Using the pick they acquired from the San Jose Sharks in the Ian White trade last year, the Hurricanes added another winger to their organization by selecting LW Brock McGinn of the Guelph Storm. McGinn is the brother of Jamie McGinn of the Colorado Avalanche and most recently finished his second year with the Storm in the OHL. He missed about half of the season with a wrist injury and finished the year with 12 goals, 18 points in 33 games. He also missed six games last season after being suspended for a hit from behind earlier in the year.

It was hard to dig up a lot of information about McGinn because he was projected to go outside the top 100 by a lot of scouts and he wasn't exactly a coveted prospect in this draft. His stat line wasn't particularly impressive last year and most of the scouting reports say that he is more suited for a checking/third line type of role. He also isn't very big for someone in that role (5' 11"/174 lbs) but he is only 18 so hopefully he can size up a little bit. This pick looks like a major reach for the Canes and the opinions from some of the experts reflect this sentiment.

Hockey's Future

"McGinn was named an assistant captain for Guelph in his second season but appeared in just 33 games – missing over two months after suffering a wrist injury in December. He scored 12 goals with 6 assists and was minus-two with 25 penalty minutes. McGinn skated in all six playoff games during the Storm’s series with Plymouth. He scored 1 goal with 1 assist and was minus-three with 8 penalty minutes. McGinn was invited to the NHL Draft Combine and ranked 49th amongst North American skaters in Central Scouting’s final rankings prior to the 2012 NHL Draft."

 

The Prospect Blog

Brock McGinn / Left Wing / 5’11″ / 172 / Feb. 2, 1994

"McGinn has had an interesting season. Missing a significant period of hockey with an injury, but when he was healthy he showed good progression in the offensive side of his game. He brought a good compete level to the ice every time I saw him, and was a good skater. Areas to work on include his three-zone play, as well as his core strength. He should be a mid round draft selection for the NHL Draft."

The Hurricanes definitely went off the board a bit with this pick as McGinn's ceiling doesn't appear to be that high and he has some injury concerns on top of that. Some other bloggers have more confidence in him. Red Line Report says that he is an "underrated" prospect in this draft, Mark Edwards of HockeyProspect.com believes that he can be a good player in the NHL if he gets a little bigger and International Scouting Services praises his determination and gritty playing style.

There is no doubt that these are nice assets to have but one would think that the Hurricanes could have gotten McGinn much later in the draft than they did here. He was projected to be a mid-round pick and the Canes had seven more selections in this draft so it's easy to believe that he could have been available later and the Hurricanes didn't need to spend one of their second rounders on him. The Hurricanes scouting staff either saw something in him that others didn't or they believe he fills an area of need more than others who were available.

Given that this pick came in the top 50 and how easy it is to find checking forwards, it isn't a stretch to say that this pick could have been used better. I'll refrain from saying anything else until I see more of McGinn at prospect camp and in junior hockey this coming season.

The Hurricanes may have traded their #8 pick for Jordan Staal but they still had nine picks in this year's draft, which is more than enough to help improve a prospect pool that could use some upgrades in a few areas. The biggest area of concern for the Canes organizational depth was on the wings and they took one step to improve that earlier today by drafting Philip Di Giuseppe of the Michigan Wolverines.

Di Giuseppe hasn't even turned 19 yet and he already boasts an impressive physical frame at 6'1" and 200 lbs. He has been known as a goal-scorer but one of his best assets is not shying away from physical play and showing the willingness to get into the dirty areas to score goals. The Hurricanes have a lack of sizable wingers in their organization so Di Giuseppe helps fill a big hole. He just finished his freshman year at the University of Michigan and had a promising 11 goal, 26 point campaign which ranked him sixth on the team.He was previously more than a point-per-game player with the Villanova Knights in the OJHL.

Let's see what some of the experts have to say about him.

Corey Pronman from Hockey Prospectus

Di Giuseppe had a fine freshman season for the Wolverines and showed desirable traits as a toolsy physical scorer, but he still has some work to do. He's a solid skater with fine speed and impresses more in that regard with his balance in the cycle game, on top of having very good agility and edge work as he can be pretty elusive from a standstill. Di Giuseppe is very skilled with the puck, flashing plus ability in that regard. He's can dangle in open ice while being checked in tight and I've seen a few instances where he's made a couple of nice coordinated plays handling the puck from his knees. Di Giuseppe also has good technique on his passes and will regularly make above-average feeds. He does have good vision, but his hockey sense is his one major issue. Much too often, he rushes plays, overreacts to pressure, makes passes to nobody, and looks like he'll need a good number of years to iron out the kinks, although he does play decent defense. Di Giuseppe does a solid job attempting to be effective in the physical game, but he has a pretty skinny build and will need to put on a lot of muscle before his power game becomes something that can translate to the pro game.

Hockey's Future

Talent Analysis

Some will classify Di Giuseppe as a “pure-scorer”. And while there is no doubt that he can put the puck into net, there is far more to his game than just scoring goals. He is equally adept as a playmaker. Two areas that set Di Giuseppe apart from many other freshmen are his tremendous hockey instincts and his ability to cycle pucks down low. He thinks the game extremely well and has a low panic point. Di Giuseppe is also quite good not only around the net but along the boards and corners as well. He sees the ice and follows/supports plays really well too. Di Giuseppe possesses great poise and patience with the puck, and his decision-making is very good.

Future

Phil Di Giuseppe is projected to go late in the first round or early in the second round in the upcoming NHL Draft in June. He is the highest ranked current collegian appearing on Central Scouting’s Mid-term rankings (28th) as well as the International Scouting Services’ (ISS) January rankings (37th).

So it sounds like the Hurricanes have a player with top-six potential, great offensive skills and physical presence. Di Giuseppe is the type of player that the Canes can have great use for but it appears that he's awhile from being NHL ready. Seeing how he is only 18 years old and a freshman in college, that is completely understandable. According to Pronman, most of his issues relate to his decision making and hockey mentality and those are things that can improve as a player gets older. He has all the physical tools, but just needs to develop more before he is ready for the pros.

Overall, I like the pick. He is a few years away from being ready and it's uncertain whether or not he will reach his full potential but the Hurricanes made a safe pick with him. They needed sizeable forwards in their prospect pool and they got one earlier today.

Ever since the season ended, there have been countless rumors across the Internet of the Carolina Hurricanes making a push for a top-tier forward and one of the most popular targets was Jordan Staal of the Pittsburgh Penguins. At first, this all seemed like baseless speculations but the news of Staal rejecting a 10-year contract extension with the Penguins on Wednesday is when things really started to heat up and the trigger was finally pulled last nigh at the NHL Draft. The Hurricanes sent their first round pick, Brandon Sutter and Brian Dumoulin to acquire Staal, which is a big price to give up for any player but Jim Rutherford must have really wanted Staal and believes that he can get a deal worked out with him.

You can go on for hours about what the Hurricanes had to give up to acquire him and how it was an overpayment and it would probably be true. I had been against trading for Staal because the team was going to have to give up at least one roster player and a high quality prospect to get him, and that's what happened with this trade. I've been a big Brandon Sutter supporter and have gone into great detail about how helps the team. He is only in his early 20's and playing some of the toughest minutes in the NHL and is only going to get better. The other piece, Brian Dumoulin, is likely going to be a future top-four defenseman in the NHL. It doesn't help that top-five talents like Filip Forsberg and Mikhail Grigorenko were available for Carolina to take at #8, which would have really bolstered the team's prospect pool. Rutherford's willingness to pass on high-end talents like that in favor of a proven player like Staal tells me that he plans for the Hurricanes to be a competitive team sooner rather than later.

Trying to build a winner on the fly is never a bad thing and the Hurricanes have some good pieces in place but are they ready to be a winning team just now? Most people who take a glance at their current roster heading into free agency would probably say no and I'm inclined to agree with that. Trading for Jordan Staal wont automatically make the Hurricanes a contender but it does make them a better team for next season and it gives them a better core to bulid around up front.

Losing both Sutter and Dumoulin in this trade hurts, but when you look at what Jordan Staal brings to the table, it's hard to say that he won't be a great addition. The reason why Sutter was going the other way in this trade is because Staal essentially plays the same role as him. Both Staal and Sutter played the "heavy lifting" role for their respective clubs last season as they were regularly matched up against opposing team's top lines and were often deployed in the defensive zone. Sutter was given less of a territorial advantage than Staal but neither were playing easy minutes by any stretch. What makes Staal such a special player is that he has been able to drive the play forward and score at a top-six rate while playing in these situations for most of his career. Sutter is a terrific defensive player but it is hard to put his two-way play on the same level as Staal's. With Sutter, the Hurricanes had an ideal third line center who had the potential to play in the top-six. Staal, on the other hand, is a proven top-six player and is good enough defensively to play against tough competition. Staal is also only one year older than Sutter so he still has plenty of upside, and this is why losing Sutter is not as big of a deal as it may seem.

The other thing that I like about acquiring Staal is that both him and Eric give the Hurricanes two centers who do not need sheltered minutes to succeed. This means that Kirk Muller can basically do whatever he wants with the top two lines since both players can be used in a lot of different situations. He can utlize Jordan in a Sutter-type role and free up easier minutes for the first line or he could do the complete opposite and give Jordan a chance to show his offensive talents. Rutherford could also sign a defensive center for the bottom-two lines and it would allow at least one of the Staal lines to start more of their shifts in the offensive zone. The Canes might need to acquire some better players to make this plan work but at least they have a solid forward corps to build around now.

As for the defense, the Canes do have a good stockpile of prospects but losing Dumoulin stings. He was the arguably the best defenseman in college hockey last season and I really thought he could be a top-four defenseman in the next few years. I understand that Rutherford probably values Ryan Murphy and Justin Faulk more than him, but it is still tough to see him go. Perhaps this gives Rutherford more incentive to re-sign Bryan Allen because the Canes are at least one shutdown defenserman short of having what would be considered a solid blue line for next season. It's possible that Sanguinetti or Murphy could make the team out of next season or that Justin Faulk could step into a shutdown role but who knows?

This trade is a enormous risk for the Hurricanes but I kind of like that Rutherford is trying to make this team better next year and am interested to see what else he does to make that happen. My major concern with the trade is that Staal could make the Hurricanes a slightly improved team next year whereas Forsberg/Grigorenko, Sutter & Dumoulin could make them a contender a few years down the line. I'm sure Rutherford has the same concerns and plans to make more moves so that the Hurricanes are better set for next year and the future.

The month of June is always a crazy time for the NHL. You have the Stanley Cup Finals finishing up, the NHL Draft a few weeks later and then free agency at the end of the month. Before free agency begins, one thing that teams must take care of is extend qualifying offers to players who are set to become restricted free agents on July 1st. Restricted free agents are those who are under 27 years old OR have played less than seven years in the NHL. Most RFAs are younger players who are coming off their entry-level deals or second contracts but sometimes you'll see a couple high profile players who need to be qualified before their clubs can maintain negotiating rights with them. A few notable RFAs from this season are Shea Weber, Evander Kane and Mike Green.

It is a rare instance that you'll see a high-quality RFA not tendered by his club but there are times where teams let a useful player walk in free agency because he wants too much money or the team doesn't feel that he is worth keeping around. A RFA must be offered at least 100% of what he made the previous season and sometimes more depending on his salary. 

The Hurricanes have already signed two of their potential restricted free agents this summer (Jiri Tlusty & Jamie McBain) but they still have ten other players who need qualifying offers including one former first round pick. Most of the Canes potential RFAs play more important roles in Charlotte and none should be that expensive to keep around, but there could be a few who are cut loose this off-season. We will take a look at these players after the jump and discuss what the Canes might do with them.

Some noise was made in the Southeast Division yesterday as the Tampa Bay Lightning traded for Nashville Predators back-up goalie Anders Lindback. The Lightning had the worst goaltending in the league last season and don't feel confident enough with the prospects in their system yet, so they had to make a deal to help fill the void next season. Thus, they decided to send two second round picks and a third rounder to Nashville in exchange for Lindback's rights. They also received Kyle Wilson and a 7th round pick in return.

Ever since Nikolai Khabibulin left, the Lightning have had a long history of bad luck with goaltending. They've gone through names like John Grahame, Mike McKenna, Johan Holmqvist, Marc Denis, Karri Ramo, Mike Smith, Antero Niittymakki, Dan Ellis and Dwayne Roloson and none of them have been able to stick around for more than a couple years. Goaltending arguably has the most impact in hockey out of every position, so an elite netminder can boost a mediocre team (see this year's Coyotes) while an awful goalie can submarine a team that might be on the cusp of playoff contention if they had decent netminding. The Lightning have been seeing more of the latter happen to them since the lockout, which is why they made this trade. 

The Lightning usually take the cheap route with goaltending, so seeing them trade for Lindback makes a lot more sense than making a huge offer for Roberto Luongo or something. With that being said, I can't help but feel that they gave up a little more than they should have to get Lindback. Tampa Bay still has two more picks in the second round along with two first rounders, so if they were going to trade assets to address a position of need, this was the perfect time to do it. I'm just not sure if Lindback was the right guy to go after if you're looking to solve your goaltending woes.

That last comment wasn't necessarily a knock against Lindback because he has played well as Pekka Rinne's back-up in Nashville, but he's played in only 38 total games in the NHL. Those who think that this trade is going to solve the Lightning's goaltenidng woes should wait and see how he performs in Tampa Bay this year. A goalie who plays well in his first handful of games generally gets a longer leash than others, but the results after that short set of games tend to drop off after that. Lindback is prone to the same regression but with how unpredictable goaltending can be, he might be starting caliber as soon as next year but we don't know that right now. He might perform similar to Roloson this year and the Lightning will be right back where they started.

Overall, this isn't a bad risk for the Lightning and a great job by David Poille to give Nashville some earlier picks in this draft after spending most of them at the deadline this year. The Lightning need a goalie for at least next season, have assets to give (i.e. draft picks) and thought it would be better to trade for a younger goalie instead of kicking the tires on anyone who is available in free agency this July. Did they give up a lot? Yes. Is Lindback going to solve all their goaltending problems? Probably not, but he isn't going to cost much and they needed someone other than Mathieu Garon to be the starter next season. Since they don't see Helenius, Tokarski or Janus as options next year, they decided to take a chance on Lindback. If it doesn't work out, then they have other assets they can move to look for another option in goal. I am skeptical of how Lindback will fare as a starter but he can't be any worse than what they got out of Roloson last year. If Lindback puts up league average numbers with the Bolts next year, it's a significant upgrade over what they had before. They just need to hope that he delivers.

As we inch closer to the NHL Draft, I can't help but notice a lot of fans and bloggers run into the same pitfalls about what they should do with their pick. Most fans seem to have their hearts set on one player or decision that the team needs to make around draft time and they won't be satisfied with anything else. The thing with the Hurricanes is that they have a lot of options as to what they can do with the #8 pick and there isn't really one "right or wrong" choice. The chance of them getting a player who can help the team next season is slim, but they still own a top-10 pick and have a pretty good chance of acquiring someone who will be a useful NHL player somewhere down the line. That is the one thing to remember with all of this.

Hindsight is always 20/20 in the draft and busts do happen regularly, so everyone looks to minimize the risk of a bust by taking what they see as the "safest option." This could be a player who projects to be a top-six forward or top-pairing defenseman and is likely going to be available when it comes their team's turn to pick. However, there are times when a team needs to take risks to gain a star player. "Taking a risk" could mean multiple things including trading him, swapping the pick for a proven talent or selecting a player who had a higher "bust potential" due to on or off-ice issues. It wouldn't be surprising to see the Hurricanes to take any one of these routes with their first round pick because they have a lot of needs and most of the players projected to be in the top 10 of this draft class can help the team in some way. In addition to that, trading the pick to move down in the draft could give the Hurricanes a chance to boost their prospect pool, making them better for the long run.

Some may have preferred it if the Hurricanes had a higher pick so they had a better chance at acquiring one of the top forwards in the draft but they are in a pretty good position as it is right now. There are so many different things the Hurricanes can do with this pick and most give them a chance to improve themselves overall. What exactly should they do with the pick, though? Well, I don't have an answer for what they should do because they have too many options for there to be a "right or wrong" decision. What I can do is go through the different options and weigh the pros and cons of each.

After the jump, I will go over the different forward prospects who the Canes might target and also discuss the different trade scenarios which could possibly occur.

One potential unrestricted free agent was taken off the market yesterday when the Colorado Avalanche re-signed winger David Jones to a four-year contract worth $16 mil. This might not look like a big deal at first glance, but has the potential to be a pretty awful contract for the Avalanche. Jones might have two 20-goal seasons under his belt, but a closer look at his numbers suggests that the chances of him sustaining this kind of production are slim.

Over the last three years, Jones has been incredibly lucky when it came to shooting the puck. He wasn't exactly being used in the toughest of situations but was still underwater territorially in most seasons. He was able to score 20+ goals because about 15% or more of the shots he took ended up in the back of the net. In addition to that, the Avs were shooting at a higher rate as a team when he was on the ice during the 2009 & 2010 seasons. Unless Jones can maintain his career shooting percentage of 16.3%, his production is probably going to take a significant drop. This is one of the reasons why I wanted Carolina to stay away from him this off-season and why I think this contract will look awful by this time next year. 

How does this concern Carolina, though? Because they are in the market for a top-line winger and the Avs just signed a guy who is a 2nd liner at best to a deal worth $4 mil. per season. This gives us an idea of what the market will look like in about a month when free agency hits and it does make you a little concerned about how much money Jim Rutherford will need to shell out to acquire a top line winger. Rutherford made a similar decision by signing Tuomo Ruutu to a four year contract worth $750k more per season, so most knew what the market was going to be like this year. The news of the salary cap increasing to $70.3 mil. also means that teams are going to shell out more money than usual for some players, so you'll probably see more deals like this handed out over the next month or so. 

Just how much money does Rutherford need to spend to acquire that top line winger he is looking for, though? That is something I can't answer right now, but I have to think that it is in the ballpark of Jones and Ruutu contracts, likely more. Spending a lot of money for next season isn't a big deal with the cap being so high, but Rutherford can make things much easier on the team long-term by avoiding signing players to 4+ year contracts and offering more money for less years instead. It doesn't seem like anyone on the market this year is going to provide a long-term solution to Carolina, so short-term contracts appear to be the way to go. He's going to be overpaying no matter what, but shortening the term of the contract minimizes the overall risk of it. 

No matter what Rutherford does, he has to be smarter than the Avs were with this Jones contract when he looks to fill the void on the top line. Granted, the Avs are in a tougher situation because they are ways away from the cap floor, but no GM should be offering four year contracts to a player whose success is mostly driven by luck. That's not what you should do when you're on a budget or when you're  a rebuilding team. This along with the Cody McLeod contract puts the Avs summer of to a very rough start. Let's hope Rutherford doesn't follow suit.

The off-season is always a fun time for hockey bloggers. While nothing compares to the excitement of watching your team in the playoffs, bloggers always have a fun time playing armchair GM and speculating what moves their teams should make in the coming months. Carolina has been a hotspot for rumors and scuttlebutt this off-season and it's mostly because Peter Karmanos has given GM Jim Rutherford the green light to spend as much money needed to acquire a top-line player. This has led to a lot of people thinking that Zach Parise will be the main target, which makes sense because he's the best free agent winger available this year. The most intriguing rumor, however, surrounds Pittsburgh Penguins center Jordan Staal and the possibility of Carolina trading for him this off-season.

My personal philosophy is to ignore rumors like this because the likelihood of a big trade actually happening seems slim but this particular one has gotten out of control. You'll see people assuming that Jordan Staal will become a Hurricane by October and that Rutherford needs to make a trade for him or this off-season will be a failure. What I want to know is how likely is it that Rutherford actually trades for Staal and what needs to happen for a deal to get done. In addition to that, how does trading for Staal help the Hurricanes more than acquiring a top-line winger or a defenseman? I will look at all of these factors after the jump.

Last week, I examined draft prospects from the Canadian Hockey League by looking at their point-per-game totals at the junior level to see what players might be overlooked by scouts. I discovered a couple of prospects projected to be drafted outside of the first round that could be very useful pieces to the Hurricanes somewhere down the line. Going by just goals and points alone isn't the best way to evaluate prospects because there are plenty of other ways that a forward can contribute without scoring. Not to mention all the other random factors that occur during a hockey game which can produce misleading results, but I am not able to watch many games from the lower levels and can only judge prospects by what I see. Therefore, I utilize stats, Youtube videos, scouting reports and watch as many games as I can to get the lowdown on prospects. 

Basically, what I am saying is that I am not an expert in this field by any means but I'm going to do my best to breakdown some of the players in this draft and single out ones who I think would make a good fit for the Hurricanes. We have the CHL players covered, now let's move onto the players who were in European Leagues this season. There are a lot of talented forwards coming from across the Atlantic and quite a few of them are going to have their name's called on Day 1 of the draft. Are there any who the Hurricanes might be interested in? Long story short, yes.

A list of these players and some further analysis is coming after the jump.

The Hurricanes have another restricted free agent locked up for the next couple years with the team re-signing Jamie McBain to a two-year contract with a cap hit of about $1.8 mil. per season ($1.7 mil. + $1.9 mil. in salary). This is a pretty safe deal for McBain since two years isn't a big commitment and the cap hit is pretty low, as well. McBain has really done a lot in two and a half seasons in Carolina and he has shown the potential to be anything from a decent top-four defenseman to a very solid third pairing guy/powerplay quarterback. He has been more effective in the latter role and his game in his own end still needs some work, but I think keeping him around for the next two years is a good move for the Hurricanes.

While there have been some arguments in favor of trading McBain, re-signing him is probably the better call for now. Yes, the Canes have a lot of defensemen in their system (and too many puck movers), a couple of them are another year or two away from making the team. At the very least, McBain will provide a good stopgap for the Canes until Ryan Murphy is ready to be called up. He is also only 24 years old and is still developing. What we're seeing right now isn't his ceiling and he could very well turn into a stronger two-way player. If he doesn't progress at all in the next two years, then the Canes have a good offensive defenseman who can give them 25-30 points for about $1.8 mil. per year.

Let's pretend that McBain doesn't progress at all in the next two years and stays the same player. Would $1.8 mil. be an overpayment for him? To figure this out, let's take a look at some other defensemen who were given a contract similar to his. Below is a list of defensemen, their contract's cap hit and the age they were when they were signed to those deals.

All of the players here are 2nd or 3rd pairing defensemen and some of them had a defined role which made them a little more valuable than a standard bottom-pairing defenseman. What this means is that if McBain were to stay the same way he is now, his new contract fits his current value just fine. If he phases out offensively or is a complete defensive liability, then it's an overpayment but that isn't the case with him right now. McBain is also younger than the majority of defensemen on the list with the one exception being Matt Niskanen. Niskanen also brings an interesting comparison to the table because he was also a 25-35 point defenseman early in his career but his offensive numbers fell off a cliff around the time that Dallas extended him. He was also a bottom-pairing defenseman like McBain, only sheltered a lot more.

A couple other players who I would compare to McBain are Alex Goligoski and Johnny Boychuk. When they were signed to their contracts listed above, they were known more as puck-movers and were bottom-pairing defensemen on their respective teams. Goligoski was primarily a third pairing defenseman and powerplay quarterback when the Penguins re-signed him to a three year deal and while his two-way game hasn't come around much, he is playing as a top-four defenseman in Dallas and has been more effective as an offensive defenseman. Boychuk has played regularly in Boston's top-four and has even spent some time playing alongside Zdeno Chara. His numbers in the NHL are a pretty big contrast from his impressive point totals in the AHL.

McBain had more experience at the NHL level before he signed his second contract so he's a little different from Boychuk and Goligoski but the main idea here is that the Bruins and Penguins committed 2-3 years and roughly $1.8 mil. to a young defenseman with a decent amount of potential, which is the same thing that the Hurricanes are doing with McBain. Goligoski and Boychuk progressed as their contracts went on and were able to earn big deals with their current clubs. Can McBain do the same thing? Let's hope so.