Revisiting the Carolina Hurricanes 2011 Draft Class
By Alex Ohari
Round 4, Pick 103 – F Gregory Hofmann
Gregory Hofmann. Mostly known as the guy drafted with the pick before Calgary selected Johnny Gaudreau.
With their fourth round pick, the Hurricanes turned their attention to Switzerland to draft promising young forward Gregory Hofmann. I won’t go too far into detail here on Hofmann’s career, since I already wrote an article on what happened with Gregory Hofmann – which you can read right here.
To summarize, Hofmann, despite appearing in a few Hurricanes prospects camps and even training camp as recent as 2017, looks like a mystery the team will never solve. He just signed a new 4-year deal in his Swiss homeland, in a league that’s amazing to local players. Great travel schedule, good competition, and solid pay.
I can’t envision Hofmann trading in his situation over there for long bus rides to AHL games, so unless the Canes could guarantee Hofmann an NHL roster spot (which they can’t) the likelihood of Hofmann ever making a mark in the Hurricanes organization is extremely doubtful.
Now two years removed from his last appearence in Raleigh, it’s very likely to assume that we’ve seen the last of Hofmann in Raleigh, without, you know, ever actually seeing him. It’s a tough one to swallow, especially seeing that he led the Swiss league with 30 goals last year, and has NHL skill and blazing speed. He’ll go down as a guy with potential that never materialized. A true mystery, but nevertheless a failed pick.