In what was an incredible coincidence yesterday, I was in the process of writing an article about wanting to extend Jeff Skinner's contract as soon as possible and predicting what kind of money he would get in the deal. When I was half-way done with the article, I noticed a tweet from Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford saying that they were close to announcing that they had signed Jeff Skinner to a contract extension. This was something I was in favor of because extending Skinner now meant that the team had a chance to get better value for him now than they would if they did it next season. It was also better for the Canes to get this deal done before the current CBA expires so they can keep Skinner around for as long as they want.

Skinner ended up getting a six-year contract worth $34,350,000 that will have a cap hit of $5.725 mil. per season. The deal will pay him $4,350,000 the first year and then $6,000,000 the next five years. As of right now, this contract is an overpayment because the Canes are going to be paying $4.35-6 mil. for the first four years of the deal, which is a lot considering those are RFA years and Skinner has only two years of NHL experience. Now, a cap hit of $5.725 mil. isn't a big deal under the current salary cap and I have little doubt that Skinner can be worth that much as he develops, but the Hurricanes missed out on getting value for Skinner's RFA years.

One of the benefits of extending Skinner now instead of next year was that Rutherford would be in the driver's seat with negotiations and could get Skinner locked up at a slightly lower price than they would if his contract was expiring. They ended up paying about as much as they would if they waited until next year when Skinner becomes an RFA. It's not the worst thing in the world but I was expecting Skinner to get about $550k-$1 mil. less than he did with this deal. The $70.3 mil. salary cap obviously changes a lot of things but there is still the worry about the cap going down again once the new CBA kicks in, especially if there isn't a salary rollback.

Overall, I'm fine with the deal even if the Hurricanes gave Skinner a little more than they should have right now. If the cap stays the same as it is now, then Skinner's $5.725 mil. cap hit shouldn't be too big of a problem and there is a good chance that Skinner is worth that much over the duration of the contract if he continues to improve. He could also give the Hurricanes significant value for their money if he turns into something really special in the next few years, especially since he will now be in Carolina for most of his prime years. Rutherford is paying for potential with this contract but I think he knows that he can't nickel and dime players like Skinner. With that said, I still can't help but feel that Carolina had a chance to get him for a little less than what they are going to be paying for him now.

Still, this isn't a bad deal and the Hurricanes have a pretty solid forward corps locked up for a good few years now with him, the Staals and Tuomo Ruutu under contract until the 2015-16 season. The only major risk with this contract is that the RFA age/year limit could change with the new CBA and the Hurricanes might end up paying $6 mil. for all of Skinner's RFA years and he would still be restricted when the contract runs out. This could mean that the Hurricanes will have to give Skinner an even bigger deal once this next one runs out if they wish to keep him. This issue was out of Rutherford's control though, so we'll have to see how things play out. If the RFA age/year limit stays the same, then the Canes should be fine.

As of right now, the deal is an overpayment by RFA standards but Skinner's value is obviously going to trend upward over the next few years and there is a good chance that he is worth the money/cap hit as he gets older. Rutherford may have been able to get him at a lower cost but this hopefully won't become too big of an issue. Skinner improved a lot last season and was arguably the team's best forward behind Eric Staal even if his goal/point total did show it.

There are a lot of smart people in the hockey blogging community and one of the brightest out there is Oilers blogger Jonathan Willis. As most of the hockey world knows, the Oilers have been playing the rebuild card for the last three years or so and appear to finally be turning the corner as a franchise after years of acquiring high draft picks. The one glaring concern on the Oilers is that their defense is very weak and could end up holding the team back despite having a lot of high-end talent up front. Willis stated in a tweet last week that "if everything goes right, the Oilers are golden on D..." and that's true when you look at their roster. 

They have a talented, but injury prone player in Ryan Whitney, who is a great puck-mover and is a solid contributor to the Oilers top pairing when he is healthy. In addition to that, the Oilers have two fine shutdown defensemen in Nick Schultz and Ladislav Smid. They also have Jeff Petry, a young defenseman who played well in a top-four role last season and a potential star in Justin Schultz, who was signed as a college free agent. The rest of the Oilers defense consists of third-pairing players such as Andy Sutton, Theo Peckham and Corey Potter and they also have some promising names in the system such as Colten Teubert and Oscar Klefbom who may also be called upon as soon as next season.

On paper, this defense corps doesn't look too bad and could be quite good if, like Willis says, everything goes right. That's where a few problems arise. Whitney has not been fully healthy in two years and was pretty awful for most of last season. Nick Schultz also had a brutal season despite not getting top shutdown duties on neither the Oilers nor the Minnesota Wild, Petry has only one year or NHL experience and Justin Schultz is only a rookie. Things could end up going awry if an injury happens to any of their top-four players or if one of their younger players struggle, especially Schultz.

That's when the next part Willis' quote comes in hand "...but planning for the best scenario is a bad way to run a team." The Oilers D has a lot of good pieces to it (Smid and Petry being very underrated) but things could turn VERY bad if Whitney and Schultz suffer injuries or have poor seasons, especially because the Oilers don't have much to fall back on as far as top-four options go. Theo Peckham and Andy Sutton can not be trusted in those minutes and neither can their players in the AHL since they are largely untested.

What does this have to do with the Hurricanes, though? Well, when I saw Willis make this statement about the Oilers, I couldn't help but feel the same about the Hurricanes and their defense. Up front, the Hurricanes are in good shape. They have a solid top-six, loads of depth in the bottom-six, a few players who they can use throughout the lineup and forwards within the organization who they can call up if needed. The defense, however, has a lot more question marks and could run into some problems if a disaster strikes.

Here we have another pick from the fabled Hurricanes draft class of 2007 who has been a contributor in Charlotte for years but has yet to make his mark in the NHL. Although, what makes Chris Terry different from some of the Canes other forward prospects is that he still hasn't played an NHL game in his career. It's strange when you think about it because over the last three seasons, Terry has been one of the Checkers best forwards and doesn't need to pass through waivers, so one would think that he would get a shot at this point. He has also failed to make the Hurricanes out of camp during that same time period, so the coaching staff clearly hasn't been impressed with what he has done against NHL competition so far.

The reason why Terry has yet to play in the NHL is because he is a top-six player and has yet to show the defensive instincts or the strength to be otherwise. Terry is only 5'10" and 190 lbs., so he doesn't exactly have the frame to be on a checking line and his defensive game isn't anything to write home about either, so he fits best on a scoring line. The Hurricanes aren't going to call-up Terry to plug him in a fourth-line role because that doesn't do anything for his development and it hurts the Checkers, as well. He is one of their best players and there isn't a need for the Canes to take him away from them if he isn't going to be used in a contributing role. So, unless the Hurricanes can give Terry top-six minutes, he probably isn't going to see much time in Raleigh.

Terry has shown that he has loads of potential, though. Like I mentioned earlier, he has been one of the Checkers best forwards for the last three years and led the team in points for the last two seasons. His 2010-11 campaign was very impressive as he put up a career-high 34 goals and 64 points. He saw his numbers go down this year (16 goals, 59 points) but he still led the team in scoring and was one of their more impressive players. Terry's high offensive acumen dates back to his junior days with the Plymouth Whalers where he had a 44-goal, 101 point season in 2007-08 as an 18-year old. He also had 201 shots on goal in 74 games with the Checkers last season which translates to about 1.5 shots per game in the NHL, which was the third highest translation among the Checkers last year. 

One would think that Terry should have been given a chance with the Hurricanes next season because of the holes the Hurricanes had in their top-six, so it was a surprise to me that he didn't make the team but it makes sense in the long run. Under Maurice, Terry was likely going to be placed in a fourth line role like Boychuk, Dalpe, Bowman and Samson were before him, so it made sense to keep him in Charlotte where he would be guaranteed top-six minutes. He may have had an opportunity later in the season when Kirk Muller took over but the Checkers were in a tight race for the playoffs for most of the year and couldn't afford to lose arguably their best forward. You could probably say the same about Bowman and Samson but the difference is that those two have been able to contribute outside of a scoring role with the Hurricanes. We don't know if Terry can do that just yet. Sure, it would be been nice to see him get a shot just to see what he could do but it was better for the Checkers if he stayed with them.

The biggest question surrounding Terry is whether or not he has a future in the NHL. That is something I can't answer right now but his numbers in previous leagues are nothing but impressive and he has a clear talent for scoring goals, so some teams might be interested in his services even if it isn't the Hurricanes. Him making the team out of camp in this coming season is going to be tough because he has a lot of players to compete with. The Hurricanes are likely going to have one player from within the organization take over the third line center role and while Terry can play center, it's tough to say what makes him a better candidate for that role than Dalpe, Boychuk or Welsh? His good track record in the AHL is one thing he has going for him, so we will see if that plays a role in the coaching staff's decision come this Fall. As of right now, he should be in the running but him playing in the NHL next year is anything but a guarantee. A good camp and pre-season might change this, though.

Most of the players I have gone over so far in the Top 25 are those who are another couple years or so away from being ready for the NHL. That isn't the case with today's subject, Drayson Bowman, as he has gotten his fair share of chances in the NHL and after last season, it appears that he is ready to start contributing. When Bowman was drafted in 2007, he was billed as a dangerous goal-scorer with a dangerous slap-shot and he has more than lived up to that reputation in junior hockey. During his WHL days, Bowman had back-to-back 40 goal seasons and was one of the Spokane Chiefs' best forwards. Like many prolific CHL forwards, Bowman strong offensive output hasn't transitioned to the pros but what makes him stick out is that he has learned the other areas of the game well and has shown the ability to play outside of a scoring role on the Hurricanes.

Bowman has never put up impressive boxcar numbers either the AHL or NHL and he didn't make much of an impact during his first two "seasons" with the Hurricanes, but last year was a different story. Most fans remember Bowman's two-goal performance against Vancouver back in December and how it took him 23 games to score another one, but he was contributing in other areas that weren't showing up on the score sheet. Bowman posted one of the strongest Corsi ratings at even strength among Carolina forwards who played at least 30 games last year, meaning that he was very good at moving the puck into the opponent's end and keeping it there. The Hurricanes had a shortage of players who could do this last season, so Bowman definitely made his presence felt in the top-nine while he was there. Bowman was also very good at creating and preventing scoring chances during his stay in Raleigh, as well. 

What makes Bowman's performance impressive is that he was able to do this while playing relatively difficult minutes. He spent most of his time playing on either Eric Staal or Brandon Sutter's line, neither of which are protected, and had to take on the tough minutes that comes with them. He managed to do more than a fine job territorially in those situations but struggled to score goals. His shooting percentage was only 8.6% last season and he was managing to have nearly two shots per game, so bad luck definitely played a role in his scoring woes. We have seen Bowman's finishing ability in junior hockey and, to a lesser extent, in the minors so he is likely capable of putting up more goals in a longer period of time. That being said, six goals and 13 points in a 37 game sample isn't horrible for a player who was called-up in the middle of the year.

Bowman's primary goal for next season is going to be making the Hurricanes out of camp and finding a way to stay on the club full-time. Him being able to tilt play in the Hurricanes favor while being used in a tough-minute role tells me that he is NHL ready now. I think that he is good enough to make the team as a third-liner next season but he is going to have trouble beating out the likes of Jiri Tlusty, Chad LaRose and Patrick Dwyer for a third-line spot, so it's very possible for Bowman to end up on the fourth line or back in Charlotte come October. He deserves a serious look from the coaching staff, though because of his play last season.

The problem is that Bowman has played so few games in the NHL that we don't know if he can play in a top-nine role on a contending team, which the Hurricanes plan to be next year from the sound of things. We know that he is ready for the NHL but what can he do beyond what he has showed us in the last 69 games? As of right now, Bowman is looking more like he is suited for a checking role rather than being the goal-scorer than many thought he would be coming out of the draft. It is a little ironic that he has blossomed into a third-liner because size and strength was his biggest areas of concern when he was younger but his play away from the puck has come a long way over the last year and he played very well defensively for a guy his size. His ceiling might be higher than that but it seems that a bottom-six role might be what suits Bowman the best for now until he can show us otherwise. Thankfully, he has the time to do so.

Earlier in the week, I talked about the development of defenseman Austin Levi and how he was a very raw talent when the Hurricanes selected him. He was a phenomenal athlete but a lot of scouts questioned whether or not he could put his talent together and turn into a great a player. A similar criticism was directed towards today's player of focus and #15 in our Top 25 Under 25, Mark Alt. When the Hurricanes selected Alt in the second round of the 2010 draft, it was a bit of an interesting pick because Alt spent most of his high school career playing both football and hockey. In fact, Alt may have been better known for being an all-state quarterback in high school instead of being a hockey player but he is now 100% dedicated to the rink and he has turned into quite a good defenseman during his two years at the University of Minnesota.

The one thing no one ever doubted about Alt is that he is a terrific athlete and possesses a pretty big frame at 6'3" and 202 lbs. He's been able to use this frame to become an effective, physical shutdown defenseman for the Golden Gophers during his time there. He began to play a much bigger role last season as he was used heavily on Minnesota's penalty kill and was also trusted with playing tougher assignments than their other defense pairings. Alt was also second on the team in blocked shots (51) and was very effective at making things difficult for opposing forwards.

Alt is also similar to Levi in the sense that he has proven to be a terrific defensive player but the offensive side of his game is still a work in progress. Scoring isn't exactly his top priority but defensemen who can contribute well at both ends generally are more valuable and are projected to do more in the long-run. For Alt, the offense is starting to come around. He set career highs in goals and points last season and finished second among Gopher defensemen with 22 points in 43 games. Those numbers aren't going to blow away anyone but Alt was only a sophomore last year and was playing some pretty big minutes in a very difficult conference. He may have not been the team's MVP but it is fair to say that Alt played a role in the Gophers reaching the Frozen Four last season.

Thanks to the Big Ten Network and Minnesota having a very successful season, I got to see Alt play on several occasions last year and I liked what I saw for the most part. His play wasn't as impessive as say, Dumoulin's, but Alt is a very stout defensive defenseman and I could see him having a future in the NHL. Alt's size, physical edge and decent puck-moving skills could make him a good second pairing option in the NHL, but he is only 20 so things might change once he starts playing outside the college level. However, something that might keep Alt from excelling at the pro level is his skating, which is detailed by college hockey expert Nathan Wells in this post. It is something that he can improve on during his next year at The U but it might keep him from being an effective top-four defenseman at the NHL level.

I think Alt is one of the more underrated prospects in the Hurricanes system because he has been consistently good and was somewhat of a standout on a very strong Minnesota squad last season. He was able to do it despite being only a sophomore who was only 19 when the season began. It definitely raises expectations for his junior year at Minnesota and the Canes might have him signed to a contract by this time next year if he has a good enough season. Alt has always had the athleticism to reach his potential, so it's been a matter of putting it all together and he has definitely been coming along nicely ever since committing to Minnesota. Alt could find himself much higher on this list next year if he continues to improve.

It has been a bit of a wild summer in Raleigh as the Hurricanes have made a couple very big moves to bolster their team for next season and years to come. Jim Rutherford, however, is not done searching for players, though as he has said a few times that he still wants to acquire a "tough guy" for the fourth line. He never specified that he was looking for an "enforcer," but I do recall him stating that he wants to add someone who can protect some of the team's younger stars like Jeff Skinner, so I assume that he is looking for someone who plays that kind of role. Skinner was knocked around a few times last year by bigger opponents and there were a few teams who took liberties with him as well as other players on the team, so it's understandable that Rutherford wants the team to get tougher. The problem is that adding a fourth line "tough guy" or an "enforcer" isn't going to do much to prevent this.

Jonathan Willis of Oilers Nation addressed this point a few months ago when the Oilers were concerned with getting protection for their young star, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Willis discusses how Marc Savard was not protected from Matt Cooke despite Milan Lucic being on ice at the time and Shawn Thornton lining up opposite of Cooke earlier in the sequence. Cooke has also had to answer the bell against other team's enforcers a couple of times and he still continued to deliver cheap hits despite that. The overall point of the article is that you can try to protect your stars all you want but players like Cooke, Andy Sutton, Brooks Orpik and Cal Clutterbuck are still going to deliver big hits when they get the opportunity. Having an enforcer or a "tough guy" on your team isn't going to prevent that. 

Another issue with the Canes acquiring a "tough guy" is that most of those who are fourth line specialists do not contribute much to their teams other than being able to drop the gloves. If you look at the leaders in fight minutes last season, you'll see that there are some useful players who fight regularly but what makes them valuable is that they contribute in other areas and be used outside of the fourth line. A look at some underlying stats from Behind The Net hockey should tell you which players are useful and which ones are not.

You can see that there is a difference in how these players are used. There are some fighters like Derek Dorsett, Chris Thorburn and Matt Hendricks who play a big defensive role on their respective clubs while there are others who only play 5-8 minutes a game and manage to give up a ton of shots against in the process (Hello, Brad Staubitz). If the Hurricanes absolutely need to acquire an "enforcer" then they should look for someone in the mold of Dorsett, Hendricks or Campbell because they are actually skilled in other areas. Then again, if the Hurricanes do acquire a tough guy, then where would he fit in the lineup and what does it mean for the rest of the team?

There are no vacancies in the Hurricanes' top-six, so the Canes are going to have at least eight players battling for spots in the bottom-six in training camp. All adding an enforcer to the mix does is make it more difficult for someone like Drayson Bowman to earn a spot on the roster, something he should be considered for after his play last season. Bowman has proven himself to be very solid in a checking role, so I don't like the idea of taking away a roster spot from him or anyone else just so we can have a "tough guy" play five minutes a game, do his business and not play a shift for the rest of the contest. It's not the most efficient way to run a team.

Also, if we're looking for players to protect Jeff Skinner, then why not look to those who are already on the roster? I'm pretty sure that most would consider Tuomo Ruutu a tough player and he is also a regular linemate of Skinner. If the Canes want someone to provide an intimidating presence and have some protection for Skinner, they could look to Ruutu to do so. Tim Gleason and Anthony Stewart also have a history of sticking up for teammates despite not being the most experienced fighters so they could also protect Skinner if needed.

In the end, it doesn't matter. Having an enforcer or a tough guy out there is not going to prevent other teams from delivering big hits on players like Skinner. It didn't work for the Bruins or the Oilers and it certainly isn't going to work for the Hurricanes. Most of these "tough guys" end up doing more harm than good anyway so it's hard to justify the Hurricanes acquiring one of these players this off-season.

The Carolina Hurricanes have made headlines this off-season as one of the most improved teams in the league and with good reason, they added two legitimate top-six forwards to their arsenal and now possess a very dangerous offense. There has been a lot of talk about this team finding their way back to the playoffs and even coming out on top in their division. Considering that the Florida Panthers won the Southeast with only 94 points last year and no team in the division had a positive goal differential, it's plausible that the Hurricanes could go from the cellar to first place this season. They did a lot to bolster their top-six and will probably be a lot better than they were last season but something that might be getting overlooked is what other teams in the division have done to improve. 

It is also easy to forget that teams like Washington and Tampa Bay underperformed last year and could rebound since they were very good teams in recent years. Carolina's roster also isn't without their holes either, especially on defense and that could possibly become a major problem sometime this season. When you look at all five teams in the Southeast, it's very hard to predict who will come out on top because every team has a lot of question marks. Carolina, Florida and Winnipeg all have problems on defense, Washington lost a major offensive weapon and could be depending on a largely unproven goalie. Tampa Bay and Winnipeg also have question marks in goal and that is going to have an impact on what kind of season they have. There are just too many uncertainties in the division right now to make any assumptions.

When you talk about which team improved the most in the Southeast this off-season, you can certainly make a case for Carolina being at the top of that list since they added both Alex Semin and Jordan Staal. What will their team look like next season compared to the rest of the division, though? After the jump, we will look at what the teams in the Southeast Division have done this off-season and what kind of shape they could be in heading into the year.

One of the lesser-known trades made by Jim Rutherford over the last year was him sending Jon Matsumoto and Mattias Lidstrom to the Flordia Panthers for AJ Jenks and Evgenii Dadonov. There wasn't much thought put into this trade because none of the players in the deal had much NHL experience but the Hurricanes did end up getting the best player in the trade, or at least that's how things look right now. Dadonov played only 15 games in the NHL last season and is going to be spending next year in the KHL, but he did have some minor success during his rookie season with the Panthers in 2010-11.

He posted 8 goals and 17 points in 36 games with the Cats that year and could have made the NHL to start the next season but Dale Tallon's off-season splurging that year made it tough for him to make the final roster and he ended up starting the year with their AHL affiliate in San Antonio. Unfortunately, Dadonov would struggle there and the Hurricanes decided to take a chance on him by trading two guys with limited NHL potential for him. What did they get out of it? Ultimately, not much in terms of NHL production but the Charlotte Checkers sure enjoyed having Dadonov on the team.

Injuries and call-ups allowed Dadonov to play in a top-six role for the Checkers and he made the most of it with 19 points in 35 games with the Checkers, 16 of those points being assists. Many thought that Dadonov would get a look in Raleigh before the season was over but he ended up spending the remainder of the year in Charlotte. The Canes decided to qualify him to keep his rights when he returns to the NHL, which could be next year or a couple years from now and who knows what his value/potential will be by that time. Dadonov has always been praised for his offensive potential but he has never been much of a scorer outside of the junior level, so he could end up not amounting to more than a bottom-sixer in the NHL.

Dadonov does bring a lot of good things to the table, though. He was able to tilt possession in the Panthers favor during his rookie season and he actually scored at a decent rate for a 21-year-old rookie. The other nice quality Dadonov has is that he is actually pretty useful defensively and is a pretty effectively physical player despite not being very big. Dadonov definitely has the makings of being a useful player in the NHL but it's hard to say what his ceiling is. He showed a lot of potential with the Panthers during his rookie season but he has yet to match that, especially during his time in the AHL. He did seem to play better after the trade to Charlotte, though and that gives me some hope that he could find his way back to the NHL. It will be awhile before we find that out with him heading to the KHL now.

It is really hard to peg Dadonov as one of the higher ranked forwards in Carolina's system right now because he has yet to make much of an impact, but there are a lot of signs of him being a useful player somewhere down the line. He has pretty solid puck-possession skills and would make a great third liner if his scoring rates stay the same. Dadonov has shown flashes of being a great offensive talent and play-maker, but he hasn't been able to do it consistently, so he might end up being on a checking line in the NHL. There is no doubt that he can amount to being more than that, but he hasn't been able to show it yet. Guess we will know more when he returns from Russia.

One of the benefits of having a team owner who also operates a OHL team is getting the inside scoop on some of the prospects there. It has been something the Carolina Hurricanes have been taking advantage of the last few seasons with the Plymouth Whalers, who are owned by Peter Karmanos. A good number of Carolina prospects over the years have played some of their junior hockey in Plymouth and a few players in their system right now played with the Whalers last season. We discussed one in Beau Schmitz but today we will be focusing on another defenseman in Austin Levi.

Levi was selected in the third round of the 2010 draft and was considered a bit of a risky pick at the time because he was considered a "raw prospect." Out of the draft, he was known as a very athletic player with great size but not much hockey sense. He was one of the players who many thought could be a great all-around defenseman or a total bust depending on how he developed. It has now been two years since Levi was drafted and he has come a long way while spending the last four seasons in Plymouth. Levi has been billed as one of the top shutdown defensemen in the OHL and has provided some decent offensive production, as well with 30 points in 64 games. He also had a terrific post-season offensively with 10 points in 13 games.

The most promising thing about Levi is that he has gotten better every season and that's evident if you look at the stat-sheet and the praise from some of the people who have watched him. He has always had the tools and the size to be a solid defenseman and he has been making use of his athleticism over the years to become the player the scouts hoped he could turn into. Levi still isn't quite there yet because he's only played against junior competition but he only just turned 20 in February and has certainly gotten the defensive side of the game down according to those who have watched him.

Levi's big frame and towering stature make him an effective defensive player but it is his physical play that makes him a force to be reckoned with. He has been known to deliver punishing hits to opposing forwards and make life as difficult for them as possible once they enter the zone. It might be easier for him to do this while he's playing agianst smaller forwards in junior hockey, but Levi is still decently sized at 6'4" and 205 lbs. Another nice asset about Levi is that his game isn't completely one-dimensional as he is also very skilled at carrying the puck and is capable at leading a breakout. This was actually one of his strongest assets when he was drafted but his game in the defensive zone has improved tremendously since then. Something else that might catch the mind of stat-minded folks is that his penalty minutes have decreased over the years while his physical and defensive game has gotten much stronger, which could be a good sign for his future. A lot of big physical defensemen tend to take bad penalties but it appears that Levi has been able to correct this during his time in the OHL.

While Levi's development has been nothing but impressive, he has still yet to face any competition outside of junior hockey, which is something that will change next season, hopefully. His offense hasn't come around as much as some would have hoped, but the Canes have a bigger need for a shutdown defenseman like Levi has developed into these last couple of years. I think a year in the AHL playing against some older, larger forwards will be a good test for him and should give the Canes a better idea of where he is in his development. I have talked about how some of Carolina's surplus of defensive prospects need to do something to make themselves stand out amongst the pack. Levi is one of the blue-liners who I think made himself stand out this season. Still need to see how he does in the pros before he gets ranked any higher, though.

Hurricanes already know a little about the Sutter family with Brandon and Brett being in the organization for years now. Those two have already left their marks in Raleigh and Charlotte respectively, but one member of the Sutter brood who fans may not know much about is their cousin Brody Sutter. Drafted in the 7th round last year, there isn't much expected from Sutter but he was the best player on the Lethbridge Hurricanes of the WHL last year with 30 goals, 60 points in 65 games. Of course, Lethbridge was a pretty bad team last year and Sutter was one of the older players on the squad but it's hard to deny that he had an impressive season.

Sutter didn't really emerge as a huge goal-scoring threat until last season when he netted 30 but his number shave been gradually improving ever since he entered the WHL. Before last season, Sutter was more known for being a solid forechecker and wasn't depended on to do more than that but his offense has really come around these last couple of years. It is also worth mentioning that he had 42 points in 46 games the previous year when he had a shoulder injury so it isn't like this offensive output came from completely out of the blue. I have my doubts about him repeating this kind of a season, though because hot streaks always happen with a lot of players and that may have been the case with Sutter last season. A player going from 18 to 30 goals in one season does seem a bit fishy.

It is also very likely that Sutter could spend this coming season in Charlotte as he got to play four games with the Checkers last season, and the team will have a better idea of what they have in him if he can stick it in the pros. Sutter should be on the Checkers because the team has open center spots available and could potentially have a few more openings depending on who makes the Hurricanes out of camp. There could be a position battle between him and Victor Rask but Sutter has been able to perform well in a bottom-six role in the past so I think he will be fine on the fourth line. He is going to turn 21 when the season starts, so him making the AHL next season is probably a better sign for his development than him spending another year in juniors.

Whether or not Sutter's fantastic season at Lethbridge was an aberration remains to be seen but most scouts have him projected to be a bottom-six forward with limited offensive upside. I'm not sure if they could have ever predicted him scoring 30 goals but there always seem to be a lot of high-scoring junior players who don't end up amounting to much at the next level. Sutter could end up being one of those players but it's possible that he has turned into much more than that and the Canes might have a potentially useful player on their hands. We will probably know more about him and his future once he starts to play more games in Charlotte, though.

An important thing to remember about Sutter is that he is pretty big for a 20 year old and he was just on the cusp of being an over-ager last year, so he could end up being a lot better than his 7th round draft position indicates. He was also pretty young when he had his 42 point season the year before and has seen his offensive output get bigger every season, which is why he ranks within the top 20 on this list. That could change if he has a down year at Charlotte or ends up spending another season at Lethbridge but as of right now, I think Sutter has some decent potential and this next coming season will tell us more about him.