The Carolina Hurricanes open training camp this week, and all eyes will be on a roster that’s undergone a serious change since last season. Gone are long-tenured fan favorites like Brett Pesce, Teuvo Terävainen, Brady Skjei, and several others, while new faces include Sean Walker, Jack Roslovic, Will Carrier, and a returning Shayne Gostisbehere.
With such a dramatic roster overhaul, there is surely an open spot or two to be won via camp — likely for a forward. Fortunately, the Hurricanes have a strong crop of youngsters that fit the bill. Of course, there are also veterans like Tyson Jost, Eric Robinson, and Sam Gagner (professional tryout – PTO) potentially in the mix, but we have to imagine the hope is that one of the star prospects steps up and earns the job. Here’s a look at three players who, in my opinion, have the best chance to stick as camp gets underway.
Bradly Nadeau
If we’re being honest, the task of replacing Jake Guentzel will be nearly impossible for the Hurricanes. His combination of puck retrieval and finding the soft spots in the offensive zone is elite, and his instant chemistry with Sebastian Aho made him a seamless fit on the roster. But he’s gone, and all parties must move on. That’s where Bradly Nadeau enters the picture — a player with the ability to replicate some of what Guentzel contributed.
In any case, management must be careful about placing any expectations on a 19-year-old winger who, on the Hurricanes’ official training camp roster, is listed at just 5-foot-10 and 161 pounds. He’s small and very raw, and there will be a serious learning curve to become effective in the NHL at that size. At the NCAA level with Maine, he showed adept ability to shield the puck using his body and leverage, and he’s very agile, but it remains to be seen how that will translate against grown men.
Where Nadeau can really help the team, especially early on in his career, is on the power play. The release and velocity of his shot are elite. He generates extreme power and can bring a level of deception with feints, opening up space for himself to get the puck through on goal. Either on the half-wall or in the “bumper” spot for one-timers, he could provide a serious boost to a second power-play unit that’s starving for a shooter. Early in camp, the forwards on that unit were Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Jack Drury, and Jack Roslovic, so Nadeau has a potential advantage to bring something neither of them provides.
Jackson Blake
Jackson Blake, I’ve profiled before, and he was my dark-horse pick to make the roster in the Hurricanes Roundtable piece we did a couple of weeks ago. I’m bullish on his immediate potential upside and impact at the NHL level. What could give him the upper hand in this group is his age (21) and the maturity level of his game. Coming off a season at North Dakota where he was nominated as a Hobey Baker finalist, Blake is on the cusp of breaking into the league.
His development at North Dakota was superb, and he showed throughout his tenure there that his game allows him to be effective in a variety of roles. Offensively, he has a lot of talent. His hands are borderline elite — very quick motions, and deceptive. He’s poised and patient with the puck, allowing things to develop if he doesn’t have a clear lane. His on-ice vision is good, and his release is quick and with purpose. There are a lot of ways that he can beat a defender and create offense, even if his skating is only average.
Where he’s impressed me quite a bit is his growth on the defensive side of the puck. He can be relentless with his pressure, causing turnovers in the middle of the ice on breakouts and zone entries. He also has flashes of good strength for a player who weighs just 173 pounds, as he can muscle people off the puck and then shield it using his frame. He’s also a willing backchecker and competes all over the defensive zone. His father — former NHLer Jason Blake — has surely made him aware of the importance of peak conditioning and a 200-foot game to be an effective NHLer, and at this point, I think Blake is well on the road to that becoming a reality.
Felix Unger-Sorum
It’s not often you see a player’s development progress so quickly. At this time last fall, just a couple of weeks after his 18th birthday, Felix Unger-Sorum was pretty much the Canes’ final cut after having a training camp that caught the eyes of everybody. The feat is even more impressive when you consider that he was drafted just months before that and was selected 62nd overall — near the end of the second round. We don’t see that often.
His accelerated development is a testament to his play. He’s an effortless skater and distributor of the puck and plays a very mature and relaxed style at such a young age. He rarely panics when he has the puck and uses his edgework to create space for himself against defenders. He’s a pass-first talent — his shot is not a consistent threat at this stage, but that’s not the end of the world when his vision and passing are so strong.
Related: 3 Hurricanes Prospects to Watch This Season
One interesting note I took from the Hurricanes’ prospect tournament earlier this month is that the team tried Unger-Sorum out at center. That may give him the versatility to take faceoffs as a right-handed player, which is something head coach Rod Brind’Amour and the front office have made a priority to find since Vincent Trocheck departed.
The only other real options for that role on the roster are Martin Nečas and Jack Roslovic, both of whom are sub-45% faceoff players. If Unger-Sorum can prove more trustworthy in the dot than those two, it may give him an inside track to the roster and could be the difference between him, Blake, and Nadeau.
Blake Earns a Roster Spot
I’m not big on predictions, but for the sake of this article, I’ll make an exception. My earlier favorite would probably be Blake, mostly because of his maturity, poise, and pro-ready game. Unger-Sorum has yet to play in North America, so he would benefit from some seasoning in the American Hockey League (AHL) before he’s thrown into the fire, and while I love Nadeau’s potential, I’d like to see him in the AHL for a bit as well to make the necessary adjustments to his game at this level.
Regardless, I would not be surprised if all three players get an extended look at the NHL level this season. With factors like injuries and performance, it’s likely that the Hurricanes will need to rely on each of them at one point. Alas, it will come down to who has the best camp, and I’ll go with Blake to get the first crack at it.
