Canes Eye Hockey Sense With Seven Picks on Day Two of 2020 NHL Draft

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It was around 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday when the Carolina Hurricanes front office, connected with their scouting staff via a virtual conference call, reconvened in the team's locker room at PNC Arena for the second day of the 2020 NHL Draft.
Around 50 minutes later, the Canes made their first selection of the day, the 41st overall pick. The team didn't make its final selection of the day, the 208th overall pick, for another six-and-a-half hours.
It was a long day, so long that a counterpart joked with Canes President and General Manager Don Waddell that "some of these players are going to be retired by the time the draft is over."
It was a long day, indeed, and an even longer wait to get to the long day.
But for the Canes - from the front office to the scouts to the prospects themselves - the wait was well worth it.

"This is what we live for," Waddell said before the seventh round began. "This is what our scouts have worked for all year, so whether it takes four hours or 10 hours, we're going to be prepared to make the next selection."

The Canes supplemented their 13th overall selection of center Seth Jarvis with seven additional draft picks - five forwards and two defensemen - on day two, the common thread throughout the class being a high level of hockey sense.
"Draft day is really the most exciting day of the year," said Director of Player Personnel Darren Yorke, who heads up the team's amateur scouting efforts. "These players, it's not necessarily us selecting them; it's that they earned the selection. They were able to show their talents to us and basically force us to select them."
Noel Gunler, a right-winger from Sweden, was the first name off the board for the Canes on Wednesday.
"I know it sounds cliché when teams say they don't expect a player to be there, but we really didn't," Yorke said. "So, for us to get a player who has that speed and skill and hockey sense in the second round wasn't something we expected."

Gunler, who had stayed awake into the wee hours of the morning for the first round, wasn't sure what to expect either. He had practice early on Wednesday and was running on not even two hours of sleep.
"It was a pretty tough wait yesterday," he said. "When I heard my name, it was such a relief. I was so happy."
He was soon after on a FaceTime call with Waddell and head coach Rod Brind'Amour, who wished him a happy 19th birthday.
"I got a pretty good birthday gift," he smiled. "I couldn't be happier."
NHL Central Scouting describes Gunler as a "tall wing with good offensive instincts" who "creates scoring chances with smart, surprising moves in the offensive zone. Gunler keeps it simple when detailing his game.
"I'm a guy who can shoot the puck and score goals," he said. "What a bring on a daily basis is a threat in the offensive zone with my shot and playmaking abilities."

Vasiliy Ponomarev, a Russian center playing in the QMJHL, and Alexander Nikishin, a big-bodied defenseman playing in his home country of Russia, were the Canes' next two selections at 53 and 69, respectively.
"This kid understands the game," Yorke said of Ponomarev. "This is a player who knows how to play from an offensive and defensive standpoint. As he transitions to the pro game, it's going to be an easy step because of how smart he is."
2020 NHL DRAFT: PICK-BY-PICK
The Canes didn't pick again until 115, when they selected Zion Nybeck, a diminutive but high-end talent who led all skaters in Sweden's junior league with 66 points (27g, 39a) in 42 games in the 2019-20 season. NHL Central Scouting calls him a "mobile, quick playmaker who plays bigger than his size," adding that he "compensates for his lack of size and strength with speed, puck handling, passing and hockey IQ."
Though Waddell's phone was more active on Wednesday than it was on Tuesday night, the Canes made just one trade, moving down 19 spots in the order of selection from 140 (fourth round) to 159 (fifth round) and picking up an extra seventh-round pick (Los Angeles) in 2021.
With that 159th pick, the Canes selected power center Lucas Mercuri, who the team was eyeing in the fourth round.
"When you get late in the draft, everybody likes players differently," Waddell said. "We felt like we were going to get the same player, which we did, and we picked up an asset for next year's draft."
The Canes rounded out their day two picks with Russian forward Alexander Pashin and Canadian defenseman Ronan Seeley in the seventh round.
"A dream come true," as Ponomarev said, and now the work begins for this draft class as they aim to take the next steps in their hockey careers.
"We're thrilled with this class," Yorke said.