Welcome back to 16 Thoughts, a series a kin to Elliotte Friedman’s 32 Thoughts but cut in half due to only talking about Carolina Hurricanes prospects. The start of a new season brings happiness to me because it allows me the opportunity to watch the new guys, both in preseason action with the NHL team or in regular season action overseas (for the most part). A whole host of new opportunities. Now, whether those opportunities are good or bad remains to be seen, but I damn sure have some thoughts on it. So much so that this week, we’re going over the limit.
1. Let’s get the NHL preseason ones out of the way. Charles Alexis Legault was awesome. His development over the past 2 years has been stellar and the growth shown from the double overager (more on another one of those later) has been special. Happy to see him stick around with the NHL roster as long as he did. Shame I stopped writing when I did because I would’ve showered him with enough praise to drown a fish.
2. I’m a little confused about Felix Unger Sorum at this point. There are flashes of truly game breaking ability with the way he sees the ice and how he can move the puck. His brain is the fastest working part of his body on the ice, which can hamper him at times. The physicality is still a little behind and he’s really not a shooter. The one goal he had in the preseason was a backdoor tap in. I still love the player, because I don’t think the Canes have a player with his skillset in the lineup or in the prospect pool. I still think he has a Teravainen level ceiling, and maybe I’m being slightly harsh to the somewhat freshly minted 20-year-old who just played his first full season of North American hockey, not helped along by the fact of being a center up until the World Juniors. I just want to see a full step forward this year.
3. Ivan Ryabkin. There’s probably a college level dissertation somewhere within his play style because it just flat out confuses me at times. His physicality, as he showed during the preseason, is pretty advanced for an 18-year-old who was playing in the USHL for most of last season. His forechecking ability is interesting because of that physicality, as he makes damn sure to finish his hit. His offense flashed a couple times with some nice passes and decent transitional chances. There’s still a lot of work to be done on the player and the best place for him is the AHL. Which reminds to remind everyone that Ivan Ryabkin will be playing for the Chicago Wolves this season. Had a couple people ask so I want to make sure I have it in writing and in bold so people know.
4. I saw a good handful of people mad that Bradly Nadeau didn’t make the NHL roster (more on that in a second), but I think I was a little more miffed by Amir Miftakhov and Nikita Quapp getting game time while Ruslan Khazheyev was nothing but bench eye candy. No disrespect to either of Miftakhov or Quapp, but why them over Khazheyev, who flashed a ton of growth at the prospect showcase? It’s such a small thing that it shouldn’t matter, but it’s still weird. 2nd straight preseason where he didn’t get a chance to play.
5. Okay, let me tackle Nadeau. A good amount of people were mad that Nadeau didn’t make the NHL roster because he had a really good preseason and they don’t have a player like him (shoots the puck real good). People who read the top 5 already know my stance but there is truthfully no place for him. He’s not taking any winger spot from Ehlers, Blake, Jarvis, or Svechnikov as of right now. I mean hell, Taylor Hall is on the 4th line. Plus, giving him 20 minutes a night in the AHL working on the minor things holding him back (5v5 play, defensive play) is much more important for him than getting 7-9 minutes a night in the NHL playing on the 4th line with minor power play time. If any of the top 6 guys go down with injury, I’d imagine he gets a call.
Also, the notion that he’s going to ask for a trade out because he’s “stuck” in the AHL and that the Canes have done this in the past (lol), is ridiculous. Nadeau is a great talent and he’ll be a long time Hurricanes player.
6. To Russia, whatever Dynamo Moscow told Timur Kol to work on offensively is working. He was always a good defensive player, with good reach and skating to control transition chances and take away loose pucks. But the offense, which I assumed had at least another gear to find, has come through. He has a BOOMING shot (see what I did there) and his passing has grown to being much more direct and faster. He’s a player that’s on the fast track to earning a VHL call up, or even KHL call up, at some point this season.
7. Real happy to see Kurban Limatov finally suit up for the season over the past week. It’s been rough, as he’s still working back from an injury (or two) but he’s slowly looking more and more like himself. Another player that should see VHL or KHL time this season.
8. The only other player in the Russian ranks that hasn’t suited up is Roman Bausov, everyone’s favorite 6’5 Russian defenseman. He’s also working his way back from injury and should play a game at some point in October.
9. Seeing positives returns out of BOTH Russian goaltenders in Russia so far, what a life. Semyon Frolov has been unreal, only giving up more than 1 goal in a start once. He has a ridiculous 1.44 Goals Against Average and a .944% save percentage, both good for 6th in the MHL. Yegor Velmakin had 2 games where he faced 36 or more shots (gave up 4 in each) but recently put together his best start of the season, a 25/26 save performance in a 4-1 win against Torpedo-Gorky. He’s made a couple of funny looking saves and some absolute dazzlers (one by his own mistake that he quickly made up for) but I’ve liked a lot of what I’ve seen. He’s rocking a 2.69 Goals Against Average and a .917% save percentage.
10. It’s super hard to upstage Gavin McKenna, but my God did Charlie “Chuck” Cerrato do it on Friday. On a weekend with 57 scouts, 10,000 watching a live stream on Friday night on the NHL YouTube channel, Chuck dominated Arizona State. I said it already but this was one of the best games from a prospect I had watched in a while. It wasn’t really the points (5 to be exact) that enamored me, it was the way he went about it. Cerrato is a MENACE in transition, consistently changing up lanes of attack and using good moves, whether they be with more finesse or straight power, to get past defenders. He did get kind of owned in the dot on Friday (40% win percentage) but legit everything else about his game was spectacular. I can’t rave about his performance enough. Even on Saturday, where he only had one point (and a really good netfront on McKenna’s game winner), he was still showing out. He was much better in the dot with a 50% FOW%, but the stuff he did specifically off offensive zone faceoff wins was sick. (sorry for sloppy editing)
He had another faceoff win that looked cooler, but I didn’t like the way it came out so. But seriously, I had limited knowledge of Cerrato going into the draft but I am fully on board after what I saw in development camp and week 1 of the college season.
(UPDATE: 11 points in 4 games. This kid is having a generational start to his season)
11. I’m sitting here at 1:30 AM on Saturday morning, trying to rack my brain if I vocalized how interested I am about Justin Poirier’s transition to college hockey. Well, in his first game against Holy Cross, he had a hat trick. 2 of those goals were Poirier getting to the middle, setting up, and RIPPING home shots that the goalie had no chance to save. The other goal was him netfront, winning the race to a rebound. THIS is what I was most intrigued about, as Poirier isn’t afraid of getting physical, which is something that stands him out from the other smaller stature players. He’s willing taking contact in front of the net and the dirty areas, while not being afraid of getting to the middle. It’s a super small sample size, but if he can continue to do what he does against teams like Quinnipiac and Boston University and UMass, then oh boy is there something to get really excited about.
12. When I think/watch/talk about Nikita Artamonov, I think of “Where is my Mind” by the Pixies. The song title is apt, not because Artamonov isn’t a smart player, but because I have no idea what to think and “my head will collapse if there’s nothing in it.” I could even go a step further and relate it to the wrestler who uses the song as a walkout, Orange Cassidy. He’s a beloved figure by many fans (depending on who you ask) because of his extremely simple promos, moveset, attire, and how he handles himself. I’ll give Pure Art the lean in attire, since he can actually dress a little more, but the simple moveset one sticks the most. The creativity he flashed last year has faded, something that funnily enough happened to Cassidy’s character at the end of last year. There’s nothing overly special in his offensive game that differentiates him from other players, that same quality (combined with a jump in shooting percentage from 7.2% to 21.2%) that gave him the highest goalscoring KHL U20 season. That same quality that put him in the top 5 for highest scoring KHL U20 players. With the tough start to the season and the extended stretch of rough games, Artamonov finds himself in a rut. Helpful reminder, to myself mainly, that Artamonov doesn’t even turn 20 for another month.
13. Since I completely forgot that I did a Wolves overview last year, let me use some space to get that out of the way. Here’s what I’d imagine a Wolves lineup could be come 5 and a half hours from now:
Nadeau-Suzuki-Jaaska
Smith-Robidas-Unger Sorum
Slavin-Brind’Amour-Biondi
Gleb!-Ryabkin-Gunler
Fensore-Legault
Bayreuther-Badinka
Seeley-Nystrom
Miftakhov
Khazheyev
Scratched: Pavlychev, Turcotte, Heimosalmi, Quapp, Montgomery
14. This is a DEEP Wolves team. Pavlychev and Turcotte were mainstays in the lineup for a lot of last year (aided by injuries) and I honestly really liked Pavlychev on that top line with Suzuki and Nadeau. But the addition of Givani Smith kinda pushes him out of the lineup. The blueline is, to be frank, insanely talented. Domenick Fensore (who I don’t consider a prospect anymore due to age) and Charles Alexis Legault are good enough to be an NHL third pairing right now. Bayreuther is the perfect journeyman veteran to pair with a younger guy in Badinka as he continues to learn North American hockey. And Seeley-Nystorm could be the best “third” pairing in the AHL. The goalie situation is the one thing that scares me slightly, given what Miftakhov showed in the preseason. But I think Khazheyev has grown, both physically and mentally, and if the going gets tough, Nikita Quapp isn’t bad.
15. Noel Fransen getting loaned to the HockeyAllsvenskan once again isn’t a bad thing. Personally, I thought he looked good in the 3 games he played in with Farjestad in the SHL, but I understand the reasoning. It’s a good place for growth and hopefully he’ll parlay a good season into either a consistent role with Farjestad or an ELC, since his contract does expire at the end of this year.
16. The other HockeyAllsvenskan player, Viggo Nordlund, has been decent in his first year in this league, with 5 goals and 5 points in his first 8 games. It’s a good start for the 19-year-old, but he’s still got some work to do in other aspects of the game. But it’s good to see his shot and skating speed translate early into a tougher league.
17. Oh Fyodor. What a weird time for Uncle. He’s the “Captain of Kapitan” who, by all accounts, is just kind of stuck. A large amount of their offense relies on him to both create chances and finish other chances, shown by him averaging 4.7 shots per game. He’s been mainly used on the wing, but has played some center as well. When he isn’t in the MHL, he’s the 13th forward or healthy scratched for Sochi in the KHL. In the 3 games that he’s been in the KHL, he hasn’t seen one second of ice time. Why the forward, who seemed to be growing (or at least started showing signs of growth) in the VHL last season, hasn’t been sent to the VHL this season is a mystery to me. He’s in “purgatory” right now.
18. Another gentleman currently stuck is Stanislav Yarovoy. What I thought was going to be a nice little role with Spartak Moscow at the KHL level has become an extended stint in the VHL with Khimik. If there is a positive with this, it’s that when he gets good game time, he normally produces. But this is a guy who had already played in 130 KHL games before going to Spartak, so at least from my perspective (which is obviously skewed), it stinks. In any case, he’s riding a three game point streak and has 1 goal and 3 assists for 4 points in 6 games while averaging around 20 minutes a night (besides 2 games, one where I believe he got hurt early).
19. Raise your hand if you thought Alexander Pelevin would be leading all Hurricanes prospects in points in the Torpedo system. The 21-year-old is almost half way to his career high in VHL points (has 5 this season, career high is 12) in about 1/5th of the games (played 10 this year, played 48 last year). Most of his offense comes from the simple things, either a shot from the point or a simple pass to the wing, but it’s still nice to see this while also keeping up his normal defensive game.
20. Vladimir Grudinin continues to be an underrated Canes Prospects. The 5’10 defenseman with insane skating ability is once again a top 4 defenseman for Severstal but this time, he’s gotten the majority of his minutes lining up on his off-side rather than just a spot moment or two. The offense is peaking through more and more, whether that be jumping lower with the puck on his stick to cause chaos and create chances, or in transition. His defense has remained pretty solid while also adding some more desire to use physicality in his game rather than just rely on his skating and positioning.
21. Lastly, Alexander Siryatsky has been pretty solid in his first real KHL experience as a regular and not a one off. He’s still figuring out his game and what his exact style should be. Some moments where he looks great going forward and in attack, some moments where he’s using his physicality to generate turnovers.
Well, I can tell that I haven’t done a 16 Thoughts in a minute. These will probably become more consistent as the season goes on.