A good NHL lineup with quality incoming prospects? The Carolina Hurricanes are double-dipping

If there’s one thing the NHL’s three most recent Stanley Cup champions share – Tampa Bay, Colorado, and Vegas – it’s that their prospect pipelines are brutal. Boston, Florida and Edmonton are other top 10 teams with weak pools, which makes sense given their pursuit of success.

And then there’s the Carolina Hurricanes, one of the busiest teams in recent weeks. The club signed three of its top prospects, Scott Morrow, Bradly Nadeau, and Jackson Blake, to entry-level contracts after the end of their college seasons.

A high-end defenseman. A first-round pick. A Hobey Baker finalist. Three players who could potentially contribute immediately and project to be part of the team’s long-term plans. It’s rare for a contending team to get one impact college player turning pro each year, let alone three.

Morrow was taken 40th overall in 2021 after playing prep school with Shattuck St. Mary’s. Nadeau dominated the BCHL last season, but as a Jr. A leaguer, it wasn’t clear how he’d adjust to the college game. Instead, he finished as Maine’s top scorer.

But Blake could end up becoming the most intriguing of the three. The son of former NHLer Jason Blake was taken 109th over in 2021 after splitting the season between Eden Prairie High School and the USHL’s Chicago Steel. At the time, he was a solid playmaker with good hockey IQ, but there wasn’t enough to make him a sure-fire NHL player one day. But after two incredible seasons with North Dakota and a great showing at the 2023 World Juniors, Blake quickly established himself as a winger with top-six potential.

Carolina’s top prospect is Alexander Nikishin, a 22-year-old with the KHL’s SKA St. Petersburg. He holds the record for the two best seasons by a U-23 defenseman in KHL history while playing huge minutes for one of the KHL’s top programs. And he wasn’t taken until the 69th pick in 2020. Nikishin has another year left on his deal with SKA, but once he makes his way to Raleigh, you can fully expect him to be a major piece of the team’s blueline.

The fact the Hurricanes didn’t have to move any of them in the Jake Guentzel trade was fantastic – and the guys they moved were no slouches, either. Carolina doesn’t have a super deep pipeline at the minute – they’re above average – but the value near the top is great. And it’s not a one-time thing either – they’ve drafted well for a while now.

GM Don Waddell and the Hurricanes’ scouting staff deserve significant praise.

Since 2014, the Hurricanes have selected in the top 15 six times. Of that, the most notable pickups include current stars Martin Necas, Andrei Svechnikov and Seth Jarvis, as well as Vegas Golden Knights defender Noah Hanifin. That doesn’t include second-round stalwarts Sebastian Aho and Pyotr Kochetkov, two key pieces of the team’s run near the top of the NHL standings.

Talking to scouts each year, one thing many mention is that the Hurricanes seem to continuously find value deeper in the draft. All that matters is if they can get NHL games out of those guys, but, again, the fact that two of their top prospects were taken 69th or later is a sign that they have an eye for finding talent, and they’re not willing to mortgage the future for short-term gains.

The Hurricanes traded Massimo Rizzo to Philadelphia last summer, but he’s been one of the NCAA’s best forwards since getting taken 216th overall in 2019. Warren Foegele, Lucas Wallmark, Nicolas Roy, Morgan Geekie are among some other notable players taken in the third round or later that have gone on to have solid NHL careers.

The Hurricanes made 10 picks in 2023, seven in 2022 and 13 in 2021. In that span, they’ve made one first-round pick. Quality over quantity, perhaps? It’s quite possible, but very few top-end NHL teams have held the draft capital the Hurricanes have in recent years. The Hurricanes haven’t had to give up mass draft picks in their pursuit of playoff success, including last year when they qualified for the Eastern Conference final.

Take Toronto as a comparison: They’ve made 11 picks in the past three drafts and will have just two picks in the top four rounds over the next two years. Last year, they finally won their first playoff series since 2004.

Digging a little deeper, Jayden Perron, Felix Unger Sorum and Alexander Rykov all look like future NHLers, while Simon Forsmark, Gleb Trikozov, Dom Fensore and goaltender Yaniv Perets could all see some NHL action down the road. The Hurricanes are currently set to nine more picks in the 2024 NHL Draft in Vegas, and still have their top two picks in each of the next three years.

Excluding their three new signings, the Hurricanes have eight drafted players on their current roster. Jack Drury might be the only non-core player in that group, but he’s still an important bottom-six player set to complete his entry-level contract. Homegrown talent is important, just as it was for Tampa Bay during their three-year run to the Cup final.

The Hurricanes haven’t achieved any real success in the current era. They’re still seeking their first Stanley Cup final appearance since 2006, so while their regular season success is nice, they haven’t won anything meaningful with this group just yet. That’s the next step.

The contention window won’t remain open forever, but they’re also in a position to move on from older veterans like Teuvo Teravainen or Tony DeAngelo and still find themselves in a good spot thanks to some incoming help. It’s an excellent spot to be in, something very few contending teams can say.

The Hurricanes have one of the deepest teams in the NHL, but they’re also one of the few legitimate contenders with a solid pipeline, too – but it’s up to them to make it all worth it.