Carolina Hurricanes: Alex Nedeljkovic Didn’t Come From Out of Nowhere

The Carolina Hurricanes, despite struggling for years to find stability in the crease, have seemingly had the answer to their goaltending woes this entire time; or, at least since 2014. Rookie goaltending phenom Alex Nedeljkovic, despite seemingly coming from out of nowhere to attain tremendous NHL success thus far in his young career, has actually been wildly successful at every single level he’s been deployed in.

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2014, to a Canes fan, seems both so close and yet so, so far in the past. The Carolina Hurricanes of 2014 were a very, very different team than the one that takes the ice and surges after home wins today. The 2013-14 season saw the Canes finish 7th in the Metropolitan Division with 83 points in the standings. Their leading scorer, with 61 points (21g, 40a), was Eric Staal. The leading goalscorer for the Canes that year was Jeff Skinner (33g). The only other 20+ goalscorer on the roster that year was (wait for it), Alexander Semin (who, funnily enough, just received his last paycheck from the Carolina Hurricanes a couple weeks ago).

On the other side of the coin, newcomer to the Canes Anton Khudobin manned the crease alongside Cam Ward; Khudobin’s stats that year were fantastic. Ward’s – a far cry from competent – were the worst he’d turned in thus far as a Carolina Hurricane.

The Canes’ abysmal 2013-14 season would land the Canes the 7th, 37th, 67th, 96th (via Vancouver), 97th, 127th, and 187th overall picks; only one of them would be used on a goaltender.

In the 2nd Round of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, with the 37th overall pick, the Carolina Hurricanes would select Parma, OH native Alex Nedeljkovic of the Plymouth Whalers in the OHL.

OHL – ECHL Tenure (2013-2016)

Alex Nedeljkovic started his major junior play in the OHL in 2012 with the Plymouth Whalers. In his rookie year in the OHL, Ned would post a sparkling 2.28 GAA; this stat in particular was good enough to win him the F.W. “Dinty” Moore trophy, awarded annually to the first-year OHL goaltender who posts the best GAA stat.

Ned would also be named to the 2012-13 OHL First All-Rookie Team; his sophomore season would see him garner even more accolades as Ned would win the Silver Medal at the 2013 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament.

On top of those already phenomenal accolades and awards, Ned would be selected to play in both the CCM/USA Hockey All-American Prospects Game, and the 2014 CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game. Ned would be named the OHL Goaltender of the Year in 2014 as well.

His performance with the USA U20 team (.902 SV%, 1.84 GAA, 5-1-0 win/loss record in 6 gp) as well as his performance with the Plymouth Whalers in the 2013-14 season (.925 SV%, 2.88 GAA, 26-27-7 win/loss record in 61gp) were enough to get him drafted 37th overall by the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.

For Ned’s 2014-15 campaign with the Plymouth Whalers, he’d turn in yet another year of incredibly solid individual stats. In 55 games played with the Whalers that season, Ned would post a .916 SV%, 3.13 GAA, a 20-28-7 win/loss record, and 5 shutous.

As a result of his individual success, Ned would sign his first NHL contract with the Canes, a three year entry-level contract, on March 27, 2015. He would then be assigned to the Canes’ ECHL affiliate at the time, the Florida Everblades, where he’d make his ECHL debut and play in 3 of their final few games of that season. In that time frame, Ned would register a 2-1-0 win/loss record, a .841 SV%, and a 3.37 GAA.

In 2015-16, his final year of junior hockey, Ned would play 19 games for the Flint Firebirds (.907 SV%, 3.21 GAA, 9-7-2 win/loss record, 1 shutout) before being traded to the Niagara IceDogs.

With the IceDogs, Ned would post a .907 SV%, 2.72 GAA, 15-13-2 win/loss record, and 1 shutout in 30 regular season games played. He’d continue his run of form into the OHL playoffs that year, as he’d play 17 postseason games and post a .903 SV%, 2.81 GAA, and a win/loss record of 12-4-1.

Present Day

This season, NHL teams were told they must carry three goaltenders between their NHL roster and the newly implemented ‘taxi squads’ that were intended to give teams flexibility in having a full team of players in the event of a localized COVID outbreak amongst the teams.

Earlier this season, Alex Nedeljkovic was required to clear waivers in order to be placed on the taxi squad, as Mrazek and Reimer were still ahead of him on the depth chart.

This seemed to signal the end of the road for Ned here in Carolina; despite being tremendously successful at every level he’d been deployed in up to that point, the Carolina Hurricanes waived him and left him exposed for any team in the NHL to claim, completely free of charge.

We all know what happened next. 30 other NHL teams passed on a player that would, in a few weeks time, be one of the most coveted goaltending prospects in the league.

Petr Mrazek would go down with injury early on in the season after having arguably his hottest start as an NHL goaltender, leaving the Canes to rely on veteran netminder James Reimer, and greenhorn Alex Nedeljkovic in the meantime.

Ned would quickly surpass not only James Reimer in skill and performance, but a vast majority of other goaltenders in the NHL, both veteran and rookie alike.

Mrazek would eventually come back from injury, at which point the Canes determined they’d be fine relying on a three-goalie system. Nedeljkovic kept on performing and quickly proved that he not only deserved to be in the NHL full-time, but he even challenged Mrazek for the starter position and won. 

Ned’s accolades this season so far include the NHL Rookie of the Month Award for games played in March 2021.

At the time of writing this article, the Carolina Hurricanes have just dropped Game 1 of the 2nd Round of the 2021 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs against the defending Stanley Cup Champions. One of the biggest reasons the Canes have made it this far in the postseason is because of Alex Nedeljkovic’s continued stellar play.

Ned’s stats (as of the writing of this article) stand at .932 SV%, 1.90 GAA, a 15-5-3 win/loss record, and 3 shutouts in 23 regular season games played. As for this year’s playoffs, Ned is currently sitting at a .923 SV%, a 2.20 GAA, 4-3-0 win/loss record, and 1 shutout in 7 postseason games played.

Every single thing about Alex Nedeljkovic’s career up to this point says one thing and one thing only: Alex Nedeljkovic knows how to win, and he knows how to win big. The Canes might be down a game in the 2nd round at this point, but Ned has been very similar situations throughout his entire career. The end results up to this point include medals, championships, individual awards, and more accolades than he can shake his paddle at.

If there’s one thing anyone needs to know about Alex Nedeljkovic, its to never, ever count him out.

He’ll prove you wrong, just like he has everyone else.