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The Carolina Hurricanes Offseason Wishlist

By Austin Isham

TORONTO, ONTARIO - AUGUST 13: Dougie Hamilton #19 of the Carolina Hurricanes is congratulated by his teammates after scoring a goal against the Boston Bruins during the third period in Game Two of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on August 13, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ONTARIO - AUGUST 13: Dougie Hamilton #19 of the Carolina Hurricanes is congratulated by his teammates after scoring a goal against the Boston Bruins during the third period in Game Two of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on August 13, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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The Carolina Hurricanes have a full offseason to look forward to.

Even though the offseason is shorter this year, the Carolina Hurricanes still have a lot of work to do. Here are a couple of things that will help ensure a deep playoff run next spring and beyond.

Although it is a bit disappointing that the Carolina Hurricanes didn’t manage to make as deep of a playoff run as they did last year, the season still had a lot of memorable moments. While it wasn’t the ending they had hoped or wanted, the team is still extremely young and has a lot to learn if they want to be among the Stanley Cup favorites.

With a shorter offseason to work with and a flat salary cap, teams around the league may have to make some difficult decisions if they want to try to make improvements to their rosters. Since Don Waddell took over as general manager, the Canes have been among the more active teams so it’ll be interesting to see what kind of moves they end up making.

As a fan it is always fun to speculate and hypothesize different scenarios that could play out. Below are a few things that I feel like should be/needs to be done this offseason to ensure success next season and beyond.

A Strong Draft

Although it is rather basic, the Carolina Hurricanes will need to have another strong showing at the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. With a lot of prospects departing this season either via trades or the unsigned UFA route, the pool got rather bare rather quickly.

While it is hard to say how many of the departed players would have even made the Hurricanes’ roster over the next couple of years, the amount of changes was vast. With guys like Fleury and Necas graduating to full time NHLers, another successful draft is a must to ensure solid depth remains throughout all levels of the organization.

There’s no need to overthink the 13th overall pick. Just take the best player available and go from there. That may mean taking the most hyped goaltender in years in Yaroslov Askarov, a potential elite goal scorer in Jack Quinn, a top ten faller or anyone else their scouts feel is the BPA. Either way at that point in the draft it’ll be two to three years before the player selected will make an impact in Raleigh.

From there, they can continue to go after those high ceiling prospects in the rest of the rounds that got them such high praise last summer. Either way it is safe to expect a few trades down in the draft where the Hurricanes pick up additional assets while still walking away with “their guy.”

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