16 Thoughts: Heart over Height

A common theme for Canes Prospects recently

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.

Nate Robinson, Knicks legend, was one of the more exciting NBA players that I watched growing up (side note: does this age me a little?). It’s hard to not root for the 5’9 point guard who had athleticism in spades. But more importantly, his effort level was out of this world. It’s hard for players of his size to stick at the professional level, even more so in the NBA, but he just wouldn’t give up on anything. This concept is easily relatable to a good amount of the players we talk about because if we look at the top 12 Hurricanes prospects by points currently, 7 of them are either 6 foot or under.

The 3 that are over 6 feet are Fyodor Avramov, Timur Kol, and Nils Juntorp. But, as is the case with most of the 8 that are under 6 feet tall, they make up for their lack of height by having great compete levels or at least 1 or 2 standout attributes. With that in mind, let’s dive into some thoughts.

1. I think it’s farfetched to imagine Justin Poirier getting signed after this year, but what he’s doing at Maine is special. For starters, he’s top 10 in college hockey in points. As well, he’s the only freshman in the top 10 (Will Horcoff is a sophomore despite his age). For those wondering, he’s currently producing at a higher rate than Bradly Nadeau when Nadeau was a freshman at Maine. Granted, Poirier had an extra year in the QMJHL, but I’d argue it’s just as impressive, if not more, what Poirier is doing. This isn’t just Poirier beating up on lesser comp either, besides the opening weekend series against Holy Cross. This is happening against Quinnipiac, ranked Colgate, and a weekend sweep against a top 5 team in the country in Boston University, who have the highest amount of NHL drafted prospects on their roster in the entire country. Here’s a goal that leads to some fun talking points:

Dances through the first defender (Vancouver pick Aiden Celebrini), legitimately bounces off the second one (Tampa Bay pick Jack Harvey), maintains possession with one hand (slightly lucky I’ll admit), and backhands the puck over the goalie. This is the moment I remind everyone that he is 5’8, 185 pounds. Also, shoutout him for trying (and succeeding) to get to the middle, where the help defender is coming ready to hit, instead of sticking to the perimeter and either waiting for a trailer, who isn’t there, or trying to go around the defender. The height (sadly) is still working against him to a certain degree but what he’s shown so far in college is that there’s an NHL player here.

2. It was a quieter weekend for Charlie Cerrato than normal, as he was held to one point in 2 games against Ohio State, but that’s not to say it was a bad weekend. Guy Gadowsky uses his line with JJ Wiebusch and Matt DiMarsico as his main offense, seen by them having a combined 51! points in 10 games. What I’m watching from Cerrato is the things that don’t show up on a stat sheet. Everyone knows that he can put up points, but I want to see how he plays in transition. I want to see the defensive ability grow. I want to continue to see growth in faceoffs (which does show up on a stat sheet, shut up). Funnily enough, as I typed that, I wanted to double check where he was standing in terms of his faceoffs. He’s leading the country in faceoff wins with 130. His FOW% is 61%!? Alright, so maybe I’m not too stressed about that.

3. After a somewhat slower start, Jayden Perron has fully arrived for Michigan. With just 1 point in his first 4 games, Perron has been on a HEATER of a 6 game point streak, with 9 points in those games (4 goals, 5 assists). Just like Poirier, he isn’t the biggest player out there, but he makes up for it with great offensive instincts. He uses his skating to gain enough leverage for a good pass or a shot. I’d argue his shot is underrated, as I’ve seen a good amount of pure snipes in my time watching him. If he continues his pace, it wouldn’t entirely shock me to see Perron enter the conversation for an ELC.

4. A player I don’t talk about a ton when I talk about the Wolves is Dominik Badinka. It’s because he’s not a super flashy offensive player, even though he has his moments of joining the rush. But man, I’m getting serious “Legault first year Wolves” vibes with Badinka already. He’s being trusted as a top unit penalty killer already with Gavin Bayreuther. Is that due to the Wolves defense getting gutted due to the NHL team getting gutted? Maybe. But I think it’s deserved, because Badinka has been one of the Wolves best defensive defenseman, if not the best. The offensive game is slowly coming together, with some good work in joining the rush and breaking out from his zone. Again, a lot of what I have seen with Badinka this year reminds me of what I saw last year with Legault. Not saying it’s going to end up that way, but it’s eerily similar.

I’ll find a better picture soon

5. Felix Unger Sorum has looked miles better this season. For one, he’s starting the year as a winger, which is where he has his highest potential. He looks half a step faster in his skating, winning foot races in places where he didn’t win them last season. It just looks like the game is starting to slow down for him, being able to effectively read defenses at a higher rate than he did last year. This goal is halfway decent example of what I mean.

When the puck comes off the wall, he takes a half second peek to the middle to see if a defender is coming. He can see the defender anticipating the pass and Felix decides to full turn towards the net instead of a potential turnover. This leads to a 3 on 1 with Nadeau coming down the middle and Suzuki backdoor. Last year, this is probably a pass to Suzuki or Nadeau, as seen by Korchinski not even trying to defend the shot with his body or stick. But because of a renewed focus to shoot, something I was begging for last year, he goes bardown and ties the game. It’s moments like that that remind me of what he can be at his peak, a player akin to something like Teuvo Teravainen. A cerebral playmaker with and underrated shot, even though I’ll give Teuvo the edge on defensive work.

6. I was super happy to see Bryce Montgomery get some really solid AHL run over the past couple games and I honestly thought he’s been pretty decent. He moves really well for a 6’5, 231 pound defenseman and he’s very, very physical. I thought he was a solid defensive presence for them and wouldn’t mind him seeing more consistent time throughout the course of the season.

7. On the injury front, I haven’t heard anything new about Roman Bausov, who still hasn’t made his debut this season. Semyon Frolov is on the MHL IR (I’m pretty sure, I should really ask). Vladimir Grudinin is hurt and hasn’t played a game for Severstal since October 15th.

8. Fyodor Avramov has been getting extended run as a 4th line player for Sochi, which is nice to see and something I wasn’t expecting. His results have been mixed, as he either has been a minus or taken a penalty in each of the 4 KHL games he’s played, but that comes with the fact that he’s only played in the MHL this year. Either that or he’s been the 13th forward for Sochi. Hoping this 4th line run continues though.

9. Sticking with Russia, the Future Cup is going on and it was really nice to see Timur Kol, Kurban Limatov, Roman Shokhrin, and Andrei Krutov be named to the team. Shokhrin, in particular, seems to be liked by the national team, as he’s been selected for these things a good amount.

10. I’d like to voice my (continued) displeasure with Russia being excluded from the World Juniors. Don’t get me wrong, I completely understand why they aren’t allowed in, it just sucks to see because the Canes could’ve rostered a good amount of that team. For example, the players that would be eligible:

• Andrei Krutov

• Ivan Ryabkin (though I don’t know if he would’ve been considered since his move to North America last year)

• Roman Bausov

• Timur Kol

• Roman Shokhrin

• Alexander Siryatsky

• Kurban Limatov

• Semyon Frolov

I think Siryatsky would be a lock, as he’s a KHL regular right now. Shokhrin, Limatov, and Kol would get long looks. Bausov (who is only 18) wouldn’t get in due to injuries this season. Krutov and Ryabkin would be interesting. Frolov would be on the goalie shortlist for sure.

12. It’s kind of early to look ahead to the World Juniors, seeing as it’s about a month away, but if I’m a Canes fan (which I am), you might be watching purely for the hockey instead of prospects. There really aren’t too many guys that can actually play this year, as by my estimation, it’s just Justin Poirier, Viggo Nordlund, and Filip Ekberg that are eligible this time around. Nordlund and Ekberg have had success with this age group before, but Ekberg has been injured a decent amount this year and Nordlund didn’t get called to the National team for their last tune up before they announce a World Juniors roster. Justin Poirier is an interesting case.

13. I doubt Poirier will get a serious look for the World Juniors, but I’d at least peek to see. He’s currently 2nd out of all U20 Canada players in NCAA scoring, ahead of roster locks like Gavin McKenna and Porter Martone. His shooting talent would definitely be a big help to a Canada team that could score to save their life last year. But again, I doubt he gets picked. Reminder that last year, it was a surprise (to some, not all) that Bradly Nadeau made the team.

14. But you know what WE (yes, WE) will all be watching together during that time? The Spengler Cup! The Cup takes place during the same time period, December 26th through the 31st, and the Canes are guaranteed to have one player there, with Charlie Cerrato.

15. I started writing this on Monday, so you’ll have to excuse some things being slightly outdated. But one thing I did catch in time was Bradly Nadeau getting sent back to Chicago, which is the right move in my opinion.

16. The Final Thought, brought to you by the drive to watch Kazuchika Okada vs Hiroshi Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom 20, is all about Russia. I feel as if we all got spoiled last season when it comes to the Russian prospects. For one, Nikishin was still doing his thing for SKA and Timur Kol was getting his first extended taste of KHL action and becoming the demigod of the SKA-1946 defense. Alexander Perevalov was having a career resurgence (he’s still doing pretty well). Vladimir Grudinin had a career year in terms of production. Stanislav Yarovoy was doing ok with Vityaz. Andrei Krutov was getting close to some U19/U20 VHL records and, the obvious, Nikita Artamonov was having one of the best U20 KHL season’s ever.

This year, it’s been slower. Artamonov is going through the ringer, or a sophomore slump, Krutov has struggled throughout the year. Grudinin has been hurt for a about a month. Roman Shokhrin has been injured and in and out of the Loko lineup. Yarovoy has been in the VHL most of the year (should’ve been North America, selfishly). Semyon Frolov has been hurt and I don’t imagine he’s back anytime soon.

BUT it hasn’t all been bad. Timur Kol is doing Timur Kol things. Yegor Velmakin is getting more consistent playing time with Dinamo St. Petersburg. Fyodor Avramov is actually getting consistent playing time in the KHL. Alexander Siryatsky is getting consistent KHL time as a 19 year old. Before injury, Frolov looked really, really good. All in all, it’s just weird not paying as much attention to the Russian ranks due to injuries and other things.