Three potential trade chips to bolster the haul from the 2022 NHL draft
By Conor Power
With the 2021-22 NHL season finally concluding with the Colorado Avalanche dethroning the Tampa Bay Lightning, we can finally start to look forward to the next step in the hockey world. That is the 2022 NHL Entry Draft being held on July 7th and 8th in Montreal, Quebec. Carolina will be attending an in-person draft for the first time since the 2019 draft and this is going to be an interesting draft.
Known for their prowess and cleverness on the draft floor, this is usually one of the highlight events for the Carolina Hurricanes organization. Despite the fact this team almost single-handedly tacked hours onto the 2021 NHL entry draft, the excitement of yet another NHL draft is building and we get to see if the players selected will contribute to becoming the next generation of Hurricanes players.
As it currently stands, Carolina holds their own draft selection in the second, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh, accompanied by the Chicago third-round selection, Anaheim sixth-round selection, and the Columbus seventh-round pick. In a particularly deep draft, we’re likely going to see the Hurricanes returning to the well of trading down wherever possible. But that doesn’t have to be the only approach to adding picks ahead of this draft.
With the draft happening in a little more than a week’s time, get to approach the time where the Hurricanes will have to force some answers out of themselves. If they know that there are players that do not want to be here next season or the team cannot afford to keep here for the future, it might be best to see if you can recoup draft picks for there here and invest in the future now while you can.
Recently, it has been reported that there are a few players that the Hurricanes do not know what to do with, or that the player wants more than the Canes can afford or have deemed them to be worth. With the Hurricanes’ track record of underwhelming offers to their previous free agents, it is safe to assume that those results are viable and could see the Hurricanes move on from a few members of their current roster.