from the Hurricanes dir. of amateur scouting on Nichushkin
Quote:
“Everyone recognizes what a tremendous talent he is,” said Tony MacDonald, the lead amateur scout for the Hurricanes. “He’s a very skilled guy – he’s got size, he’s got speed and he’s got skill. He has that ability to dominate.”
“He’s a big, strong man,” MacDonald said. “When he turns it up a notch, he’s a very tough guy for defenders to handle with his skill and his shot.”
The Hurricanes are somewhat familiar with Nichushkin in that he shares an agent, Mark Gandler, with Alexander Semin, who re-upped with Carolina for five years in March.
“If you have a relationship with an agent, and the relationship is a reasonably good, working one, [the familiarity] doesn’t hurt,” MacDonald said.
Nichushkin’s draft stock has risen now that scouts and front office personnel are armed with fresh knowledge of his contract situation, so much so that he could perforate the first four selections on Sunday based on his natural talent and high-end ceiling alone.
“He’s made it very clear that he wants to play in the NHL,” MacDonald said. “Now, I think everyone is sort of reassessing their position on Nichushkin.”
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http://hurricanes.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=675171
nice to know what other teams are thinking, especially the ones in front of Calgary
here's their scout on Lindholm and Barkov as well
http://hurricanes.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=674643
http://hurricanes.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=673933
Rutherford unlikely to move up or down
Quote:
This year, MacDonald said NHL-ready talent could extend as far as the seventh pick. Because of this, Hurricanes President and General Manager Jim Rutherford said he’s keeping an open mind.
“There are some areas of our team that we’d like to fix sooner than later. If we had the chance to get something that helps our team immediately and not move [down] too many picks, we would at least have to have a pretty in-depth conversation about that within hockey operations,” he said. “I wouldn’t trade the pick outright and wouldn’t drop too many spots, but I’m not going to say I wouldn’t do it at all. I think the odds are against it. Probably not going to trade it. But I think it’s important to look at all options.”
Rutherford said he has little interest in trading up in the draft, considering the caliber of players available in the first five picks. MacDonald agreed.
“We’re going to be happy with our guy at five,” he said. “Somebody might fall through there that is unexpected.”
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http://hurricanes.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=673492