Carolina Hurricanes: One for the Future – Alex Nedeljkovic

The Carolina Hurricanes have a litany of promising young prospects at their disposal. Today, we profile one of the best goaltenders in the AHL: Carolina Hurricanes prospect Alex Nedeljkovic.

Alex Nedeljkovic is a very, very good goaltender. How good, you ask? The 23 year-old netminder was just recently named the CCM/AHL Goaltender of the Month award for the month of March. Nedeljkovic posted a perfect record in January of 6-0-0, while sporting a save percentage of .937 and a goals-against average of 1.78 in that same timeframe.

The young goaltender also posted 2 shutouts in this time period, carrying him to the honor of being the franchise’s all-time leader in shutouts.

Nedeljkovic is just the 5th player in franchise history to be honored with one of the league’s monthly awards, and is only the 2nd goalie to do so; Tom McCollum earned the honors in March of the 2016-2017 season.

Currently, Nedeljkovic sits at a 2.21 goals-against average on the season, while boasting a phenomenal .918 save percentage as of today. Nedeljkovic has been instrumental in the Charlotte Checkers’ recent success, as well as helping the team secure yet another Calder Cup Playoff spot.

Alex Nedeljkovic was a second-round pick in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, selected 37th overall by the Carolina Hurricanes. After spending a few seasons developing in various minor league teams, Nedeljkovic was called up to the Checkers roster in 2016-2017 and hasn’t looked back since.

The promising goalie was called up to the Carolina Hurricanes’ roster once this season, on January 23rd. He proceeded to turn in a phenomenal performance against the Vancouver Canucks, turning away 26 of 28 shots and backstopped the Hurricanes to a 5-2 win.

Nedeljkovic is a player to keep your eye on this postseason, as well as heading into the 2019-2020 season; the Hurricanes’ current goaltending tandem are both looking at entering UFA status after the postseason. Petr Mrazek and Curtis McElhinney both seem to enjoy their time in Raleigh, and have been pivotal in the success of the franchise this season.

The only caveat here, Caniacs, is that owner Tom Dundon and General Manager Don Waddell have made it clear that they are focusing on the playoffs before entering contract negotiations with any players, so only time will tell.

On the off-chance the Carolina Hurricanes are unable to sign Mrazek and/or McElhinney to a contract extension, Raleigh can rest easy knowing that Alex Nedeljkovic is more than ready to pick up the goaltending gauntlet. The future is bright in Raleigh and in Charlotte, and there are plenty of things to look forward to. Alex Nedeljkovic will eventually get the call to Raleigh again, and I have a feeling it will be sooner rather than later.

Question for CC Readers: Should the Carolina Hurricanes try and sign Petr Mrazek to a contract extension? Why or why not?