July Canes Check-In
It's been a predictably quiet start to the offseason.
We’ve reached the doldrums of the offseason a little later than anticipated thanks to a few offer sheets around the league, both of which were matched. With a full roster, it’s pretty understandable that Carolina hasn’t done a whole lot so far. I was expecting maybe one or two more AHL signings, but to this point, here’s what Carolina has done this offseason:
Signed G Zach Sawchenko to a one year, two-way contract
Re-signed D Aleksi Heimosalmi to a one year, two-way contract
That’s it! Other than bringing in a fourth string goalie to make up for the loss of Amir Miftakhov, Carolina has stayed put. This was to be expected given that the Hurricanes extended Mark Jankowski during the playoffs and only lost Mike Reilly and Frederik Andersen from the NHL roster. While I’m slightly surprised the team didn’t bring back Andersen as some insurance, it’s a pretty big vote of confidence in the tandem they do have. For one, they’re counting on Brandon Bussi to continue playing at the level he was at during the regular season and the Final. Two, they’re counting on Pyotr Kochetkov to bounce back from injury and return to form. I do expect perhaps one or two more minor league moves for the Hurricanes to bolster the Chicago Wolves, but unless a trade happens, this is pretty much it.
That being said, what could be on Eric Tulsky’s offseason to-do list?
Find a home for Jesperi Kotkaniemi
Find out what to do with Alexander Nikishin, whether it be a trade or a contract extension.
Acquire a top six forward via trade
Finish signing the rest of the RFAs and shore up minor league depth
Lots of tall tasks stand ahead of our fearless GM this offseason, and at the top of that list has to be moving on from Jesperi Kotkaniemi. With the center market being as bad as it is, it wouldn’t surprise me if there’s a team out there that wants him. While they may not get a ton of value back for him, anything is better than nothing at this point. Plus, the extra nearly $5 million in cap space is worth a good bit too.
Then, there’s Nikishin. Prior to free agency beginning, I wrote about the cases for and against trading him. Those reasons are still valid, and while reports seem to indicate that Nikishin won’t be here next year, I’m of the mindset that this may be insiders trying to will some excitement into existence at this point in the offseason. The Hurricanes don’t need to trade Nikishin at all. In fact, I’m sure they’re more than fine with having him play for the team since he’ll no doubt be better than he was this past year. With Kotkaniemi, it feels like that situation feels a bit untenable and the team would be better suited to get some decent value for him while they can. These moves feel like the bigger priorities for the team to sort out before they try and improve the roster. And to be honest, it’s likely that Carolina may try solving multiple problems at once by using Nikishin to upgrade the roster if they do try and move him at all.
Prospect Development Camp Notes
I didn’t attend prospects camp, but I have some notes based off of what Nick posted over on the CanesProspects account and some other things I heard around the draft. I’ll do this in bullet point format here.
While he’s not at the same level that Nikishin was as a prospect, get excited for Alexander Siryatsky. I’ve seen him play and the skating and skill combined with his defensive zone play is intriguing to say the least. Some other things I’ve heard tell me that he’s vastly underrated by the public scouting sphere right now.
Mikey Berchild is very interesting to me. The skill is raw, and he has a way to go before I can hype him up too much, but I loved some of the videos that Nick posted of him in camp. There was one sequence where he outworked Kurban Limatov, played off of contact and created space to create a scoring chance. If he can do that consistently, there’s a path to the NHL for him. Guys like Stankoven, Jarvis and Blake are elite at doing things like that.
I saw the same things from Zach Lansard’s junior tape. Carolina really took some interesting forwards in this draft.
Roman Shokhrin isn’t the biggest standout in terms of offensive ability, but his pure defensive ability is truly fascinating. He’s a really strong defender and skater and I’m thrilled that he’s finally getting time at the VHL level this upcoming season.
A bit surprised that Timur Kol didn’t get an ELC after training camp, especially considering he’s a KHL free agent right now. Chicago does have a pretty crowded blue line right now, with Badinka, Seeley, Fransen, Legault, Valimaki, Montgomery and Heimosalmi all fighting for spots. Kol would likely play in that group, but I’m not convinced he would get consistent ice time. If Kol can get a KHL contract for a year, that’d be ideal.
First looks at Wiggo Sorensson’s tape and I’m thinking it’s going to be a while here. The skill is undeniable, but he’s not playing against very good competition. I definitely see why Carolina was interested, because he was very good at the U18s. My hope is now that Sorensson has been drafted, the Hurricanes can get him into at least HockeyAllsvenskan to play against solid comptetition. HockeyEttan will be a step up from the fourth division of hockey in Sweden, but it’s not a good league.
Charlie Cerrato could push for a roster spot this fall. I doubt he gets it, but he’ll get a nice look in camp. He looked really good in the clips I saw, and it looks as if that injury is behind him now.
Reader Questions
What is the likelihood of Alexander Nikishin being traded, and why would the Hurricanes consider Šimon Edvinsson over him at a likely more expensive price? - Reece
From how the insiders are reporting it, they’d like for those odds to be 100%. I’m leaning that there’s about a 60% chance that Nikishin is in another uniform at the start of the season, but depending on the day, I could be convinced otherwise. It’s just so hard to predict, because not every NHL team will want to dig a hole on their NHL roster just to fill another. It’d be different if Carolina was just asking for futures in this deal. Draft picks get traded all the time. But when you’re asking for a player in return, that makes a deal all the more difficult to complete.
As for Edvinsson, I see that as your typical “Hurricanes are in on everything” situation rather than something imminent. An agent could say “oh yeah, Carolina checked in” to put pressure on Detroit. The Canes have the draft picks to offer sheet Edvinsson, so the agent could be leveraging that to try and make some headway in negotiations. I like Edvinsson fine enough and he is a year and a half younger than Nikishin is, so that’s at least intriguing. There’s also the question of system fit, and I do wonder if Edvinsson is a better fit in the Canes’ system than Nikishin is due to his skating. Some free advice to all the NHL teams reading this (because I know all of you obviously do, duh), if Carolina wants one of your defensemen, you may want to take a step or two back and wonder why.
Which Russian Prospect non Dman are you most interested in coming to NA in the next 2-3 years? - Howie Handorf
I’m going to say Semyon Frolov. I think he’s the best goalie in the system and the skill set really intrigues me. He desperately needs a big year after spending most of this past season injured. Other than that, I’d say Fyodor Avramov at least intrigues me a little bit due to being one of the only power forward prospects in the system.
Can you please explain to people that our team is signed and were unlikely to make moves unless they are great? - Michael Oneill
This one made me laugh. I actually haven’t seen a ton of negativity online, but perhaps that’s due to the fact that I don’t follow a whole lot of Canes accounts outside of folks I know personally. However, as I stated at the beginning, the only way you can make a tangible improvement to the roster as currently constructed is by adding a legitimate star. Making improvements on the Eric Robinsons and Jordan Martinooks of the world aren’t going to move the needle for the Hurricanes much, if at all. And besides, this free agent class was awful.
Were you a little surprised Aleksi Heimosalmi is coming back for another year? It doesn’t seem like the Wolves have much faith in him. - Tom Edwards
A little, yes. Heimosalmi struggled mightily in North America for the first year of his career here. He did see some improvements this past year, however, most notably in terms of his defensive zone play. He saw a small uptick in points but also went from a -29 last year to a plus 11 in four fewer games. While +/- is generally a stat that can be ignored, a 40 point swing towards the positive is certainly something to keep note of. Heimosalmi is a fine AHL depth defenseman to have, so I don’t hate the move. I’d be more surprised if his Hurricanes tenure extends beyond this upcoming season, but that’s just me.
Which player from the 26 draft haul is most likely to crack the NHL lineup 1st? And when? - Dave McBrayer
William Hakansson is the one I could see making it to the NHL first, likely three to four years from now. He has around 50 games of pro experience in Sweden between the regular season and playoffs, plays a responsible defensive game and has the size and skating to make him successful at the NHL level. I like all of their picks, but guys like Sorensson, Berchild and Lansard are going to take a while to make it to the league, if at all, and goalies are so unpredictable. Hakansson is under contract in the SHL for two more years and I could see him getting a decent role with Lulea this upcoming season. After that, he may only need one year in the AHL to adjust to this level of play.
Quick little aside here: I’m not going to update my top ten prospects list post-draft. I don’t feel confident that any of these players can crack my top ten yet, although Hakansson is close. I will do a tier list and put all of Carolina’s 2026 draftees into that list, though.
What exactly has changed in Artamanov’s game in the past 2 years? He’s fallen off so much production wise and he looked so promising at one point. - Jay
I don’t think much has changed with Artamonov himself, just that he got the short end of the stick in Russia this past season and couldn’t get into a groove. He’s not the type of player that can dominate with his puck skills, nor do I see him as someone that can drive play at an elite level. Moreso, I see him as a complementary winger that can put himself in a scoring position and occasionally set up teammates using his shot as a pass. I think that once teams realized they could pressure Artamonov a bit, he faltered. So it’s now on the player to adapt, and I feel that getting out of Torpedo’s system may end up working out for him. He is now on loan to Severstal Cherepovets and will play with fellow Canes prospect Vladimir Grudinin.
Thanks to everyone that submitted a question! I’ll have more content out for you all next week as I put all of our prospects into tiers.