The Carolina Hurricanes held the first official day of the 2025 prospect development camp on Monday.

I may hear you ask, what is the goal of development camp? Well Carolina AGM Darren Yorke put it best.

"The biggest thing is just introducing them to the organization and getting a sense of where they are today," Yorke said. "So our development coaches will meet with them and have already sort of been in communication with our scouts here to get a sense of what the player's strengths and weaknesses are. It's really to establish 1) a relationship and then 2) start to develop a development for them whether it's for off-ice fitness or whether it's specific areas of their game that we want the players to work on."

The first day of camp usually isn't too interesting and this year was no different than those in the past, as the focus was pretty much on off-ice fitness testing as well as some skating benchmark testing.

"The first drill is the 1080 Sprint," said Director of Player Development Peter Harrold. "It measures a lot of different variables and it helps our strength staff come up with more customized programs for them in the weight room. Force production and things like that. From a technical standpoint, we also videotape their skating to look at what their stride looks like and what their mechanics look like and so then we can have discussions with them and give them things to work on in order to come back and maybe just be that little bit faster."

"They’re watching how good we are at top speed," said 2024 draftee Noel Fransen. "They will know how good we are at skating and where we’re at. You want to be better every time. So you just go as hard as you can every time."

Nearly every player participated in the testing minus 2025 second-round picks Charlie Cerrato and Kurban Limatov.

Limatov took a spin on the ice before the testing began, but didn't take part in the actual drills while it seems like Cerrato will be a late arriver.

Charlie Cerrato made a long drive home from Michigan to Maryland on Friday for Day 1 of the draft.

Would make sense as to why he wasn’t at the first day of the Carolina Hurricanes development camp. https://t.co/xckXvFtez6

— Chase Fisher (@chase_fisher4) June 30, 2025

It is impressive that six of the seven players the Hurricanes drafted on Saturday were able to make it to Raleigh for camp though as there wasn't a ton of turnaround time between the events.

Luckily all of the Russian players that the Canes drafted already had their visas and were in the US, but for the two Swedish players (Viggo Nordlund and Filip Ekberg) there was a bit more of a chaotic turnaround.

"[Getting drafted] was an amazing feeling," Nordlund said. "I was home with my parents watching on TV and seeing my name pop up there was a real nice feeling. Then I got a call like five minutes after telling me that I was flying out the next day. Just started packing and got ready."

"I was at home with my family in my hometown, so it was just a quick step to the airport in Sweden," Ekberg said. "I flew to Toronto and then to here."

No worries about potential jetlag affecting your performances?

"I don’t feel like I have it but maybe there is," Ekberg said. "But I don’t feel it 1751335695. It’s a little bit nice though. Because you’re tired at 9 o’clock and you wake up at 6 o’clock by yourself. So that’s kind of nice actually."

Nothing like the first step toward your dream to keep you energized. 

Development camp isn't just for the new faces in the organization either.

You'll always have a handful of prospects who took part in one or two prior camps and this gives the staff a great opportunity to reassess how their development has been progressing.

"A lot of these guys come in at 18 years old and they’re kids still," Harrold said. "A year of working out, a year of playing professional games and then they come back and are more mature in every sense of the word. It’s fun for me because you get to see the growth in those guys and that’s the part I love, but for them, I think they become more confident, more comfortable in their game and themselves. That’s big for them. Confidence is huge."

"I think I made progress on everything basically," said 2024 draftee Dominik Badinka who took part in camp last season. "It’s still hockey. You’ve played the game and sometimes the things on and off ice aren’t there, but I think I’ve made progress on everything. … I hear from [the organization] all the time throughout the year too. Talking about my games and stuff on a weekly basis."

The camp also helps teach the players life lessons about nutrition and sleep habits and gives them a chance to get to know each other as well as the organization too.

"So far it’s been quiet, but it’s a great group," Badinka said. "We didn’t get a chance to talk that much, but I know some guys from last year.  But I feel so far that it’s a good group of guys. It’s been going well. Nobody is doing stupid things. Everybody is polite."

Day 2 of development camp, which falls on the same day as the opening of NHL Free Agency, will more than likely focus a bit more on puck and stick skills.

Additional Notes

• Nearly all of the Russian prospects (eight in total) were practicing as a group. Canes amateur scout Oleg Smirnov is here at camp to act as a translator and to help them get around and understand all that is being asked of and communicated to them. Harrold said that Smirnov has been "invaluable" to have at camp.

• A few fans collected some autographs from the Canes prospects at the conclusion of their off-ice testing. These kids are already getting some spotlight treatment down in Raleigh. "It’s fun that they’re here," Fransen said. "Really good fans."

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