The Carolina Hurricanes announced on Tuesday that forward Bradly Nadeau had been reassigned to the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League (AHL). It’s got the signs of being a long-term mistake, and the Hurricanes may suffer at the hands of their eagerness to stick with the status quo. Nadeau was by far the best Hurricane through the preseason. While it is just the preseason, outshining guys like the recently-extended Jackson Blake and Logan Stankoven, and other NHL wingers that the Hurricanes will turn to, has many people feeling like Nadeau should have had a roster spot.
Nadeau had a shaky start to the preseason when he looked overwhelmed defensively, but that worked itself out as the Hurricanes’ promising 20-year-old winger continued to get better and better. He was one of the many roster cuts the Hurricanes made on Sept. 30 to trim the training camp squad down to the 23 that will play. While there may be an argument for keeping Nadeau in the AHL in certain situations, the precedent this sets for the Hurricanes is perilous.
Nadeau’s Success
Nadeau isn’t someone who randomly appeared on the roster. It’s not a situation like Charles Alexis Legault, who has developed extremely well, going from a gamble to a solid prospect. Nadeau was always touted as a blue-chip prospect after the Hurricanes drafted him 30th overall in 2023. He was always highly regarded because he was a first-round pick.
He then went into the NCAA and set it on fire after scoring 19 goals and 27 assists for 46 points in just 37 games with the University of Maine. Carolina signed him to his entry-level contract after that and gave him his NHL debut the same year in the season finale against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Nadeau followed that with a remarkable AHL campaign, becoming one of just a handful of players to score 30 goals in the AHL as a 19-year-old, as he scored 32 goals and 26 assists for 58 points in 64 games. He has dominated every league he has played in and then turned up for the preseason.
Against the Tampa Bay Lightning to begin the preseason, Nadeau looked a little rusty. Defensively, he looked a little confused, but it was the first game of the preseason, and he still appeared to be a force going forward. He began to rectify his defensive mishaps and lit up the Hurricanes’ preseason with three goals and two assists across his five games. During that time, he played with many different players and produced regardless. He was also a plus-1, so this isn’t a case of a player inflating their production on the power play. Now, he’s going to report to the Chicago Wolves, having done everything he needed to make the NHL. That’s never good for the confidence of a young player. It also risks the player requesting a trade.
At this point, Nadeau appears to be happy enough to continue his development, but this is the same approach the organization took with Jack Drury and Martin Necas. Both of them ended up requesting a move away from Raleigh. Seth Jarvis ended up needing a Nino Niederreiter foot injury to break into the league. Even Blake needed the franchise to be in a cap crunch. It’s a concerning pattern of mismanagement of young talent that spans different eras. Nadeau has all the talent to be the goal scorer the Hurricanes are begging for on the trade market, and they’re sending him back to Chicago after he was the best player in training camp.
Those Above Nadeau
Players like Eric Robinson and William Carrier are keeping their roster spots over the best natural shooter the Hurricanes have drafted this decade. While Robinson and Carrier are both great players who have a role on good NHL rosters, they’re not blessed with the same scoring capabilities as Nadeau. The issue lies in the fact that they’re keeping their roster spots.
The reason Hurricanes’ head coach Rod Brind’Amour gave for sending Nadeau down is that they want him playing top-line minutes in the AHL. That’s logical, but it also means players like Robinson and Carrier won’t be replaced by Nadeau if they are injured, because the team wants him playing more than the two veteran wingers do at the NHL level. So, the Hurricanes either have to be hypocritical, or he will spend the majority of the season in the AHL and be thrust into the top six when one of the Hurricanes’ key players suffers an injury.
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Setting him up to only play this season at the NHL level in the top six is setting this player up for failure. Carolina does not score a ton of goals as it is. They were seventh among the teams in the playoffs for goals per game, with 2.93, and ninth in the 2024-25 regular season, with 3.24 goals per game. That was with players like Necas, Jack Roslovic, and Mikko Rantanen factoring in. Nadeau sliding into the top nine on the third line with Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who can help cover his defensive warts, was the seemingly obvious answer to problems that remain unaddressed.
Nadeau’s Future
Many hope the organization will recall Nadeau at some point during the campaign. That’s unlikely, certainly not until the garbage games at the end of the season again. When he played in games 81 and 82 in Montreal and Ottawa at the end of last season, Nadeau was playing instead of the stars he should have been playing with. That could happen again. It is likely to happen again. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and the Hurricanes continue to make mistakes they’ve made for years.
Now, Nadeau is just 21. He’ll survive what’s happening around him. However, he cannot continue to be ignored in the Hurricanes’ system. The notion that he’ll undoubtedly be recalled from the Wolves during the season is not true. He could earn it, but how much more could he do to justify an NHL roster spot? In the final preseason game against the Nashville Predators, with just three NHL regulars missing, the Hurricanes looked devoid of attacking ideas. Nadeau could be a solution, and this seems like something that will hang over the franchise for the duration of the campaign.
