The Carolina Hurricanes are pleased to end their TP experience with the 208th selection by choosing
Axel Kumlin
As general manager of the Carolina Hurricanes, I would like to thank TribalPhoenix for this entire mock draft where, let’s admit it, the Canes came out better than any draft in memory.
Picks
13—
Seth Jarvis is an excellent addition to our young core of highly productive forwards. Our entire staff thinks Seth will quickly become one of our top players with his exciting ability to find scoring opportunities for himself and teammates. We love his quickness and ability to make plays in both open ice and tight spaces. Seth’s upside is very high indeed—we see him in the growing line of smaller wingers who are succeeding in the NHL; players like Marchessault, Konecny, and Atkinson.
41—We thought moving back from pick 41 made sense for our organization. Now that we know who we acquired with picks 59 & 83, we think we have not only added two great prospects but filled two needs within our prospect pool.
53—Our organization has long lacked a high-end #2 center. Acquiring Vincent Trocheck should resolve that problem in the near term. We strongly believe that with the addition of
Theodor Niederbach with this pick we have gone a long way toward giving the Canes multiple strong options down the middle in the near future. The Canes prospect pool now has several exciting centers (Ryan Suzuki, Jack Drury, Jamieson Rees). By adding one of the smartest hockey players in this draft class, we have made the center position the foundation for our future success. I personally think Niederbach has the ability to be a David Krejci-type player.
59—While our prospect pool is deep at the center position, it lacked a large, physically commanding center to eventually take Jordan Staal’s role.
Jack Finley is just that type of player. This past season, he often matched up with the best scoring lines in the WHL and slowed or stopped them. Our scouts were impressed with both his strong defensive positioning and his above-average hands, which often led to easy goals for his teammates. Six-five 200 foot centers are very valuable. We are thrilled to add Jack.
69—Frankly,
Brett Berard was our clear favorite among U.S. development team players this past season. Berard has an uncanny knack for making the right plays in the middle of the ice. His zone entry and zone exit metrics were among the highest in this draft class. But more than that what made our staff fall in love with Brett’s game is his diligence from the beginning to end of every shift. Brett plays hard and incredibly smart, two things the every team needs more of.
83—When we traded for this pick we hoped to get a prospect with some long-range upside. Instead we were thrilled to select a defenseman who already has a half season of professional experience. We had
Eemil Viro among our top 40 prospects. As a 17-year-old playing with and against seasoned professionals Eemil displayed both athleticism and poise. He showed the ability to transition the puck with a quick burst of speed. We believe Eemil has the potential to be a long-term contributor in the NHL.
115—Our goalie scout and coach are both high on
Calle Clang. He is a goalie who combines the ability to make athletic saves with the mental will to remain calm when the crease in front of him devolves into chaos.
140—As we get deeper into the draft our team likes to look for players with high potential. In
Michal Gut we think we have acquired a player who will make great progress in the next few seasons. In fact, I see some similarities to Anthony Cirelli—another player who was younger when drafted but had already demonstrated leadership qualities to go along with a hard-nose playing style. Michal’s first taste of professional hockey in the Czech leagues is confirming our confidence in his potential.
199—WOW! That was our collective response when we realized that
Daniel Ljungman was available in the 7th round. Daniel is a goal-scorer and every team can use more of them.
208—
Axel Kumlin. One of our staff did a deep analytical dive of eligible defensemen and Axel rated out to a late third-round pick, so we are thrilled to draft him with our last pick. Axel is a strong skater who knows how to play angles and retrieve pucks. He is starting to develop another level of goal-scoring. We believe we have found a late-round diamond.
First I would like to commend the other GMs for often taking our target two picks before we were on the clock. Special kudos to the Habs, Kings, and Wild for doing a stellar job.
Every GM believes he and the scouting staff have found the best value at every pick. That said, our organization is thrilled to come away with one of our top choices at every position including several of our favorites centers in the 2020 class.
Thanks again TP for a successful draft experience.
@pit is on the clock
select, from the Ottawa 67's of the OHL, defenceman Alec Belanger
The Colorado Avalanche select Kristóf Papp, C, Michigan State
