Hurricanes Prospect Positional Rankings: Goalie
2026 edition!
Welcome BACK to the series that will take up some downtime during the summer. I will go through the Carolina Hurricanes prospect farm, pick out a position group, and update everyone on these players. These updates will consist of how they played this past season, what strengths and weaknesses are in their game, and a projected (if there is one) NHL timeline. These lists will also be a ranking of the position as well, with players listed higher being the guys closer to the NHL and with more potential. We are kicking off the series with goalies, which has become a LOT better over the past calendar year.
Last year, it was mainly Semyon Frolov and Ruslan Khazheyev, with Frolov having a rather large gap between them. This time around, there’s a lot more intrigue and, mainly, one more guy with really solid potential thrown into the mix. While they are down on total number, only having 4 goalie prospects compared to 5 last year, I really think they have raised the ceiling of the position group as a whole.
1. Semyon Frolov, MHK Spartak Moscow (MHL)
Last year’s stats: 14 GP, 2.80 GAA, .907% save percentage
After a draft year in which he cemented himself as a certified higher end NHL goalie prospect, Frolov dealt with injuries all year but started to find himself again in the MHL playoffs. He’s got the prototypical size you covet in goalies while being the best skating goalie within the system, which is something that really helps when talking about a goalie as aggressive as him. He’s explosive in side to side movements and is able to make those spectacular acrobatic saves you see the top end goalies able to make. I’m not saying that Frolov is going to be one of those top end goalies, the technique needs some fine tuning and he needs a healthy season, but the MHL playoff games showed that he’s got 1B potential in a few years.
Outlook for 2026/27: Splitting time between VHL side Khimik and MHK Spartak Moscow
Projected NHL ETA: 2028/29
2. Ryder Fetterolf, Ottawa 67s (OHL)
Last year’s stats: 50 GP, 2.56 GAA, .912% save percentage
Sometimes, with goalies, you take the guy who just flat out stops the puck. Coincidentally, it also helps that Fetterolf fits the Canes love of finding goalies who can skate really well. He was far and away the best goalie in the OHL this year, with the only goalie able to rival his stats being former Development Camp invite Ben Hrebik. Hrebik had a .920% save percentage in the regular season, just .003% behind Fetterolf, but Hrebik had a 2.81 GAA while Fetterolf had a 2.07. I understand some people are sticklers about height and might have some reservations about him only being 6 feet flat, but I don’t see that being any sort of an issue. He’s got the athleticism to make up for that, even if it was a big problem.
Outlook for 2026/27: It’ll be interesting to see the Penn State goalie rotation this year, with incumbent starter Josh Fleming still there. But Fetterolf has the talent to become the starter, and I wouldn’t be shocked if he got there before the season is over.
Projected NHL ETA: 2028/29
3. Ruslan Khazheyev, Greensboro Gargoyles (ECHL)
Last year’s stats: 41 GP, 3.52 GAA, .894% save percentage
I’ll say it once, I’ll say it a million times, sometimes the stat sheet doesn’t line up with the eye test. Ruslan having those stats is impressive with the way that Greensboro played this past year, with no disrespect meant towards Greensboro. More so, it was easy to see the development within the technical abilities in his game, as he’s much more refined in the fundamentals. He’s got the size and the athleticism and now, it’s much easier to see the NHL potential with Ruslan.
Outlook for 2026/27: It sort of depends on what happens with Cayden Primeau. If he’s brought back, I’d expect Ruslan and Yegor Velmakin to split starts in Greensboro. If he’s not brought back, I’d expect Ruslan to be the backup to Zach Sawchenko in Chicago.
Projected NHL ETA: 2029/2030?
4. Zachary Jovanovski, Guelph Storm (OHL)
Last year’s stats: 56 GP, 3.80 GAA, .888% save percentage
For a Guelph team that only won 28 games in the regular season, it’s really cool to see that Jovanovski won 25 of those games. The 6’3 netminder had an up and down season, posting some really nice starts and some highlight reel saves, but then having some no-so-great looking stat sheets. The 28 games won by Guelph had them as the 2nd to last team in the division, for context. He’s got the size and his technique is pretty solid, the skating is the main drawback as it limits his ability to fight any rebounds he gives up.
Outlook for 2026/27: Well, funnily enough about Ben Hrebik, he got moved to Guelph and will play for them this season after leaving Providence College before the season started. So either Jovanovski will split time with Hrebik this year with Guelp or he’ll be moved to another team.
Projected NHL ETA: 2030+