Carolina Hurricanes Secure 13th Pick of the 2020 Draft

The Carolina Hurricanes have been awarded the 13th pick of the 2020 Draft

The Carolina Hurricanes have secured the 13th pick of the draft as a result of Patrick Marleau trade made over a year ago.

When the Carolina Hurricanes announced that they were going to trade for Patrick Marleau from the the Toronto Maple Leafs along with a conditional 2020 first-round pick and a 2020 seventh-round pick for a sixth-round pick in 2020, there were questions about if the Hurricanes could afford the $6,250,000 cap hit that would come with buying him out.

Fast forward to today and Marleau has signed with the Sharks and was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins before the deadlines. Neither team has qualified for the playoffs. Neither did the Toronto Maple Leafs who, while having a 12.5% chance at the first overall during yesterday’s phase II of the draft, ended up with the 13th pick of the draft and immediately handed it over to Carolina.

The New York Rangers winning the draft meant that the Maple Leafs’ first round draft pick stayed out of the top ten picks, the condition that would have allowed Toronto to keep their draft pick this year and give Carolina next year’s pick.

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While 11th or 12th would have been ideal, the Carolina Hurricanes are more than happy receiving the 13th pick, especially in a draft as deep as this one. Especially considering that their first-round draft pick, now to be at least 16th or deeper in this draft, is owed to the Rangers as a return for the Brady Skjei trade made at the deadline.

Considering that Brady Skjei was a big part of the sweep of the Rangers in the qualifying round last week bringing his big body and helping generating the energy the Hurricanes fed off all during the series, that was also a trade that both teams seem to be happy with the results. After all, without that loss, the Rangers would not have the opportunity to draft Alexis Lafrenière.

With a fresh draft pick this early in the draft, the Carolina Hurricanes will be working overtime to make sure that they do not waste it and make another incredible draft pick to follow up drafting Andrei Svechnikov and Ryan Suzuki in the last two years.

Question for CC Readers: Would you keep this pick or try and trade it to either improve positioning or gain more picks?