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Carolina Hurricanes: 5 top prospects to watch out for

By Oliver Thompson |
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The Carolina Hurricanes have a great future under Tom Dundon’s ownership – today, we look at the five top prospects in the Canes system.

While it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement the Carolina Hurricanes are providing for their fans down the stretch, Caniacs shouldn’t forget about the abundance of young talent within the organization.

The Canes’ AHL feeder team, the Charlotte Checkers, are top of the AHL having dominated the regular season, and the Canes have made good use of the Checkers’ stacked roster this season. Players who have played for both teams this season include Saku Maenalanen, Greg McKegg, Martin Necas, Janne Kuokkaken, Clark Bishop, Nicolas Roy, Jake Bean, Trevor Carrick, Haydn Fleury and Alex Nedeljkovic – and more could be added to that list by the time the season is over.

However, the Carolina Hurricanes don’t just have top prospects in the AHL – they have stars in major junior hockey and the NCAA as well. The future of this team hasn’t been this promising for many years.

So without further ado, let’s take a look at the top five prospects currently playing within Carolina Hurricanes system!

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5: Luke Henman – Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, QMJHL

Luke Henman was drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes in the fourth round (96th overall) at the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, using the pick the Canes acquired in the Marcus Kruger/Jordan Martinook trade. He’s a 6ft, c.150lb left-shooting center who is more a playmaker than a finisher.

His rookie season in the QMJHL saw Henman play second fiddle (or perhaps third fiddle?) to Alex Barre-Boulet and Alexandre Alain; in 61 regular season games, Henman posted 9 goals and 38 assists for a total of 47 points. Not bad for a first-year, third line center. The playoffs saw him really come alive however, posting 6-8-14 in just 20 games as his Blainville-Boisbriand Armada team lost 4-2 in the President’s Cup Finals to the Acadie–Bathurst Titan, who then went on to win the Memorial Cup. His stat line in that series was 2-1-3 in 6GP, with 2 hits and a 43% success rate on face-offs.

For a first-ever playoff series, he did exceptionally well; he’s come back this season to a much weaker Armada team and held his production steady in 60GP, improving to 12 goals but seeing a slight dip in assists with 32. While the Armada have made the playoffs in the Q, 16/18 teams do in the Q, so his 15th-ranked Armada will need all the help they can get from Henman if they’re to upset the bigger seeds. That same Titan team is dead last in the Q – the fact Henman has kept the Armada in with a chance is impressive.

Henman will likely spend another year in the Q before making the transition to a year or two with the Charlotte Checkers. Regardless of his gradual development, Henman figures to be a solid NHL player in the future and the fact that he has kept his production in line with last year, despite seeing most of his team’s talented players depart, really stands out. He’s a character guy, and someone who would surely benefit from spending time with the organization over the summer.

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4: Jake Bean – Charlotte Checkers, AHL

Jake Bean has already been called up a couple of times by the Carolina Hurricanes this season. He has featured in two games, but was unable to make his mark as his ice time was limited to less than nine minutes each time. One shot, one block and 2 PIMS is all his stat line has to show – but make no mistake, Jake Bean is going to be a fabulous NHL defenseman:

His play with the Charlotte Checkers has been very encouraging this season. In 57 games under Head Coach Mike Vellucci, Bean has posted 11-24-35 and is continuing to improve his game as the season progresses. He leads the Checkers’ blueline in scoring, and is fourth on the team overall. He’s since been overtaken by Mitch Reinke of the San Jose Barracuda, but this really shows how Bean’s season has progressed:

All signs point to a very good NHL defenseman, and Carolina Hurricanes fans should be salivating at the prospect of seeing Jake Bean feature more prominently with the Canes in the very near future.

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3: Martin Necas – Charlotte Checkers, AHL

Martin Necas has had a disappointing year – not in terms of his play, but in terms of how the season unfolded. He started on the Carolina Hurricanes roster and was touted as a potential top six center, only to see bottom six minutes and be demoted after seven games where he scored just one goal and one assist. It was particularly harsh on the young Czech star, as the Canes were 4-2-1 in those seven games, but Rod Brind’Amour felt that Necas needed more seasoning before handling the rigors of the NHL.

He responded excellently, taking his assignment to Charlotte with grace and working his butt off under Head Coach Mike Vellucci. In 47 games in the AHL, Necas has an underwhelming 9 goals, but has added 25 assists for a total of 34 points. He’s a +13, and has featured on several highlight-reel goals.

In hindsight, sending Necas to Charlotte was the correct decision for both him and the Carolina Hurricanes – but he’ll be knocking on Rod Brind’Amour’s door all summer long to prove he’s ready for a full-time role in Raleigh next season.

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2: Stelio Mattheos – Brandon Wheat Kings, WHL

I’m going to put this out there right now – I am a big fan of Stelio Mattheos. He is the kind of player I absolutely love: scores goals, plays hard, loves a tussle, and has a great name. I firmly believe he can make the Carolina Hurricanes out of camp this fall, and that he can become an instant fan favorite with Caniacs everywhere.

Mattheos really does score. He’s matched his rookie totals from 2017/18 in ten less games this season: 40-50-90 in 58GP, compared to 43-47-90 in 68 GP last year. He was better than a point-per-game in the playoffs last season, and is serving as the captain of the Brandon Wheat Kings this season. He’s 21 points clear of the team’s next-best scorer, center Luka Burzan, and is sixth overall in WHL scoring. Not bad for the 3rd-round, 73rd-overall pick of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft.

Who amongst Canes fans wouldn’t love to see an all-scoring, all-passing, all-hitting, all-scrapping bundle of energy set loose at PNC Arena every game? Stelio Mattheos has all the tools in his arsenal needed to become a top NHL forward – let’s hope GM Don Waddell secures his services in the very near future.

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1: Adam Fox – Harvard, NCAA

A lot has been written about Adam Fox over the last nine months. Ever since the Carolina Hurricanes acquired his rights as part of the Dougie Hamilton/Micheal Ferland acquisition, there have been all sorts of rumors surrounding the talented young defenseman. Will he sign with the Canes? Will he wait out his rights and pull a Jimmy Vesey, to sign for a team of his choosing?

We’re about to find out the answer to that. Fox’s Harvard team is not considered to be among the favorites to make the NCAA’s Forzen Four, despite his incredible efforts over the course of the season. He will almost certainly be able to sign professional terms with the Carolina Hurricanes at some point during the last few weeks of the regular season – if he wants to sign, Don Waddell needs to sign him. Just look at this Justin Faulkian wrister on the power play:

Fox isn’t just a puck-moving, puck-shooting, offensive defenseman – he plays the defensive side of the game well too. Playing on this Carolina Hurricanes team, he’s likely to need skill like this to keep chances to a minimum:

Adam Fox has set the NCAA alight this season with 8-32-40 in just 29 games, beating last season’s production and matching his production from 2016/17 in six less games. He leads all NCAA defensemen in points-per-game, is fourth amongst all skaters, and has upstaged both Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes this season. Both of those are considered prime top-pair prospects, and we should be looking at Adam Fox in much the same way.

Next. The value of Justin Williams. dark

The Carolina Hurricanes have many talented players in the system – and our rankings chop and change as seasons progress. Consider that players like Janne Kuokkanen, Julien Gauthier and Callum Booth haven’t been included, and Caniacs will recognize that the prospect base of this team is very promising.

We hope to see Adam Fox and Martin Necas make the Canes roster next season, and Stelio Mattheos could be a real wildcard at camp – could there be a real possibility of the Carolina Hurricanes having too many talented young players and not enough spaces on their NHL roster for them? It promises to be a very exciting summer for Canes fans – make sure you follow the progress of our Canes of the Future as they make their own bids for playoff hockey!

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