'It's exciting and something I look forward to': Bradly Nadeau On Having Chance to Make NHL Roster, Current Development

The 2023 first-round pick has made tremendous leaps in development.

The Carolina Hurricanes are in a spot that they haven't quite been in over their recent stretch of success.

With the departure of more than a few key pieces in free agency, the team is facing a bit of hole in terms of NHL-ready offensive talent, but could there be a few younger pieces ready to make the jump?

2023 first-round pick Bradly Nadeau has been making those sort of jumps already going from the BCHL to the NCAA and now with his ELC signed either a stint in the AHL or NHL.

He took part in the Hurricanes' development camp last month and spoke with the media in attendance. Here's what he had to say:

On his transition from the BCHL to the NCAA: It obviously wasn't an easy jump. I mean, going from the BC league, you know it was a skill league, and then going to the Hockey East, which is kind of a physical league, was a tough jump but I think the coaches and players I played with helped me make that jump and that's kind of why it went as well as it did.

On if he felt his skillset held up: I think it was definitely hard every weekend, but like I said, the coaching staff we had and the players helped with the preparation and that's kind of why as a team, and for myself, we had success.

On how helpful joining the team in the spring was: That helped me a lot. Being there with the team and getting to know all the players and the organization was really fun.

On if he's had any conversations yet with the coaching staff on his game: Not much. You come here and you just try to learn and play and see where it goes from there.

On having his brother, Josh, consistently by his side: I think having my brother here is also fun. There's a lot of good players here but having him, having family, it's definitely fun to have him here.

On him and his brother having dueling hat tricks on the same weekend: We played UNH that first game and it just happened that my brother scored three goals and I had three primary assists and then not the next day but the day after, we played UConn and it was just the reverse so it was kind of funny how that happened. It's a big thing, but I think it just happened and it's just kind of funny how it happened.

On who had the better game that weekend: I think my brother, but that's okay.

On what he wants to focus on this development camp: I think it's just about me getting stronger. It's going to help with my skating and just my physical play out there. That's going to be a big thing to work on.

On having a chance to potentially make the roster out of training camp: Obviously it's exciting and something I look forward to, but I know it's going to be a lot of hard work and the summer is a big part of that. I'll have a tough summer here ahead of me.

On his experience being a Black Ace last playoffs: It was a really good experience. You get to be around those guys and you get to learn a lot from them. Getting the chance to do that with a few other guys was really huge for my growth and I'm really happy that I got the chance to do that.

On if anything surprised him from that experience: I think just how much the players take care of their bodies and work hard. I think that's the biggest thing you see coming from college to here. They really put an emphasis on that and that was huge for me to see that and to see how and what they have to do when it comes to the playoffs, not just the regular season.

On working with Justin Williams while he was in school: He was a huge part [of my development]. Just doing those Zooms with him. He's a great player and he helped me a lot through that process. Sometimes you have bad games and stuff and he was just there to help you down the right path so that was really good that I got to do that with Justin.

On what he learned from his NHL debut last season: Obviously I could tell it was way faster so I think that's something that is a bit of a jump, but I think it was pretty good. I felt good out there and it's just going to be adapting to all the other things like how physical there and how they pass the puck faster, play faster. So that's going to be the other things. I kind of reflected and saw that it was much different than college.

On Bill Burniston being his favorite Carolina Hurricane: I think they're all my favorite, but I think for me, been having a lot of work put in at the gym getting stronger and Billy has been helping a lot. That's been good and so that's why I made that as my joke and put Billy on there.

On keeping his confidence through such rapid transition: I think it's never easy, but just coming here, they're all older players and they're all players you used to watch on TV so it's obviously hard to be confident, but I think having a good year in Maine really helped me with that and following that season to come here, I think was something that really helped me through that process of staying confident.