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Official 2016 NHL Draft Thread

For a chance at either of the two Finns, I would be willing to move our #13 and Fleury.
OR
#13, McKeown and Pesce
OR
#13, any of our recently acquired prospects

I just don't see anybody moving down out of either of those picks. It would probably take more. Like a 1st, 2nd and a prospect(s)
That's a bit much.
 
jeffbear said:
As CM mentions, there are plenty of other ways to skin the cat as well.

Package up some extra picks for a young skilled forward. Package up a pick or two for young goaltender ... or an older one on the verge of being priced out of a job, as has been rumored with Bishop, for example. PLENTY of options.

I think he's right about patience too. No need to make the one homerun swing unless you are absolutely convinced that it would be the single move to make the puzzle pieces fit. Personally, I view our problems in the forward lines as way too complex and varied to be solved merely by obtaining a top line center at a hefty price. I think we're going to see a blended approach from Ronnie, mostly because that seems to be how his character as a GM is developing.
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Drafting another young goaltending prospect should be the priority in round two...and a quick look at the draft board says the Canes hold the 43rd and 48th picks in round two! So the Swedish kid Gustavsson or Dylan Wells from Peterborough have to be on Ronnie's wish list as those two are the best goalies available early in the draft.

13, 21, 43, 48, 66, 73, 74, 103, 133, 163...gotta love all those picks on draft day!
 
Note that Carolina DOES have an "extra" 2nd rounder this year if they choose to sweeten the pot on a big deal or use it to help move up the order at some point prior to the late 2nd round. It's the Rangers' pick we got in the Staal deal.

The more I think about the top of this draft, and the gaping chasm between the current level of the three top guys and the rest of the first round pool, the more I think we're going to end up targeting either one player or two with those first round picks and using the other bonus picks we've accumulated to move up as needed to hit those targets. That's the savvy, calm way to approach this particular draft pool and Francis is nothing if not those two things. As much as I'd love one of those big Finnish wingers, it's likely not going to happen for anyone other than the teams currently slotted 1 through 3.

Based on the prospect pool, there looks to be a strong group of centers in the sweet spot where Carolina has its first pick. For a starting position it's probably safe to assume that they'll scout up that group and pick one they want and then go make it happen, even if it means moving up a little to do it. Brown, Jost, Keller, McLeod and Kunin ... that's a big knot of talented pivots that most mock drafters and scouts see at middle first round material. There's a little bit of everything in that bunch ... a fair amount of size, pure speed, playmaking, even this year's version of Mitch Marner that will get somebody blasted for selecting a midget ... but who is probably just a darned fine player who happens to be short. Throw in a couple of Euro wildcards, and there could well be a run on centers triggered by the first team to pick one of this group.
 
Hurricanes 2016 projected 1st round pick(s) - Mcleod and Gauthier
A center and a right wing.
Would be happy with this as well.
 
JamesNorthern said:
Hurricanes 2016 projected 1st round pick(s) - Mcleod and Gauthier
A center and a right wing.
Would be happy with this as well.
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I also like the Bellows kid with that second pick, if he's available. Good bloodlines and he scores for fun. Teams are often shy of guys coming out of the US program for some reason, but Carolina isn't one of them. That might help him stick around a bit. I've seen a lot of mocks peg us for the Tufte kid with the second pick, and that's not bad logic. Big, rangy scorer with US national team experience.

There would be a lot of worse things than getting two good forward prospects into the system in the draft.
 
Bellows is committed to Boston U. and Tufte is committed to Minnesota-Duluth. I've seen Tyson Jost's name tossed around and he's committed to North Dakota.
 
If we do use our 13th overall pick, it will be interesting to see who we take. As JB said, there are a whole pile of mid round centers to select from. Logan Brown is 6'6", 220lb...you can't teach size. Not that he spent hardly any time in the area as Jeff Brown was traded away the season he was born and his family moved away soon after, but there is a coolness of drafting a player that was born in Raleigh. This kid is big and skilled. I don't think he is going to make it to #13.

Scouring mock drafts I've seen predictions the Canes use the 13th pick on:

Michael McLeod
Julian Gauthier
Logan Brown
Clayton Keller X2
Tyson Jost
German Rubtsov (I had to look this kid up as he hasn't played for anyone except Russian junior teams and minor league teams). He is ranked #14 by ISS but no thank you).
Riley Tufte

We still have 7+ long weeks to talk about who the Canes might pick with of course no guarantee we won't trade this pick.
 
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andyt said:
Bellows is committed to Boston U. and Tufte is committed to Minnesota-Duluth. I've seen Tyson Jost's name tossed around and he's committed to North Dakota.
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All of which is fine. Those are all solid programs that will do nothing to hamper those kids as they get a year of maturity under their belts.
 
cmaleski2 said:
German Rubtsov (I had to look this kid up as he hasn't played for anyone except Russian junior teams and minor league teams). He is ranked #14 by ISS but no thank you)
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Of the mocks I've seen this kid is the one who gives me real pause. I think ANY kid who hasn't played in either college, major junior or a national development program is a risk too big for a club like Carolina to be taking in the first round. Not that US high school kids can't come good ... but a lot of them end up being completely different than what they were projected to be on draft day and also generally take a long time to develop. Those are the guys you take a flyer on late in the first or later in the draft ... just my opinion.
 
jeffbear said:
All of which is fine. Those are all solid programs that will do nothing to hamper those kids as they get a year of maturity under their belts.
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True and at 13 and 21, it's very unlikely that we'd get someone who could make the team anyway. Hanifin and Faulk did OK in their years at BU and UMD, so I'm not worried about that. Without the in-house OHL team, there is less pressure for these guys to bypass college and go to junior too.
 
Yup. My personal preference has always been for kids to give college a year or even two over coming straight out of junior. Yeah, they play less games but just being in a college environment and learning how to (somewhat) take care of yourself away from Mom or your billet Mom is a big deal. We got away from that under Rutherford has he was always either pushing kids to Plymouth or trying to rush them out of school. I never thought that was wise.
 
With the Canes salary cap space and extra picks, Francis may also want to entertain a trade for one of the many restricted free agents that might not be able to be signed by their current team that may be up against the cap. I would be fine with Ronnie moving an extra pick or two for a young restricted free agent.

Alex Killorn in Tampa, Andrew Shaw in Chicago, Valeri Nikushkin in Dallas and Marcus Johansson in Washington all would look good here!
 
jeffbear said:
Yup. My personal preference has always been for kids to give college a year or even two over coming straight out of junior. Yeah, they play less games but just being in a college environment and learning how to (somewhat) take care of yourself away from Mom or your billet Mom is a big deal. We got away from that under Rutherford has he was always either pushing kids to Plymouth or trying to rush them out of school. I never thought that was wise.
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I agree 100% about staying in college for a year or two.
There are things to learn in the growing up process besides hockey.
 
Re: Official 2015 NHL Draft Thread

Offer one of our defense prospects and our two first round picks to Edmonton in exchange for Ryan-Nugent Hopkins (young, experienced, talented center) and their #4 overal (hopefully landing us a future stud wing like one of the Finns or other).
I would do that. Say McKeown/Slavin/Pesce +2 first rounders in 2016 for RNH + Edmonton's first rounder in 2016
That would fast track our work with the forward group in that RNH could play now, but is still really young at 23. And gets us probably a pick who (hopefully) should have better odds in making it to the NHL.
 
Re: Official 2015 NHL Draft Thread

I'm inclined to think that Edmonton sits on their pick, takes another top flight forward prospect, and continues banging their head against the wall called "change".
 
Re: Official 2015 NHL Draft Thread

I really expect that this is the offseason that Edmonton trades SOMEONE for a DMan. Be that this draft pick, RNH or Eberle, or a swap of Nail for whatever DMan a team is willing to dump back onto them, I just can't see them drafting Tkachuk and not trying to do anything big on the blueline via a trade. Either this 4th overall draft pick will be moved for a DMan or one of their forwards will. They don't even have a lot of cap room to mess with, so they can't simply go out there and throw money at Shattenkirk which would have been the easiest thing to do.
 
Re: Official 2015 NHL Draft Thread

cmaleski2 said:
They don't even have a lot of cap room to mess with, so they can't simply go out there and throw money at Shattenkirk which would have been the easiest thing to do.
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You raise a good point here, because with all those top draft pick forwards sort of rolling out of their entry contracts pretty much every year for the next 4 years like some sort of perverse production line of pain, they're that horrible combination of bad AND expensive. And getting more expensive more quickly than they're getting better. Somebody up there HAS to see that train of pain coming and take some sort of logical steps ... like moving a forward or two for a proper first pairing D-man, or dumping this pick for one. Of, thinking WELL out of the box ... both.

Or just develop some stones, pass on the next available forward that you won't have room in your depth chart for and take the best available defenseman with the 4th pick.
 
Re: Official 2015 NHL Draft Thread

You guys are expecting a lot out of a seemingly ignorant staff over in Edmonton.
 
Re: Official 2015 NHL Draft Thread

Fair ... I'd put the odds of them just taking another forward and pretending it's a good idea at WELL better than even money.
 
Re: Official 2015 NHL Draft Thread

Can you imagine if they did draft Tkachuk and didn't trade anyone? Eberle, Hall, Nugent-Hopkins, McDavid, Pouliot, Draisaitl, Yakupov and Tkachuk?

It has to be obvious by now to the folks running the Oilers that you cannot just put out a pile of top 5 picks on offense and expect to win without much of a D and not so great goaltending. I can't see any way that the Oilers could think that adding Tkachuk to the pile of forwards would be all it takes to get out of the bottom 3 teams and compete in the Western Conference. I'm also factoring in the new building...this is the year I think the Oilers pull the trigger on a bigger deal and improve their D. And the Canes in multiple ways it would seem have exactly what the Oilers are looking for and sure could use some of the high end forward talent the Oilers are stockpiling.
 
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