Hurricanes Recall Pyotr Kochetkov, Felix Unger Sorum

The Carolina Hurricanes announced today that netminder Pyotr Kochetkov and winger Felix Unger Sorum were recalled from the team’s AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves.

While Unger Sorum did not play tonight against the Philadelphia Flyers, this recall does position him to make his NHL debut tomorrow on Long Island against the New York Islanders. The 20-year-old is a 2023 second-round pick who has spent the last two campaigns in the AHL with Chicago.

Unger Sorum has long been viewed as a prospect with real potential to outplay his second-round draft slot, but he struggled to produce consistently as an AHL rookie. He scored just five goals and 20 points in 61 games for the Wolves, and didn’t make any serious push for a call-up. With that said, he was a 19-year-old rookie playing in a very difficult league, so few scouts saw his 2024-25 season as a reason to seriously downgrade his projection. Entering the season, he ranked No. 7 in Carolina’s system according to the team at Elite Prospects, while Corey Pronman at The Athletic ranked him No. 5.

This season, Unger Sorum has been one of the AHL’s fastest risers. He’s upped his production considerably, scoring 63 points in 69 games this season. At just 20 years old, he led all AHL players aged 23 or younger in scoring this season. Now, he’s set to be rewarded for his rapid rise with the chance to make his NHL debut, and perhaps show he could be counted on to fill a role in head coach Rod Brind’Amour’s playoff lineup in the event the Hurricanes suffer several injuries during their postseason run.

Kochetkov is today’s other recall, but he’s in a very different situation than Unger Sorum. Kochetkov was in Chicago on a conditioning stint as part of his recovery from an early-season hip injury. That injury has limited the 26-year-old Russian netminder to just nine games played this season. In those nine games, he went 6-2-0 with an .899 save percentage and 2.33 goals against average.

With Kochetkov sidelined, the Hurricanes were forced to rely on Brandon Bussi, a 27-year-old goalie who had been one of the top goalies in the AHL, but had yet to make his NHL debut. Bussi was a revelation in Carolina, and has gone 30-6-1 with a 2.50 goals against average and .892 save percentage. While he’s not been a Vezina caliber goaltender for the Hurricanes by any means, he’s shown a valuable ability to steer the Hurricanes to victory, even in contests where he plays below his standards. Carolina rewarded him with a three-year, $1.9MM AAV contract extension in February.

Where Kochetkov stands in the Hurricanes’ goalie rotation at this stage of the season is unclear. Despite the fact that Kochetkov has been with the Hurricanes since 2021-22, and the team has gone on numerous deep playoff runs since that point, he’s been limited to no more than four games played in any single one of the team’s postseason trips. His playoff save percentage is also just .860. That, combined with the fact that he has just nine games played this season, makes him, on paper, a somewhat unlikely candidate to play in the Hurricanes’ upcoming run.

With that said, the team’s primary playoff starter, Frederik Andersen, has an .874 save percentage this season, one of the lower marks of any full-time starter in the NHL. His experience may get him the nod in net at some point, but his form in 2025-26 can’t inspire confidence. And while Bussi has certainly had an impressive campaign, he lacks experience in the postseason. As a result, while Kochetkov has factors working against him, it certainly wouldn’t be too big a surprise to see him in the crease for Carolina at some point in the playoffs.