Visit NBC’s Draft Headquarters for our complete coverage of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.
The news is good for the Hurricanes as some of the prospects they’ve been waiting on are showing they can play in the NHL (Zach Boychuk, Drayson Bowman) and this year they get to to fill up the tank should they want to as they’ll have 11 picks in this year’s draft, six of which are in the top 100 and a seventh at 105 overall. This year’s draft is deep and for a team looking to cut salary and still compete, let’s just hope their scouting is solid. The Canes will be snooping around for a big scoring winger early at the seventh pick as giving Zach Boychuk someone to run with in the future could be dynamic.
2010 draft picks:
Round 1 - 7th
Round 2 - 37th
Round 2 - 46th
Round 2 - 53rd
Round 3 - 67th
Round 3 - 85th
Round 4 - 105th
Round 6 - 157th
Round 6 - 167th
Round 7 - 187th
Round 7 - 206th
Top prospects (per Hockey’s Future):
1. Zach Boychuk, C/W
2. Jamie McBain, D
3. Drayson Bowman, LW
4. Zac Dalpe, C
5. Brett Carson, D
6. Brian Dumoulin, D
7. Mike Murphy, G
8. Chris Terry, LW
9. Michal Jordan, D
10. Mattias Lindstrom, LW
PHT’s mock draft results:
7 - Brandon Gormley - D - Moncton (QMJHL)
Gormley is the rare defensemen with all of the tools and he would instantly improve the Carolina blueline. He’s gifted offensively, he can move the puck with ease, is a great skater and is more than solid in his own end. He’s the type of toolsy defenseman all teams wish they had and can be a top blueliner the Hurricanes can build around moving forward.
What the blogs are saying:
Canes Country (talking with Tony MacDonald, Director of Amateur Scouting)
“We usually follow the philosophy that we go after the best player, regardless of position. Drafting to need is something that is sometimes done, but we have a tendency to go a little more in that direction as you go deeper into the draft. But for the first pick, we just try to go for the best player. Good players are good players. They are assets. Any player that is drafted high and can play in the NHL is a valuable commodity.”
(MacDonald explained a bit more.)
“If you draft to need, most of the time the players are not ready to step right in and fill that void immediately anyway. If your immediate need is for a defenseman or center, or whatever, you rarely can fill it right away through the draft.”