[Hanna Sniper]

2009



Hurricanes Lay The Hammer Down
Evaluating is always a misleading affair, if you nap the star then your delivered your team a great draft… But in the CPHL that isn’t always true. What often goes unmentioned or unnoticed is the quality of picks compared to the quantity of picks. The CPHL Edmonton Oilers were build off the great draft of a previous GM, but lets be honest, it’s pretty easy to shoot a fish in a barrel if you’re using a AK 47 and in the CPHL it’s not uncommon to see a team stocked with 4 of the top ten picks or 8 of the top 50.

The Carolina Hurricanes walked into the 2009 CPHL draft holding one shot in the 70 picks to make his mark and land that fish. Unfortunately the ‘Canes had his sights set on one player and that was a local boy standout from his hometown Ryan Ellis… it was all or nothing. Much like the ‘Canes did when they drafted Guillaume Latendresse the ‘Canes GM leading up to the draft looked to move up in the top ten to secure Ellis’s rights. When that avenue closed the Hurricanes GM’s then started to set up an backdoor and trade down in the draft once Ellis was drafted by another team before the Hurricanes 16th selection.

After the Hurricanes called the local hero to their camp, the war room cooled down as the Hurricanes weren’t scheduled to make another pick till 63 selections. With so much that can happen e CPHL the ‘Canes brass targeted to acquire a goaltending prospect as well as Slovak Andrej Stastny so it was just a matter of sitting back and trying to read the wave for a spot to go for them.

At the end of the draft the Hurricanes had four names that they thought that they had a chance of selecting and came out with both Ellis and Stastny. Goaltending Darcy Kuemper turned out to be more of a risk/project that the organization was looking for but at the end of the day he was are No.3 rated goaltender and the 3 years in the ECHL will do him good.

Beck and Wilson ended up just being GM selections to bring in character that and gives the Hurricanes a pool of prospects that adds size and ability to bring the puck to the net that the GM likes so much.


#16

“The common refrain heard throughout the league is that if Ellis was just three inches taller, he'd be a sure-fire top-five selection. Unfortunately, in many ways, the NHL is a big man's league and Ellis' dynamic power-play quarterbacking abilities and offensive production may be overshadowed by his lack of height. Ellis has an outstanding shot from the point and is consistently able to jump-start the offense with a well-timed pass or breakout through the defensive zone. He has also worked on his defensive abilities (leading the team at plus-52) and has drawn praise for his effort and leadership.” :Hockey Future