it's not. It's not a thing. And if this it's a case where a guy can get consistent KHL minutes rather than AHL opportunity, it's probably better for them to just stay there, comparatively so, but for a guy like Gleb or a guy like Ruslan, it's easier for them because they wouldn't get those opportunities and they come to North America and they can get AHL time. So it's kind of for me anyways, it's a case-by-case basis, kind of for me anyways it's a case-by-case basis.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and again, I think clearly there are players we would love to see. We've talked about Grudinin and certainly Stanislav Yarovoy and some of the other guys. Artemodov would have been great to see him as well. But the other challenge the Canes have is they just don't have room for all these guys. I mean, chicago is loaded up and you know they're just in a situation where it's better for them to remain in Russia as you rightly say, I think, nick and get full playing time, and most of these guys are. You know they're in the KHL level now and they're regulars in the KHL, so that's a good thing. So we'll keep tracking that. I think it's going to be something to follow over time. I don't know how many draft picks the Canes have had over the last four years out of Russia, but it's a big number. It might be close to 20, in fact. So it's a big number and they just keep going back to the. Well interesting when you take a look at that. And the next player is another one Might as well keep it going.
Speaker 1:Taken at 87 in the third round was Roman Balsav. Again, he was in the NHL last year. He's another big guy. He's huge. He's like 6'5" and I don't know, 190, 200 pounds. He's a big guy, these guys are huge. And the thing about this man York said Darren York said he's massive reach, six foot, five inch frame that can skate. So there's that skating again that you've talked about. We look at where the game is going and trying to take away time and space, and he's able to do that with both his speed and his reach. So again, looking for these defensive men that could come in and fill different roles. Obviously they're thinking about a defensive role for him, but another monster on the blue wait. Can you tell us about roman?
Speaker 2:yeah, the big, the big thing is that he's very effective at taking away time and space because he is just that big and I, you know, I've talked to some scouts that are just out there, not actual NHL scouts, but just people who do it for a job, unlike me, where it's kind of a it's a for fun thing, at least right now, where he was graded as some of the as like the best defenseman skater in the class. He's that regarded for his ability to do it class. He's that regarded for his ability to do it. I mean, you can see it, he's six foot five and he's he's so smooth when he skates it's all super fluid, it all looks good.
Speaker 2:He can be fast if he needs to, but, being six foot five, he doesn't really have to put a lot of effort into it because he can two strides and he's already from blue line to blue line at that point. It's because he can two strides and he's already from blue line to blue line at that point. The way that he is able to skate makes the rest of it good. His defense is already solid. He's a pretty decently physical player. Just if he can start developing any more offensive traits, he's going to be a little bit more highly regarded, but I mean, the skating and the size is already something that you covet highly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that seems like a common theme. Right, the canes are looking for big defensemen who can skate and who can distribute the puck, and boy, they're uh, they're loading up, there's no question. Um, so let's go to the other end of the spectrum, and the cane's sixth pick was uh velund, a left winger out of the SHL and out of Junior 20 National and playing in Sweden. He's a guy that, again small, comes in at 5'9", darren York said. Coming into the year playing in the Junior 20 League, he was a strong offensive player, one-on-one with skill. He's been a little bit more of a playmaker and then, getting time against men, he was able to show some of his offensive dynamics. So, again, a player that brought a lot of interest. Talented scorer he had 30 goals in one of the leagues he was in. So he's a guy that can score. What do you think about Viggo?
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's another one of those guys that you can be a boomer bus prospect. If he hits, he's a top six talent. If he doesn't, he's another 5'9 forward that people get mad that they took because they hate players under six foot and I mean everything I've seen from from nordland. He's a very fun player to watch. Um, he moves really well. He can make plays with the puck on his stick. He has the ability to create his own time and space away from the puck. He's extreme. He is a good shooter. He does everything right offensively. He's obviously not a very physical player due to his size, but he doesn't need to be because he's so hyper skilled with the puck that he can just go out there and do what he needs to do and it works out for him. So, again, it's a boomer bus prospect. So I hope for it because he's a very fun player to watch. But it's a. It's a bet you take in the sixth round.
Speaker 1:The next guy brought up a lot of interest during the draft and I'm talking about Philip Ekberg. The Canes took him at 221 in the seventh round. I mean this is like getting close to the end of the draft and Ekberg if you followed on X through the draft proceedings, people kept saying why not Ekberg? What's going on with Ekberg? Why hasn't he been drafted Round after round? It was kind of fun to watch it. And again, you know he played with Ottawa 67s last year, had a great year, but the story I think which is really the telling story was his play in the under-18 World Championships last year and again he was outstanding. He led the championship with 10 goals, 18 points in seven games. He set a new Swedish scoring record at the tournament and was named MVP, best forward and to the tournament all-star team. This guy just tore it up and was incredible, but slips to the seventh round 221. What's the deal on Philip Eckberg? The seventh round 221. What's the?
Speaker 2:deal on Phillip Eckberg. Yeah, this year was a horrible draft if you were under six foot tall. I mean some of the guys that were taken in the sixth and seventh round it was just teams seeing six foot three, six foot four and just going please work. But I mean Eckberg. He's another guy that can be a true dynamic offensive talent. I know people have skating concerns with him. I I really didn't see it whenever I watched him at camp.
Speaker 2:Um, yeah, he's a guy that's that tears it up at the international level and I know people are going to kind of look at his ohl scoring and be a little wondering how it's possible for a guy to be under a point per game in the ohl, especially if he's a guy that's going to get drafted, and it's mainly because ottawa last year was really bad not really bad, but they were bad and he also dealt with an injury throughout the year. So he's probably going to have a much better year this year with Ottawa and he'll I think him and and Vigo are are gonna compete really hard to get to the world juniors, so it'll be it'll be, interesting to see if either of them go there.
Speaker 2:I think Ekberg might have more of a chance just because of his his showing at the the U18s. But um yeah, eckford's a sick player and I think it was just a bad draft to have a listed height under six feet tall yeah, again, he's uh.
Speaker 1:He's a guy that a lot of folks really liked, um and uh, and slips down to 221 for the hurricanes. So you know, when you pick players like that, you know that the the opportunity is not that great, that they're going to obviously play with the Hurricanes at some point. But I think he's a bit of a wild card and we'll see how he does this year as he continues his play in North America. So that's kind of cool, okay, yeah, so let's talk a little bit about the development camp. So you saw a lot of these guys at camp, as you've been able to share with us. But were there other folks that came to the foreground? I mean, I know you talked a little bit about Jaden Perron and Justin Poirier. What about those guys? What did you see from that?
Speaker 2:Jaden Perron. This is going to be a big year for him. It'll be his third year in college and this is, you know, it'll be his second team going to Michigan, who is going to be a really talented team. He needs to show that he has the ability to score at the college level consistently. It can't be stretches of games and maybe that's a little unfair to him, but you know, 30 year college and you've had good showings. You just need to put it all together and it'll be big for him to do it.
Speaker 2:I like I've I liked a lot of what I saw because he just when players have a willingness to get to the middle is something that teams greatly appreciate because you have to do it, somebody's got to do it, and if perron's willing to do it, that's great. Uh, poria, I'm interested to see more of how his game translate to the ncaa level, because it's going to be different, going from guys who are younger or just the same age as him to guys that are bigger than him, older than him, stronger than him, and I want to see how his game translates from what he does at the queue to have what he does in in college, and I think the hockey East is going to be a great place for him because of the way he plays and I think he could have a role somewhat similar to what Bradley Nadeau had in his freshman year. I don't know if he'll have the same production, but I definitely think that could be a spot for him to be. I really it was the first time I ever got to watch Fyodor Avramov, who is a 6-3 old school power forward who moves really well and has a really good shot, so I was really happy to see that.
Speaker 2:I think he's a really interesting player going forward, depending on what situation he finds himself in, whether that be in the vhl or he constantly gets scratched the cage level again. That would not be spectacular. Let me tell you what um and uh I mean. Ivan riavkin mentioned him earlier. He was really fun because of the offensive ability and, uh, alexander seryatsky was a was a really good.
Speaker 2:All the defensemen they had there were really good skaters, so it was definitely interesting to see a lot of the the russian guys that I'd never really got a chance to to get an eye on um, so that was really good. And then being able to talk to Frolov and Yarovoy with help of a translator, because I still can barely speak Russian, so it was nice to talk to those guys, get their opinions on North Carolina opinions on the hurricanes plans going forward, all that fun stuff, so it was nice to speak to those gentlemen.
Speaker 1:Now you had been suggesting that we might see Stanislav Yoruboy in North America this year. Did he share anything with you about his decision to remain in Russia?
Speaker 2:He that the okay. So his he wanted to stay in North America, but with Spartak he's probably going to get a better opportunity to get closer to the KHL Championship, which would be a big moment for him. And I don't know his money situation with Spartak, I didn't really look into that. But if he wants to learn how to play center, it's probably going to be a better place for him to do it where he's more comfortable speaking language and stuff like that. And he's still just 21, so he's still really not that old. And it's the same case with a guy like reikhoff, who's still 19. Yeah, uh, yarvo is just 21, grudin's just 21, artimonos only 19. So those guys resigning, yeah, it kind of sucks because you want to see them in North America as fast as you can, but it's not the worst thing for them to stay in their home country and get development. It's not going to hurt anything. It just kind of sucks because everybody wants to see them in North America obviously.
Speaker 1:Well, I was particularly interested to see Grudinin, but yes, he's going to continue on in the KHL for a while. You mentioned we're talking about Justin Poirier. He's going to be joining Josh Nadeau in May, which is kind of good. What did you think about Josh, and how is he progressing?
Speaker 2:I've been bullish on Josh's NHL future. I've said a couple of times that he looks a like an nhl player, but I don't know. I mean he looked good. He's uh. I thought he looked better skating wise and I think his shot is getting better. Um, it'll be another big year for him at at maine, because this will be his third year of college hockey and, after a somewhat down year last year, he probably needs to get a little bit of a better year to going and to get his stock up because if he does decide to turn pro, he could be one of the more popular names on the market.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and of course he's come to the Canes development cap, I think a couple of times now, and I think he went to another one, maybe Pittsburgh or one of the other teams as well. So he's getting the attention of the NHL teams. It's just taking a little bit longer to get him sorted out. Now, speaking of that and to kind of move off of the development camp and the draft for a minute, I wanted to just touch base on prospects for a couple of minutes. Okay, so his brother Bradley. Great season, of course, over 30 goals in the AHL. What do you think's up for Bradley this coming season?
Speaker 2:It'll probably be another big year for him AHL-wise. I think he'll probably just get another strong AHL season, because there's no point in playing him in the bottom six. Just let him continue going in the top line at the AHL level with A guy he already has chemistry with in Ryan Suzuki, and let him go continue to get stronger, do all that fun stuff. So as long as they do that, I think they'll be pretty good for him.
Speaker 1:Now, another one of the prospects we talked a lot about last year, of course, was Scott Morrow, and Morrow was moved in the deal for K Andre Miller. How did you feel about that? I know we really both liked Scott Morrow last year. What were your thoughts on that deal?
Speaker 2:Perfectly fine. Morrow realistically was not going to break roster over Walker, chatfield or anybody like that. There was no way that was going to happen. I think name value kind of. I think name value applied a lot of the shock to that trade more than anything else, because people hear the name Scott Morrow and they think they probably still should think that he's a.
Speaker 2:He's a good player and he has a lot of potential. So you see it in. I saw it in the AHL playoffs. I saw it in the NHL playoffs. There is still a lot of gaps in his game that he needs to work on to become an effective NHL player. And New York, who has the greatest track, or the Rangers, who have the greatest track record of developing high end talent, they'll definitely be an interesting place to see if they can do it, because he's going to probably be a bottom pairing defenseman, maybe get power play two times, so times.
Speaker 2:So I mean I'm wishing the kid the best, do not get me wrong and I he had a great. It was fun, you know, watching him go forward. But at the same point, if you can move him and get a guy like keandre miller who's what, like two or three years older, already an established nhl player and you walk him in long term. I mean that's, that's a pretty good deal to me. So I'm a, I was a fan of the trade and I think I think sticker shock just got a lot of people when they saw Morrow in the trade. But I kind of had a, had a hunch that he was going to get moved this off season because I don't think he was going to be on the NHL roster come opening day.
Speaker 1:So no, and I think the good news was that he went in a deal for a young defenseman. You know there were a lot of folks thinking he might be packaged up for a guy like Eric Carlson or somebody like that and I'm glad they got the young D in this and that's a discussion that will go on as the season kind of rolls out, as they continue to kind of ponder do they need a right shot D? I don't think at this stage they're too concerned about it, but that might be a story in the future. Any other kind of prospects I know you've been doing a lot of work on international prospects lately, certainly in Russia and other countries. Any other folks that jump up that you might want to just say a few words about, nick.
Speaker 2:I'm trying to think. I'm trying to think top of my head. I think Chicago the wolves are going to be really interesting because their team is still so insanely young. When you look at that, I don't know what that team's going to look like, but it's going to be a lot of the same guys from last year and, I think, another year of growth and development from them. Combined with two goalies that might make a little bit more sense as a tandem in uh Primo and Miftikov. I think that'll look a little bit better. It also will give Hajai have a chance to get games in.
Speaker 2:You know, he's not gonna have to play the majority of games, which was not. I mean, you want to your goalie playing a lot, but yeah, it might be a little bit ridiculous for him to start. I don't know if it was 20 games or how many it was, but it was probably a couple too many in complete honesty. Um, I think andre krutov's probably going to have another halfway decent year. I think it'll probably be at the vhl level for the whole year instead of just part of the year. Um, I'm interested to see how felix does in a year where he's gonna play all year yes, he's gonna.
Speaker 2:Hopefully he'll play wing. I would think he'll stick to the wing all year and that will be much better for him. And and then the whole right side of the Wolves' defense has been set in stone for the majority of the season with Badinka, legault and Nystrom, and I think that is something that I'm really interested in seeing how that works out, because that's a lot of talent that you're going to have on your blue line that I'm interested to see how that goes.
Speaker 1:Well for sure, and you know, you talk about Dominic Badenka and, of course, joelle Nystrom, and these are two again outstanding prospects for the Hurricanes and their right shots, which is kind of great. And this is going to be good for the Hurricanes as they continue to build the depth. And I know, listening to Eric Tolsky lately, he's just ecstatic about the fact that they are lining up for many, many, many years of strong positioning and, of course, locking up. He's got 12 players locked up four years or more on contract deals. So quite a story. Just to end, I wanted to bring one last guy up. We talk about him so much and I just wondered what your thoughts were on what we might expect to kick off the season for Alex Nikishin.
Speaker 2:He'll probably. I mean, I would expect him to be with one of I would hope it's Chatfield as his partner. I think that would be his best spot. I would hope as well that he gets the quarterback role, the second power play unit, and I think from there I'm hoping he has a good season. I think it'll be a strong season, as long as he just sticks to the stuff that made him who he is today instead of trying to become something that he isn't. So he needs to just keep being the player that he was for SKA and he'll turn into a really valuable NHL player. The player that he was for SKA and he'll turn into a really valuable NHL player.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I know, uh, I know you're bullish and have been all along on what we can expect from Alex and you know a lot of folks are. They're wondering, uh, what, what are we going to see from him? Of course, his short uh playoff, uh tenure was uh kind of mixed and some folks stepped back and said, hey, wait a minute, maybe. Kind of mixed. And some folks stepped back and said, hey, wait a minute, maybe we don't know what we're going to get here. But I think you're right and of course he'll come back and hopefully has a little bit more knowledge of English, which will help him a lot, and he's going to be teamed with a different partner this time. He had Orlov last year and I'm not sure that was the best situation for him. So I'm like you, I'm bullish on on Alex. I think he's going to get off to a great start with the canes and I look forward to him driving that number two PP.
Speaker 1:So lots of good stuff, as always, nick, uh, always enjoy talking prospects with you and of course, you're all over it. Uh, we see you so much on on X and, of course, with your sub stack and folks, that's where you can reach and he's all over the prospect side. So we appreciate very much you spending time with us today, nick, and talking about the Keynes prospects For those of you who have been watching or listening. Nick and I thank you very much for spending the time with us today. If you like this episode, please press the like button. If you have comments or questions for Nick about prospects or you just want to talk about Storm Tracker, please just put those in the comment section below. And, of course, if you want to be alerted of future episodes of Storm Tracker, please press the subscribe button and the bell and you'll be made aware as soon as those are available. As always, nick and I thank you very much for spending time with us here on Storm Tracker and we look forward to getting together with you real soon, right here.
