Hurricanes zeroed in on what, if not who, they will take in NHL Draft’s first round
Many an NHL player has mentioned it as one of their top hockey thrills.
Hearing their name called at the NHL Draft. The emotional hugs with parents and siblings at the arena. The walk up to the stage, the handshake with Commissioner Gary Bettman, slapping on the sweater and cap of his new team, posing for photos, smiles all around.
Think Andrei Svechnikov hugging his older brother, Evgeny, in 2018.
Not this year. Not during a pandemic. Everything will be handled differently, remotely, virtually, when the 2020 NHL Entry Draft is held Tuesday and Wednesday.
The 2020 draft was scheduled for the Bell Centre in Montreal in June but then postponed because of coronavirus concerns. It now will be conducted from the NHL Network Studios in Secaucus, N.J. Some change, eh?
The Carolina Hurricanes have the 13th pick of the first round and eight draft picks in all. They also appear to have their sights firmly set, president and general manager Don Waddell said in an interview this week.
“Offense. I think you’re always looking for more offense,” Waddell said. “You’ve got to look at who’s going to be available at 13 but we emptied the cupboard a little bit last year with a couple of trades and we think we’ve got lots of good young D coming, so if we can find that offensive player it certainly would be something that’s a need for the organization.”
Someone like, say, Jack Quinn, Seth Jarvis or Connor Zary. That is, if those forwards are still on the board.
Quinn scored 52 goals in 62 games for the Ottawa 67’s in the Ontario Hockey League. Jarvis had 42 goals and 98 points for the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League and Zary 38 goals and 86 points for Kamloops in the WHL.
Those numbers can’t be overlooked even if size — Quinn is listed at 5-11 and 176 pounds and Jarvis at 5-10, 172 — might cause concerns.
Maybe not for Canes owner Tom Dundon, who is a student of the game and can appreciate smaller players with big games. Sebastian Aho has developed into an accomplished scorer in the NHL for Carolina and Tampa Bay’s Brayden Point is 5-10 and 166 pounds and handles himself quite well.
One no-no for Dundon has been drafting a defenseman in the first round. The Canes took defenseman Jake Bean with the 13th pick in the 2016 draft, before Dundon bought majority interest in the team, and that may not happen again. The boss prefers guys who can put the puck in the net.
Or keep it out. A lot of the mock draft guesstimates have the Canes considering Russian goalie Yaroslav Askarov of SKA-Neva St. Petersburg. If so, that would come after Carolina used a second-round pick last year — No. 36 overall — on another Russian goalie, Pyotr Kochetkov, who played sparingly last season for HC Vityaz in the KHL.
“We’re going to be open-minded,” Waddell said on a media call Thursday. “But up front looks like a need.”
The Canes, after their playoff run to the 2019 Eastern Conference finals, had the 28th pick in the first round in 2019 and drafted forward Ryan Suzuki. Splitting time between the OHL’s Barrie Colts and Saginaw Spirit, Suzuki had 18 goals and 58 points in 44 games despite missing some time with an eye injury.
Bean, after a couple of seasons in the American Hockey League, may be ready for an NHL roster spot in 2020-21. For Suzuki, it figures to be longer.
“I always say don’t measure the draft in the next couple of years. Measure three to five years out and see how you did,” Waddell said. “Every player is different and every player returns differently, not only as a person but as a player. Some guys need to soak in the experience of playing pro hockey and other guys really need to work on getting bigger and stronger.”
In 2018, the Canes went to Dallas for the draft with the No. 2 pick and already had made Andrei Svechnikov their chosen guy — older brother Evgeny was drafted by Detroit in 2015.
“My dream came true. It was the best moment of my life,” Andrei said in 2018.
Svechnikov was ready for the NHL and in the Canes lineup at 18. Suzuki, who played with Andrei with Barrie, was more a “best player available” pick last year.
Settling on the No. 13 pick
The Canes arrived at the No. 13 pick this year circuitously.
Carolina traded a 2020 first-round pick to the New York Rangers in the deal that got them defenseman Brady Skjei. Earlier, the Canes had gotten the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 2020 first-round pick, conditionally, via the trade in which Carolina acquired veteran forward Patrick Marleau.
The condition: if the Maple Leafs had a top-10 pick for 2020, the Canes would have had Toronto’s first-round choice in 2021. Had that happened, Carolina would not have had a first-rounder this year, surrendering it to the Rangers. But the Canes were able to secure the No. 13 selection this year from the Leafs trade.
As for the Rangers ... New York was swept by Carolina in a qualifying round of the 2020 NHL postseason in Toronto, only to then win the draft lottery and the No. 1 overall pick. They also have the 22nd pick from the Canes.
Come Tuesday night, the Rangers are expected to make forward Alex Lafreniere the No. 1 choice. Virtually. In 2020.
2020 NHL Entry Draft
First round
Tuesday, 7 pm, NBC Sports Network
Draft order
1. New York Rangers
2. Los Angeles
3. Ottawa (from San Jose)
4. Detroit
5. Ottawa
6. Anaheim
7. New Jersey
8. Buffalo
9. Minnesota
10. Winnipeg
11. Nashville
12. Florida
13. Carolina (from Toronto)
14. Edmonton
15. Toronto (from Pittsburgh)
16. Montreal
17. Chicago
18. New Jersey (from Arizona)
19. Calgary
20. New Jersey (from Vancouver via Tampa Bay)
21. Columbus
22. NY Rangers (from Carolina)
23. Philadelphia
24. Washington
25. Colorado
26. St. Louis
27. Anaheim (from Boston)
28. Ottawa (from NY Islanders)
29. Vegas
30. Dallas
31. San Jose (from Tampa Bay)
Other Hurricanes picks
Second round: Nos. 41, 53
Third round: No. 69
Fourth round: No. 115
Fifth round: No. 140
Sixth round: None.
Seventh round: Nos. 199, 208.
This story was originally published October 1, 2020 at 2:07 PM.
