A Review of the Carolina Hurricanes First Round Draft Picks Part I: 1997-2007

The Carolina Hurricanes have a somewhat inconsistent drafting record throughout the history of the franchise.  They have some major hits on picks after the first round, scoring players such as Erik Cole in the 3rd round in 1998, Jaccob Slavin in the 4th round in 2014, and Sebastian Aho in the 2nd round in 2015.  However, their first-round drafting has not always been up to par. Whether it be over-drafting players based on positional needs or rushing their development, ‘Canes' history is littered with unrealized potential and misses on players who became stars in their NHL careers.  For this list, we will only use players that were picked in the first round; omitting choosing potential players such as Nikita Kucherov, whom every team passed over during their draft year.  Let's start at the beginning:

1998: Jeff Heerema (RW) 11th Overall 32 PG 4G 2A 6 PIM

We are not off to a good start with the second first round pick in franchise history also being a major bust.  Jeff Heerema was meant to be a goal scorer, having produced at every level on his way to the NHL.  He was very productive across the minor leagues- scoring over 30 goals on two occasions- and had a decent career once he left for Europe.   Unfortunately, however, he was unable to find that same scoring touch in the big leagues.  This was a particularly big miss because of the player who was chosen one pick later: All-Star Alex Tanguay.  While he benefited from playing with the likes of Peter Forsberg and Joe Sakic, there is no doubt the “Canes would love to rewind history and pick Tanguay over Heerema.

1999: David Tanabe (D) 16th Overall 449 GP 30G 84A 114 PIM

Billed as an offensive defenseman and power play specialist, Tanabe never quite lived up to his hype as a first round pick coming out of the University of Wisconsin. While his 449 games played in the NHL is nothing to scoff at, he never had more than 29 points in a single season.  Tanabe’s career is a bit difficult to judge because he was forced into a medical retirement before his 30th birthday.  He was an okay NHL player who never truly lived up to expectations and had his career derailed by injuries.  The ‘Canes could have picked Barrett Jackman, a steady defensive D-man who played close to 900 games, or NHL all-stars Nick Boynton and Martin Havlat.

2000: No First Round Pick

This pick was traded to Colorado for 1.5 seasons of Sandis Ozilish.  They would have picked at number 14 and missed potential players such as defensive stalwart Brooks Orpik (18th Overall), 40-goal scorer Brad Boyes (24th Overall), and triple gold club member Niklas Kronwall (29th Overall).

2001: Igor Knyazev (D) 15th Overall 0GP 0G 0A 0 PIM

Continuing the trend of lackluster first round drafting, the Hurricanes selected Russian Igor Knyazev 15th overall.  Knyazev is a peculiar pick as he didn’t have great numbers playing over in Russia before his draft year. There was a trend in the late 1990s to early 2000s in picking Russian players early, with a vast number never panning out.  He played 2 mediocre AHL seasons before spending the rest of his career playing mostly in the Russian minor leagues.  He is one of two Hurricanes first-round picks to never play in an NHL game (The other being Phillippe Paradis).  The good news, there weren't any impact players in the first round after this pick.  Most notable are 20-goal scorer RJ Umberger (16th Overall), pest Colby Armstrong (21st Overall) and future ‘Cane Tim Gleason (23rd Overall).

2002:  Cam Ward (G) 25th Overall 334W 27SO

Finally, success!  After a string of first round busts, the ‘Canes were able to find their goalie of the future at the end of the first round in 2002 in Conn Smythe winner Cam Ward.  Arguably the best goalie in franchise history, he rose out of relative obscurity to guide the Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup Championship in 2006.  He was the primary backstop for the next 12 seasons and retired as the franchise leader in wins and shutouts.  On top of the 2006 Stanley Cup title, he also led the Hurricanes to the Eastern Conference finals in 2009. Overall a great pick for the franchise and no players chosen after Ward in the first round made an impact in the NHL.  

Note: Future late round Hurricanes pick Martin Vagner was drafted one pick later

2003: Eric Staal ( C ) 2nd 1365GP 455G 608A 854 PIM

Another home run!  The disastrous 2002-2003 season awarded the Hurricanes the second pick in the draft and allowed them to select future captain and star center Eric Staal.  He rushed into the NHL right away at the age of 18, having a subpar rookie season, but greatly benefited from spending the lockout season playing in the AHL. Upon the resumption of NHL play, Staal proved himself to be a bonafide star and difference maker on the Stanley Cup-winning Hurricanes.  He was the leading scorer on the 2006 Cup-winning team with over 40 goals and 100 points.  Staal tallied five 30-goal seasons in a Hurricanes uniform and wore the C during his final 7 seasons with the club.  This was a great draft with many amazing players chosen in the first round (including current ‘Cane Brent Burns), but the Hurricanes made the right choice in Eric Staal for their 2nd overall pick.

Note: Staal is the one of two pro athletes playing for a team in North Carolina to be on the cover of a video game.  Glen Rice for the Hornets is the other.

2004: Andrew Ladd (LW) 4th Overall 1001GP 256G 294A 615 PIM

This is a tough pick to judge because while Ladd had a fantastic NHL career, he did pretty much all of it after his time with the Carolina Hurricanes.  He did play some meaningful minutes on the 2006 cup-winning squad but was traded for Tuomo Ruutu one year later.  Ruutu was an important player for the 2009 ECF team but we missed out on having a player with Ladd’s toughness and leadership throughout his career.  Other first-round picks could have been All-Stars Blake Wheeler (5th Overall) and Mike Green (29th Overall), goalies Devan Dubnyk (14th Overall) and Corey Schnieder (26th Overall), or the talented Alex Radulov (15th Overall)

2005: Jack Johnson (D) 3rd Overall 1107GP 74G 246A 599 PIM

If you look at just Jack Johnson’s stats, you can see he’s had a long NHL career.  He never quite lived up to the hype of the 3rd overall pick but he has been a solid NHL player for close to 20 years.  However, he is one of the worst Hurricanes draft picks ever. He had no intention of ever signing with the team and forced a trade before ever playing an NHL game.  The ‘Canes received Tim Gleason and Eric Belanger in return, and while they are decent NHL players, they are not near the return you should receive for a prospect held in his regard.  He is the subject of one of the stranger stories in recent years with his parents stealing all of his money and forcing him into bankruptcy.  Regardless, considering the circumstances, this was a bad pick.  If the Hurricanes were hell-bent on picking a D-man, they could’ve chosen Marc Staal (12th Overall).  Other notable players the ‘Canes missed are future Hall of Famers Carey Price (4th Overall), Anze Kopitar (11th Overall), and Tuukka Rask (21st Overall) as well as All Star TJ Oshie (24th Overall)

Note: A Carey Price/Tukka Rask tandem with Cam Ward would’ve been amazing.

2006: First Round Pick traded to St. Louis for Doug Weight

I would say this trade worked out well for the ‘Canes. We won the Stanley Cup!  Weight played an important leadership role during the playoffs before his injury.  The player selected with the Hurricanes pick (30th Overall) made no NHL impact. 

2007: Brandon Sutter (C/RW) 11th Overall 770GP 152G 289A 149 PIM

This pick is similar to the Jack Johnson pick in the sense that the majority of his NHL games were after he was traded away.  Sutter comes from a blue-blood hockey family and was a solid defensive forward throughout his career.  He scored 20 goals twice and was an Alternate Captain for the Hurricanes and the Canucks later in his career.  With all that being said, Sutter is an important player in Hurricanes history because he was one of the key pieces involved in the trade to acquire Jordan Staal.  Jordan Staal, while never truly regaining his close to 30 goal scoring touch he displayed as a rookie, is an important player for the Hurricanes and one of the best face-off men in the entire NHL.  Even though Sutter did not have a major impact in a Hurricanes jersey, we were able to use his potential to acquire our current captain.  Notable players we missed in 2007 include all-stars Ryan McDonough (12th Overall), Kevin Shattenkirk (14th Overall), former ‘Cane Max Pacioretty (21st Overall), and David Perron (24th Overall).