Carolina Needs Quality, Not Quantity, at the 2017 NHL Entry Draft
Now that the Carolina Hurricanes are proven sellers at the trade deadline, their focus at the upcoming draft should be on quality over quantity of picks.
The departure of Ron Hainsey to the Penguins has signaled that the Carolina Hurricanes are selling at this year’s trade deadline. In return, general manager Ron Francis hopes to acquire some more assets (draft picks in particular) to retool the team. Already he has done a fantastic job hoarding picks. The Hurricanes 10 selections this June is tied for the most in the league.
Despite that larger collection of picks this summer, Carolina is in a position where using all of those picks would be less than ideal. It would be a lot more beneficial for the Hurricanes to prioritize quality in their picks over the quantity they have. Here are some reasons why.
Depth All Over
In the last three drafts, the Carolina Hurricanes have picked 25 times. That comes out to about 1.2 picks a round over that time frame, which is really good. The team is still waiting to really reap the returns of this, but in the mean time, it has revitalized the Canes prospect pipeline. This doesn’t even include the additions of others like Roland McKeown, Andrew Poturalski, and Aleksi Saarela.
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At just about every position, the Canes have guys waiting in the wings to play in the NHL. The only position that might be an exception is center, but, even then, Nicolas Roy is an above average prospect. Francis helped give the Canes their strongest prospect pipeline in their history.
The only major critique of this large group of prospects is that there aren’t a lot, if any, game breaking prospects. The graduation of Sebastian Aho to the NHL leaves this hole. Jake Bean and Julien Gauthier may become that type of player, but that can’t be determined just yet. With this in mind, it would be prudent for Ron Francis and his scouts to help Carolina find another player that can be a serious difference maker.
Trade Opportunities
In order to find that difference maker the Canes so dearly crave, they are going to have to make some trades. Luckily, they already have 10 picks in the upcoming draft and will probably grab one or two more from future trades. It would be wise to use them as currency.
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There are two scenarios that might present themselves to Carolina. The first is a trade up scenario. With 3 second round picks, there is definitely reason to believe the Canes can trade into the middle/back end of the first round. Scouts have already started pegging this draft as a lower tier one, so picking as high as possible will be very important.
The other option would be to package these picks and trade them for established players. This can either happen at the deadline, draft day, or during free agency. We here at Cardiac Cane have advocated for guys like Matt Duchene and Alex Galchenyuk, but really it could be any offensive player that could provide a spark to the Canes offense.
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It is the same with the goaltender position. Just as the Anaheim Ducks and Toronto Maple Leafs have done is recent seasons, acquiring goalies on draft day and during free agency can prove to be very helpful.
No matter how or when, the Hurricanes need to look long and hard about the pieces they hold in the upcoming draft. They have done a good job restocking the shelves, but now they need more quality pieces ready to be big contributors in the future or even the present.