"It's a great message to our fans," said Director of Player Personnel Darren Yorke. "They can feel proud that the pipeline is stocked. We're going to continue to try to find and develop the next tier of Hurricanes."
Elite Prospects praised the Canes for their 20 selections over the last two years of the NHL Draft and noted that "almost every single player has some combination of high-skill, high-scoring and high entertainment value."
In their analysis, Elite Prospects touted the Canes as having nearly unmatched
prospect depth
, especially with 14 young players they suggest have a "Future Value" of 5 or higher, indicative of confidence in a future NHL career.
"That depth ensures this Cup contender should have a steady stream of cost-effective skill to inject across the lineup for years to come," Elite Prospects wrote.
"Our scouting staff has worked extremely hard and has been diligent and able to deal with uncertainty very well," Yorke said. "This gives them a bit of notoriety, something they've earned given how hard and how well they've worked together."
Seth Jarvis, the team's
13th overall selection
from the
2020 NHL Draft
, tops the Canes' prospects rankings, according to Elite Prospects.
"Jarvis has everything needed to become a top-six forward, and he's not too far off either," they said.
Also on Elite Prospects' rankings are a couple of names that could graduate to the NHL in a full-time role in the upcoming season: Morgan Geekie, who made a splash with four points (3g, 1a) in his
first two NHL games
, and Jake Bean, who won the Eddie Shore Award as the AHL's Defenseman of the Year in 2019-20.
"It's not an accident that successful organizations, regardless of sport, draft and develop well," Yorke said. "For us to have sustained success, we need to continue that trend. It's not necessarily just the first- or second-round talents. It's finding the next Jaccob Slavin or Brett Pesce, players who are able to have an impact well beyond the first or second round."
Prospect Rankings (per Elite Prospects)
1. Seth Jarvis
2. Morgan Geekie
3. Noel Gunler
4. Jack Drury
5. Joey Keane
6. Jake Bean
7. Ryan Suzuki
8. Patrik Puistola
9. Jesper Sellgren
10. Dominik Bokk
11. Jamieson Rees
12. David Cotton
13. Vasiliy Ponomarev
14. Tuukka Tieksola
15. Anttoni Honka
