Hurricanes build for future, address immediate needs on Day 2 of draft
The 2015 draft got off to a good start for the Carolina Hurricanes when defenseman Noah Hanifin -- the No. 3 prospect according to NHL Central Scouting -- fell to them at No. 5 overall on Friday night.
But general manager Ron Francis was not finished making moves to try to improve this team, both in the short-term (when it makes sense) and in the future (no matter how long it takes).
Francis accomplished both of those goals, getting Day 2 of the draft started with a bang by trading the Hurricanes' third-round pick in 2015 and a seventh-rounder in 2016 for Vancouver Canucks' goalie Eddie Lack.
Lack, 27, went 18-13-4 last year with a 2.45 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage. When starting goalie Ryan Miller went out with injury, Lack took over and went 12-6-2 in 21 appearances from late February through early April.
Obviously, that deal left the Hurricanes with essentially three starting or co-starting goalies -- one too many.
Many thought the goalie that would go would be Cam Ward, a much bigger cap hit than his backup/co-starter Anton Khudobin. But shortly after the Lack trade, Francis traded Khudobin to the Anaheim Ducks straight up for defenseman James Wisniewski, 31.
Wisniewski is expensive (Lack is relatively cheap, around the same price as Khudobin), but basically, the Hurricanes got a top-two or top-three defenseman for their team next year and a goalie that could potentially be the starter (or at least an excellent backup) in exchange for two draft picks. That immediately shores up the Hurricanes' defense heading into next season.
The NHL draft itself, though, is often much more of a long-term payoff. Francis knows that better than anyone, and he's shown the ability to be patient.
The Hurricanes finished Saturday with eight more players, and in spite of not having a third-round pick, they ended up with (counting Hanifin) four of the top 80 North American skaters and the No. 2 North American goalie.
The second-round pick was a bit curious, as the Hurricanes selected Sebastian Aho from Finland, who was not even the highest-rated Sebastian Aho (yes, there are two).
Aho, 17, played in the Finnish Liiga a year ago and won't turn 18 for a month. The Hurricanes hope to get him to rookie camp shortly, but if that doesn't happen, he has one year remaining on his deal overseas before he'd come back. He'd also have the option to go back to Finland if he doesn't make the Hurricanes' roster.
The concern with Aho is his size and physicality -- at just 5-foot-11, 172 pounds, he obviously still has some maturing to do physically. But he is incredibly skilled offensively. Still, that scouting report is familiar to Hurricanes' fans who have seen skilled players on the roster struggle against NHL size.
"He's not a real big guy, but the speed, skill and consistent level of compete are very, very attractive to us," Hurricanes' director of amateur scouting Tony MacDonald told the team's official Web site.
Getting Hanifin early, Francis said, essentially changed the team's strategy.
"We ended up with two defensemen overall in the draft, six forwards and a goaltender. Based on getting Noah in the first round, I think our priority switched more to forwards at that time with the amount of young defensemen we have in our system," Francis told the media after the draft wrapped up on Saturday.
"Overall, we're very pleased with who we got. We think we got some skill, we got some size, we got some guys that can skate. Hopefully we're right. We'll find out in about 3-4 years."
The Hurricanes traded their third-round pick, but they picked up goalie Callum Booth in the fourth round (93rd overall) -- the No. 2 North American goalie, per NHL scouting. Just three picks later, they drafted center Nicolas Roy. For whatever reason, Roy -- projected as a late first-round or early second-round pick -- kept falling, but the Hurricanes were eager to take advantage of the 6-4, 200-pounder's slide.
Whatever the issue with Roy was -- and that remains unclear -- he's a big, physical two-way center who was a steal where Carolina drafted him.
The Hurricanes added left winger Luke Stevens (son of former Ron Francis teammate Kevin Stevens) -- who also has size at 6-4, 192 pounds -- in the fifth, followed by right winger Spencer Smallman (6-0, 184) in the fifth.
The sixth round was a good one for the Hurricanes as well as they got defenseman Jake Massie (80th among North American skaters) and center David Cotton (62nd). Both are over six feet tall; Cotton is just 17 years old and certainly a few years away but is expected to develop nicely.
The seventh-round pick was Carolina's last and they took center Steven Lorentz (6-3, 191). He wasn't ranked among the North American skaters, but MacDonald said the team likes his upside.
"He's a late-bloomer. Plays in the Ontario Hockey League, and he's been through a draft. A hard-nosed, two-way player," MacDonald said. "When he was drafted into the OHL, he was like 5-foot-9, 138. Now he's like 6-foot-2 or 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds. He's gotten a lot bigger and stronger and rounded out his game. He's a good two-way player who plays well with and without the puck."
Some of the Hurricanes' prospects -- even Hanifin -- might go back to college, or are a year or so away from college. So most are years away from making an impact.
Francis doesn't want a quick fix for this team that has missed the playoffs for six straight seasons, and he's drafting for the future. But he also knows that the fans are growing impatient and apathetic, and he's tried to address that, too.
Little by little, he's trying to give the team flexibility and identify which pieces are going to be long-term answers for the Hurricanes and which ones aren't.
Ken Campbell of The Hockey News tweeted that young star Jeff Skinner was on the trade block this weekend, but that the Hurricanes couldn't find a deal that they liked enough.
A lot of the moves Carolina has made make some sense. But they'll certainly need to get rid of some of the excessive salaries on the roster, even going into next season.
"There's still potentially more to do. You're always talking to different teams. ... We'll continue to have conversations," Francis said.
On NBC Sports' hockey coverage during the first round, the team need they listed for the Hurricanes was determining captain and franchise face Eric Staal's longterm future. Staal, 31, is entering the final year of his deal and has a no-trade clause in his contract. But he is going to be expensive. He won't want to leave -- his younger brother Jordan was traded to Raleigh a few years ago -- and the ideal scenario for the Hurricanes would be to sign him to a contract that works for all involved.
"I've had general open and honest conversations with Eric's agent about things and we'll continue to have that as we move through the summer. Eric has indicated that he wants to be part of the Hurricanes moving forward, and we'll see if we can get that worked out," Francis said Saturday.
