The Carolina Hurricanes signed two players to PTOs on Monday, forward Kieffer Bellows and Jayden Halbgewachs. This move grows the Hurricanes’ stable of PTO additions to six players, as the club has already signed tryout agreements with Cory Conacher, Brendan Perlini, Nick Shore, and defenseman Nathan Beaulieu.
It’s set to be a competitive training camp in Raleigh as a result, and the battle for NHL jobs should be especially fierce given that the Hurricanes don’t currently have an official AHL affiliate. Their general manager, Don Waddell, has offered assurances throughout the summer that the organization will be able to loan its players to teams in the AHL without an affiliation agreement, but without any certainty on where Hurricanes players might be playing in the NHL, it could make the pressure even greater to win one of the NHL jobs on offer.
In Bellows, the Hurricanes are adding a former top prospect who hasn’t lived up to the hype in the NHL. Bellows, 25, is the owner of an NHL-caliber shot and has hit the 20-goal mark in the AHL. But in the NHL, Bellows hasn’t been able to become any sort of consistent goal scorer, in large part thanks to his deficiencies as a skater.
The lack of time and space available in the NHL, a trademark characteristic of the world’s most difficult league, combined with Bellows’ lack of separation ability has made it almost impossible for him to get into quality scoring positions.
As a result, he’s been forced to settle for lower percentage chances when he does manage to get his shot off. (low-percentage shots he still sometimes manages to score on due to the quality of his shot)
Bellows’ inability to consistently create space for himself to get higher-quality chances could help explain why his shooting percentage over the last two years stands at a paltry 8.1%.
His lack of offensive production meant that Bellows, who stands six-foot-one, 195 pounds, was also tried in a bottom-six checking role, but he proved ineffective there too. He was claimed off of waivers by the Philadelphia Flyers this past season but only managed three points in 27 games. The Flyers didn’t extend him a qualifying offer, and he’s been left on the UFA market until now.
The hero of the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championships and 2016 first-round pick faces a tough task in training camp trying to earn a roster on such a good Hurricanes team, but Carolina wouldn’t have signed him if they didn’t believe he at least stood a chance of winning a job on their team.
As for Halbgewachs, he’s had a very different experience in many ways to Bellows so far in his career. While Bellows is a big, powerful winger, Halbgewachs stands 5-foot-8, 160 pounds. While Bellows was a first-round pick and top prospect, Halbgewachs is an undrafted player who had to score 70 goals and 129 points in the WHL en route to his entry-level contract. But they do have some similarities. Halbgewachs, like Bellows, has proven to be a quality AHL player but has had NHL success elude him.
Halbgewachs scored 41 points in 59 AHL games last season and even earned his first NHL call-up, eventually playing in three games for the San Jose Sharks. He didn’t re-sign in San Jose, though, as new Sharks GM Mike Grier elected not to extend Halbgewachs an offer. So Halbgewachs went to Europe, signing a SHL deal with the Växjö Lakers. He won an SHL title with Växjö, but only managed 24 points in 69 combined regular-season and playoff games.
Even more than Bellows, Halbgewachs faces long odds of winning an NHL job. A player at his size playing an offensive game typically needs to be able to stick on a scoring line to have a role, and it’s highly unlikely Halbgewachs will be able to unseat one of the Hurricanes’ incumbent scorers.
But this PTO nonetheless gives him an opportunity to test his mettle against NHL-caliber competition in training camp, and potentially play some preseason games to showcase his talents to the wider hockey world.
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