Canes have many ways to improve in this draft

Ron Francis is going into his third NHL Entry Draft as Carolina Hurricanes general manager, loaded with draft picks and potentially options.

Francis said he has had more conversations this year with the league’s GMs than the two previous years as he continues to try and mold a playoff-caliber team. He also expects those conversations to continue on the floor of the 2016 NHL draft, which begins Friday at First Niagara Center in Buffalo, N.Y.

One conversation, with Chicago Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman, landed the Canes a pair of forwards last week: Teuvo Teravainen and Bryan Bickell, dealt to Carolina for draft picks. There could be more trades Friday and Saturday, and the Canes, with nine draft picks, could elect to package some to for an NHL player or look to acquire a higher draft pick in the first round.

“We have the flexibility to do more of that, so there has been a lot more phone conversations kind of exploring what’s available as far as moving up, or if we get in a jam, moving back a little bit,” Francis said.

A year ago, Francis dealt goalie Anton Khudobin to the Anaheim Ducks for defenseman James Wisniewski at the NHL draft in Sunrise, Fla. He then picked up goalie Eddie Lack from the Vancouver Canucks for a 2015 third-round pick and a seventh-round pick in this year’s draft.

While there was considerable trade chatter last year – Jeff Skinner’s name came up in a lot of the scuttlebutt – those were the two acquisitions by Carolina as the Canes used their first-round draft pick on defenseman Noah Hanifin and their second-round pick on Finnish forward Sebastian Aho.

The Canes have two first-round picks this year, in the No. 13 and No. 21 slots. The 21st pick, obtained in the 2015 trade-deadline deal with the Los Angeles Kings for Canes defenseman Andrej Sekera, was a conditional selection – the Kings opting to keep their first-rounder in 2015 and give the Canes their 2016 pick.

Having two first-rounders is a first for Tony MacDonald, Carolina’s director of amateur scouting, but didn’t result in increased scouting homework, he said.

“We took the same approach, did the same due diligence, same preparation,” MacDonald said this week. “It is a bonus, having that second pick in the first round, and we want to be right on both of them.

“It’s hard to say who might be there at 13. We’ve played out several scenarios. You can probably get the first four or five picks (of the draft) right, then it’s more difficult. Everyone’s list is different. But 13 is not a bad spot to be in.”

While the Canes are looking for help at forward, and may have their eyes on such prospects as Kieffer Bellows and Clayton Keller of the U.S. National Team Development Program, MacDonald isn’t ruling out the “best-player-available” approach in how the picks may be used.

The Canes have a nice corps of good, young defensemen, but there are some intriguing defensive possibilities among the top 25 prospects.

Defensemen such as Olli Juolevi of Finland, Mikhail Sergachev of Russia and U.S.-born Jakob Chychrun all played in the Ontario Hockey League last season and could be taken in the top 10. But the Canes, possibly at No. 21, might consider Logan Stanley of Windsor (OHL), Charlie McAvoy of Boston University or Jake Bean of Calgary in the Western Hockey League.

Bean had 24 goals and 40 assists last season, showing his capability as an offensive threat.

“When you talk about skill and offense, there are guys on the back end in this draft who fit the criteria,” MacDonald said.

The Canes have taken nine defensemen in the past four drafts. Hanfin, Jaccob Slavin (2012 draft) and Brett Pesce (2013) were in the Canes lineup last season, and former first-rounder Haydn Fleury (2104) may make his NHL debut this season.

The Blackhawks’ Bowman, in a conference call Thursday with reporters, said a team looks to “draft the best assets.” Francis agrees, saying a team can never have too many good prospects.

Another interesting storyline at the draft might be a deal involving the Detroit Red Wings, with a team absorbing Pavel Datsyuk’s salary-cap hit to pick up a prospect or other assets.

The Canes, according to capfriendly.com, have more than $24 million in cap space while the Wings are seeking cap breathing room. With Datsyuk headed to Russia’s KHL, no salary would be paid next season.

Canes coach Bill Peters said he was eager to see what Francis has planned, smiling and saying he would sit back and “just watch him work the magic.”

”We’ve got some really good assets,” Peters said. “If we keep all those picks and draft players, I’m comfortable with that. Whether we package them and move up in the draft, that’s good, too. If we trade them for players. … Whatever is going to make us better.”

This story was originally published June 23, 2016 at 5:05 PM with the headline "Canes have many ways to improve in this draft."