16 Thoughts: Defenseman are Surging
Lots to like from recently drafted defenseman
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.
I promise I’m working on other content ideas for the 4th Saturday. With school, work, and other miscellaneous life stuff dictating my weeks, it becomes tougher to plan out certain things. But hopefully they’ll become realized somewhat soon. In any case, who wants to here some thoughts on how prospects have played? (Quick note: the number in parentheses next to the player name is their age. Someone asked about it last week and I like the idea).
1. Sophomore slump be damned, Felix Unger Sorum (20) is having a Sophomore surge. Watching his play from last season, you’d get the flashes of a player that had a chance to be a real difference maker for the Canes at some point. But those were just flashes, as he was often outmuscled, outpaced, and outmatched.
But this year, he’s been electric. The hands are up to speed with the rest of the thinking, leading to him being able to create space without trouble. He’s winning board battles, he’s shooting with confidence, and he’s playing with the level of confidence a player with his skill set should have. Loved Andrew Rinaldi’s breakdown of this play from Felix that leads to a goal.
Gets into the zone 1v4 and decides to pull up and change speeds to gain space on the defender. Circles back to the point and realizes he can’t beat the defender, so he takes the safe play of dumping it lower. Sees the puck get cycled to the point and goes the net for a rebound (YES! LOVE IT). Dominik Badinka (19) makes a crazy pass instead and Felix makes a beautiful one touch pass to the middle where Vierling can tuck it home. The one touch pass was the cherry on top, as the goalie thinks it’s a shot every day of the week.
2. Speaking on Badinka, I’m continued to be impressed by his level of play. He’s 19 playing a full season of North American hockey and it’s almost safe to say he’s earned the trust of the coaching staff. With Gavin Bayreuther up with the Canes for a few days, Badinka was thrust into a top pairing role alongside Domenick Fensore and looked really solid. Don’t want to say it looked similar to the Fensore-Charles Alexis Legault (22) pairing from last year, but the same qualities were evident.
3. What a unfortunate injury from Legault, by the way. Just trying to stand up for himself and ends up slicing his hand really bad. It really stinks because Legault started to look really comfortable with the NHL speed and pace of play, but it’s still helpful that the Canes have seen that he can hang and succeed against tough NHL competition. Hoping for a healthy and speedy recovery so the Wolves can get him back for a playoff run.
4. On a crisp autumn day walking back to my apartment from class, I received a notification from FlashScore, the app I use to try and stay on top of every game that’s relevant to us here at Canes Prospects. I see that Sochi scores and almost immediately put my phone away, because I’m used to having those be irrelevant. But I had to check, due to Fyodor Avramov (recently 20) getting semi-consistent 4th line minutes. When I saw GOAL 1-0 SOCHI [F. Avramov], I almost shed a tear. It had been 25 games at LEAST getting a tiny amount of ice time, and much more getting zero ice time. Made better by the fact that it was a solid goal.
Starts wide, decides to go to the middle as a delayed attacker and gets rewarded with a great pass. Gets a great screen in front and gets the first KHL goal of his career. Hell yeah, Uncle.
5. When Filip Ekberg (19) plays, he’s one of the best players on the ice. His playmaking ability is really nice for the level he plays at and his shot is deceptive, having more power than I expected. He’s heavily involved in the offense that Ottawa creates and is a key piece on their power play. Issue is he’s somewhat struggled to stay healthy.
6. Big fan of the Yegor Velmakin (22) resurgence, as he’s finally getting some good game time and he’s looked good in those games. He fights through traffic decently well and is at his best at challenging second or third shots. Maybe this year he ends up with closer to 20 games started.
7. I had originally thought that Joel Nystrom (23) had aged out of prospect status, but my rules (which are very loosely interpreted at this point) include a players age 23 season. Since Nystrom doesn’t turn 24 until May, he still counts. Which means I get to rant and rave about him here (charts courtesy of EvolvingHockey).
It’s nothing outstanding, but having every stat besides Goals For per 60, something most Canes players notoriously struggle with, be positive is a great start.
The player card shows the same thing, relatively. Strong underlying defensive stats while having some struggle offensively. But he’s still generating some form of expected offense. Per Natural Stat Trick, he’s rocking a 60.65% Corsi For, good for 4th out of all defenseman that have played for the Canes this year.
8. With the nerd stuff out of the way, it allows me to say that Joel Nystrom has been the perfect 3rd pairing defenseman. Someone who can handle some heavier shifts while also being able to shoulder penalty killing minutes. What a great development from the 221st overall pick of the 2021 draft.
9. Looking back at the 2021 draft, 5 out of the Canes’ 13 picks have played NHL games. Those being Scott Morrow, Ville Koivunen, Jackson Blake, Justin Robidas (22), and Joel Nystrom. They missed on a couple guys (Yegor Naumov will be excluded from this) but getting value out of 3 picks from after the 3rd round is really, really good work. As well, it is a long shot, I wouldn’t even be shocked if there was one more player from that class playing in NHL games. 6’4 hyper physical defenseman who can skate well tend to have a higher value to teams and Bryce Montgomery (23) fits that bill. We don’t need to mention the 2022 class.
10. After sitting through 2, yes 2, different stints of seeing rumors of Nikita Artamonov (20) potentially being moved to SKA, he finally gets a move away from Torpedo. On Wednesday, Artamonov was loaned to Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk, the club from his hometown. This should be a good place for him to get good minutes. Would love to see a turnaround after the start to the season that “Pure Art” has had.
11. The first of the injured players came back recently, with Vladimir Grudinin (21) returning to game action after missing a month of time. He was normal Grudinin, good defensive play with some flashes of offensive, notably shown on his goal. Was it the prettiest goal? Good lord no. But I liked the way he found open space and wasn’t afraid to shoot.
12. It’s safe to say Alexander Siryatsky (19) is pulling away in the “best left handed defenseman drafted in 2024 by the Canes” conversation. He’s become a good mainstay in the Metallurg lineup and he provides solid breakout ability with a good understanding of in-zone offense. The defense is slowly but surely coming along and when that happens, he could be something to look out for.
13. That’s not a rag on the other folks, those being Noel Fransen (19), Timur Kol (19), and Roman Shokhrin (19). Kol is putting together a strong MHL season with MHK Dynamo Moscow, Fransen is getting another year of experience at the second highest level of Swedish hockey, and Shokhrin has been decent with Loko. But Siryatsky has cemented his place in his senior team’s lineup, something these fellas can’t claim just yet.
14. If you were wondering where Badinka is on that list, I’d remind you that he’s a right handed defenseman. But if you asked who out of those two I like more, I think I’d lean Badinka right now. Tough choice there.
15. Also, that 2024 draft class is looking mighty alright right now. Badinka is coming into his own in his first NA season. Artamonov had a great year last year and is looking to regain that form with a new team. Already mentioned Siryatsky, Fransen, Kol, and Shokhrin. Justin Poirier (19) has been one of the best freshman in all of college hockey. Uncle Avramov (Fyodor) has finally carved out a real KHL role. Andrei Krutov (19) is a weird one, with being bounced between Torpedo-Gorky (VHL) and Chaika (MHL), but when he plays in the MHL, he looks fantastic (which he should, it’s the MHL).
16. The Final Thought, brought to you by life’s many wonders, is not much of a thought, but more of an idea. If you ever wanted to watch some Canes Prospects, specifically ones that play the whole game, for a relatively cheap price in the state of North Carolina, go to Greensboro and watch the Gargoyles. On any given night you go, you’ll see one of Ruslan Khazheyev (21) or Nikita Quapp (22). Doesn’t seem like a bad idea to me, especially if Ruslan is starting. That’s a show in and of itself.
If you made it this far, thank you! Since there are five Saturdays this month, there will be NO post next week as to give myself a little break. But I’ll be back the week after for the Prospects of the Month. Until then, be good people!