From the time he was drafted, Alex Nedeljkovic has been viewed as the future in net for the Carolina Hurricanes.
He was selected 37th overall by the Hurricanes in 2014 and has had success in the OHL and AHL, as well as in international play. In 2014, he helped the United States capture a gold medal at the U-18 World Championships, then in 2016, he backstopped the Niagara IceDogs to an OHL Finals appearance, losing to a London Knights team that featured Christian Dvorak, Mitch Marner and Matthew Tkachuk. Then of course, he played a huge role in Charlotte’s Calder Cup win last season.
This season though, he struggled a bit in the AHL, where his role was essentially reduced from starter to splitting time with Anton Forsberg. We didn’t perform overly well, posting just a .906 save percentage in 29 games.
After both Petr Mrazek and James Reimer were injured, however, Nedeljkovic (along with Forsberg) was called up to step in for the Hurricanes. He struggled in his brief NHL stint, posting an .887 save percentage in his four games and allowed some not-so-great goals. It’s a limited sample size but Nedeljkovic didn’t look ready.
Even if the Hurricanes don’t acquire a starter in the offseason, Nedeljkovic is likely to start back in the AHL next season. Petr Mrazek wasn’t good enough as a starter and James Reimer had to take on a fairly large role as a result. I can’t imagine the Hurricanes getting rid of either Mrazek or Reimer and gambling on Nedeljkovic, while their goaltending situation is already shaky.
Anton Forsberg will be an unrestricted free agent and there’s probably a good chance he won’t be back, which would give Nedeljkovic back the role of full-time starter. He has to take advantage of this and re-establish himself as a top prospect for the Hurricanes. If he can’t, come next summer, he’ll be a 25-year-old goaltender who, aside from one great season in the AHL where he was deservingly named the league's top goaltender, hasn’t actually had that much statistical success at the professional level. I don’t like being negative, but here are his stats since graduating from junior hockey:
Nedeljkovic won’t be exempt from waivers next season, which does cause an issue for the Hurricanes. If they choose to send him back to the AHL, they risk him being claimed by another team. That said, I maintain that it’s not a good idea for the Hurricanes to make room for him at the NHL level yet. The only situation where I could see it making some sense to start him up with the Hurricanes would be if they go out and acquire a solid starter who can play 60-65 games, meaning Nedeljkovic could be eased into the NHL as a backup. But with their current situation in net, they can’t add more uncertainty by bringing him up. If he’s performing well in the minors, that’s when he could get the call-up but to start him on the roster at the beginning of the season would be a mistake, in my opinion.
Between Nedeljkovic, Mrazek and Reimer, all three have just one-year left on their respective contracts. It essentially gives him one year to prove that he’s capable of taking on a role at the NHL level and can stick there permanently for the 2021-22 season. His performance is also likely to have a major impact on which goalie the Hurricanes protect next season in the expansion draft. It’ll be essential for Nedeljkovic to re-establish himself and prove that he’s still worth holding out hope for.
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Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted next weekend):
What's your long-term projection for Alex Nedeljkovic's future?
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