Carolina Hurricanes Could have the Best Prospect Pool in the NHL in One Year

A few seasons ago, the Carolina Hurricanes’ farm system was a desolate waste land with little to no talent at every position. Things have changed.

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The Hurricanes now have a wide array of talent in their system, specifically on the blue line, with guys like Noah Hanifin, Haydn Fleury, Brett Pesce, Jaccob Slavin, Trevor Carrick, and Roland McKeown all having upside of a top-four defenseman in the NHL. Hanifin looks to be a franchise defenseman, and Fleury could be a top-two, defensive minded blue liner.

It does get a little thin at other positions, however.

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At forward, Brock McGinn, Sebastian Aho, and Sergey Tolchinsky are the bright spots, but none of them project to be top-line players.

McGinn could pan out as an effective and physical third-liner, Aho has the talent and promise of a top-six forward, and Tolchinsky may have the biggest upside, but he is also a guy who could fall completely flat due to his small size and reckless style of play.

Alex Nedeljkovic could be the future for the team in net, but he isn’t an incredibly safe option. That being said, most goalies aren’t safe options. Malcolm Subban was and is still expected to be the next big thing for the Boston Bruins in net, but some are questioning when/if he will put the pieces together.

Daniel Althsuller and Rasmus Tirronen are the next best goalie prospects in the system for Carolina, but neither of them project to be much more than fringe NHLers.

This season, the Carolina Hurricanes are set to have two first round draft picks. They have their own pick and the one they acquired in the Andrej Sekera trade with the Los Angeles Kings back at last season’s trade deadline.

Adding two first round-quality players to the system will make the pool leaps and bounds better, especially if both of them are forwards.

Eric Staal plays a big role in the future of the Hurricanes farm system as well. If the Canes move Staal this season, they will get at least 1 or 2 good prospects and a 1st round pick.

Carolina Hurricanes

Assuming at least one of those prospects is a forward, that would, again, add to the forward depth in the system, and a trade with a 2016 1st rounder in it would give the club 3 picks in the top 30 selections in next June’s draft.

Ever since Ron Francis took over at the helm of the Carolina Hurricanes, the prospect pool has gotten better and better, and the future of the team continues to look incredibly bright.

Francis has yet to make a bad decision, and hopefully that will continue into this season as he looks to add more young players to the organization and potentially move long-time Hurricanes like Eric Staal, Cam Ward, and maybe others.

The Canes have gone from one of the worsh farm systems in the league to one of the brightest ones. With another year of high draft picks and potential blockbuster trades, the Hurricanes could have one of the best farm systems in the entire NHL, in turn making them one of the best up and coming teams in the league, especially with guys like Jeff Skinner, Justin Faulk, Elias Lindholm, and Victor Rask all being established NHLers under the age of 24. Ryan Murphy is also knocking on the door.

Will years of failure and disappointment finally pay off for the Carolina Hurricanes? It is looking like the answer may finally be yes.

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