Quote:
Originally Posted by 1qqaaz
The Carolina Hurricanes have realized that quantity really helps as far as the draft is concerned. Despite being a consistent contender, they have drafted 50 times in the past 5 drafts.
Many of their picks are out of Europe. High risk and high ceiling.
Timur Mukhanov, taken in the 6th round this past year, has a similar NHLe to Honzek, who the Flames took in the 1st round. The problem is that Mukhanov is tiny and is high risk. Their 3rd round pick from 2020, Alexander Nikishin, is looking like one of the best defense prospects in hockey.
From 2010 to 2017, 35 out of Carolina's 60 draft picks have played in the NHL. The majority of their picks have played in the NHL.
So yes, mid and late picks are still worth getting. Please stop trading them away for players like Carpenter, Pitlick, Fantenberg, Forbort, Shore, Chiasson, and Bollig.
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Good post. To add, though, having the majority of your picks play in the NHL isn’t that much of an accomplishment. Over the same period, the Flames also had the majority of their picks play in the NHL.
The real difference is in the quality of prospects they’ve targeted, as they’ve managed to get 154 NHL games per pick, while the Flames only got 122 (it’d be interesting to see where every other team falls).
Kind of funny point on top of that: From 2010-2017, their top selection has been their top player (in terms of games played) out of that draft only 3 times, and only one of those players currently plays for the Hurricanes (Martin Necas) while the other two play for the Flames. Out of the guys remaining (tops in games played out of that draft) the only other player that plays for the Hurricanes still is Slavin.
Doesn’t say much more than we know (lots of picks is good, hitting on your picks is better), but also goes to show that it provides a lot of flexibility so that you’re not over-dependent on hitting on your picks AND keeping them in the fold.