Carolina Hurricanes Prospects: Alex Nedeljkovic Readies for his Final Year in the OHL
By Brett Finger
Between now and the start of the preseason, Cardiac Cane will preview every Carolina Hurricanes prospect as they enter the 2015-2016 season and what we expect from them in the coming year.
Player: Alex Nedeljkovic
Position: Goalie
Date of Birth: January 7, 1996 (19)
Birthplace: Parma, Ohio (U.S.A)
Height/Weight: 6’0″/190 lbs.
2015-2016 Team: Carolina Hurricanes (NHL) or Flint Firebirds (OHL)
Scouting Reports:
"Nedeljkovic has very good technique, but he is also extremely athletic and able to recover quickly if he does get caught out of positioning. Good skating allows him to challenge shooters, and recover quickly if an opponent tries to deke. A quick glove hand and a solid blocker take away the top half of the net. Nedeljkovic is extremely good at handling the puck. He plays like a third defencemen on dump-ins helping his defencemen to clear the puck, and to start the transition game. He is also able to make long passes to catch teams if they are making a poor line change.Alex Nedeljkovic is an on-ice leader for the young Whalers team, displaying a confidence in the net that calms his teammates. He shakes off bad goals quickly, and does not allow any mistakes to get to him and he is ready to make the next save by the time the puck is dropped at centre-ice. (LAST WORD ON SPORTS)"
"Nedeljkovic might not have the prototypical size NHL teams look for but the rest of the game is making them notice. He has a strong, fluid leg push utilizes a tight compact butterfly, the ability to read the play and proactively get into solid position making him hard to beat. (ELITE PROSPECTS)"
The Carolina Hurricanes don’t have many goalie prospects that have potential to make an impact on the NHL level one day, but Alex Nedeljkovic is a net minder that could, one day, be an impact player in the pro’s.
Drafted with the 37th overall pick (2nd round) in the 2014 NHL Draft, Nedeljkovic was one of the top goalie prospects in that draft class, and the Hurricanes made it a priority to pick up one of them.
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Nedeljkovic, 19, starred in his first full season as starting goalie with the Plymouth Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League in 2013-2014, putting together a record of 26-27-7 with a goals against average of 2.88 and a save percentage of .925, which ranked first of all OHL goalies with 36+ appearances.
This breakout season threw him into first-round draft pick discussion in 2014, but he fell to the Hurricanes early in the 2nd round.
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Some places have him listed at 5’11” and some have him listed at 6’0″, which means he isn’t your prototypical big goalie who can cover up a lot of the net – think Ben Bishop (Tampa Bay Lightning) or Corey Crawford (Chicago Blackhawks) – but what he lacks in size, he makes up for in positioning and quickness.
He is a butterfly-style goalie who has a tight and compact butterfly, and scouts rave about his strong leg push and quickness. He has a lot of great traits for a young goalie, despite lacking size.
Last season, Nedeljkovic saw drop offs in his statistics, posting a 20-28-7 record with a 3.13 goals against average and .916 save percentage, though he did have a career-high 5 shutouts.
There were a lot of factors here. First, the team in Plymouth last season was bad, really bad. They were 1 of just 2 Western Conference teams to miss the playoffs and finished tied for 18th place in the OHL out of 20 teams.
The Plymouth Whalers, now the Flint Firebirds, really lacked talent at most positions a season ago. Other than Nedeljkovic, Sonny Milano was the real bright side for this team. The 2014 fist round pick of the Columbus Blue Jackets led the way in scoring with an impressive 68 points in 50 games. It was his first year in the OHL. Matt Mistele also performed well for Plymouth before being moved to the Oshawa Generals mid-way through the season.
Just one player on the entire team that played over 22 games finish with a positive plus-minus, and that was Connor Chatham who was a +1 in 48 games played.
So, Alex Nedeljkovic’s decrease in production can’t really be placed solely on him. He had almost no help whatsoever in front of him, and hopefully that will change this season. This year will be his final year in the OHL.
After this season, he will move up and likely play for the Charlotte Checkers next season.
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Nedeljkovic will have lofty expectations this season. He will look to bring that goals against average well-below the 3.13 that it was at last season, and hopefully we will see his save percentage hop back up towards the .920-.930 area like we saw in his first 2 seasons in the OHL.
If he can do that, he will undoubtedly jump up the prospect rankings for the Carolina Hurricanes.
Unfortunately, Nedeljkovic was not one of the goalie invitees for the 2016 WJC tournament evaluation camp by Team USA. This was likely solely due to him recovering from off-season hip surgery. He will likely jump back into discussion for the 2016 WJC team for the U.S. once he recovers and gets some games under his belt this year in Flint.
He was a member of the USA team in 2015, but he did not play any games.
Alex Nedeljkovic isn’t your typical top goalie prospect, but he is a good goalie prospect nonetheless. He is likely at least 4 or 5 years away from making an impact at the NHL level, but if he continues to progress like he has, he could be the goalie of the future for the Carolina Hurricanes.