Revisiting the Carolina Hurricanes 2010 Draft Class
1st round, 7th overall: F Jeff Skinner
It should go without saying, but obviously, Jeff Skinner turned out to be a phenomenal pick by the Carolina Hurricanes. They selected him seventh overall in 2010 (2 picks after NYI selected Nino Neiderreiter 5th overall) after he put up a 50-goal season with the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL, and added 20 goals in 20 playoff games.
Skinner was hailed as the best goal scoring threat in the draft, and was widely lauded for his skating ability. As you might remember, Skinner went on to have immediate success as a Hurricane, jumping straight from the draft onto the roster and his 31-goal, 63-point rookie season as an 18-year old got him an All-Star game invite and a Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s rookie of the year.
Unfortunately, that rookie season was the pinnacle of Skinner’s career with the team. Though he would go on to eclipse those 31 goals, he was visibly inconsistent, and could never lead the Hurricanes into the playoffs – and has yet to play a playoff game in his 9-year career. Despite the lack of team success, Skinner scored 204 goals for the Hurricanes, and his 244 career goals trail only Tyler Seguin (262) in the 2010 draft class.
With a 40-goal season, as well as 3 30-goal seasons under his belt, Skinner has easily lived up to his draft status. Only Seguin and Taylor Hall have more career points than him from that draft class.
Pick Grade: A
2nd round, 37th overall: D Justin Faulk
In what may have been the best pick of the entire 2nd round of the 2010 draft, the Carolina Hurricanes took the now fan-dividing Justin Faulk, in a hope to rebuild their weakening D core at the time. Though often criticized for his defensive lapses, there’s no denying the impact Faulk has made on the Hurricanes.
Faulk leads all players from that second round in games played with 559, which is the 6th most in the entire draft. As a defenseman, his 258 points leads all players from that 2nd round, with Tyler Toffoli (256) and Jason Zucker (214), both forwards, the only 2 players in Faulk’s proximity.
To put in perspective just how good of a pick it was, no defenseman selected in the 2nd round has even as many points as Faulk has goals (85). Defenseman selected ahead of Faulk in the first round include Erik Gudbranson, Brandon Gormley, Dylan McIlrath, Derek Forbort and Jarred Tinordi.
Faulk, now going into his 9th season with the team, has 2 All-Star games on his resumé, and served as a co-captain for the team during the 2017-18 season. Now 27-years old and in his prime, Faulk has one year left on his deal, and will be a UFA in the summer of 2020. The longest tenured Hurricanes player, the team will have a difficult task of re-signing Faulk, who could command a big-money deal on the free agent market. No matter what the case, he’s been a great Hurricane, and all things considered, a steal in the 2nd round.
Pick Grade: A+
2nd round, 53rd overall – D Mark Alt
With the second of their two 2nd round picks (acquired from San Jose in the Niclas Wallin trade in 2010), the Hurricanes opted to take another defenseman. They drafted Mark Alt, a US-born 6’4, 200lb D who was still in high school, where he was a big time shooter from the blueline. Unfortunately for the Hurricanes, the selection of Alt didn’t turn out nearly like the other US defenseman they drafted in the 2nd round that year.
Alt, a right-shot D, committed to the U. of Minnesota, and had a 3-year career there, opting to skip his senior season after a steep decline in production his junior year. But Alt would never step in to the Hurricanes organization. In January 2013 during the NHL lockout, while in his junior year at Minnesota, Alt was traded along with goaltender Brian Boucher to the Philadelphia Flyers for 23-year old center Luke Pither, who was playing in the ECHL. Pither would go on to play just 23 games for the Charlotte Checkers, before being let go as a free agent. He has never appeared in an NHL game.
Alt, on the other hand, never gained much traction in the Flyers organization. He was there from January 2013 until being waived in February of 2018, having played just 9 games with the Flyers. He was claimed off waivers by the Colorado Avalanche, and has gone on to play another 9 games with them – but is pointless in 18 career NHL games. Now 27 years old, Alt’s days as a highly regarded prospect are long behind him.
He’s going into his final contract year with Colorado, but will likely spend the year in the AHL. The Carolina Hurricanes selected Alt over the likes of Jason Zucker, Stephen Johns and Johan Larsson, who’ve all gone on to become NHL contributors. Unfortunately with Alt, it just never worked out, and he never played a single game for the Hurricanes.
Pick Grade: F
Round 3, pick 67: D Danny Biega
Continuing their run on defensemen, in the 3rd round the Carolina Hurricanes opted to select Danny Biega, the Montreal native who had just enjoyed a successful freshman season at Harvard University. Biega, whose brother Alex plays for the Vancouver Canucks, looked extremely promising at one point.
He scored 9 points as a freshman, but jumped that total to 30 as a sophomore and then 35 as a junior, scoring 10+ goals in each of those seasons as a D-man. For whatever reason, his development hit a wall after that. Entering his senior season, he was named Captain of the Harvard team.
His team finished dead last in the ECAC standings, winning just 6 games, and Biega scored just 2 goals and 11 points on the year, which was a steep decline in production. Despite that, he still had promise, as he was more of a defensive-minded guy than a scorer. As fate would have it, Biega was never really able to find his footing in the Carolina Hurricanes organization.
After a couple of years in the AHL, he was recalled to the Hurricanes sporadically during the 2014-15 season when the team was nursing injuries on the blue line. Despite looking pretty solid in his recall, in which he played 10 games, that was his last shot with the team. That summer, the Hurricanes drafted Noah Hanifin in the 1st round and had Brett Pesce and Jaccob Slavin turn pro from the college ranks, effectively pushing Biega down the depth chart and out of mind.
He had an injury-plagued season in 2015-16 with Charlotte, and was not tendered a qualifying offer by the Hurricanes after the season. For whatever reason, despite showing he had promise at the NHL level, Biega has not signed anywhere since the conclusion of the 2015-16 season, and at this point, looks to have moved on from hockey. Despite at one point looking like a piece to puzzle in the Hurricanes’ future, Biega never really panned out, and as fans we are left wondering why it never worked out. On the bright side, the Hurricanes didn’t leave any NHL regulars on the board when they selected Biega.
Pick Grade: C
Round 3, pick 85 – D Austin Levi
With their 4th consecutive pick, the Carolina Hurricanes opted to select a right-shot defenseman, which also gave them 4 D in the top 85 picks of the draft. The 85th overall pick they used to draft Austin Levi was acquired via Vancouver, in March 2010 for defenseman Andrew Alberts.
With 4 consecutive right-shot D selected, Hurricanes fans were understandably frustrated with the pick. Levi, a 6’4 225lb US-born defenseman, was playing with the OHL’s Plymouth Whalers when the Hurricanes selected him. His draft year, he scored 12 points and added 116 penalty minutes, on a team with another former Hurricanes defenseman, Michal Jordan.
Levi played another 3 seasons in Plymouth, and despite showing progression with his defensive abilities, never really developed into a capable pro player. He lacked speed and acceleration, and he was frequently blasted by fans and media for his lackadaisical decision making and selfish penalties. After turning pro, Levi languished in the ECHL for most of the 3 years in his entry-level contract, only managing to suit up in 25 games for the Charlotte Checkers.
By the time his entry-level deal expired, the Hurricanes had seen enough, and decided not to qualify Levi as a restricted free agent. He did not play hockey anywhere the year after the Hurricanes let him go, and then signed on with the University of PEI in Canada, where he’s played the last 3 years.
Now 27 years old and vanished from pro hockey since the conclusion of the 2014-15 season, without ever cracking the AHL on a permanent basis, Levi’s chances of ever being an NHLer are long behind him. Despite having nice size that the Hurricanes coveted, Levi unfortunately never progressed well enough and has gone down as a bust.
It’s easy to see why the Hurricanes struggled for years after their run in 2009, when consistently whiffing with prime draft picks. The trio of Levi, Alt and Biega, all selected in the top 3 rounds, were extremely underwhelming with just 10 combined games played for the Carolina Hurricanes. Luckily the selection of Faulk was phenomenal, which saved this run of 4 straight right-handed defensemen.
Pick Grade: F
Later Rounds
Round 4, Pick 105: F Justin Shugg
If you don’t remember Justin Shugg, you’re probably not alone. He was a big scorer in the OHL, scoring 80 goals and 166 points in his 2 years there after the Hurricanes drafted him. A native of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Shugg is a 5’11 185lb. skill-based forward, but he could never quite put it all together in the pros.
He started off in the ECHL with the Florida Everblades, but worked his way up to Charlotte, where he spent parts of 5 seasons as an effective but not eye-catching scorer. He scored a career high 21 goals and 44 points for Charlotte in 2014-15 and earned himself a call-up to the Hurricanes, with whom he played 3 games, without any points.
Currently, Shugg is playing over in the German league, where he’s been for the past 3 seasons. The chances of him ever resurfacing in the NHL are next to zero.
Round 6, Pick 167: D Tyler Stahl
Another right-shot D (the 5th of the draft), Canadian Tyler Stahl was selected in the 6th round with the 167th pick. Stahl was a big, bruising defenseman (6’2, 195lbs) who amassed 465 penalty minutes in his WHL career. He never took the necessary steps as a player however, and was not signed to an entry-level contract by the Hurricanes. They relinquished his rights in 2012. Afterwards, Stahl played 1 more year for Victoria in the WHL, before seemingly retiring. He has not played for a team since 2012-13.
Round 7, Pick 187 – G Frederik Andersen
With their last pick in the draft, the Hurricanes drafted Frederik Andersen, who had a .932sv% in 32 games that year in Denmark. At the time of drafting him, Andersen was already undrafted two consecutive years before that, and was 20 years of age.
The Hurricanes were ultimately unable to sign Andersen, as he reportedly didn’t want to play second fiddle to Cam Ward. GM Jim Rutherford was definitely unhappy with the situation, judging by his anger at Andersen’s agent in the Hurricanes press release. Andersen re-entered the 2012 draft, where he was chosen in the 3rd round by Anaheim.
Nowadays, Andersen is obviously the starting goaltender for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and has been a key component in their recent success. The Hurricanes as a whole have really struggled with goaltending over the last decade, so as fans we can’t help but wonder if Andersen could have been the answer to all of our problems. Regardless, he remains the one that got away.
