Welcome to the sixth installment of the revived “Future Canes” prospect series. In this column, we take a look at Carolina Hurricanes prospects who are standing out and enjoying success, whether they’re playing in Canadian juniors, the American Hockey League (AHL), Europe, Russia, or anywhere around the world.
For this week’s piece, we’re going to do things a bit differently — we’ll be looking at the ones who got away. Now, of course, the fact that the Hurricanes were at one point willing to move on from these guys shouldn’t be overstated, but you can’t help but wonder if the team would do it differently if given a second chance. Without further ado, let’s look at the current success that three ex-prospects are enjoying.
Vasily Ponomaryov
I think this one hurts the most because Vasily Ponomaryov would be a seamless fit in the role that was vacated by the Jack Drury trade to the Colorado Avalanche. A player with a nice blend of skill and tenacity, Ponomaryov was already close to breaking into the Hurricanes’ lineup last season before being dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Jake Guentzel deal. If you recall, he scored for the team in his NHL debut at age 21, and also recorded an assist in a game that instantly endeared himself to the fanbase:
Congrats, kid! You'll never forget it!
— Hurricanes On FanDuel Sports Network (@FDSN_Hurricanes) January 6, 2024
Ponomarev makes it 6-2!@Canes | #CauseChaos pic.twitter.com/6rmAwlfZjV
In hindsight, I’m sure the loss of this player would hurt less if the Hurricanes had been able to re-sign Guentzel, or gone on to win the Stanley Cup. Now 22 years old, Ponomaryov has yet to break into the NHL with the Penguins, but I feel that may be more due to their log jam of veteran placeholders rather than his own play. At the AHL level, he just continues to get better, as he currently has 11 goals and 27 points in just 32 games. There’s little doubt that his relentless motor and consistent two-way ability will make him an effective NHLer for a long time — likely the perfect fit for a 3C role.
Ville Koivunen
Another player who was involved in the aforementioned Guentzel deal, Ville Koivunen is the prototypical Hurricanes draft pick. He’s loaded with hockey sense, vision, smarts and skill, despite being a tad bit undersized — at least physically. The one concern I had with Koivunen’s fit in the system was his foot speed and overall skating ability, which I was worried would negatively impact his ability to forecheck at the Hurricanes’ pace. In coach Rod Brind’Amour’s system, separation speed is a necessity to be effective and win races to the puck, and I was not sold on his ability to keep up.
While that may have been a justification by the team’s front office when they traded him, I still believe Koivunen can become a solid NHL player despite his limitations. His skill level is legit, as he effortlessly passes the puck and finds open players with sheer accuracy. His shot is also super underrated — he generates precision and power with a fast release, and uses his brain to find open areas of the ice to attack. While he’s yet to make his NHL debut, I’m sure his day is not far away — he currently has 15 goals and 38 points in 42 games in the AHL — good for second place on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton roster. Still only 21 years old, I would be shocked if he’s not a middle-six NHL winger within the next couple of years.
Alexander Pashin
The biggest question mark on the list, it’s hard to sit here and definitively say that Alexander Pashin could successfully become an NHL player. Unfortunately for him, his size (5-foot-8, 175 pounds) will always be a deterrent despite him having exceptional talent. He can skate like the wind and stick-handle his way out of a phone booth, but there are very few guys at his size that find a home in the NHL — and much less in a system like Brind’Amour’s.
Unfortunately, the Hurricanes’ AHL affiliation problems in the summer of 2023 impacted Pashin as much as any prospect in the system. He’d just come over from Russia the summer prior, and had just 10 points in 47 games for the Chicago Wolves in the 2022-23 season — struggling a bit to find his footing. But he was beginning to adapt and figure out his game on the smaller and more physical North American ice surface. Losing the Wolves affiliation left Pashin in “no man’s land”, and he had nowhere to go besides back home to Russia. This past summer, the Hurricanes terminated his entry-level contract and released him from the organization — likely because he had no intention of coming back.
Overall, it’s a sad case and it was a waste of his development. He came to North America at age 20 with the intention to play in the AHL and adapt, which a lot of Russian-based players don’t attempt. Unfortunately for him, he was a victim of the business side of the game that he had no control over. But where is he now? — Now aged 22, he’s enjoying a breakout season in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), with 11 goals and 39 points in 52 games. He’s second on his team in scoring, and was recently just named the best U23 player in the KHL for the month of January. With the way his offense has blossomed at the pro level, I would not be overly shocked to see him take another crack at making the NHL in the future — however, it’s doubtful that it will be in the Hurricanes organization.
Related: 3 Ambitious Trade Targets to Lift Hurricanes to New Heights
As always, the important thing to remember with prospects is that development is non-linear. Some players take longer to figure it out than others, and some players never do. Wisely, the Hurricanes’ philosophy over the past few drafts has been to trade back and add more picks, therefore adding more players to their system, which has helped this prospect group grow into one of the deepest in the NHL.
