stormTRacker Podcast
...stormTRacker Podcast is your home for in-depth analysis of the Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Wolves & Canes' prospects around the globe. Host Tom Ray is joined by regular contributors, "hockey savants" Erin Manning & Katie Bartlett, as well as "Insiders", Nick Bass (Canes Prospects) & Andrew Rinaldi (Chicago Wolves), to cover all the top stories of your Carolina Hurricanes. In addition, from time-to-time, Tom welcomes special guests to the podcast.
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stormTRacker Podcast
The BIGGEST Storylines to Watch in Hurricanes' 2025 Season
What are the true difference-makers for the Hurricanes this season? Hockey's return brings renewed optimism for Carolina fans, but last year's underlying metrics tell a complex story that could shape the team's fortunes.
The analytics paint a fascinating picture: Carolina dominated in expected goals but couldn't consistently convert chances, while their defense ranked 7th in expected goals against but finished a concerning 21st in actual goals allowed. This defensive paradox points to one critical storyline for 2024-25: goaltending stability. Frederik Andersen's health remains the X-factor after playing just 72 games over three seasons, while Pyotr Kochetkov presents a statistical enigma – elite in high-danger situations (92nd percentile) but below average on medium-danger shots. Can new acquisition Cayden Primeau provide the organizational depth needed?
Alexander Nikishin's arrival brings legitimate star potential to Carolina's blueline. After a tantalizing playoff glimpse last season, the Russian defenseman combines rarely-seen physical tools (99th percentile shot velocity) with what scouts describe as "unmatched two-way impact." His recent interviews reveal a player focused on earning his role through consistent work rather than reputation – music to Rod Brind'Amour's ears. Meanwhile, Jackson Blake faces the classic sophomore challenge after signing his eight-year extension. His remarkable defensive awareness (98th percentile) provides a foundation, but can he avoid the second-year stumbles that have affected countless young players?
The upcoming Prospect Showcase will spotlight future contributors like Charles-Alexis Legault and the intriguing Ivan Ryabkin, while PTO signings Oliver Kylington and Giovanni Smith represent low-risk opportunities to strengthen organizational depth. Subscribe and hit the notification bell to follow these storylines all season with Storm Tracker, your source for comprehensive Hurricanes analysis.
Highlights:
• Analytics reveal the Canes ranked first in expected goals but lagged in actual scoring
• Goaltending consistency remains a critical factor with Frederik Andersen's health concerns
• Pyotr Kochetkov excels in high-danger situations (92nd percentile) but struggles with medium-danger shots
• Alexander Nikishin projects as a top-pairing defenseman with elite shot metrics and "unmatched two-way impact"
• Jackson Blake's sophomore season expectations include building on his 98% defensive rating while improving offensive production
• Special teams showed a stark contrast: 2nd-ranked penalty kill but 24th-ranked power play
• The Prospect Showcase will feature promising talents including Charles-Alexis Legault and Ivan Ryabkin
• PTO signings Oliver Kylington and Giovanni Smith provide potential depth options, with Kylington offering more upside if he can recapture his 31-point form
Listen to future episodes of stormTRacker by subscribing to stay updated on all Hurricanes news and analysis.
Well, hockey will be back soon and Canes fans have a lot to look forward to as we gear up for a new season of Carolina Hurricanes hockey. What did we learn about the Canes' performance last season and what are some of the storylines that might capture our attention soon? Who should we have our eyes on in the upcoming Prospect Showcase? Who should we have our eyes on in the upcoming Prospect Showcase and what do we know about the two players who are currently signed to PTOs with the Hurricanes? Delighted, as always, to have Erin and Katie joining me to talk about all these things and more, and we'll get right to it.
Speaker 2:Hi there.
Speaker 1:Okay. So you know, we look back at last year's performance and you know, I know, katie you've done a lot of work with the metrics, as usual, analyzing what was working, what wasn't working, and we might be surprised by some of the things that you found there. Are the Canes set up to do better this season and what areas of concern should we have as we look forward to the year? Katie, want to kick it off.
Speaker 3:Sure. Well, I found the JFresh card for the Canes and for their season overall, and they had a good season. There's lots to be encouraged by and definitely there are some areas in which they have improved. How much of an improvement that is, I think, remains to be seen. There's a range of what you can expect, depending on the impact that the new guys like Ehlers and Miller have on the team. As expected, it shows that the Canes were really good in generating chances. I'm always harping on the fact that the Canes have really a lot of problems finishing and this card definitely shows that that while they were the first in the league in actual scoring.
Speaker 3:So there's a bit of a um of a difference there. What really concerned me and kind of surprised me especially because brindamore system is known for its defense as a hallmark is, while the defense itself had good metric numbers and was seventh in the league with expected goals against, they were actually 21st in the league in goals against actual goals against. So the defense was doing its job, but there seemed to have been some breakdowns, whether it was in goal or just some bad puck luck, when it came to their opponents scoring against them. So that probably would be the biggest area that the team is going to be looking to improve is having a full, healthy season of Frederick Anderson and Coach Hekov working together, creating a solid foundation moving forward.
Speaker 3:The special teams were also a bit of a mixed bag. The PK was good. They were ranked second in the league in PK based on the analytics, but they were 24th for the power play, and we've talked about the power play before and that's an area where we're hoping that Ehlers can help to dial up the team a little bit more and get that unit more productive, because McCain's already had a really good offense. If they can bring the power play into that equation as well, it's going to crank it up even further.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know, as we kind of peel the onion back on this, there's some interesting storylines that go with this. We're going to talk about three of them which I think could really play this year for the Hurricanes, and we'll kick it off with goaltending. You mentioned goaltending, of course, being a key element as the Canes go into this season. You know you look at some interesting things with Freddie Anderson. His last three seasons Freddie's played 34, 16, and 22 games in each of those seasons. I mean this is just incredibly tough for the Hurricanes to go, with him playing so little. It's challenging.
Speaker 1:And of course we've all been waiting for Piotr Kociakoff to kind of take the mantle. Daily Faceoff said something interesting in their predictions this year. Here's what they said about Kocekach. They said we've been bullish on him taking over as Carolina's starter for years, but he has to play well for that to happen. He's coming off a down year and the 1A job remains Anderson's when he's healthy. So I think the situation is clear when it comes to Kochetkov, so we've got a situation here where I think Kochetkov has some challenges. And, katie, can you pick it up and talk a little bit about his JFresh analysis for us?
Speaker 3:Well, the main thing with Kochetkov as far as the um, his player card, is, it shows what a lot of us have already seen in the eye test, that when he's in the really high danger circumstances, like on the penalty kill or he has the high danger shots against, he's one of the best goalies in the league. He is absolutely fantastic at stopping the puck, but it's when you get into those kind of middling areas that he just he seems to disappear or overthink things. His medium danger chance totals are surprisingly low.
Speaker 3:I mean we know that he's been been low, but it's in the single digits and he needs to figure something out. I mean, we've had those quotes that he said before that we've we've all laughed on and that he needs to just stop thinking and just start reacting and trusting his instincts, and that that seems to be very much the case in this, in this instance, because those high pressure situations where you don't have time to think because the shots coming immediately, his instincts are fantastic, but when he has a chance to second guess himself or get himself just touch out of position, that's where things seem to fall apart. So if he can really rely on his instincts and his reflexes and his feel for the game, I think that will be the key to him having a successful season this year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know NHL Edge kind of echoes the same kind of metrics. He's high danger save percentages in the 92 percentile, so he's right there. He's one of the best in the game. But goals against average he's in the 92th percentile. So he's right there, he's one of the best in the game. But goals against average he's 74. So that's not a great number.
Speaker 1:And then you go to overall save percentage at 898. He's below the 50th percentile, the mid-range save percent you mentioned. He's below the 50th. And percentage games greater than 900, save percentage he's below the 50th. And and percentage games greater than 900, say, percentage, he's below the 50th percentile. So you know, his game last year just was not there and uh, and again, it's kind of surprising because we remember he went through some stages where he was lights out. We, you know, we saw that incredible, you know stint, that he had for, uh, several games where he was playing great, but then all of a sudden, you know, things don't go his way. What do we think will be the situation this year with the Canes If Freddie gets injured? How do we feel about the goaltending? What do we think might happen, erin? Some thoughts on that.
Speaker 2:Well, the one thing that I think that's going to be really interesting to follow through the training camp part of the season is what have they acquired in Caden from Moe because that is something that a lot of people have talked about the Canes when we didn't have Freddie or Piotr last year, we had Spencer Martin and Dustin Tokarski, as we've talked about before, and you just want to be in a situation where, if you have to call someone up that you're not looking at someone that you know, you're just hoping that they can maybe get one win out of four. You want somebody that's going to be able to make an impact and be a reliable call-up or a reliable backup in the case of injury. So I'm going to be interested to see how, what the coaching staff's evaluation of Primo is in that role somebody that could be a backup for either Freddie or Piotr at times of need, because we know those times will arise. I think the key for the Canes this year is how long can Freddie stay healthy? And this is where the calculation just gets so difficult, because you have, you know, at his age you're talking about age-related regression creeping in and making the whole picture a lot blurrier, because what he's been dealing with has certainly not been because of that. The injuries the knee injury and then the blood clotting issue those are not age-related things, those can happen to anybody at any age. But as he starts to get closer to that 37, 38, 39 age, you know you've got goalies that will be great all the way through, and then you have goalies that will fall off of a cliff very abruptly.
Speaker 2:So if we can get a solid, healthy year out of Freddie Anderson, if he can play, you know, considerably more than 16 or 22 games, you know that that would mean a lot for the Kings.
Speaker 2:That would be a huge difference maker for them in terms of, you know, being able to build their season. So that's the biggest unknown to me is what happens if you know one or the other of them really can't. Now, as far as Piotr is concerned, another benefit I think, to having a young goaltender like Primo in the system is that that gives Piotr someone else to compete with for some of that stuff too. You know not that he's going to come in and try to steal the job, necessarily, but you never know. I mean, montreal has been pretty good with producing young goaltenders who suddenly seem to come out of nowhere. So you know there's never you can't rule that out completely. So, and Primo's stats haven't been that bad. So it's just going to be nice to have another young goaltender in the system because at the very least that's kind of a reminder to Kuchekov that he needs to take the lead and if he wants his job it's his to get. It really is.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, we talked about Caden Primo before and you're right, his underlying stats, for the most part, are quite good, and he had some stretches with Montreal where he looked good as well. So I think he's a guy that I feel much more comfortable with Caden as the guy that's going to come in should we need him, as opposed to and I love them both. Dustin and Spencer did the best they could. They absolutely did, and we know that Spencer's moved off to Russia. I'm not sure where Dustin Tokarski will play this year That'll be interesting to follow, but yeah for sure. And again, Freddie's off to the Olympics, so this is exciting stuff. And he'll be going with Nikolai Ehlers, so that's kind of cool. But again, we'll see how it all plays out. Healers, so that's kind of cool, uh, but again, we'll see how, uh, how it all plays out. And and you know, you look at the, the situations for freddie at the blood clot clot situation two years ago last year, he had an injury that put him out. Um, yeah, you just don't know what's around the corner with fred. But you know, the crazy thing too about freddie, as we all know, is when he's healthy he is outstanding. He's a great coach absolutely yeah. So let's a great goalie Absolutely yeah. So let's hope that he has one of those years where health is on his side and we'll see how that plays out. So, yeah, clearly, goaltending Piotr's going to be called upon this year. Freddie, if he's healthy, will be super, and we've got Primo and Amir Miptakov and we shouldn't forget him, I guess as well. He's in the mix and of course he's, I understand he's going to be staying with his buddy, andrei Sveshnikov, so so that's kind of fun as the head into training camp. So we'll see how that plays out.
Speaker 1:And speaking about Russians, the next storyline that we wanted to get into was around Alex Nikitian. And boy, there's a lot of discussion around Nikitian these days. As we go into this, I thought I'd read something from Stephen Ellis at Hockey Faceoff talking about the Hurricanes prospects for this year, and he mentioned this about Nikitian. He said finally, it's time for Nikitian to shine. Nikitian is one of the top prospects in hockey and should have a pretty immediate effect. With the Hurricanes out of training camp, nikitian has added more urgency in his puck game, especially last season. He's big, smart, great with the puck and all those traits should allow him to challenge for first pairing minutes sooner rather than later. His advanced pro experience doesn't make him your average prospect, that's for sure, and I know that our thinking going into this was okay. Is he going to slot in in a situation where he can actually play some big minutes? Might he be in the mix for the calder? Katie, you want to kick it off?
Speaker 3:well, I definitely think he's going to be playing some big minutes, whether that is on the first pair, the second pair, um, if he starts the season on the third pair, I think that's just for getting his feet wet and that's not going to last long that he'll be on his way up shortly. Um, the question then for the calder becomes how does he distinguish himself in such a way that, as a defenseman, he is in the same conversation as some of the other promising young forwards, like demidov in montreal?
Speaker 3:and the only way he can do that is to get some national attention, some national spotlight, and the one defenseman that the national media has learned how to love is Jacob Slavin.
Speaker 3:And so to get the kind of attention that he needs, he's going to have to produce results.
Speaker 3:But he's also going to have to play a lot of minutes alongside of Slavin and look for his opportunities there, which there should be plenty of, because he does have a good head for offense, and that is not Jacob Slavin's bread and butter for sure.
Speaker 3:So it would open up a lot of opportunities for Nikitian to work his magic in the zone with his big shot and finding the soft spots from the blue line, knowing that he has somebody like Slavin behind him to help mitigate anything that, any hiccups that come along the way. But then, beyond that, I don't know that it's just the top pairing minutes He'd also need to assert himself in such a way that he is interested with quarterbacking, the top power play, because that's also going to be an opportunity for him to shine, for him to get some points and to show off all of those skills that we have been so patiently waiting for perhaps not so patiently waiting for that we've seen in all of his highlights in the KHL. So possibility yes, but a lot of things have to fall into line for him in order to be in the Calder conversation and with the chance of seriously taking it.
Speaker 1:Well, one thing about you know you're talking about a shot and I pulled up some NHL edge stuff on that from his short tenure in the playoffs. He, his average speed was 78 miles an hour, which was the 99th percentile of the group that was there. His top speed was 93.67, which was in the 79th percentile, and 90 to 100 mile an hour shots In the short term he was there. He had three of them, so he was in the 93rd percentile. Well, he was in that. So he's a guy that, uh, you know he's going to want to shoot the puck and a different type of quarterback, as we've discussed in the past. And, of course, shane, as uh, shane gossespierre, as shane is more of a, he likes to uh, to move the puck, he likes to find the open man and he's not so much a big, big shooter. So I think, with Nate just gone from last year and he was our big shooter for the most part it would be nice to have a guy like Nikitian to jump in and do that. I wanted to mention one other thing here about Nikitian. From McKean's they had their this is the 25-26 annual preview and they said a couple of things I think that are really relevant. When we look at Alex, they say he excels defensively. This is interesting. So not many folks have talked about Alex and his defensive game, but the folks at McKean say he excels defensively, using his awareness, timing and angling to shut down plays effectively. So that sounds like the right kind of player. He sticks to opponents well, sealing them against the boards with precise checks and using his active stick to disrupt plays. And offensively he's efficient rather than flashy, moving smoothly with the puck and delivering accurate, well-timed passes. So again here's a guy that he's not a flashy player. If you watch Nikitian he's not like you know, your guy over in Montreal and some of the other young defensemen that we are talking about. Frequently he's more of a kind of you know, just goes about his business, but does it exceedingly well.
Speaker 1:The final comment from McKean's, I think, is critical. It says Nikishin is NHL ready and showed great flashes with Carolina in the playoffs last season. He projects as a top pairing defenseman with unmatched two-way impact. Unmatched two-way impact. These are high words of praise coming from folks who spend all their time analyzing these players and talking about them. So I think again we've got a guy in Nikitian that, yeah, is going to be critical. Now, something that was interesting, and we talked a little bit about this too. Aaron and I'd like you to maybe share a couple of thoughts on this. There were some comments recently about an interview with Alex, and did you have any thoughts about what was said? Do you recall what they talked about?
Speaker 2:You're talking about the interview with I can't remember how to say her name.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry.
Speaker 2:Daria Tuboltseva.
Speaker 1:Tuboltseva, tub remember how to say her name. I'm sorry, daria Tubolt-Seba.
Speaker 2:Yes, tubolt-seba, thank you, I'm so sorry. Yes, I did see that interview on X. I think, katie, you probably saw some of that too. It was a couple of weeks ago that some of that was shared and what impressed me, from my recollection of reading it, was just that he talked about the work. He really focused on the work, just that he talked about the work. You know, he really focused on the work he needs to do and the work he's expecting to do. And he, you know, gave the vibe to me of a player who is just really eager to get there and start putting that work in a very solid work ethic. And I mean these are Carolina hurricanes terms. We talk about the canes all the time with these words.
Speaker 2:So this is not someone who's coming in expecting to be some hotshot. He's not coming in expecting to be treated like, you know, an automatic star or anything of the sort he's expecting, even though he was the captain of his team back in Russia. He's expecting to be treated like anybody else who has to prove himself and earn his way. And I think when you hear that from someone who's, you know, so obviously talented, you just kind of get that sense of you know this is going to be great, because that is exactly the kind of attitude that Bradford Moore is going to love, that Tim Gleeson is going to love, and this is going to give them the trust in him that he's not expecting to come in and be handed those top pair minutes or handed those power play minutes. You know he's expecting to have to to be patient and work, and that's something I think that you know. Just looking at from that perspective, looking at that article, I would say it's a key for the um canes fans too is that we shouldn't be um having, you know, the twitter equivalent of pitchforks and torches. If he does start out on the third pair, we should not be storming the arena. If he has to play, you know, lower than we think he should, he may be on the second bearing for a while with Chatfield.
Speaker 2:We've talked about that as a possibility. We don't know what the plan exactly is for Keandre Miller, and that's going to be something that's going to impact all of this too. It's another piece of the puzzle because they're both new to the Canes. Really, even though Nikitian was there for the playoffs, they're both going to be new to the Canes in terms of, you know, getting started for their first full regular season. We just need to be patient and trust that this young man, who talked about himself that way, knows perfectly well that there's no instant gratification in the NHL and that he's not going to be disheartened or discouraged if he has to work his way up and prove himself a little bit. So I think it's going to be neat because I think he's going to have an entire arena full of fans that are just cheering him on, especially in those moments when he unveils that boom both in the shot and in the hits. He's going to be a tremendously fun player to watch and I was excited. Did you have anything from the interview that you wanted to highlight?
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, I definitely do A couple of things. That really jumped out at me was he did talk about playing in Lenovo Center and he said it was just incredible. Yes, like he said, it was just such a thrill for him. And he said I had heard a little bit about North American rinks, but this was really something, yeah, so I thought that was kind of cool.
Speaker 1:The other thing he talked a little bit about his friend Demidov and he was saying that, of course, demidov came over and he had a pretty good understanding of the English language. He had done some very serious work studying prior to coming over. And, of course, alex that was a bit of a gotcha for me because I was a little bit behind the curve on that one. I probably should have been putting more emphasis on my English, but he did do a lot of work this summer, apparently, and he said he can basically talk to his teammates now he's got a command of the language that's sufficient to help him in terms of communication with them. And you know, it's kind of like you remember when Piotr first started kind of working his magic with English and he picked it up as well. So this is great and I think the whole tenor of the interview was clear he just wants to be a member of the team and, as it was said very clearly, he doesn't want to be a weak link. So you know, he wants to be someone that makes a difference out there. And you know, I, I love the attitude of alex. I just everything I see about him. You know, he, he just really is embodying carolina hurricanes front and center. And and boy oh boy, that's uh, with his talent, this is going to be a lot of fun. So yeah, so there's a storyline we're definitely going to. And Carolina Hurricanes front and center. And boy oh boy, that's with his talent, this is going to be a lot of fun. So yeah, so there's a storyline. We're definitely going to be following Gosh. We followed it all last season as he found the way and ultimately came over surprising a lot of folks with that. But I think the surprises are going to continue this year as Alex really starts to write his story for the hurricane. So it's great stuff.
Speaker 1:Now, one other storyline we wanted to spend a few minutes with and this gentleman we kind of talked a little bit about him in our last podcast and said, kind of cool, he just signed an eight-year deal, so he's got nine years left with the hurricane. So I guess we're going to be talking about him for a little while longer. And of course that's Jackson Blake. And the big question around Jackson Blake is, you know, I guess there's two questions when is he going to slot in the lineup? Number one and I guess, number two, what should we expect from him this year? A lot of discussion this summer about him. I saw a recent interview with Adam Gold talking to Rod Brendamore and they were saying some very positive things about Blake. So what do we think the situation might be for Jackson Blake this year? Katie?
Speaker 3:Oh, that's a good question, you know. Is he going to build off of what he started last season? Is he going to have a little bit of a sophomore slump? Don't know, we'll see how it goes, but we know that his work ethic is there and that's what's key. With the Canes he was always going after the puck. If he lost the puck he'd often get it back and just never give up.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he, he was insistent on, on, you know, not taking his foot off of the gas. It was all the gas all the time. And if you look at his player card, his player card defensively is excellent. For having been a rookie, he got a 98% defensive rating. I mean that is incredible. And you know that's not going to slip, that's not going to go anywhere, he's just going to get stronger and he's going to refine those tools in the hurricane system.
Speaker 3:So where I'd like to see him build this year is on his offensive skill, because he did seem a little bit snake bit. It seemed like he he'd get opportunities and it just slip off of his stick, or he'd hit the post or, you know, he'd pass instead of shoot. There are a few learning curves that he has that that he went through as far as knowing you know which opportunities to take in certain circumstances and getting those instincts. So I think that's really where he's going to be able to round his game into form and because of that and because of the trust that the team has put in him with that new contract, I believe he is going to be on one of the top two lines. I'd love to see him on the top line.
Speaker 3:He got a lot of time with Sebastian Ajo last season and they did have some pretty good chemistry and Ehlers coming in could end up building on that. And Blake has a particular talent of retrieving pucks which would give Ajo and Ehlers a lot more opportunities to keep creating and to find scoring chances. If Rod decides to put Jarvis up on that top line which I don't think any of us would argue that Jarvis has earned that slot on the top line then I definitely think that Blake could could slot in next to Coke and Yemi on that second scoring line and and really be a positive influence there with KK and Svetch. So wherever he ends up, he is going to be a net positive for that line and help solidify that line defensively. So just hoping a few few more bounces go his way and he should have a great sophomore. Sophomore year Erin thoughts.
Speaker 2:Well, I agree for the most part. I do think I want to revisit the little sophomore slump thing because it's not just, it's not a myth, it's not, you know, it's something that really does happen. And the main reason that it happens is because you spend your first year in the NHL. You're kind of an unknown quantity as you go from team to team, you know the goaltenders don't know you, they don't know what you're going to try to pull, the opponents don't know you. Some veterans are very, you know, it depends on the team, but there are some teams where the veterans kind of give a little, you know, hands off, the rookie vibe kind of a feeling, so that they don't you're not trying to injure a rookie with a with a really hard hit or anything like that. So the things, things get a little bit more um ramped.
Speaker 2:I think in the second year and there have been a lot of players who've had an excellent first year and then a second year that just seemed like a reset or retool. And we could even talk back about Seth Jarvis, because Seth Jarvis had a little bit of that himself. Now he didn't suffer in the points perspective as much, but he didn't seem to be taking that next step and the fans talked about that a lot. But the coaching staff did not see that. What they saw was Jarvis was at that point stepping back a little bit to solidify those areas of his game that maybe were a little bit weak, areas that we don't necessarily focus on because he was playing so well in general. But, like Katie was talking about Blake's defensive rating, jarvis was also very good in his first season and now he's extremely good. He's at 100%, I think, on Jay Fresh. So that's what you shared with me the other day.
Speaker 2:But there was a time period in between there where there was a little bit of movement and that's where I think that you know you have to expect that a young player you know, especially if he gets consistent top six deployment, because that is one thing.
Speaker 2:With Jackson Blake last season he did spend a good bit of time on the top line with Ajo and you know whoever else was up there, because it was different people, but he did not stay there very long and he was not there, you know, in this one solid stretch all the way through he was moving up and down. He was on the second line at times, he was on the fourth line. At times he was actually on the fourth line, probably more than people realize at this point, because he began there and he was there for a good long stretch of games. So that's where, if he's got consistent top six deployment, no one should panic. If he seems to be taking a little step back and it may not be offensively, he may be, you know, some some good scoring opportunities he may. Actually I would expect him to outproduce his, his scoring from last season, because I think he only would he end up with 34 points.
Speaker 2:So I would I would expect him to end up with more than that. But you know there may be some defensive hiccups in some other areas along the way where he has to smooth some things out. And again it's that message of patience that fans shouldn't be getting too bent out of shape if Jackson Blake doesn't quite look like he did in the first year. And unfortunately we all call them you know they're out there on the Internet we call them the complainiacs. There will be people who will look at any missteps from Jackson Blake and the first thing they will say is why did they sign him to that contract from Jackson Blake? And the first thing they will say is why did they sign him to that contract, you know, but we should be prepared to be extremely happy if he outperforms our expectations, but also perfectly satisfied if there's a little bit of that sophomore slump in his game, because it's natural and they signed him to the contract knowing that that happens a lot.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, all good points. And you know, interesting thing on NHL Edge, some of the analysis tells us some things about Jackson Blake too. He was at the 99th percentile for offensive zone time, so he was most of the time probably.
Speaker 1:His defensive numbers are great because he was in the O-Zone so much he was in the O-Zone the time that probably his defensive numbers are great because he was in the ozone, so much he was definitely, and we know that because he's, he was uh capable of handling the puck, staying on the play, making things happen. So he was eating up minutes in that offensive zone. But a couple of areas he struggled on and I think these are the concern as you go into year two uh, top skating speed. He's not a quick skater, so he was below the 50th percentile on skating side. And the other thing was top shot speed, and again he's below the 50th. So we know he's not a big shooter, he's not a hard shooter. He gets his goals by, you know, kind of being in the mix and finding ways to get them best, some of them past the goalie. That probably shouldn't have gone by, but he got some good breaks that way. I remember a few. But again, I think the good news for the Hurricanes they've got depth, you know. And as we've talked about the roster, right now we're looking at a couple of guys sitting on that fourth line and Taylor Hall and Eric Robinson who could slot up there if they need to. If you know, jackson Blake is struggling a little bit. They can take some pressure off him and move him back to the fourth line if they need to. So I think it's a good situation. But any way you look at it with Blake, he's a guy that definitely is going to be a key member of the team.
Speaker 1:Interesting comment from Daily Faceoff in their 25-26 prediction, looking at Blake and they said the 17-17-34 line masks the fact he ended the year as a first liner and power play one member, scoring six goals in his final nine games. So there's a story that maybe we sometimes forget. I don't recall him doing that, but I guess he did and that's fantastic. He could be one of the cheapest 25-goal scorers available, although either signing dampens my enthusiasm a bit. So that's coming from the guys over at Daily Faceoff. Blake clearly a guy that he's going to be working hard this summer. You know the kind of player he is. It comes from his dad, it comes honestly. So you know, no matter what happens on the ice, he's going to make things happen in a good way. So I'm looking forward to Blake's second year and hopefully that sophomore jinx is something that he can avoid coming into this year.
Speaker 1:So a number of storylines that have been in discussion on X and other places, we have chosen not to get into them in big detail today.
Speaker 1:Of course, there's always the discussion about the 2C spot and the power play and other areas on the cane, so we'll leave those for another time, but I think right now concentration will remain on the discussions we've had today and certainly look forward to the play of folks like Alexander Nikishin and Jackson Blake in the coming days. So let's move on to the next part of discussion, and I thought we'd spend a few minutes and talk about the prospect showcase coming up, and I thought I thought for for you, aaron and Katie, I'd give you a chance to talk about some of the folks that we do know a little bit about. Obviously, there's some players that are up from the Chicago side and in fact we saw a couple of them with the Hurricanes this year, this past year, for a cup of coffee, and that would be Bradley Nadeau and Justin Robitaille, and of course, the other member of that group that we're very interested in is Charles Alexis LeBleu. Anybody want to kick this off?
Speaker 3:I'll go ahead because my quick comment is I've said this multiple times because of his size and his profile. I'm really interested to see how Laco does with this face and to see how well he performs, because I think he's not far from being NHL ready and his size, his reach and the fact that he's a stay at home defenseman really profiles as something that the Canes could use in the near future. Um, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how that translates because, as we all know, the NHL game is not played at the pace of an NHL game and how he's able to adjust there. But yeah, I think he's the one. I know what Nadeau is and some of the other ones I think have a lot of skill, but their likelihood of being impact NHLers, especially for the Canes, is limited. But the one that I think has the biggest opportunity in the near future to become a regular is Legault, and I'm really looking forward to seeing him.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Erin any thoughts.
Speaker 2:Well, I would agree with Katie on that and just add that you know I think we have talked a lot about Nadeau. I think there are some people who are going to be disappointed if Bradley Nadeau does not make the team. But realistically, this is not a player you want in your bottom six, and right now the top six wing slots are full, so you want to make sure that he comes into the canes. You know, if that happens, when that happens, at a time when he can make a difference on one of the top two lines. So you know, those opportunities may well come up, but he does still have some work to do in the game away from the puck, from what I have been told.
Speaker 2:So another year in the AHL is not going to hurt him at all. It's going to be tremendously fun to watch him in the prospect showcase, though, because playing against people that are mostly in his own age range and you know that he was dominating quite well over in the AHL last year is this going to be fun. So, um, and then Roby, I thought did did well in his brief call up too, but again, not somebody. That's going to be an immediate um ad for the Canes. So, um, just uh wishing all of those guys the best at the at the showcase and hope they have a great time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's a number of players that uh that I thought I'd spend a minute on, because you know, ivan Ryabkin uh is is an interesting one. He signed his uh ELC like a week ago. It's kind of a bit of a surprise. Not many folks were expecting that. I don't think he tore up the USHL. We talked about it last year when he came over to play with Muskegon 19 goals in 27 games Interesting comments from the folks at McKean's on this and they said one year ago Ivan Ryabkin was being compared to other high-flying Russian offensive dynamos Matvey Mishkov and Ivan Demidov.
Speaker 1:So, erin, that's right up your alley with Demidov. Of course, he put up 58 points as a 16-year-old in the NHL. So this is a guy that tore it up. The NHL is like junior hockey, it would be like the USHL and so on. And he that tore it up the NHL is like junior hockey, it'd be like the USHL and so on, and he really tore it up. But you know, again, there were some concerns with you know his attitude in certain ways, his work ethic, his conditioning, all the things that you know. These younger players sometimes when they've got so much talent, they just go out there and you know, and they just do it naturally right. They've got so much talent, they just go out there and you know, and they just do it naturally right. And I think Ray Abkin is a guy that clearly needs to be closer to the Hurricanes and we talked a little bit about this offline to say maybe the reason they wanted to sign him was to have him, you know, right here, with much more control by the Hurricanes folks. And the question is, where is he going to end up this year? Is he going to head to Muskegon? Is he heading up to Canada to play junior? Is he going to go down to Chicago? And I know that one of our compatriots, nick Bass, feels he might be heading to Chicago and I think that would be great if he does, because again, working with Cam Abbott and the crew down there would be wonderful.
Speaker 1:One interesting final comment from the guys at McKean's. They said he's undoubtedly one of the most divisive prospects in all of hockey today. So he's another guy that you know. He's got the good in some other things I guess we have to think about, but there is still a legitimate path for him to make the NHL. I think the fact that Cade's jumped on this. They believe he can.
Speaker 1:You know we talked about the draft earlier. Going into the draft, of course, I was a guy that was really high on Reapkin, so it seems to be playing out quite nicely. So he's there. You've got a couple of other guys from Chicago that'll be there Yoel Nystrom, 23-year-old. He's a veteran D guy. He played a couple of games, I think, with Chicago last year. He's played five parts of five seasons with Fargestads in the SHL, so he's a veteran. I mean he's going to come in and add some veteran leadership. I don't see him very high in the death chart leadership. I don't see him very high in the death chart and he's a smaller player at 5'11", 170. So I don't know what to expect from him.
Speaker 1:Dominic Bedinka is going to be there, 19-year-old. He's coming over early One year in the playing with Malmo last year. He's a right-hand shot guy. They, like him, got some work to do. So we'll see how it goes for Bedinka. You know you look at that Chicago team. It's interesting as we talk about this and their defensive core is going to be loaded this year. You've got these young guys, you've got Charles Alexis Legault, you've got, of course, my man, dominic Fensori, and you know, you've got some other guys that have been re-upped and back with the team again this year too, like Roland Sealy, so it's going to be fun talking about the Chicago Wolves this year. Somebody else that we need to talk about is going to be Gleb Trikosov. So I don't know if you recall last year in the Prospect Showcase, gleb was tremendous.
Speaker 2:He was great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he had four goals, he had a hat trick in one game. He really, you know, and he had just come over as kind of a 19-year-old. And here he is, you know, over in North America after being signed and he came over with Ruzlan Kazi and boy I tell you it was really something to see him Now. He had a tough year, right. So just three points in 20 games with the Wolves. He was hurt. A number of different things just didn't go right for him this year and I'm kind of hopeful that he'll get back on track because you know the Canes think very highly of Glenn and he's another guy that brings natural offensive ability to the table. He was drafted much higher than, or much lower rather than was expected. So the Canes did get him in a situation where he was again looked upon as maybe a first-rounder, certainly high second-round guy. So we'll watch Gleb Somebody else. How about Felix Angersoer? What are we thinking about Felix these days? Thoughts.
Speaker 2:Well, he was so impressive. It was in the 2023 preseason. He had a great debut and there were people that were talking about whether he might make the team Even the head coach seemed to think that he was making a case for himself at that time make the team. Even even the head coach seemed to think that, you know, he was making a case for himself at that time. But, as it turned out, sending him to chicago was the right deep move, because or sending him back home and then to chicago was the right move because he did have some development to do, and so he was in chicago last year, this past season, and um just just did not, uh, stand out. He only had 20 points in 61 games and was a minus 10.
Speaker 2:So that's not really what you want to see from Felix. He's, he's, I know he's been trying to add on a little bit in terms of body weight and all that sort of thing, and that's a hard thing for you know it. Just, it takes time, it doesn't. You can't just wake up and snap your fingers and add 20 pounds. It doesn't happen unless you're me and there's chocolate chip cookies involved, but no, but yeah, for these athletes it's. It's not that easy to you know. You get older and you think, gosh, I remember those days. But um, no, it's, it's.
Speaker 2:I think that he's, uh, he's got what I like about felix and I. I haven't had a chance to watch him much with chicago, but what I like about him is that he's got a really high hockey iq. He does, and those players usually do find a way. So he had a bad year. He had some setbacks. I think that he's going to come back full of enthusiasm and be trying to pick up from a better place and get going on a better foot this year. So we'll see if we see some of that in the showcase.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think you're right. I mean high hockey IQ the guy is. When you watch him in international play he shines. He's just a great player from that perspective, but he does need to bulk up. The other thing that was unfortunate last year was he was tried at center ice a lot in Chicago. It was a bit of an experiment to see could they move Again, because he sees the ice so well and he's responsible defensively. They thought you know, is this a guy that we can move to the center ice spot, knowing the Canes could sure use some more talent at center down the line, but that didn't work out so well. So I fully expect he's going to be back on the right side and I think that will be good for him and I look forward to seeing him in the showcase because you know this is a chance for him. He's been there a couple of times. This is a chance for him to really show that he's taking this seriously in terms of getting himself into a place where he can be a serious prospect for the Canes again. Right now he's not there. He's well down the line and I know there's a lot of Caniacs that will probably be surprised with that, but he was a guy that many people thought would be a Cane not too long down the road.
Speaker 1:One other guy I want to mention in Chicago, before we spend just 30 seconds on some of the folks we don't know is Ruzlan Kazeev. Ruzlan Kazeev we've talked a lot about. He's a guy that's 6'6", 200 and some odd pounds. He's just a huge mountain of a man in the goal, and there's nothing wrong with having some big goaltenders. As we know, he's got that Russian pedigree Again. He was trained extremely well. He's a guy that he's just athletic as heck and he shows that Some of the saves he makes are circus saves, and it's incredible. Last year was a so-so year for him. He played a little bit more than was expected, right, he played 20 games last year, which you know when you looked at him as number three on the depth chart, and he could have actually been pushed down to Bloomington for more play, but they they chose not to do that. They wanted to keep him close, and so he's definitely a prospect and I expect a lot more from him this year too. So let's keep an eye on Rizlan Kazeev at the Prospect Showcase. He is really the goalie of note. Nikita Kapp is there, but I don't know where he sits in the depth chart at this point in time. So we'll keep an eye on Kazeev.
Speaker 1:There were three other guys that were invited that we don't know anything about. This is interesting. They are part of the Canes world. They weren't drafted by the Canes, but I thought I'd mention them. One of them is Ethan Lee. He's a center 24-year-old guy. He played with Quinnipiac for three seasons. This is interesting. So here's a guy that they might have scouted in while they're. You know, maybe Brendan Warsaw, while he was watching Skyler down there. He actually moved from Quinnipiac over to Bentley University, became their captain and had a big season last year. So he's a guy that's again 24 years old. He's a little older. He's a solid player at 6'1", 95, centerman. Who knows All these guys? They get invites. They don't usually stick around, so I'm not so sure what the future holds for Ethan Blake Biondi is another sentiment 23-year-old guy. He was drafted in the fourth round by Montreal in 2020.
Speaker 1:So there you go. The Habs looked at him. He has an interesting award. He was the Minnesota Mr Hockey Award okay, in 2020. And that is for the outstanding senior high school boys hockey player in the state of Minnesota. This is something right. So now there have been a few players that have actually come out of that. Nick Purbix actually was one of the guys that was in the voting for that one year. He didn't win it, but he was in the voting, so there are some players that might show up. But this I thought was an interesting one with Biondi. So he signed, I think, with Chicago this year. So he'll probably show up with the Wolves and we'll get a chance to see what he can do.
Speaker 1:And rounding it out is a gentleman called Evan Veerling and he was drafted in the fifth round by the Rangers in 2020 as well. He's another six footer, not particularly heavy. He's won about 180. But he's. He's a guy that played with the Barry Colts OK, and that's where, of course, andrei Svetchnikov played as well in the Ontario Junior League and he had a big season with the Colts. Vierling did in 22-23 with 95 points in 60 games. So he's a guy that again, you know some of these players. They just kind of float around and who knows where they end up. But all three of these guys are a little bit older at 23, 24, and I don't see them as future hurricanes, but they're interesting guys to take a look at in any case. So we'll watch them as well Now.
Speaker 1:So let's move on to the final part of this piece of the discussion, and that's a look at these PTO signings for the hurricanes. So I don't know if you're familiar, last year the Canes had a bunch of PTOs. They go back and forth right. One year they'll have one or two and then they'll have a bunch, and a lot of it, as you know, has to do with their schedule. So if they have a schedule where they have back-to-back games, it kind of puts them in a situation where they're trying to find some extra bodies to fill the roster, and I think that's part of the decision that they have here. But it turns out that both players, oliver Shillington and Giovanni Smith, were with the Colorado Avalanche last year, katie. So what can you tell us about either one of these players?
Speaker 3:Well, smith is definitely a fourth liner at best. He plays a heavy game and as long as he doesn't get burned I guess he's fine. He didn't really impress me. His stint with the abs was short. He came over from San Jose and the Blackwood-Yorgiev trade and I guess he was just kind of the extra contract to help the Avs even things out. He was a body to fill some space because the Avs went through a ton of players due to injury and other issues. They had 49 different players dressed for them last year and Smith was one of them and of those 49, he was probably the least impressive of all of them, save perhaps one of the goalies who never saw the ice.
Speaker 3:So I think I'm just going to leave it at that. As far as Smith is concerned, maybe he'd be good for an extra body on the Wolves or something like that, if he doesn't find an NHL home this season and be available just in case. Shillington is a little bit more of an interesting situation because he does have NHL talent, or at least he did back before injuries and other issues interfered with that. Back before injuries and other issues interfered with that, he was hoping for a rebirth of sorts with the abs last season and it just never quite materialized. Once again, he spent some time injured and it was really unfortunate because it looked like he was finally figuring it out, finally getting into a groove, and he got injured and it sidelined him again and he just wasn't able to come back after that.
Speaker 3:And by that point the abs were in the latter part of the season and they didn't have time to wait for him to get it figured out. They were pushing for a playoffs, uh birth and, you know, making sure that they got the three seed wrapped up and they, you know, had their, their, their moves, and shillington just wasn't part of their plan moving forward. And so, um, with the pto, there's a little more upside with him, but again there's just the injury issues and not knowing whether or not he can recapture the skill that he showed before all of that happened are the big question marks. So we'll see. Based on what I saw last season, I'm not particularly hopeful, but I'd love it if he would prove me wrong.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean Shillington. And you're right, katie, he had a breakout season 21-22 with the Flames Nine goals, 22 assists and a plus 34, and he was playing about 18 minutes a game. So he's a guy that they were really talking big about him when after that season, in fact, the the scouting report from hockey forecaster said this the Swedish defenseman is blossoming as he reaches his prime. He's a terrific skater who can carry the puck out of trouble and make a good first pass. He's getting better at picking his spots for joining the rush, but his lack of size can be a problem. So he's a guy that they saw as a very strong offensive defenseman. Obviously, 31 points is a good start on it and he was really starting to trend upward in a big way. In fact signed a two-year deal with the Flames. As a result of that and everything, the wheels came off. As we know, he missed an entire season, which is really unusual. It's kind of rare that you see that with a player. But for personal reasons, he just stepped away from hockey and coming back has been extremely difficult. And you personal reasons, he just stepped away from hockey and coming back has been extremely difficult.
Speaker 1:And you're right, katie, he thought you know this deal with Colorado when it was a low-cost deal for the Avalanche about a million bucks hey, this would be a win-win, right? We talked about it a little bit at that time and saying, okay, you got Calvin DeHaan and you got. You know, you got Oliver Shillington. You got Calvin DeHaan and you got. You know, you got Oliver Shillington, you got some others, a cast of others, trying to get on that blue line and he just never really panned out. I think the situation here is that you know, left shot guy, veteran, you know, could he take a two way deal and go down to Chicago? He'd be a nice guy to have down there to continue to work with the younger players as well as be available for a recall.
Speaker 1:The Canes don't have a lot of players in Chicago that they can recall. At this point I don't think they haven't added a lot of veterans. Ty Smith was there last year. He's not there, so clearly you know he could be a guy that could fill that role. But in any case, we'll be watching him.
Speaker 1:I was in Calgary recently spending some time with my sons and one of my sons is a big hockey player and actually saw him in a game, the final game of the series that he was in the summer league and he had a chance to fire some of his bullets. He looked a little bit like Alexander Nikishin back there. In any case, he was talking to me about Oliver Shillington when he was with the Flames and he did mention that he thought Shillington had played well his last season with the Flames and he had some positive things to say about him for sure. I think as we wrap things up, I thought we'd spend a couple of minutes and just talk about man, how dull has it been. You know, we've we've had very little to talk about and it's probably one of the worst summers for hockey activity that activity that I can remember, katie.
Speaker 3:Yeah, just been trying to trudge along. Thankfully school started back for me so it's helping things go a little faster. Not as much time to dwell on all of the lack of movement that has happened in the NHL. The Canes' new road jersey reveal that came through yesterday was like the biggest thing, because there's been no news that all this dialogue is happening, because we're just sitting here treading water, twiddling our thumbs whichever idiomatic expression you want to use just waiting for hockey to finally start again.
Speaker 2:Yes, Well, you know, I was thinking to myself the other day that, depending on how old you are, the phrase cruel summer either means Bananarama or Taylor Swift, but either way, this has been in a lot of ways. I know Tom, you talked about this a little bit NHLers and for a lot of AHLers who have had to, you know, deal with this lack of movement, this lack of opportunity, by signing overseas, and some of them are quite young, some of them, you know, we're used to players maybe signing overseas in the twilight of their careers and wanting to get those couple extra years of play before they really can't anymore. But when you see some of these younger players that are accepting deals, you know, in the KHL and other places, you know you realize that this decision kind of perplexing decision by a handful of middle road teams to say no, no, we think we're right on the cusp, we're going to stand our ground, we're going to hold the line, you know, and not create some of that movement and add some guys and subtract some guys. You know there's a lot of players that have been left out. So I think it's been a dull summer for us, very boring, but it's actually been kind of a not so fun summer for these guys to have to pack up their lives and go overseas.
Speaker 2:So hopefully, whatever this is is just a strange anomaly before the new collective bargaining agreement stuff starts kicking in, and you know, one of the things that we're all looking forward to, I think in some ways, is that next season the hockey season is supposed to start at the end of September. Right, that should be an interesting change, yeah, an interesting. Two more games in the season, two fewer preseason games, which is going to make Rod Brindamore do his best Gene Kelly impression. Somebody hand him an umbrella, but we don't want the summers to be longer, that's for sure.
Speaker 1:Well, a couple of comments. The top signings were kind of underwhelming. I mean, the Canes were right in there with Nikolai Ehlers and of course Mitch Marner was the big one, but after that it was. I mean, orlov was one of the top ones and I don't know what to say about that.
Speaker 1:The interesting thing about you mentioned AHLers and others going to the KHL Boy. There were a bunch of ex-kind of Canes folks that went Rocco Grimaldi, andrew Prudorowski, max Lojoie, chase Prisky, ty Smith he's gone to Russia Joey Keene and an interesting one was Vasily Ponemarov. Now, that was kind of interesting. He signed a three-year deal in the KHL. I guess he gave up on the pens. They just weren't giving him an opportunity to get it done. But you know these players have to play and you know you kind of wonder some of them going over to play in Russia. That's kind of an interesting concept when you think about it.
Speaker 1:In any case, yeah, we'll be following the storylines. We'll be following what happens in the Prospect Showcase coming up and, of course, the exhibition games and then, of course, getting ready for the season start. For those of you who've been watching or listening, as always, we're thrilled that you spent time with us. If you have any comments or thoughts, please put those in the comments section down below and we'll try to respond as quickly as we can. If you like this episode, yeah, please press the like button. That'd be great. And, of course, if you want to be alerted of future episodes of Storm Tracker, please press the subscribe button and, of course, the bell, and you'll be alerted and we'll look forward to getting together with you real soon, right here.
