Best of Darren Yorke's AMA

As a part of Fan Appreciation Week festivities, members of the Carolina Hurricanes front office and broadcast team are answering your questions in Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions on the
Canes' subreddit
.
Darren Yorke
, the team's head of player personnel, batted leadoff on Monday afternoon. Here are the highlights from his AMA.

Editor's note: Some questions and answers have been condensed or corrected for grammar or clarity. Canadian spelling variations, however, remain.
"Hi, this is Darren Yorke. I've served as Director of Player Personnel for the Carolina Hurricanes. I am in my 11th season with the organization and here to answer your questions," he wrote. "Thanks for being such amazing fans. We're honoured to represent the Carolinas."
How frequent are your interactions with Eric Tulsky on the analytics/strategy side of the house? What are the different metrics, criteria, etc. you use for the draft versus acquiring players via trade/free agency?
Eric and I chat all the time. We are constantly collaborating with one another. We're not an organization that is built on the poles. There isn't an eye test vs. analytics. We're all on the same team, trying to gather as much information as we can to make the best decision possible. As for the second part of your question, the types of information that you gather in advance of drafting a player vs. a trade are very similar. We have the traditional scouting metrics that we use for both drafting and trading. The difference is when a player makes it to the NHL, we have a longer history of data that we have access to.
Eric Tulsky (Photoshop aficionado?) responded with this masterpiece
Yorke: As much as we talk I had no idea how clever he could be with Photoshop.
As Director of Player Personnel, can you give us a hint on who to keep an eye on during the World Juniors, other than our current prospects?
The World Jr. tournament is one of my favourites to watch. Like you said, I'll be watching our prospects, while at the same time evaluating the other teams' top prospects. It's a great to watch the best U-20 players in the world compete against one another. In addition, I'll be looking at some of the key draft eligible players who were fortunate enough to make their teams.
Obviously your team is looking at players for the upcoming draft, but are you already starting to look at players for future drafts, maybe even a few years down the road?
The bulk of our focus is on the current draft year. However, when we're at games or watching video, we might see] who will be draft eligible a year or two in the future. A big international tournament is the World U-17, which is a great tournament to get a sense of the upcoming draft talent. It's important for us to gather as much information on the players when they're 16 and 17 prior to their draft year to gauge where they're on their development curve.
***How do you evaluate a prospects ceiling/floor for potential, and how does that factor into the draft?***
We're more interested in a player's ceiling than we are their floor. We try to gather as much information as we can to make that projection. Typically, the players with the highest ceiling are already out-performing their class. They're the smartest, most skilled, fastest and highly competitive. They've had strong production at every level. When they get opportunities to play at a high level, the adjustment period is minimal. Sebastian Aho, for example, was able to play at high level in the Liiga at 17 years old. He was one of the best players on Finland's World Jr. team that year, as well.
How long ago did you start planning in preparation for the expansion draft?
We've had discussions about the expansion draft for a year or so already. We'll continue to ramp up those conversations as move closer to the off-season. It's good to be prepared for the unknowns. We know what our roster looks like today, but we don't know what it will look like at the end of the season. That is true for all 31 teams. So, while we can't be certain to how it's going to play out, we can mock up different scenarios to help with future planning.
Which player on the Hurricanes has shown to have the biggest drive to win and strive to achieve their best?
I think we're fortunate to have a team that has learned from the best in terms of competitiveness. Rod Brind'Amour raised the bar as a player. Our team feeds off that energy and takes on his personality. Guys like Staal, Aho, Svech, Slavin and others don't plan on letting their foot off the gas any time soon. They know what is expected and love when the expectations are high.
Who has been your favorite player you've seen come up through the Canes organization? Who do we need to be paying attention to more that may be stashed away?
I don't know if I can single one specific player as my favourite. I love seeing the players grow both on and off the ice. I get to see them mature from the time they were drafted through their time with the Canes. It's been fun getting to see guys like Jaccob Slavin go from being a teenager to living out his dream as an NHL player and then being a father. I'm fortunate to be able to see that type of growth. As for a player that you may need to be paying attention to, I think Tuukka Tieksola is a player to track. He hasn't played as much on the international level, so he may not get the exposure he deserves. However, I promise you if you search some of his highlights, you won't be disappointed.
On [Oct. 12, 2018, Manager of Communications and Team Services Pace Sagester was fined four dozen Bojangles biscuits for being caught on camera dabbing with Aho. Have any motions been taken within the organization to prevent future intentional and forceful dabs?
Pace has had a couple of conversations with sr. management because of this behaviour. Although, if Aho continues to play well because of the dabs, we may have to allow Pace to continue.
"Thanks for questions!" Yorke signed off. "It was fun."
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