Rising Stars: Carolina Hurricanes Prospects Shine In 2023 Southeast Rookie Showcase

Ponomarov, Fensore & Suzuki lead the pack!

By Tom Ray

This past weekend, the Carolina Hurricanes attended the Southeast Rookie Showcase in Estero, Florida. It was an opportunity for us to check out some of the top Cane prospects in action against the Florida Panthers, the Nashville Predators, and the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Canes actually won all three games, so that was great.

A number of players jumped out at me with their play during the showcase. And I wanted to highlight first, the top three that, that I really thought excelled Vasily Ponomarov, Domenick Fensore, and Nick Suzuki. They were outstanding.

Ponomarov is an interesting case. He came over a year and a half ago to North America. He had come over for the playoffs with the Chicago Wolves and helped them to get to the Calder Cup. And then last year, had an outstanding year with the Wolves leading them as their top scorer. He’s a guy that plays both ends of the rink extremely hard. He’s just a hardworking guy, a 200 foot player.

Assistant general manager, Darren Yorke said, “Hey, this guy with the puck, he’s great without the puck. He’s great.” So, they really like what he does. They think he’s got the right kind of style to play in the National Hockey League. He’s ready to go. And , the interesting thing was, of course, he played the power play, he killed penalties, he took a lot of the tough draws for them. In fact, on the face-off side, he has an interesting style. He he uses a backhand on both sides of the ice. That’s different. I haven’t seen it before, but seemed to work well for him. Yeah, we’ll just keep an eye on that. Anyway, top player who looked good at both ends of the rink. Also, he was the top scoring cane. So, along with his defensive acumen, he was also showing a lot of offense. So, keep an eye on Ponomarov. I think he’s a guy that’s going to push Jack Drury in camp and we may see him start the season with the Hurricanes.

Domenick Fonsore is an interesting case, man. He was something else. He can really skate. This guy, when he gets on the ice, he’ll bring the puck out of the zone very quickly. And, once he’s up into your zone, you’re in trouble. He’s making something happen. Sees the ice well. He’s just a smart player. And, again on the power play, he was the quarterback par excellence. He was just wonderful out there. Moving the puck smartly. Getting to the center of the ice, getting shots through, finding the open man, reminded me of Tony D’Angelo’s style. Very similar and and looked great. Defensively, he had some challenges and that’s to be expected. He checks in at 5’9 and 170 pounds.That’s tough. He’s going to have to continue to work on stick work, his positioning, all the things that you have to do when you’re a smaller player working on the blueline. So, he’s going to do that. He’s just signed a two-year deal with the Hurricanes. So, he’s ready to go. Man, he’s got a great pedigree. He was a Hobey Baker finalist the last couple of years, and he was an All-Star last year. He’s going to make something happen. Not sure where it will be this year. Of course, the Hurricanes are still looking to place some of these guys. They don’t have an AHL farm team this year, so that’s going to be something we’ll have to keep an eye on. But, Fensore, this guy’s interesting, for sure.

Let’s talk about Nick Suzuki. Suzuki has been under the radar for a while. And mostly because of injuries. When he was drafted 19th overall a couple of years ago. He’s a guy that has elite offensive skills, no question. He can skate. He’s got all kinds of vision on the ice. He made some incredible moves in the shootout and he got a beautiful goal with silky hands. He’s just incredible with the puck and and made some wonderful things happen. He’s a guy that not sure if he’s going to be a factor though, and that’s the question is his 200-foot game. Defensively, he’s not the player that Ponomarev is, that’s for sure. And whether or not he can get that part of his game up, I’m not sure. He tends to like the offensive side. He’ll float a little bit on the ice. But, he’s a player that’s definitely got talent and we’ll see if now he can get a full season in and maybe that’s going to help him get back into the mix with the Hurricanes. Yeah, interesting guy and we’ll keep an eye on him as well.

A couple of defensemen that were interesting, both Finnish guys Aleksi Hemosalmi is a guy that caught everybody’s attention in the last couple of years in some of the Junior and Under-age Tournaments, the under 18 and under 20 tournaments, playing for Finland. He was outstanding. He was their top player, I think, in both tournaments. Racking up the points, just making things happen. So he got a lot of attention there. It’s just a smart, heavy player. I like what he does on the ice. He’s not flashy, but gets the puck out of his own zone. He’s smart with the puck. He doesn’t get concerned with pressure. He’s out there making something happen. And I think he’s a guy that is very much in the discussion for the Hurricanes. He played in in the Finnish League last year. He’ll be with the same team again this year and we’ll get a chance to see what he can do over there as he continues to bulk up and continue to work on his defensive game. Offensively, very strong, played the power play, looked good. Yeah, I like what he does. He’s a pretty heady player. He’s got good vision on the ice. He’s just a smart guy on the ice and that’s what you want to have in the blue.

Anttoni Honka, of course, has a great pedigree. His brother Julius played with Dallas. I don’t know where he fits. At one point, I really thought he was going to be a factor on the blue, but he doesn’t wow you on the defense. He did a solid job. The last couple of years he’s been consistent. He came over to play in North America this past year. You look at what he did the previous two years in Finland, about 30 – 35 points on the offensive side, similar number with Chicago. So, he’s definitely still racking up the points, making things happen offensively, but he’s not flashy and he’s still got some work to do defensively. He’s not a big guy. He checks in about 5’11 maybe 175 pounds. So again, when you’re not a big guy in the blueline, you’ve got to do something exceptional and he’s just not there yet. So not sure where he fits. We’ll keep an eye on Honka, but he looked good. He can skate. He’s definitely a smart player. But again, not sure where he’s going to fit.

Shifting gears over to the forward side for a minute. We’ll Just a couple of guys I want to talk about here. Felix Unger Sorum man, this guy’s interesting. He just turned 18 the day before the showcase. He did not look out of place at all. I was really impressed with Unger Sorum. He’s a good skater. He’s not quick, but he is smart. And he’s definitely great with the puck. He can see the ice, he can make things happen. He’s very happy to carry the puck and get it into the dirty areas and try to make something happen there. And I think again, he’s a guy that has elite skills offensively. You can see it. Just a smart player. Sees the ice well, making something happen. And he’s not afraid to get in the mix. As Darren York said, he’s a guy that will get in there and make a hit and make something happen on the boards. In fact, his board work was interesting. In the showcase, I could see it was definitely a factor when he got in the boards and got the puck out. So, very interesting to see Unger Sorum, where he’s going to go. He’s targeted to be a mid-six player, a complementary type player at this stage, but just 18 years old with some growing to do, I think he’s going to be a player for the Hurricanes sometime in the future.

Justin Robidas is another player that started this showcase very fast. Robidas checks in at 5’9, 175 lbs. He’s a stocky little guy. He’s a buzzsaw, so to speak. He’s fast. He makes something happen.

He’s good with the puck. Again, just a hardworking guy. Kills penalties. Defensively sound. 200-foot game. But again, not a big guy and he’s going to have to be exceptional at something if he’s going to play for the Hurricanes. And that’s probably going to be the offensive side. So we’ll see how he develops. He’s looking for a team this year as well in the NHL after signing his three-year deal. And yeah, we’ll keep an eye on on Robidas. Again, he’s also got a strong pedigree NHL as well.

nd rounding it out, Noel Gunler. Gunler disappointed me in this in this showcase. He’s a guy that’s got elite offensive skills.He was drafted in the second round a couple of years ago. He’s checking it at 6’1”. He’s a bigger guy. But, not really a factor most of the time in the showcase. He did get a goal and make a few plays on the power play, but. I was disappointed generally with Gunler and waiting to see what he’s going to do. He’s heading back to Sweden. He’ll play with Brynäs this year again. And we’ll see how he can develop his kind of full game. Still have high hopes for him. Definitely got some offensive capability. Going to be a big guy and and he’s going to be somebody the Canes are very interested in. So, I’m sure they’ll work hard with Gunler to to round out his game over the next year or two.

Okay, so to wrap up this this session, I wanted to talk about the goaltenders at the Showcase, Jacob Vondras and Yaniv Perets. Boy, they were both outstanding. Perets is an interesting story. He was signed as a free agent this summer out of Quinnipiac, and of course, that’s where Tyler Brind’Amour played last year.

Peretz yeah, championship team. He was all world the last couple of years in the NCAA. His numbers last year, 31 wins, 1.17 goals against average and a 9.39 save percentage. These are crazy numbers. And this past year, 41 wins, 1. 49 and a 9. 31 save percentage. The deal with this guy is he’s about 6’1”, so he’s not a huge goaltender. Covers the net very well. He just doesn’t give up on the plays. He’s gonna work hard. Darren Yorke was very impressed with his efforts. When they signed him ,Yorke was saying that he is just a hardworking goaltender that doesn’t give up on the play. And again, he’s he looked sharp throughout this whole tournament. He made a number of 10-bell saves, I thought, and and generally looked very solid in net. So,very impressed with Perets. He’s going to likely play in the AHL this year. We’re not sure where, but that should sort itself out in the near future. A two-year deal for Perets, so he’s got a couple of years to make his place in the Hurricanes lineup.

And of course, let’s talk about Jakob Vondras. This guy really impressed me. He’s about 6’3 He’s a big guy, comes out of Czechia. He had played in the under 20 league there the last couple of years. Outstanding numbers. He’s he’s just a calm goaltender. To use Tripp Tracy’s words, he was “quiet” in goal and just very calm, really had control of the crease. I think one of the big things for him is that he really follows the play. I noticed that he was really working hard to look around the players in front of the net so he could see the shots coming and definitely very quick side-to-side. Excellent rebound control. I’m very impressed with Vondras. Good news on Vondras. He’s actually going to be playing in Sudbury this year. This is a great thing because he gets to come over to North America. He’ll have an opportunity to acclimatize himself to this part of the world, learn the English language. And,of course, just getting a chance to play in North America is great for him. Really like Vondras. When you think about these two guys, add them to Pyotr Kochetkov, who is the heir apparent to the top goaltending spot for the Hurricanes, and we’ve got a great future in goal. I’m very excited about the potential of these three guys for the future.