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.
