Watch Carolina Hurricanes prospect Sergey Tolchinsky slice through 4 defenders for sweet goal

For people of a certain age and sporting consciousness, Sergey Tolchinsky is a little like Barry Sanders on skates.

No play that involves Tolchinsky can ever be really be considered innocuous, since the Carolina Hurricanes signing who was inexplicably bypassed by all 30 teams two NHL drafts ago is so sneaky quick with the puck. The (generously listed at) 5-foot-8, 169-pound right wing demonstrated his elusiveness with a splendid solo effort for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds against the Saginaw Spirit last Saturday.

After retrieving a dump-in, Tolchinsky circled out of the corner to the right of the Spirit goal, carrying to the top of the faceoff circle. Then the 19-year-old bobbed and weaved through no less than four Saginaw defenders before scything a backhand by goalie Nikita Serebryakov.

True, as play-by-play broadcaster Leigh Cunningham noted, the Spirit needed to a lay a body check on Tolchinsky on that play. It's hard to hit what you cannot catch.

Tolchinsky is off to a promising start for the 'Hounds, with seven goals and 20 points over 15 games. Sure, he's undersized, but the appeal with Tolchinsky is that flair for the highly skilled play where he can make a lot out of a small opening, almost like he's playing his own game. It's past the point of belabouring the fact that he was not chosen in the 2013 NHL draft, but he can still make the mind reel at how that happened.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.