Now that the Hurricanes are eliminated from the 2009-2010 Stanley Cup Race,  it is time to turn attention to the entry draft.  The top 100 draft prospects in the consideration of the NHL Central Scouting Service,  were invited to the Propects Scouting Combine.  

With the Hurricanes have a large number of draft picks in the first three rounds, the combine will have significant impact, not only on the first round pick, but particularly for second round picks.  Additionally, the consensus of opinions seems to be that Hall and Seguin will be the first two picks, although the order of the picks is less clear.  Similarly,  Fowler, Gormley, and Gudbranson are generally listed as the next three picks, with the order of their picks have some degree of variation.

Jim Rutherford and Jason Karmanos are going to have a crossroads decision if the Hurricanes pick 3 through 5.  A team probably can never have enough top end defensemen; and Fowler, Gormley, and Gudbranson are felt to be sure bets.  On the other hand,  there are large, fast, physical forwards available in this year's draft -- generally felt to be picks 6 through 10, at minimum.  Some of these anticipated picks include in no particular order, (1) Brett Connolly; (2) Riley Sheahan; (3) Steven Shipley; (4) Nick Bjugstad; (5) Nino Niederreiter; (6) Brock Nelson, (7) Kirill Kabanov; (8) Austin Watson; and (9) Vladimir Tarasenko.        

    If the  Central Scouting Service reports are accurate,  the top two picks are slightly ahead of the next three picks in terms of immediate impact; but the top five players Hall, Seguin, Fowler, Gormely, and Gudbranson, appear to be slightly ahead in terms of development of the next five to ten players.  The situation makes for a dilemma for the Hurricanes at the draft.  Do they pick the best player available in their ranking?  Or do they pick the best forward he addresses their short and long-term needs?  

   Some of the answer depends on (1) whether the Hurricanes will fill the role of scoring first line wing from the ranks of its young players, such as Dalpe or Bowman; and (2) whether the Hurricanes would consider an off-season signing of a player who has fallen out of favor with a coach or GM -- such as Fabian Brunnstrom or Nathan Horton.  The answer might further be affected by the Hurricanes analysis of the top 60 prospects in the draft.  If the second round would likely yield a big, fast, aggressive scoring forward who could have an immediate impact,  then taking Fowler, Gudbranson, or Gormley may make more sense.  An additional consideration is whether a team above the Hurricanes feels it needs Fowler, Gudbranson, or Gormely and is willing to trade a prospect to trade spots for the first round picks.

   What has been repeated many times by Jim Rutherford in his public statements about the team,  is that he intends to make certain the Hurricanes become younger, bigger, faster, and more physical.  As one looks at the veteran core of forwards,  Staal, Sutter, Cole, and Ruutu are the players with speed, size, and physicality.  At the other end of the spectrum,  Samsonov, LaRose, and Whitney all are in the neighborhood of 5'8" and 170 lbs; and all possess NHL level skill, but would not be listed among the NHL's fastest skaters (with LaRose having the most speed North to South).  One lesson from the playoffs last season and the injuries this season is that the Hurricanes need to have Ruutu in the lineup and that until the Hurricanes organization obtains other big, fast, physical forwards in addition to Cole and Ruutu,  the Hurricanes are one injury away from struggling against the bigger and more physical teams.  

   In short,  the decisions facing Jim Rutherford and Jason Karmanos in this year's draft will likely have a significant impact on the ability of the Hurricanes to reach the playoffs next season and seasons to come.  The safest and most conservative approach is for the Hurricanes to make certain they select a player who will become quickly an impact player for the team; and who fits in the Hurricanes' locker room -- that is a person of character who puts his team first.  If the first round pick is a defenseman,  then the Hurricanes staff will likely need to look creatively at how they can make use of all their young talent at forwards in order to speed their development into upper tier players.  Sutter's rapid development is proof that a young forward can take on huge responsibilities.  Boychuk, Bowman, and Tlusty seem ready to make the jump to the NHL as impact players.  Dalpe, too, may well be ready for the NHL.

Here is the URL for the article:

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=523416

   The Scouting Combine runs from May 24 through May 29.  Here is the list of the top 100 prospects, in alphabetical order, who were invited to the camp: