We take a look at who the Carolina Hurricanes could possibly take with their first round pick
With the Carolina Hurricanes recent string of poor play, it’s time to look forward to the draft. The NHL entry draft where hope springs eternal for all the bad teams in the league. One current draft simulator puts Carolina picking ninth in the 2017 draft. Sure Carolina could always win the lottery and move up to a top four pick, but for the purposes of this article, we’re going to assume the probabilities play out like they should.
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So taking that knowledge, I looked at the what the current rankings of draft-eligible players were. Over at the Hockey Writers, they were kind enough to compile the different rankings from various scouts for the start of February. I took all those numbers and averaged them out and then cross referenced that with Carolina’s pick. This gave me Swedish forward Elias Pettersson.
Who is Elias Pettersson?
Pettersson currently plays with Timra IK in the second tier of Sweden’s professional hockey leagues. Elias can play both Center and Left Wing. He was a member of Sweden’s World Junior squad although the tournament wasn’t a success. Pettersson was only able to post one point in six games, and Sweden would finish the tournament fourth after losing to Russia in the bronze
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medal game. Despite Pettersson’s lackluster play, The Hockey News had good things to say about the kid:
"He’s been snakebitten throughout the tournament, but Canada better hope Pettersson doesn’t find his luck in the semifinal, because the kid has looked very dangerous. One of the top European prospects for the 2017 draft, Pettersson is very smart and very talented. He’s part of a deadly Swedish forward syndicate and if he gets hot, watch out."
This season with Timra IK, Pettersson has scored 17 goals and 38 points in 41 games. If one compares these numbers to CHL leagues they seem a little low, but the Swedish league would be closer to the AHL than the CHL in terms of talent and age. The kid has skills that may in fact at some point possibly pay bills. Just check out the videos below.
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Pettersson’s Timetable
I know a lot of people’s next question will be if he is ready to contribute to the Carolina Hurricanes next season, most likely that answer will be no. Dobber Prospects has the best reason why he may not:
"A work in progress as he has some serious filling out to do. He has height at 6-2 but is very slight at 161 pounds. He has added about ten pounds in the last year so he is adding strength and bulk but has a long way to go."
Pettersson doesn’t quite have the build yet of a professional NHLer even if he does have the skills. That isn’t a huge problem, but one that will take time to remedy unless Pettersson starts packing on the pounds quickly in the offseason. Even if this draft is weaker than the past two as in there are no generational talents, there are still values to be had if teams are scouting properly. I can’t say for sure if Pettersson will be a great NHL, but for an offense-starved team like Carolina he’s a step in the right direction.