Prospect Mailbag #6 - Potential 2025 Draft Picks and a College Roundup
First time I have actually looked at 2025 Draft Eligible players
Welcome back to the Mailbag, where I ask for questions and you kind people give me them. This month, we had quite a few good, including the earliest look at players the Canes could draft around their pick IF they still have it or if they don’t trade back.
“Do you think Lucas Mercuri has a future with the Canes? Also what current college prospects do the Canes have that could make some noise in the future?” - ginger_caniac/ “How’s Jayden Perron doing?” - Luke Schull
I think he can. Matt and I had talked about this on Developing Hurricanes but since the Canes aren’t really deep at the center spot prospect wise, Mercuri might have an inside shot at a contract. It helps that he has continued his development, as he’s projected to surpass his career high in points (24 right now, 25 is his career high).
After graduating Jackson Blake, the Canes only have 3 players at the NCAA level this season. One of them is Mercuri, who we already discussed.
The other is Michael Emerson, who is in his first full season of college hockey after transferring from UND and playing with the Chicago Steel of the USHL. He’s fluctuated between center and wing for Merrimack and has been a solid player, with 6 goals and 4 assists for 10 points in 25 games in the hellacious Hockey East this year.
Perron has been fine. He’s going to surpass his freshman season point production while getting bigger minutes, almost exclusively playing in the top 6 this season.
With Perron, I was hoping for a stronger jump in production. He has still been good, but he basically stepped into Jackson Blake’s role on this UND team. I like what I’ve seen up to this point, but he’s got some more development to do.
“What is Suzuki’s ceiling after all the adversity her’s been through and finally making it to the NHL? Is he a NHL regular next year?” - Sae
I’d say Suzuki’s ceiling at this point is a bottom 6 center who has the ability to play on any special teams. The 2 games he played in at the NHL level were solid and he was even good in the faceoff, at 57.5% on a very small sample size.
I’d would like to imagine he could be an NHL regular next year. He’s shown he’s ready and it’s always helpful to have guys on ELC be able to play at the NHL level from a salary cap perspective, but I don’t know.
“Which prospects in the AHL or elsewhere have the greatest chances of being NHL players for next season [or beyond]?” - Sean Barron
I think there are two you can almost pencil in right now, with Alexander Nikishin and Scott Morrow. Nikishin, self explanatory, and Morrow had really nice flashes of ability in his NHL stint. Depending on what happens with the forwards and if he continues his progression, it’s hard to imagine a world where Bradly Nadeau isn’t on the opening night roster. He’s been unreal at the AHL level in just his first professional season.
“What’s Nikishin’s floor/ceiling? NHL Comparable” - Alex (bunch of numbers)
His ceiling is something around a Norris trophy contender/winner. That’s at the absolute top of the ceiling. His floor is a serviceable 3rd pairing defender that loves to be physical. This isn’t that likely to happen, but life is unpredictable.
For an NHL comp (I stink at these), I said Niklas Kronwall with higher offensive potential and I’m going to stick by that, for better or for worse.
“How likely is it that Nikishin signs with us in the offseason?” - TheRadMadDad
Nothing is done until it is done. But, like what Matt and I have said, if the GM of the team is comfortable putting the word out there that they are going to try and get him signed and Russian journalists are saying that he is expected to leave, I wouldn’t worry about it.
But again, nothing is done until it is done.
“Top perspective prospects in the Hurricanes proposed draft range for 2025 barring a trade back/trade of the 1st round pick?” - Tanner M.
I really appreciate this question, since it forces me to start looking ahead to the draft and see who is around the Canes pick. Let’s assume the 1st (barring a trade back) is in the 28-32 range. Three names that I’d keep in mind:
Ivan Ryabkin, C (Played for both Muskegon in the USHL and in the Dynamo Moscow system, all three levels)
Pyotr Andreyanov, G (CSKA, MHL)
Milton Gastrin, C (MODO, HockeyAllsvenskan)
Ryabkin is one of the most polarizing prospects out there and his ranking might change entirely. He was viewed as a top 5-10 talent heading into the year but has had a rough start to his draft year. Andreyanov is one of the top goalie prospects in this class and the Canes desperately need goalies in the system after skipping out on drafting one last year, but I doubt they draft one near the first round. Gastrin is a super responsible center who has flashed playmaking in the HockeyAllsvenskan while wearing a letter at 17 years old.
“How much does MHL/VHL production matter if the prospect can't really stick in the KHL?” - Andrew Payne
Another really good question. All production matters, that’s the baseline. That said, there is still some important takeaways from point production at different levels. Let’s take Andrei Krutov for example. He’s been really, really good at the MHL level and he’s been a point per game player. At the VHL level, he’s been around a .5 point per game player at a level he had never played at before. Something like that is very good. At the KHL level, 3 goals in 7 games is impressive for the minutes he played and the chances he got.
Basically, perspective matters. There is a lot of factors that affect something like that. Ice time, teammates, opportunities, etc.
“Favorite Wii game?” - Aaron
Finally, a real question. I loved Super Smash Bros Brawl, as it was the first game in that series I played. Rayman Raving Rabbids was also a really enjoyable one.
But I think I put the most hours into Guitar Hero 3 and Guitar Hero Aerosmith.