Alex Nedeljkovic

Alex Nedeljkovic's 2020-21 season with the Carolina Hurricanes produced a series of milestones in quick succession: he was surprisingly unclaimed after being placed on waivers to reach the taxi squad, emerged as the Hurricanes' starting goalie by the time the playoffs began, won a first-round series against the Nashville Predators, was named a finalist for the Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie, earned a spot on the NHL All-Rookie team, and recorded his first NHL shutout on February 20 against the Tampa Bay Lightning. That shutout, a game in which he made saves on multiple passing plays from below the goal line, would later serve as the foundation for his debut Pro Reads session with InGoal Magazine.

Born in Parma, Ohio on January 7, 1996, Nedeljkovic was selected by the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round, seventh pick, of the 2014 NHL Draft. He stands 6'0" and weighs 205 pounds, catching left. He currently wears number 33 for the San Jose Sharks.

InGoal Magazine has covered Alex Nedeljkovic in ten Pro Reads. The series began in July 2021, when Nedeljkovic sat down for an extended video review session — over an hour of footage breakdown — while still under contract with Carolina, just before being traded to Detroit. The material from that session was substantial enough that InGoal combined two saves from his Tampa Bay shutout into a single opening installment Alex Nedeljkovic ProRead, and continued drawing from it across multiple subsequent entries even as Nedeljkovic was already playing for the Red Wings.

That debut Pro Read examined how Nedeljkovic reads plays originating from below the goal line, specifically his approach to identifying dangerous players before the puck reaches a threatening area. A candid appearance on the InGoal Radio Podcast ahead of the 2021 playoffs preceded the Pro Reads series and was referenced repeatedly across subsequent installments as context for understanding his approach to the position.

His second Pro Read Alex Nedeljkovic ProRead 2 focused on a rush chance against the Nashville Predators and became a detailed exploration of what Nedeljkovic described as prioritizing angle over depth — targeting the far post rather than pushing straight across on lateral movements. InGoal illustrated the difference geometrically, showing how a path back toward the post gets a goalie into save space sooner than a flat cross-ice push over the same distance. Nedeljkovic noted in that session that identifying both passing options as left-handed shots early in the play was key, since it told him neither shooter could easily one-time a pass.

A 2-on-0 against the Nashville Predators was the subject of his third Pro Read Alex Nedeljkovic ProRead 3, in which he discussed using a reverse c-cut as part of his push across, explaining how it preserves his edge for a potential second push back the other way. He also returned to his angle-over-depth principle, describing his push as directed toward the far post rather than directly at the shooter.

Pro Read four Alex Nedeljkovic ProRead 4 addressed a broken-play scramble following a deflected point shot, with Nedeljkovic explaining the importance of re-establishing angle even in desperation situations. "Because that's the easiest place to hit and when guys see an open net, they are just looking to 1. Get it on net and 2. Get it in the air," he said.

By the time InGoal ran his fifth entry Alex Nedeljkovic ProRead 5, the series had moved to end-zone sequences, including a sharp-angle attack from Mikael Granlund of the Nashville Predators. That installment introduced Nedeljkovic's post play and his approach to moving from post to post in reverse-VH, a theme he would return to in later sessions. He also described the value of looking off the puck to identify active defenders — in that specific play, noting that Erik Gudbranson was pinching — as contributing directly to the save.

Pro Read six Alex Nedeljkovic ProRead 6 marked the first time InGoal's Kevin Woodley had seen Nedeljkovic in person with the Red Wings, attending a game in which Nedeljkovic made 43 saves in a shutout against the Vancouver Canucks. The clip analyzed in that session involved a shorthanded rush chance against the Florida Panthers, with Nedeljkovic describing the importance of reading the situation early — including whether the player receiving a cross-ice pass would have to take it on his backhand, and how that affected the one-timer threat.

The Florida Panthers and Aleksander Barkov featured prominently in the seventh Alex Nedeljkovic ProRead 7 and eighth Alex Nedeljkovic ProRead 8 Pro Reads. In the seventh, Nedeljkovic broke down a rush in which Barkov used a spin move to generate a close-range chance, explaining his thought process on why he came across on his knees in that instance despite emphasizing the value of holding his edges elsewhere in the series. "I get the middle of the net first," he said. "Everybody wants to have good depth but if you are not on the proper angle it doesn't matter how far out you are, you are still going to give something up. You always want to be centered on the puck and then work yourself out." On Barkov specifically, he noted: "When he turns he's not attacking the net anymore, he's skating away from it, so where's the threat?" — while also acknowledging that Barkov commanded roughly 80 to 90 percent of his focus given the player's ability to still hit the short side.

The eighth Pro Read Alex Nedeljkovic ProRead 8 addressed a 3-on-1 that became a 2-on-1 before Nedeljkovic made the save, with a key point being how early he was gathering information about the developing rush — tracking cues from the other end of the ice before the puck even crossed the blue line. "It's all about determining which player is most dangerous without the puck," he said. He identified left-handed options on the far end of a Barkov pass, the pace of the pass, and the spacing of the attacking forwards as factors that shaped his decision-making.

Pro Read nine Alex Nedeljkovic ProRead 9 returned to a breakaway, this time a clear-cut chance from the blue line against Columbus, with Nedeljkovic's discussion centering on speed as a critical variable. The tenth and final installment in the current series Alex Nedeljkovic ProRead 10 brought sharp-angle attacks back into focus, including a wraparound chance against the Columbus Blue Jackets, and connected back to his post play evolution previously introduced in Pro Read five.

Across his NHL career through the current season, Nedeljkovic has appeared in 217 games, going 90-74-31 with a 2.99 goals-against average, a .902 save percentage, and 9 shutouts. In 2025-26 with San Jose, he has gone 16-14-4 in 38 games with a 2.95 goals-against average and a .893 save percentage over 2,158:05 of ice time.