Welcome to the third 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.
In this week’s piece, we’ll take a look at a couple of prospects who are really showing some promising signs to start their seasons overseas in Russia. We’ll also dive a bit into the past with a look at a player who’s set to graduate prospect status, as well as an overseas club who might as well be affiliated with the Hurricanes at this point! Let’s get right into it.
Alexander Rykov
Unfortunately, an injury to start the season derailed what was a positive end to the 2023-24 season for Alexander Rykov, who progressed his way into the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) as an 18-year-old and scored six goals in 29 games for Chelyabinsk Traktor. He’d earned the call-up after posting 25 points in 27 games for Chelyabinsk Chelmet of the VHL (Russia’s equivalent of the AHL) — very impressive stats for a teenager in that league. He’s not considered a big guy at 5-foot-11 and 170 pounds, but he uses deception, superb agility and his raw skill to produce offense and has seen success at every level in his career thus far.
As I mentioned above, Rykov had an injury early in the season which saw him miss time and slide out of the KHL lineup after a slow start to the season. However, he seems to be back to full health and has come on strong as of late. He has four goals over his past nine games with Chelmet, and his 0.75 points-per-game clip over 12 games is the second-highest on his team. He’s played mostly on the third line as of late, so the fact that he still remains one of their top producers despite the non-favorable deployment is a very encouraging sign. At age 19, this is a youngster with a promising future and will likely find his way back into the KHL at some point this season if he keeps up his strong performances.
Yegor Velmakin
Goaltending development can be extremely tricky to track, given that style projections, ability, and overall form are not always indicative when just looking at the statistics. Yegor Velmakin, who the Hurricanes selected in the seventh round as a double overage player in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, is currently a KHL goaltender within the Dynamo Minsk program in Belarus. He’s not exactly a “prototypical” guy listed at 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds — which is considered a bit small for a modern-day netminder — but he has a lot of skill and confidence in his game. He seems committed to improving in any way possible, just look at his “invention” to work on his hand-eye coordination:
Behold the ingenuity of #Canes development camp invitee and Russian netminder Yegor Velmakin. He does not currently have a patent on this invention of his, but I'm sure Tulsky can help him out. So simple, yet so effective at helping with hand-eye coordination#CauseChaos pic.twitter.com/UzUS5Pp2Pu
— Evan Abramson (@Evan_Abramson) July 8, 2024
I decided to profile him in this column because he just got his first victory in the KHL, which he secured via shootout. He made 16 saves on 18 shots in the game, and was a key contributor in the win. Through seven appearances for Minsk this season, his save percentage (SV%) is at a very impressive .923, and his goals-against average (GAA) is at 2.22. Very strong numbers for a young goalie in that league, and it seems as though he’s emerged as the backup option to veteran Andrei Tikhomirov. For Velmakin, the key is continuing to get game reps (even in the VHL if necessary) and sharpen his skills. He’s aggressive, mobile and a strong puck mover from the crease, all of which are coveted abilities for an NHL-level prospect.
Blast From The Past
SKA St. Petersburg
This is the first time I’ve ever really profiled a club, and it may well be the last, but I was in absolute shock when I was browsing KHL rosters and stumbled upon SKA. They’ve pretty much become the overseas Hurricanes — the amount of ex-prospects and players on their roster is incredible. They roster former highly-touted prospects Sergey Tolchinsky and Valentin Zykov, both of whom generated a ton of hype but ultimately never panned out. The Canes’ 2024 selection Timur Kol is also there, along with some familiar faces in Evgeny Kuznetsov and Tony DeAngelo. Finally, top prospect Alexander Nikishin is there too. At what point do the teams start an affiliation!?
Jesper Sellgren
Still the property of the Hurricanes by way of his restricted free agent (RFA) rights, Jesper Sellgren has been a high-end player for Lulea HF in Sweden since departing North America after the 2021-22 season. A reliable and smart two-way defender, he’s amassed 34 points and a plus-20 rating in 113 games over the past two seasons, and is now in his prime at age 26. I’m quite sure that the Hurricanes will lose his rights in the summer of 2025, which means if he has any opportunity to return to the organization, it will be sometime in the spring. I’m not entirely sure if he’s an NHL-level talent at this stage, but based on his skills I would not be opposed to seeing him get one more look with the Chicago Wolves and see if he can become a cheap contributor.
Related: Hurricanes Prospect Updates: Suzuki, Poirier, Artamonov & More
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, adding more players to their system, which has helped this prospect group grow into one of the deepest in the NHL.
