How Raleigh’s Tyler Weiss is looking for a path to play for the Hurricanes
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Tyler Weiss joins Hurricanes' rookie squad for 2025 Prospects Showcase
- Weiss signs AHL deal with Chicago Wolves, choosing development over offers
- Former ECHL forward eyes NHL path after steady college and junior career
A lot of hockey players like to keep things simple on the ice and that’s what Raleigh’s Tyler Weiss plans to do in the next few days.
Keep his head down, play hard, play smart and be a good teammate while trying to open some eyes and impress some of the right people.
Weiss is on the Carolina Hurricanes’ rookie squad for the 2025 Prospects Showcase, a four-team, four-day event that begins Friday in Florida and is being hosted by the Tampa Bay Lightning. The forward, drafted by the Colorado Avalanche in 2018, has two years of professional experience – both in the ECHL – and has signed an American Hockey League contract with the Chicago Wolves, the Canes’ AHL affiliate.
Weiss, 25, could be with the Wolves when the 2025-26 season cranks up. But there’s always the hope of bigger, better things.
Weiss said Wednesday that the Hershey Bears also offered an AHL contract on July 1, when hockey free agency began. He went with the Wolves, explaining, “It came down to where I think I can excel and get to the next level, and I think that’s why I came here.”
Hockey beginnings in the Triangle
Weiss began playing hockey after the Hurricanes won the 2006 Stanley Cup. He often attended Canes games, he said, sitting “way up in the nosebleed sections.”
Weiss’s mother, Kelly, likes to tell the story of how a 10-year-old Tyler once announced he would one day play in the NHL. Asked why he would say that, Tyler responded, “Because I believe in myself.”
The belief is still there. But his hockey path has been long and challenging, from junior hockey in Canada to college hockey at Nebraska-Omaha and then time in the ECHL.
Last season, while playing for the South Carolina Stingrays, Weiss finished second in team scoring to Josh Wilkins.
Weiss and Wilkins – two Raleigh natives and close friends weaned on Hurricanes hockey.
“Josh was someone that I looked up to growing up,” Weiss said in an interview at Invisalign Arena. “He was kind of leading the way for all of us. He was a college kid who signed with the Nashville Predators, so all the Raleigh kids looked up to him. We already knew each other, so when we got together here (with the Stingrays) we just did our thing.”
Wilkins, 28, went to Providence before starting pro hockey, going undrafted by NHL teams. The forward has spent the past three seasons with the Stingrays, the ECHL affiliate of the Washington Capitals.
And to have two Raleigh natives going 1-2 in scoring and leading the way last season?
“Hey, it says the kids here can play,” Weiss said, smiling. “There’s some great talent coming out of Raleigh. Because of the Hurricanes, more and more kids want to play hockey.”
Weiss’ long journey back to the Canes
Weiss has spent little time in Raleigh the past decade or so. After junior hockey in Toronto came the U.S. National Team Development Program in Michigan before his five college seasons at Nebraska-Omaha with the Omaha Mavericks.
Weiss’ play and participation with the USNTDP, and a good skill level, factored into the Avalanche picking him in the fourth round of the 2018 NHL Draft, No. 109 overall. Then came the pandemic. After a fifth year at Omaha, Weiss said the Avs released him, making him a free agent.
Weiss signed with the Toronto Marlies of the AHL. He ended up playing the 2023-24 season, his first as a pro, with the Newfoundland Growlers in the ECHL where he was coached by former NHL forward Matt Cooke.
“That first year was more of a learning year,” Weiss said. “I wasn’t used to playing so many games and it was there that I learned how to be a pro, how to take care of your body. Rest, nutrition, stuff like that. Protein shakes, eating right. How to sustain energy.
“At the end of the year I got hot and took that into this past season and had a breakout year.”
Weiss had 22 goals and 56 points in 63 games with the Stingrays, who were bounced from the playoffs in the first round by the Orlando Solar Bears.
Weiss, who is 5 feet 10, said he weighed in at a lean 155 pounds when he first went to Omaha. He has since put on 15 pounds although he’s no bruiser at 170.
“I think I’m still growing, at 25,” he said. “My dad and my brother were super skinny until they were 25 and then began filling out. They’re both about 190 or 200.”
At Omaha, Weiss played games against North Dakota, which had forward Jackson Blake scoring goals and eventually becoming a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, college hockey’s Heisman.
Blake competed in the rookie showcase for the Canes last year, moved on to the preseason training camp and doggedly claimed a spot on the NHL roster. After a strong rookie season, he received an eight-year, $45 million extension from the Canes that kicks in a year from now.
Blake, 22, was a fourth-round pick by the Hurricanes in the 2021 draft, No. 109 overall – Weiss’s draft slot in 2018.
“I played against Jackson Blake for two years and know his talents,” Weiss said. “He’s an incredible player and he’s one of those guys who gives us hope.
“They lead the way. If it happened to them, it might happen to you. You never know what can happen. Just show up, be positive and work your hardest.”
That simple.
2025 Prospects Showcase Schedule
at Wesley Chapel, Florida
Friday, Sept. 12
2 p.m. – Hurricanes vs. Florida Panthers
5 p.m. – Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Nashville Predators
Saturday, Sept. 13
2 p.m. – Predators vs. Hurricanes
5 p.m. – Lightning vs. Panthers
Sunday, Sept. 14 (practice day)
Monday, Sept. 15
12 p.m. – Panthers vs. Predators
3 p.m. – Lightning vs. Hurricanes
This story was originally published September 12, 2025 at 5:30 AM with the headline "How Raleigh’s Tyler Weiss is looking for a path to play for the Hurricanes."
