Is Alex Nedeljkovic Ready to be the Carolina Hurricanes’ Backup?

Despite going out and acquiring James Reimer from the Florida Panthers, is it possible the Carolina Hurricanes’ best option for backup goalie was already in-house?

It took a failed chapter for one man to start a new chapter for another man. Scott Darling, once heralded as the future of Hurricanes goaltending, was shipped off on June 30th to the Florida Panthers as un-valued baggage for former Maple Leafs castoff James Reimer.

For Darling, it ended a 2-year spell in Raleigh where he severely struggled, never able to build on what he did with the Chicago Blackhawks, where his success made him a coveted asset around the league. In hindsight, that may have been the move that doomed Ron Francis’ tenure as Hurricanes GM.

So, with Darling unceremoniously shipped to Florida and immediately ousted from there via a buyout, the Hurricanes acquired a known commodity in James Reimer, a 31-year old who’d had a stellar run of play since about 2012, before his numbers fell flat last season for a defensively putrid Panthers squad.

When the Carolina Hurricanes re-signed their restricted free agent, AHL Vezina-winning goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic to a 2-year deal, but two-way in the first year, it seemed very likely the team would search elsewhere for a proven backup for Petr Mrazek while Nedeljkovic could continue to develop his game in the AHL. And that they did.

By acquiring Reimer, the team took on his $3.4M cap hit for the next 2 seasons. Reimer signed a 5-year, $17M deal with Florida back in 2016, after coming off a season split between Toronto and San Jose where he had a .922 save% in 40 games. He earned that deal, but his numbers have steadily declined since, from a .920 save% in 2017 to just .900 last year.

The belief from the Hurricanes side has to be that Reimer can regain his form, and get back close to his career save percentage of .914 – but can he? And will he get the chance?

At this point, I would say yes. But the leash will be short. Alex Nedeljkovic, the reigning goalie of the year in the AHL, will be waiting in the wings ready to pounce. Nedeljkovic, now 23, was drafted back in 2014 by Carolina and has become somewhat of a revelation for Charlotte in the AHL.

Each year of his career has seen drastic improvement. Over the last 2 years in Charlotte, Nedeljkovic has won 65 of his 94 games, with 9 shutouts and a .910 save% in that span. He also went 10-4 with a .916 save% in the playoffs for Charlotte, leading them to a Calder Cup victory.

But is Nedeljkovic ready for the NHL? If not fully ready, he’s extremely close. He made his NHL debut back in 2017, stopping all 17 shots he faced in 30 minutes after relieving Cam Ward against Columbus. He made his first NHL start last season in Vancouver, stopping 24 of 26 shots in a 5-2 victory for Carolina. To date, those are his lone NHL appearances.

Nedeljkovic’s goaltending style is comparable to Petr Mrazek in a lot of ways. Both guys are relatively undersized compared to what NHL teams consider” prototypical”, and both rely on their athleticism and aggressive style of play to be effective.

The potential problem with pairing two guys with nearly identical skill sets is that it could make the Hurricanes easier to prepare for by opposing coaching staffs, knowing that they’ll be facing an aggressive goalie. Last season, the Hurricanes found great success with a one-two punch of Mrazek and Curtis McElhinney, who plays more of a basic, passive style.

Reimer is kind of a mix of both. His style is definitely unorthodox, and sometimes he looks very uncomfortable when in net. Though he has good size and mechanics, he scrambles around a lot, or as Reimer puts it, *”flops around like a dead fish*”. He compares his style to NHL greats Tim Thomas and Pekka Rinne.

So that’s the dilemma, and it leaves the Carolina Hurricanes with some question marks in the crease heading into training camp. Are the Hurricanes better served going with a rock solid, already proven guy in Reimer who can offset Mrazek’s style? Or, do they go with an up and coming stud in Nedeljkovic, who has yet to prove he can handle an NHL workload, but has the most upside out of the 3?

What do you think, Cardiac Cane readers?