Breaking Down the Carolina Hurricanes 2024 Draft Picks – Badinka, Artamonov, Fransen, Poirier and more

Tom Ray:
Well, it’s been a busy three or four days. A lot of crazy things happening. Of course, the draft took place at the Incredible Sphere in Las Vegas. Keynes did very well. We’ll talk about that. But I wanted to just touch base with maybe the last couple of days where free agency happened and a lot changed on the Hurricanes.

Nick Bass:
I really do appreciate what they did with their defense. Sean Walker and Shane Gostisbehere, as was pointed out, are both, you know, five foot, 11, six foot defensemen, but they’re incredible puck movers, which is a big thing that the Canes kind of need after losing Pesce and after especially losing Skjei. I respect that man, but $49 million. I love you with all my heart, but you’ll love Nashville. But they’re both incredible puck movers and this allows you to do a lot, be a lot more creative, especially on the blue line, they’re going to be a lot more active offensively and they’re probably going to put up a respectable amount of points. The one downside in my eyes is that Scott Morrow is probably not going to start in the NHL anyways, but he’ll get some very valuable time in the AHL. So, I’m not going to be too upset about it.

Tom Ray:
Well, you know, I’m actually happy about that because I think it’s going to be better for him to kind of groom in Chicago. You’ll get a lot of ice time in all situations. So, I think that’s positive. And back to Gostisbehere and Walker. Walker is really a prototypical Canes player. He’s tough out there. He plays hard. He’s great with the puck. He’s excellent moving up the ice. So, I’m excited about Walker. And of course, Gostisbehere had a big season last year. He had 56 points in 81 games with the Red Wings, 29 on the power play.

Nick Bass:
I’ve seen a lot of people upset that Brent Burns still gets a very hefty majority of the powerplay minutes and with Gostisbehere now you could easily move Burns back because Gostisbehere is one of the better powerplay guys in the league so makes that easy.

Tom Ray:
Yeah, I think that’s going to help. The other guy that I was going to ask you about was William Carrier. He was signed to a six year deal at $2.0M. Kind of an interesting signing. A solid player. I’ve enjoyed him with Vegas. What are your thoughts on Carrier?

Nick Bass:
He is one of the prototypical fourth line Hurricanes. He can drive the play really well. He is incredibly solid defensively. He can play on the penalty kill if needed to. The one issue is he cannot score, but he can drive play really well. And, that just screams fourth line. The six year part is always weird, but this is the first year that you’re finally out of that whole flat cap era from COVID. And GMs have obviously gotten a little,  spend heavy. I think the final total number from yesterday and money spent like overall contracts was $1 .2 billion. So, they’re having fun out there and six years is just to keep the CAP money down. I’m not really complaining about it.

Tom Ray:
I think that’s true. And, he’s quite a substantial guy, too. I think he’s about 6 ‘2 and 220 lbs. So, he’s a real solid player. He’s going to bring a real edge to that third and fourth line. I’m pleased with him as well. So let’s move on to the draft. I wanted to just kind of set the table. You and I had gone through a number of players just prior to the draft. And one of the folks we talked about was, of course, Nikita Artamonov. And he was actually selected by the Canes. So, that’s good. We’ll talk about Nikita.
But I also had brought up and we discussed a little bit a couple of directions the Canes have taken in recent years. One of them was to trade for extra picks. They did that again. And the other was to select a number of Russian players and they did that again. What do you think about both of those concepts?

Nick Bass:
Yeah, at some point Russian players are just going to fall because people don’t like where they’re playing and it’s unfortunate, but obviously the Canes have benefited from it seeing as they took six Russians in total this year and they just found good value with these players and they’re betting on the long term upside that they play at the KHL level or MHL, which is a very tough league. But playing in the KHL at the ages that they are, is one of the things that I believe they value high. Obviously they took a lot of them. And, they just enjoy doing it. Obviously, they believe in the Russian scout Oleg Smirnov, who is an incredibly nice dude. I’ve had a few conversations with him in the past. Incredibly nice guy. Very, very helpful, very intelligent. He obviously does an incredible job seeing as we have all these Russian prospects and how most of them are turning out okay.

Tom Ray:
We’ll have a chance to talk about some of the Russians later in the summer for sure. I think again, some of these players are really impressive as we go through them. I think the folks will be pretty surprised at where the Canes were able to draft these players and the quality that they’re able to pick up. So, let’s kick it off. I want to start with the first pick for the Canes, number 34. They traded down from #27 to get #34 and #50, so it was an interesting move by the Canes. But they started off and selected Dominik Badinka. Now Badinka, is an interesting player. Here’s what Steven Ellis said about him. “Badinka has a great frame and solid hockey sense, a defenceman who moves well and doesn’t get flustered with the puck when getting chased. And he’s going to have a great career.” Darren Yorke said, “He’s 18 years old and playing in a hard league. He has the ability to play fast and to really play off the rush. Again, his length and his mobility, that he’s able to play with & against men and the way he shuts it down is impressive.” So, I think a lot of good things said about Badinka. He was rated by Elite Prospects at #35, Craig Button at #48, McKeen’s at #27 & Corey Pronman had him at #34. So, he’s kind of in the range where folks seem to think he would be. What can you say about Dominik Badinka?

Nick Bass:
I mean, obviously playing in the SHL at 18 is something that a lot of players can’t do. He is an exceptional player. His time in the J20 national, which is their youth league, I believe. He was incredible with the puck. He was just very, very solid with it. Unfortunately, whenever he did go to the SHL, that part of his game didn’t translate immediately. But what did translate immediately was his defense.  Malmo trusted him a ton in these higher leverages situations. And I believe he played a little bit on the penalty kill, as well.
They trusted him in these situations because he was that good defensively at such a young age. The offense will come. I’m not really worried about that, especially since he’s probably going to get more playing time since Malmo is one of those teams that isn’t horrendous, but they’re obviously are a more youth -based team. So, he’s going to get a lot more playing time going forward. The offense will come, but his defense translating fast and them trusting him, that says something about his development.

Tom Ray:
And you know, he’s a big player. I think he’s what, 6 ‘3″, and I think he’s going to bring size. And again, everything I’ve heard, he can skate well. He’s definitely a solid player back on the back line. And they chose him over some other top defencemen that were still available. So, I think that speaks a lot for Badinka. Okay, let’s move on to the gentleman we had talked a lot about in our pre -draft episode and that’s Nikita Artamonov. He was drafted at #50 and, as I watched the draft, I was just hanging on the edge of my seat, hoping he would still be there and he was and they selected him. So, it was great news. You know, we talked about some of the ratings of Artamonov. Elite Prospects had him at #25, McKeen’s had him at #50, but FC Hockey had him at #21 and Pronman at #33. So he definitely was a very astute pickup.
Steven Ellis again of Daily Faceoff. “He’s quickly become one of my favorite wingers due to his high end hockey IQ and how he gets into scoring position.” And, here’s Darren Yorke’s comments. “He’s playing in a very good league and it’s very challenging to produce the way he did. You have this incredibly energy-driven player who can play a bunch of different styles. You had a skill level on top of it and it was great for us that we were able to pick up a talented player who also likes to play hard and fast.” Nikita Artamonov.

Nick Bass:
Yeah, I was ecstatic by it. I wanted him at #27. Obviously if you can get him at #50, I believe that’s plus value. That’s unbelievable. I love him. One of the things

you will forever notice with every Hurricanes draft pick or at least the large majority is that they are incredibly smart on the ice. They love taking players with hockey IQ and high hockey IQ, at that, because that is something that is very hard to teach.
And it’s not that it’s an unteachable skill, but having that level of knowledge at the age of like 17 or 18 is something that is incredible. And, they obviously value that the most. I continuously view him as what Michael Bunting is. He’s a pest. He’s annoying. He’s going to piss you off when he is on you, when you have the puck in your own zone. He is going to be annoying.
Obviously he’s 18, he’s playing in the KHL and he’s playing a ton of games at that level. And that’s just, again, something that they value a ton. So, I’m very excited to see how he continues his development. And I honestly can’t wait to have people up my butt trying to ask when he’s coming to North America as well.

Tom Ray:
Well, that’s absolutely and I’m very excited about him as well. He’s a great skater. He’s a stocky player. He plays a heavy game and I think certainly will fit quite nicely in the middle six of the hurricanes in the future. Let’s move on to Noel Fransen, Swedish player. Fransen is 6 ‘1″, just under 200 pounds. He’s a guy that in the under 20 league, you talked about it before in Sweden, he just tore it up as a defenseman. He had 20 goals in 45 games. So this guy can really play.
Elite Prospects said, “Fransen is an offensive defenseman who leverages his strong skating ability to create off the rush and from the point. Darren York said, Noel’s a player who maybe doesn’t get the recognition that he deserved because he didn’t make some of the international teams. He’s an incredibly offensively gifted player. And again, at the same point, he’s still able to defend. He’s a really highly offensive player, but that’s not to take away from some of the defensive style of his game. So clearly a guy that has a solid two -way game, but exceptional offense. Most of the guys rated him around where we got him. Elite had him at #76, McKeen’s #64, Chris Peters of FLOHockey, #61, Dobber at #63, and Corey Pronman a little lower at #97, but I think he looks like a real player.

Nick Bass:
Yeah, the one of the things that Fransen just excels at anytime that puck is on his stick, it’s he’s going to make something happen with it. That is one of his favorite things ever is having the puck on his stick. Now the defense might not be there yet. But in complete honesty, I’m not too worried about a defense part of it. Like he’s a defenseman. Yes. But at the same point, he is still a ton of time to develop.
And the stuff that he does, especially at the age that he does it, is some of the stuff that you just don’t see that often. So you have to go for it. You have to make that value pick. And he is an incredible defense. He’s an incredible passer. When he has the puck on his stick, he is going to make something happen or he is going to try and make something happen. He doesn’t really care if it succeeds or not. He’s going to make it happen.
He is an incredible playmaker. He understands how to use his body well He understands a lot of the stuff about the game and he is a big focal point of the offense at the J20 level I do I am very intrigued to see if he does play for far just add this year because at that point you’re gonna have you’re gonna have him and Hurricanes prospect you all nice from on the same blue line and that will be incredibly fun for me and incredibly easy which means I don’t have to watch a ton of different Swedish games because

Tom Ray:
Yeah, everything I’ve seen about him looks like he’s a he’s a real offensive jam and a guy that has a lot of potential for us. So again, I think he’s a six one six foot one guy. He’s just under 200 pounds. So that’s a good size guy. And he’s definitely on the right track. Let’s talk about a player that was rated much higher by some of the the mock draft guys. That’s Alexander Suryatsky. Now this guy, we got him at one twenty four.
FC Hockey had him at #52, Recruit Hockey had him at #51, NHL central scouting for Europe had him at #66. A couple of things about Suryatsky. Elite Prospects said “Suryatsky understands how to mitigate risk defensively. He backtracks ahead of the opposing rush and adopts a conservative positioning to avoid getting beat to the middle.”
Darren Yorke has some really excellent things to say. He said “the development that he had over the last 12 months is really incredible. And again, it’s not something that you always see from younger defensemen who have to play against men.” The higher and offensive thinking that he’s shown has been great. So that’s Alexander Suryatsky. What do we know about him?

Nick Bass:
Well, for one thing, he is a bean pole. He is six foot two, but he is like 160 pounds soaking wet. So he, he, he’s another one of those guys that desperately needs to add weight onto his frame, especially as a defenseman. You can not be 160 pounds and succeed at higher levels of hockey. It is just one of those things that is very tough and it doesn’t happen. Another thing he, again, it’s another one of those picks that he is, his brain is always working and it’s incredibly smart. His hockey sense is very, very good.
Defensively, he is very solid. He loves to use his stick to try and get the puck away. He’s a big opportunistic guy. He doesn’t really throw his body around, which obviously you’re 160 pounds. You can’t really throw your body around, but he’s incredibly smart at the MHL level. He had decent production for a defenseman as well. So I think the offensive side of his game is there. His skating is also very solid. His play making is probably the best asset offensively, but he is kind of a defensive guy through and through.
He understands that side of the puck a lot more than anything else. He’s a very solid pick. I didn’t really know much about him, but he’s a, I mean, obviously they like him a lot. He seems to have a very good foundation in his game. And the big thing I really wanted to just start force feeding him any greasy fast food I can find because 160 pounds of defensemen is disgustingly small.

Tom Ray:
Yeah, it’s interesting. He certainly seemed to fly below the radar. Corey Pronman didn’t even have him on his list of seven rounds. So, he’s been flying under the radar, but it looks like he’s a guy that could really have a future with the Canes. He’s got a lot of ability to start with, and if he can fill out his body, that’s going to be great news. So yeah, Suryatsky an interesting ad for sure.
The biggest part of it is he doesn’t really use his body at all. He kind of shies away from everything. If he can ever figure that part out, he is probably going to be a very solid offensive player. He’s just got to understand that he has a body too. He can use it. He just has to learn how.

Okay, so let’s talk about another Swede, Oskar Voullet. Again, he’s a guy that we drafted at #133. FC Hockey had him at #161, but THN/Ferrari had him at #93. McKeen’s had him at #61, Pronman at #86. So again, he’s a guy that some folks really think highly of. Couple of comments on him, Elite Prospects. “He just intuitively knows where to be, when to be there and how to make opponents pay for losing them and coverage usually with a well -placed wrist shot.” And Darren Yorke, “he may be a little underappreciated for what he’s accomplished for two years in a row. All he’s done is produce at the junior level. And again, put him on the power plan. He can run your half wall and still be a dual threat. He’s a really high-end offensive player who was able to do what he did at the junior level and show it again against men, even if he didn’t have the same production.” So again, highly thought of by the Canes. What can you tell us about Oskar?

Nick Bass:
So Oskar Vuollet, the only guy that has any experience playing at the center position, which was one of their weaker spots. But I had talked about, I think a few days ago that unless you’re drafting within the top 15, which the Canes almost did, you are going to be incredibly hard pressed to find a center that actually sticks at center in the NHL because it’s such a premium position at this point. So I’m really not too bothered.
Vuolett is an incredible offensive player. He drives the play really well. He’s a very skilled passer. His shot is very, very solid for especially his age. The offense at Skelefte in the junior level was kind of built around him. He was very, very, very involved with everything offensively. And stop me if you heard this before, he’s an incredibly smart player. He understands a lot of the smaller stuff. He understands where everybody’s supposed to be. Timing is good.
The one worry that I have is that even though he is a smaller player at 5 ’10”, he just doesn’t understand how to use his body and be physical with the puck or just be physical in general. If you could ever figure that out, I think he has a bright future. I’m very interested to see also if he sticks in the SHL. I think he could, especially after playing at the SHL last year and playing at the same way he did, but I’m very intrigued. He’s an interesting player.

Tom Ray:
Yeah, for sure. And I think again, he continues this trend for the Hurricanes of drafting these very talented players right around the globe. So we’ll see if maybe there’s an opportunity for Oskar in the months ahead with the Hurricanes. Let’s go to a guy that I think a lot of folks really thought was a steal watching the group talking about it on the draft show that was on ESPN.
They definitely were very excited about Justin Poirier. He’s a guy, and again, he comes in, he’s a smaller player, but again, very solid, brings an incredible skill level. Poirier had 82 points in 68 games in the Quebec Junior League last year, so he can really put up the points. And Canes got him at #156. Now, Elite Prospects had him at #44, TSN/Craig Button at #38, McKeen’s at #65 and Dobber at #41. I mean, these are, man, he was well up the list with a lot of these guys. And Elite says this about him, “Poirier drives all over the offensive zone in search of goals, positioning himself at the far post for backdoor plays and jumping on rebounds in front of the net.” So he’s definitely out there making it happen. Yorke had this to say, “Goal scorer. There are very few people who have scored as many goals as he has over the last two years in the CHL during the draft years. So he’s probably a little undervalued, unfortunately, because he’s not very tall, but all he does is score.” Justin Poirier.

Nick Bass:
So if you’re making a pros and cons list, the pros list is going to be long. Because the guy’s an incredible player, the cons list is incredibly short. And it’s just because the dude is 5 ‘8″, which people are going to be driven away from. At that same point, I don’t really give a heck that he is 5 ‘8″. He’s an incredible player. I do know, because I think we talked about this the last time I was here, that I kind of said the Canes might not be looking at Justin Poirier at all.
That’s what I that’s what I was under the impression of and then they draft him and the text I got from the person who helped me run the account before Matt he was just like, really? He was he was kind of shocked too. But Justin Poirier is an incredible offensive player. His shot I would not I don’t know if I would compare it to Bradley Nadeau’s of last year, but he his shot is something to behold. It’s it tore up.
The QMJHL this year, I think 51 goals is the final tally. Incredible. He also is solid passing the puck even though he probably should pass it ever so slightly more if he wants to continue racking up these high point totals. He’s in very good in transition. Shockingly enough, he understands how to use his body at five foot nine. He is a physical player at five foot eight. That is something that I didn’t think I’d see. His tape is so fun because can you imagine?
Just imagine Seth Jarvis if you put him in a body that was somehow smaller in every regard and the dude still played the same way where he was physical. It’s so weird, but it’s so enjoyable in a weird way. Poirier is an incredible pick. And the reason why he went solo is solely because GMs hate the fact that he is a short king. They don’t like that he’s five foot eight and he might not grow anymore. But at that same point, if you can score 50 goals at the junior level, you have value. So Justin Poirier in my eyes was a solid pick.
I kinda didn’t expect him in complete honesty as we kinda hear. But I do really like the pick. I’m very interested to see. He’s also a late birthday, which I thought was spectacular. He’s a September 2006. He won’t turn 18 until next year. And that is ridiculous for somebody that, like that’s crazy to me. I love that. That’s the same thing they did with Unger Sorum last year. He was a super, super young kid and they did the same thing with Poirier here and I do like the pic.

Tom Ray:
Well, and he fits the same kind of mold as Jayden Perron. I mean, both of these guys, I think, have very high ceilings. And I’m excited about both. And yeah, again, size, I think they’re both going to be able to get past that. I think they both have elite skills. And yeah, maybe someday soon we’ll see them with the Hurricanes. But great pick. I’m as excited about Poirier as you are. And we’ll look forward to see how he develops in the next couple of years.
Now, going to the other end of the spectrum at six foot four inch Timur Kol. He’s a huge defenseman. He was selected #168. Kol according to Dobber, “a big meat and potatoes defenseman who played well against pro competition as a young draft eligible.” And Yorke says, “he’s great defensively similar to how we describe Badinka, you have to be able to play fast and defend fast and being able to do so. That’s what he’s done this season, it’s pretty special.” So, drafted at #168, elite had him at #124, Smaht Scouting had him at #59, unbelievable. Dobber had him at #116, McKeen’s #107, and Pronman #76. So he’s a guy that some folks really loved. What do you know about Timur Kol?

Nick Bass:
He is gigantic, 6 ‘4 obviously. He’s another really late, really early, late birthday, sorry. He was born late August, so he’s still like a super young 17. One of the people I love following around Draft time is Dylan Griffin of Elite Prospects. He does all of their Russian, he is their Russian regional scout and he is an incredible follow if you want to keep up with anything like that. His description of Kol was boring but effective. And, after taking a little bit of my time and viewing some of his footage, I think that’s an incredibly accurate description. He doesn’t do anything stupid with the puck. He is an incredibly smart dude. He’s not going to make a flashy play to just make it happen. He is going to take the smart play every single time you give it to him, and he is not going to do anything that’s going to risk it. He’s an incredible skater. His shot is weirdly good for a defenseman. His passing is not bad. He does need to learn how to use his body a little bit more, even though he has some hits. I’m not saying anything close to Nikishin level where we give him his own nickname, but he is incredibly physical in that regard. Just the one thing that he needs to keep working on is the offense. If he can continue to find some other offensive game in his development, he’s going to be an interesting player because his defense is already so good.

Tom Ray:
Yeah, sounds like again, he brings size, solid player, smart player, and very young again. So Kane’s continuing that theme for sure. Roman Shokhrin, we took at #184. That’s another big man. He’s at six foot five and 205. He is huge. So the Cane’s a bit of a theme here between Kol and Shokhrin. Again, THN/Kennedy had him at #116, McKeen’s at #110, FC hockey had him at #57, Pronman at #204. So, a little bit of a difference in terms of where folks rated him. Elite Prospect said this, “when he’s not barreling out over guys, there are flashes of actual puck handling ability.” It sounds like someone else we know, Mr. Nikishin. FC hockey said, “ Chokhrin is a big defenseman who uses his size advantage to smother opposing entries and effectively protect the puck.” And finally, Darren Yorke, “He’s an incredibly gifted skater. He’s got great mobility.” So, again, some interesting words on Roman Chokhrin.

Nick Bass:
Yeah, as we can kind of see that trend of Russian players falling and the Canes going, well, if they’re going to fall this far, I might as well take them is kind of very evident. One of the things that I used as a big resource on draft day was some tracking by these two amazing people, Mitch Brown and Lassi Alanen. I know Lassie works for Elite Prospects. I’m not sure about Mitchell, but they track some of the games of these prospects and they do incredible work.
So looking at Chokhrin’s, his passing is weirdly good for his age and especially his size. His skating, same thing, weirdly good for his age and his size. Transition wise, if you’ve ever seen a defenseman that can’t leave his own zone with the puck but loves to enter the opposing zone with the puck, weirdly enough, he hates leaving his own zone, but he loves getting in the other one with the puck. I don’t understand it. Defensively, he might be a little bit weaker because…
He does over rely on a poke check because he’s so long and lanky. He has the ability to just reach his stick out and most of the time can get it, but it has costed him in the past and his passing. He loves to pass. He’s a talented passer for his age and he’s a very weird player. I’ve never seen a defenseman kind of like of this where offensively he is incredibly good at transitioning it and not out of his own, but in the neutral zone to the offensive zone. He is an incredible player with a puck on his stick and he’s a very talented passer. He can’t shoot. He kind of is weird defensively, but you kind of hope that other parts get better with already the talent in his game.

Tom Ray:

Okay, well that’s again another big player. Cane’s looking at these big defensemen. So, we’ll see how he develops as well. Another Russian on the docket for #188, Fyodor Avramov. Now, that’s interesting because Elite Prospects had him at #89, THN/Ferrari #46, and Dobber at #85. So, it seems like some folks really rated Fyodor a lot higher.

Couple of words on him, Elite Prospects. “Fyodor Avramov is a physically strong winger who can explode offensively with his handling and shot.” And, then Darren Yorke, “he can shoot. He has a massive shot that he’s able to get off and to beat goalies from distance.” He’s a big player, as I said, six foot three. So maybe the Kane’s looking for a bit of size here as well.

Nick Bass:
Yeah, he’s an energy guy. His motor is very, very good. Fun little fun fact here. He’s actually the first player to be taken from the MHL team of Kapitan Stupino since Pyotr Kochetkov, if I could speak. So, a little interesting tidbit there. Yeah, Avramov is a very weird, not weird, but a very interesting player. He’s six foot three, which for a winger is kind of large. His shot is very, very good.
His motor is good. He understands that he has a bigger frame, especially against people his age. So he is very solid in that regard. It’s just his skating. Apparently it has a weird motion. It might not be the greatest it could be, but every other part of his game is very solid. And another one of those guys, Dylan Griffin, really, really likes. So, anytime that he normally likes somebody, I kind of like them because he spends every waking hour watching Russian footage.
And I kind of trust him with a lot of the opinions. And he obviously had a very good year on a very horrible Stupino team. I got to make that abundantly clear. His 44 points was best on his team by 15. That team is incredibly not good. So going into next year, hopefully his team is a little bit better and he has a little bit more help, but I’m very interested to see if he can continue the development of his shot and maybe his play making ability if he ever has a teammate that understands how to use his stick.

Tom Ray:
sounds again like, you know, Keynes are pulling these players out of a hat late in the rounds. And boy, I tell you, he’s a very interesting one as well. We’ll see how Avramov continues to develop in Russia and follow him closely. Okay, our last pick was number 220. So this is very late, of course, Andrey Krutov. Krutov is a guy that according to elite prospects sees opposing defenders as cones to dangle around.
He has the handling skills to pull off many of his moves too. He can shift the puck around sticks and beat opponents with pure handling speed. Boy, that sounds like a pretty exciting guy. Darren Yorke says, “a really high quality offensive thinker.” So again, this guy’s got some real slick moves offensively coming in at #220. Smaht Scouting had him at #88, McKeen’s #134, Pronman at #175. What can you tell us about Andrey?

Nick Bass:
So, with Krutov, you kind of mentioned it. His handling when the puck is on his stick, he might have some of the cleaner mitts I’ve seen in a little bit with any prospect. He, Dylan Griffin, once again, I really do love his work. He had like a 40, a 40 second, just few clips of Krutov making defenders look really stupid. And he is an incredible stick handler. I’m not going to go as far as if we can all remember good old Tolchinsky stick handle in a phone booth, but no, his stick handling is something to behold. His shot is very solid. His body the way he handles it pretty solid, the issue is his brain that might not be as fast as his hands and his skating can be kind of funky. But at the same time you’re in the seventh round Why not take a shot on a guy whose play making is that solid? Anytime you can take a guy whose stick handling is that good his shot is already good and you put up over a point per game at the NHL level, you gotta at least look at them. So I don’t hate the pick. Again, it’s a seventh rounder at that point. Just take somebody that you think might go. So, Krutov is a solid pick.

Tom Ray:
Yeah, and I think again, with a lot of these, you know, later round picks by the Canes, they were rated much higher by several of the marked draft guys. And it could be that there could be a nugget in there as well. You know, we look at the summary of the draft, Nick, we had 10 players that the Canes drafted, five forwards, five defensemen. That’s interesting. And six Russians. So kind of an interesting dynamic here. What was your overall impression of the draft? How do you feel the Canes did?

Nick Bass:
I liked it. They continued to take shots on Russian guys who kept falling. They took a shot on a very boomer bus prospect who has maybe 30, 40 goal potential in Justin Poirier. They took a few defensemen, which they did need after graduating a few guys this year into the higher ranks like Nadeau, like Morrow. And eventually after the end of the 2024, 2025 KHL season and not a minute before Alexander Nikishin.
They’re going to graduate a lot of defensemen. You have to restock that cupboard. And they did in a very good way. Badinka, Fransen, Kol, Chokhrin, Suryetsky, all of them are very talented defensemen in their own right. You had to get guys like that. I’m very interested to see Dominik Badinka’s development. He has legit top four talent. He has legit penalty kill talent. He has legit powerplay talent. It just depends on him and if he can develop in these certain regards. I thought they did a good job.
I kind of have that same regard every year because they always try and find value in players. But yeah, I thought it was a decent draft overall.

Tom Ray:
Well, and again, interesting thing other than Poirier and a couple of other guys, big players, I mean, some huge players. So definitely trying to bring some size into the mix as well. But yeah, like you, I feel like this was a solid draft again and the Canes continue that theme of trading down and getting more picks. They just want to throw more darts at the wall, I guess, and they feel some of them are gonna come through.
One thing I just want to mention on Nikishin, we’ve talked about him quite a bit in this session, I did see an interview, I don’t know if you saw it recently on “X”, Nikishin being in a discussion about playing for Carolina and how he felt about that and what he thought his future was going to look like. And it sounds like he’s getting pretty excited about the potential joining the Hurricanes, so that’s good news.

Nick Bass:

Yeah, that’s the thing that I have been fighting ever since day one of me taking over as Canes Prospects, is every single person that has followed that account and ever interacted with it at some point always ask the question of when is Nikishin coming over? He isn’t like we’ve I can’t really talk much more about him because I’ve basically said every word in the English dictionary. I haven’t touched the Russian dictionary yet and I’ve joked I might have to continue my Russian education because they keep taking so many of them, but he is going to be an incredible defenseman. I’m happy to see that he did recover from the injury he suffered in the playoffs. I did not know the seriousness of it. I was communicated it as either a shoulder or a knee injury. It did sound like it was a knee injury. He had a surgery on it and it’s all good now. He is going to be one of the fastest fan favorite players in Hurricanes’ history in my eyes, because anytime you get a dude who is a hulking man, you get a guy who’s going to play everywhere at any time in any situation and he is going to play in it. And he’s just another one of those lovable Russians. You just he’s going to be that guy. And it’s kind of been known now.

I know people are still going to freak out because of the current geopolitical situations between the United States and Russia and what Russia is doing. But please, if you take anything I’ve ever said at the end of the 2024 -2025 KHL season, Alexander Nikishin is not going to re-sign with SKA Moscow. He is going to sign a entry level contract at the Carolina Hurricanes. Now, I do not believe he will play at the end of this year. Like I have seen some people saying because of, you know, their defensive signings, not everything is timing out.
I do not believe Nikishin is going to step into the lineup until the 2025 -2026 season. As we have seen, they have signed Gostisbehere long term. They have signed Walker long term. You know whose contract runs out the end of this year who I do not believe they are going to re -sign? Dmitri Orlov. Do you know how easy of a transition it’s going to be going from Dmitri Orlov to Alexander Nikishin? It’s going to be an incredibly easy transition.
That has been the plan in my eyes, if I am not mistaken, since they have signed Dmitri Orlov and the reason why they only gave him two years. They had the plan, they knew what was going to happen, and Don Waddell is not the nicest human being on planet Earth for even mentioning the fact that Nikishin could come over early.

Tom Ray:
Well, again, I think I think you’re right. And the fact that the Canes were able to acquire Shane Gostisbehere takes the pressure off. A lot of folks thought they were going to pick somebody up to kind of fill the gap. But clearly, that’s not the case. Ghost is going to be here for three years. So, he’s a key part of our team going forward. So I agree with you. I think they’re going to be able to take their time with Nikishin. I think he’ll join them. And maybe if they’re in a playoff run, he’ll be there to kind of watch that and get a sense of the team. One of the areas that he struggles with, and we’re going to see this as time goes on, he does not have English skills at all. So there’s still some work to do to kind of get him acclimatized to this North American world. And I’m sure the Canes have a plan to do that, but lots of excitement around Nikishin and lots of excitement around the Russians, particularly as the Canes continue to draft some real nuggets in the draft this year.