Round 7, Pick 193 – F Brody Sutter
With their final pick, the Hurricanes elected to take overage forward Brody Sutter, who was the cousin of then-Canes center Brandon Sutter. Sutter was playing in the WHL, and likely caught the attention of Hurricanes scouts due to his 6’5”, 205lb frame.
He looked like a guy who could be developed into a capable bottom-6 player, as his Sutter bloodline would’ve indicated there was some potential there. He slowly progressed in Charlotte, showing improvement every season he was playing there. But for whatever reason, he just never put it all together in the NHL.
He was recalled multiple times to the Hurricanes roster, playing 12 games with the team over 2 seasons, capped by his 8 appearences in 2015-16. Though he added a little physicality to the Canes 4th line, Sutter was terrorized by opposition at even strength, finishing with a 35.8% Corsi rating in those 8 games, unimaginably a downgrade from 42% in 4 games the year before. He played a little over 100 minutes in his 12 NHL appearences, and the Hurricanes never scored a single goal with Sutter on the ice(!).
He was traded at the start of the 2016 season for prospect Connor Brickley, who never played a game for Carolina. Nowadays, Sutter is playing over in Germany with the Iserlohn Roosters. As a 7th round pick, expectations were very limited for Sutter, and unfortunately he was unable to change the trend. At least, however, he was a valuable player for the Charlotte Checkers.