Follow me on Twitter: @BenShelley_20
The Carolina Hurricanes have built a deep roster that’s close to being able to compete for a Stanley Cup. The only downside with this is that in a year’s time, they’re likely to lose a quality piece to Seattle in the expansion draft.
The rules will be the same as they were in 2017, meaning Carolina could protect seven forwards, three defensemen and one goalie or any eight skaters and a goalie. The Hurricanes may be one of few teams to protect four forwards and four defenders, rather than using the classic 7-3-1 protection format.
Carolina has four forwards who they’ll pretty clearly want to protect, in Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov, Teuvo Teravainen and Vincent Trocheck. Others who I’m sure they’d want to protect are Warren Foegele and Morgan Geekie (and we'll see how the year goes for Nino Niederreiter), while Martin Necas will be exempt from selection. Foegele is probably the one other forward the Hurricanes wouldn’t want to lose.
On defense, the Hurricanes now have a pretty clear top-four, between Dougie Hamilton, Brett Pesce, Brady Skjei and Jaccob Slavin, which is why there’s a good chance they’d use the four-and-four format. This means Jake Gardiner (if he’s still around) but more importantly, Haydn Fleury and Jake Bean will both be exposed.
If the Hurricanes go the four-and-four format, this means Bean, Fleury and Foegele will all be exposed and there’s not much they can do about it.
One huge wrench in this plan, however, is Jordan Staal’s no-movement clause requires that the Hurricanes protect him in the expansion draft. This means that if Staal won’t waive the clause and Carolina goes the four-and-four route, they’ll be leaving Trocheck exposed for selection. If they were to switch and use the seven-and-three format, however, they’d be able to protect Foegele and Geekie as well but it would come at the cost of leaving Brady Skjei exposed. I'm hopeful that compliance buyouts become a reality, in which case the Hurricanes could use it on Staal to avoid an issue.
I doubt goaltending will be a factor, if the roster stays the same. If Alex Nedeljkovic shows he’s ready for a jump to the NHL, the Hurricanes likely protect him. If not, they’ll protect whoever their starter is at the time, which could still be Petr Mrazek if he re-signs and at that point, Nedeljkovic is 25 years old and probably isn’t going to be selected.
If Staal’s no-movement clause is an issue, the Hurricanes are very likely to use the seven-and-three format, which would protect Foegele, Trocheck and either Geekie or Niederreiter and let Seattle take their pick of a defenseman, between Bean, Fleury and Skjei. Regardless of what they do though, the Hurricanes are just about guaranteed to lose a quality player in the expansion draft.
NOTE: I decided to push the poll reviews to tomorrow to get another question in it, so here’s today’s poll question:
OTHER HURRICANES ARTICLES FROM APRIL
Reviewing the season (so far): Martin Necas Reviewing the season (so far): Nino Niederreiter Reviewing the season (so far): Brett Pesce Reviewing this week’s polls (April 4): Hurricanes Edition Reviewing the season (so far): James Reimer Reviewing the season (so far): Jaccob Slavin Reviewing the season (so far): Jordan Staal Reviewing the season (so far): Andrei Svechnikov Reviewing the season (so far): Teuvo Teravainen Reviewing the season (so far): Justin Williams Reviewing this week's polls (April 12): Hurricanes Edition Reviewing the season (so far): Trevor van Riemsdyk Reviewing the season (so far): All players acquired/traded this season Hurricanes must improve in two areas to contend for a Cup Five non-UFAs who may not be back with the Hurricanes next season Reviewing this week's polls (April 19): Hurricanes Edition Asset management has been a key part of Waddell's success Managing expectations for prospect Pyotr Kochetkov