Lucky 30: Is there magic to be had late in the draft?

Across the entirety of their franchise history, the Carolina Hurricanes have never made the 30th overall selection. 

Their highest ever first-round selection was Ryan Suzuki at 28th overall in 2019.

Throughout their draft history, they've selected at 29 once, (1980 - Michel Galarneau in the second round) and 31 twice (1991 - Martin Hamrlik and 2003 Danny Richmond, both second round picks).

The Hurricanes did hold the 30th overall pick once before - that one time back in 2006 when they won a little something called the Stanley Cup - but that pick was traded away to the St. Louis Blues as part of a package for Doug Weight.

That first-round pick was then traded to the New Jersey Devils along with a 2006 third-round pick (Vladimir Zharkov) in exchange for pick number 25 in the draft (Patrik Berglund).

The Devils then selected Matthew Corrente with that pick. He would appear in 34 NHL games and register 6 assists and 68 penalty minutes.

However, if we're looking at the 30th overall selection over its entire history, there's a lot to like from the names that come up:

Notable 30th Overall Players

Randy Carlyle - 1976
Mike Hardy - 1979
Patrice Brisebois - 1989
Sandis Ozolinsh - 1991
Brock Nelson - 2010
Rickard Rakell - 2011
Tanner Pearson - 2012
Ryan Hartman - 2013
Sam Steel - 2016
Eeli Tolvanen - 2017

The draft always gets crazy the further away from the top-ten you get, so it's hard to nail down who in fact will be available, so at pick number 30, there's really no telling who may or may not be available.

But looking through some mock drafts and prospect rankings, here are a few players that may be available to pick:

The Hockey News - Tom Willander (D)

In their ranking of the Top 100 draft prospects, The Hockey News had Willander at number 30. The Swedish defenseman is a skilled puck mover that can play in all situations including on the power play. He projects to be one of the higher-end defensive talents this year and I've seen him projected as high as a top-10 pick. Will the Canes pick a defenseman though?

TSN/The Athletic - Gavin Brindley (F)

Both Bob McKenzie and The Athletic ranked Brindley at number 30 in their rankings and if you're Carolina, you'd probably be pretty happy to see him here as The Hockey News ranked Brindley at 23. The University of Michigan forward has great speed and skills and is a tenacious, hard-working skater. The only knock on the winger is his size, as he's listed at 5-foot-8.

Other Notables

At forward there could be a few good options for the Hurricanes as this is a very talented draft. Names I've seen thrown around are Bradly Nadeau, who was regarded as the best player in Junior A, Ethan Gauthier, who's a hardnosed, go-to-the-net type of player, Charlie Stramel, a physical, forechecker, but his stock dropped after a tough freshman year at Wisconsin, and Kasper Halttunen, Finland's large-framed and high-scoring, U-18 captain.

Defensemen that I've seen mocked up include Mikhail Gulyayev, an undersized but offensive-minded Russian blueliner, Lukas Dragicevic, an offensive powerhouse but with concerns in his own end, and Theo Lindstein a Swedish defensemen with good skating and puck-moving skills.

The Canes haven't made a first-round selection since 2020 (Seth Jarvis). 

In 2021, they traded their first-round pick (27th overall) to the Nashville Predators for the 40th and 51st picks. With those picks, they selected Scott Morrow and Ville Koivunen.

In 2022, their first-round pick (again 27th overall) went to the Montreal Canadiens as part of the offer sheet compensation for forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi.

The Canes are low enough in the draft order again this year that if the players they had circled aren't available at 30, they might trade down to increase their overall amount of selections.

There's also the possibility that they use the pick as part of a package deal for a player like Travis Konecny or William Nylander. With Brett Pesce's name swirling around in trade rumors, he might be the piece that brings a big-name forward to Carolina and their first-round pick is definitely something that can be in play with that.