University of Maine freshman left winger Bradly Nadeau’s decision to sign with the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday was surprising.
After he was drafted in the first round by the Hurricanes last summer (30th overall), the Carolina brass made it sound like they wanted him to spend at least two years at the University of Maine working on his game and getting stronger so he could handle the physical rigors of pro hockey including the puck battles.
He is just 18 years old and is 5-foot-10, 170 pounds. He could have used one more year at UMaine.
But he certainly improved his stock with the season he had with the Black Bears, leading the team in scoring with 46 points on 19 goals and 27 assists. He was chosen to the All-Hockey East second team and Rookie team and he was an All-New England selection.
His 46 points were the most scored by a UMaine player since the 2011-12 season and the first time a UMaine rookie broke the 40-point mark since 2006-07.
There are a lot of components that go into a decision like this beginning with the parent team’s wishes.
Nadeau may have been thinking about leaving but if the Hurricanes told him they thought it was in his and their best interest for him to return to UMaine for another year, he would have been back in Orono.
That obviously wasn’t the case.
Nadeau didn’t return phone calls or text messages but told The Hockey News during a media session in Raleigh, N.C., that the Hurricanes “reached out once (the season) was over and that’s kind of how it went after my year in Maine.”
He said it was a “little bit” hard leaving behind his older brother Josh, the team’s second-leading scorer (18 goals, 27 assists) and an All-Hockey East third teamer as a freshman.
“But, at the end of the day, you want what’s best for one another. It was my dream to be here and he wanted what was best for me. You have to move on.” said Bradly Nadeau.
Nadeau said his year at UMaine was valuable.
He and his brother helped lead the Black Bears to a 23-12-2 record and their first berth in the Hockey East semifinals and the NCAA Tournament since the 2011-12 season.
Nadeau said through the summer workouts and training during the season that he was able to get stronger and adapt to a more physical style of play than he faced in the British Columbia Junior Hockey League.
“It really benefited me,”said Nadeau.
Nadeau signed a three-year, entry-level, two-way contract that includes a $285,000 signing bonus, an $855,000 a year wage if he plays in the NHL and $82,500 if he plays in the American Hockey League.
One of the issues for the Hurricanes is they are the only National Hockey League team among the 32 without an AHL affiliate.
So their draft picks are playing for the independent Chicago Wolves or an AHL team affiliated with another NHL franchise.
If you are a Hurricanes draft pick playing for an AHL team with an NHL affiliation, are you going to get the playing time you need? Wouldn’t that team play its own draft picks ahead of the Hurricane draftees?
The signing was curious because the Hurricanes recently traded for seven-time 20-goal scorer Jake Guentzel and also acquired four-time 20-goal scorer Evgeny Kuznetsov, who racked up 32 playoff points to lead Washington to the Stanley Cup in 2017-18.
The Hurricanes also signed second round draft pick Gleb Trikozov, another potential point-producing forward.
But Carolina has been stung by a lack of goal production in the playoffs which is why the Hurricanes haven’t been to a Stanley Cup final since they won it in 2006 despite going 275-129-44 in the regular season over the past six seasons including this one.
They have averaged just 1.8 goals per game in their previous five playoff series losses.
The dynamic Nadeau and his blistering NHL-caliber shot, his spell-binding elusiveness, his creativity and the magic he had with his brother will be sorely missed.
But that’s the world we live in.
Very few college teams keep their NHL-caliber players more than two years.
Between that and the NCAA transfer portal, every year is unpredictable and there is parity in college hockey.
There is no question that with his talent and tireless work ethic, Nadeau will be playing in the NHL within the next couple of years, if not sooner.
UMaine head coach Ben Barr took Nadeau’s departure in stride.
He was an assistant/associate head coach at UMass when Cale Makar was manning the blue line.
Makar was the fourth overall draft pick in the first round of the Colorado Avalanche and could have signed after being an All-Hockey East and All-Rookie team choice as a freshman.
But he chose to return to UMass for his sophomore year (2018-19) and it worked out quite nicely for him.
He went on to win the Hobey Baker Award that goes to the nation’s best player and he led the Minutemen to their first Frozen Four and berth in an NCAA title game where they lost to Minnesota-Duluth 3-0.
Makar moved on to the NHL and was the league’s Rookie of the Year the following year.
Two years after he left, UMass won its first NCAA title.
There was no post-season in college hockey in the year after he left due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nadeau would have been a Hobey Baker finalist next season because he is only going to get better.
If his brother Josh returns, he could be in the Hobey Baker Award pool and the Black Bears will also have some other top-level offensive weapons in Lynden Breen and Harrison Scott.
Breen, a co-captain, is a senior but has another year of eligibility. He has averaged 15 goals the last two seasons and Scott, a Bentley transfer, had 15 this season.
Barr said he was “happy” for Nadeau. “He had a fantastic year.”
“Our job is to win hockey games and help our kids chase their dreams and that’s what he is doing,” said Barr. “We are fortunate he came here. It was short and sweet but it was a memorable year for everybody. I wish him the best.”
Barr said life goes on and he is looking forward to the 2024-25 campaign.
“You aren’t going to replace a Bradly Nadeau. Our team might look different but we’ll be just fine.
“We have a really good group of kids coming back that we’re excited about. They learned a lot about how to win hockey games this year. We have to keep moving forward.
“No one feels bad for us (because everybody loses players early). One of our jobs is to get these players into pro hockey and, if anything, (Nadeau’s signing) should make us more appealing to future players. We’re going to keep doing what we’ve been doing,” Barr added.
“We’re going to recruit kids who fit what we’re doing, off the ice as well as on the ice,” Barr said.
The third-year coach knows how to overcome the loss of a great player like Cale Makar and he will try to do it again.