Rosemont, Ill.
Jackson Blake is an NHL regular.
Brady Nadeau just did a six-game stretch in the NHL, scoring his first goal.
Alexander Nikishin is here for good.
The top prospects Carolina Hurricanes fans heard about — or saw in the preseason — are making their way to the league, sometimes sooner rather than later.
So where’s Felix Unger Sorum, the Swedish forward often mentioned in the same breath as the others for the past two years, who made his preseason debut for the Hurricanes two years ago but has yet to appear in the NHL?
Unger Sorum made a splash that training camp, a precocious winger with an ability to think the game far beyond his years. But it’s the years that matter. Unger Sorum was barely 18 then, one of the youngest players in his draft class. He’s only 20 now, but in his second year playing against adult pros in the AHL.
So the answer to the Unger Sorum question is not complicated. He’s in Chicago, playing for the Wolves. Growing. Maturing. Getting stronger. Getting older.
When Blake was the same age, he was a sophomore at North Dakota, still many months away from his NHL audition at the end of the 2023-24 season. Only six players drafted after Unger Sorum, 63rd overall in 2023, have played an NHL game, and none more than 17. Most of his draft class is still in college or junior hockey.
It’s easy to forget, the way Unger Sorum plays, how young he still is and how much he still has to learn.
“It’s a lot,” Unger Sorum said. “Off the ice and on the ice with how the game is played, and it was my first time living alone last year away from my parents. I learned a lot and I feel like it helped me too.”
None of that dampens the Hurricanes’ excitement over his potential. Because he showed he was smart enough to slot in seamlessly alongside NHL players, they tried moving him to center last year, because they think he has that capability at the NHL level eventually. It was probably too much, too soon when combined with the adjustment to North America, although as a learning experience it is paying dividends now. Back on the wing this season, he leads the Wolves with five goals and is tied for the team lead with 11 points going into this weekend’s games.
“Every guy has their own climb and their own journey,” Wolves coach Cam Abbott said. “Everybody wants to — rush isn’t the right word, but you want to see things happen quickly. The worst thing you can do is put guys in spots where they don’t have a great chance to succeed, and we’ve really tried to make sure we don’t with Felix. It’s obvious that he’s got a bright future and a great hockey mind, creatively and all the things he does well on the ice. He just needs to get reps.”
And there’s no question he can dominate when placed on equal footing with his peers: Playing for Sweden at the World Junior Championships last winter, he was one of the Swedes’ top players with 10 points in seven games.
A cerebral playmaker, he already thinks the game at an NHL level, and has the skill to play there. He knows what else needs to happen: More strength to stay on his skates and absorb contact; more experience playing through the center of the rink instead of on the perimeter on the smaller North American ice.
“I’m shooting a little bit more and getting to the inside a little bit, and I feel like it’s been paying off,” Unger Sorum said. “So I’m going to try and keep going with it. Every game you learn more how to play, how you can play. That’s a big part of it. You learn where to be and find spots where you get in new situations and can create more, and I feel like that’s where I’ve learned the most.”
There’s been a parade from the Wolves to the Hurricanes this season, especially on the blue line — where Joel Nystrom in particular has buoyed a defense riddled by injuries — but it hasn’t been Unger Sorum’s turn yet, nor is it likely to be this season.
Nadeau got the first call, and did well in his stint. There are also older players with NHL experience like Ryan Suzuki and Justin Robidas probably ahead of Unger Sorum on the list. For now, anyway.
“He is an extremely smart, highly skilled player who is still very young and getting accustomed to playing in a North American top men’s league,” Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky said. “He’s producing at a very high rate and has been able to use his abilities in a lot of different game situations. He’s still filling out and growing into an NHL player’s frame, but he’s on track for where we want him to be.”
And that track still leads back to center, even if not right away. The Hurricanes still believe he has the physical and mental attributes to play that position, especially as a right shot. That will take time as well, first for him to get to the point where it makes sense for him to take on that responsibility, and then to hone those skills to an NHL level.
He can always go back to wing someday, but he’s far more valuable a player to the Hurricanes as a center, the sooner he can become accustomed to that role.
“It’s a bigger developmental question,” Abbott said. “In time, as opportunities to grow line up, I do think that he naturally finds himself down low at times in the defensive zone inside our system the way we play anyway. There’s more layers to continue for him to develop, especially as ultimately we want to see him play the center position at some point. We’ll see when that time comes.”
It’s all about time. Unger Sorum needs time, and the Hurricanes have the luxury of giving it to him.
He’s coming, just like the others before him. Just not yet. In time.
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This story was originally published November 14, 2025 at 4:18 PM.
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Luke DeCock
The News & Observer
Sports columnist Luke DeCock joined The News & Observer in 2000 and has covered nine Final Fours, the Summer Olympics, the Super Bowl and the Carolina Hurricanes’ Stanley Cup win in 2006. He is a past president of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, was the 2020 winner of the National Headliner Award as the country’s top sports columnist and is a three-time North Carolina Sportswriter of the Year.
