It’s been a long summer, but hockey has finally arrived as the Carolina Hurricanes’ prospects will be participating in the 2024 Prospect Showcase starting tonight, Sept. 13.
The event, which is being hosted by the Nashville Predators in Bellevue, TN at the Ford Ice Center, will feature not only Canes prospects but those too of the Preds, Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers.
Carolina will take part in the second game of the day, kicking off against the Tampa Bay Lightning at 6 p.m. much like how the Canes will kick off the NHL season as well on Oct. 11.
In addition, all of the Hurricanes’ games are slated to be livestreamed on the Carolina Hurricanes’ team website starting 10-15 minutes before puck drop.
Related: Hurricanes Announce Roster for 2024 Prospect Showcase
Here’s the full showcase schedule:
2024 Prospects Showcase Schedule
Friday, Sept. 13
3 p.m. – Nashville Predators vs. Florida Panthers
6 p.m. – Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Carolina Hurricanes
Saturday, Sept. 14
3 p.m. – Carolina Hurricanes vs. Florida Panthers
6 p.m. – Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Nashville Predators
Sunday, Sept. 15
Practice Day
Monday, Sept. 16
11 a.m. – Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Florida Panthers
2 p.m. – Nashville Predators vs. Carolina Hurricanes
New Chicago Wolves head coach Cam Abbott will be behind the bench for the showcase and the roster features many of the organization’s top prospects.
Carolina Hurricanes
Who To Watch?
The Big Three
The obvious names to watch out for are going to be the big three of Bradly Nadeau, Jackson Blake and Felix Unger Sorum.
Nadeau, the 2023 first-round pick, did one year at the University of Maine, but showed tremendous growth in his time in NCAA.
The talented winger is a natural goal scorer who has a strong all-around offensive game and he’s one of the players who could very easily make a splash at training camp.
Related: ‘It’s exciting and something I look forward to’: Bradly Nadeau On Having Chance to Make NHL Roster, Current Development
Blake, a 2021 fourth-round pick, was a Hobey Baker finalist last season with the University of North Dakota, having been one of the top players in college hockey.
The 5-foot-10 forward has an unreal motor and has a strong knack for finding the puck.
Unger Sorum, a 2023 second-round pick, was perhaps one of the Canes top standouts at last season’s training camp.
He’s a cerebral type of player who’s able to control the pace of play with his high hockey IQ and playmaking vision.
There’s opportunity to be had on the Hurricanes’ starting roster at forward this year so if any of those three can have a big showcase and push that into training camp, it will give them just that much more of a leg up on the others.
Related: Which Carolina Hurricanes Prospects Could Make the Jump to the NHL This Year?
High-Upside Potential
A couple of other players I’m interested in watching are Scott Morrow, Gleb Trikozov and Justin Poirier.
Morrow, a 2021 second-round pick, was a standout at UMass for three seasons before making his NHL debut at the end of last regular season.
The 6-foot-2 blueliner has always had a knack for the offensive side of the game, but really grew into a more rounded player as his college career progressed.
It should be real fun to see him run a power play during the showcase.
Related: Jaccob Slavin, Scott Morrow and Rod Brind’Amour on Win in St. Louis: ‘We kind of did enough to get the win’
Trikozov, a 2022 second-round pick, is perhaps one of the players I’m most curious about.
This will be Trikozov’s first foray into North American hockey, having played in Russia all his life.
A lot of the people who watch the Russian leagues with regularity are big on Trikozov due to his offensive toolkit, so I feel he could be a real fun player to watch.
Related: Carolina Hurricanes Sign Russian Prospect Gleb Trikozov to Three-Year ELC
And that same sort of vibe goes into my interest with Poirier.
The 5-foot-8 winger has a lot to prove due to his size, but the 2024 fifth-round pick was also the first player to score over 50 goals in the QMJHL since Sidney Crosby.
Like, if you’re doing things one of the all-time greats did, you’ve got to be pretty special and I think he could be a real interesting player to keep up with if he can adapt to playing against men.
Related: Carolina Hurricanes Select Winger Justin Poirier 156th Overall
Family Matters
I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention that Skyler Brind’Amour will be in attendance with the Hurricanes prospects as one of the showcase invitees too.
It was a pretty special moment last season as Rod got to coach against him in a preseason game against the Florida Panthers.
I also believe he is still under contract with the Charlotte Checkers (he signed a two-year AHL deal back in April of 2023), so while it might be weird to not be with the Panthers’ group, I believe he isn’t technically one of their players so it’s fine.
Either that or I’m sure he got permission from the organization if that was needed. But again, I don’t fully know how that all works.
All that to say, pretty cool to see.
Recent Articles
Related: Projecting the Carolina Hurricanes 2024-25 Opening Night Roster: Forwards
Related: PNC Arena Renamed to the Lenovo Center
Related: Report: Hurricanes To Bring Forward Sam Gagner To Training Camp On A PTO
