The Carolina Hurricanes selected seven players in total at the 2025 NHL Draft, all of which came during Day 2.

In total the Canes took four Russians, two Swedes and an American or positionally, four forwards, two defensemen and one goalie.

After the draft, Hurricanes associate general manager Darren Yorke spoke with the media present at the team's war room. 

Here's what he had to say:

Darren Yorke

On the draft: I think I'll start off by first thanking Lenovo. Obviously it's been a great partnership, but as you guys have all seen, this is quite a place to do the draft. For us, it's been very easy, simple. Been able to get access to everything we needed in a great space. So we're really thankful for the partnership and the staff helping us out. I also need to thank our great staff, the scouts. They put a lot of time in to get to this. They've missed a lot of birthdays and and missed anniversaries, their families take a lot of sacrifice. So need to thank the people that helped get us here. As for the draft, I think coming into it, we started the day at 29 and 87 and then being able to trade back and accumulate more picks and really maximized the value of our draft. I don't think it could have gone any better than what it did.

On Semyon Frolov: This was our top-rated goalie. Probably one of the best feet, really athletic side-to-side movement. Being able to read the play going cross crease is something our goalie coaches really liked. Jason Muzzatti leads the group and we had Cam Ward and Paul Schonfelder joining in and this was the guy that they were getting a little nervous that we might not have been able to select, but we were obviously happy that we were able to get him.

On Charlie Cerrato: He's gone through the draft a couple of times and it's really not been fair to him. We didn't want to wait too long to get him. Probably could have been drafted last year after a strong season in Youngstown and then goes into Penn State and had an unbelievable year being one of the highest point 19 year olds in the NCA. Strong on faceoffs, strong two-way game, smart defensively, has a lot of skill, and plays exactly like how we want to play. So this is a guy that would fit right into our system.

On Ivan Ryabkin: Had a strong underage season in Russia. Goes to Muskegon this past season, got in there late, but basically an unbelievable goal scorer with bite to his game. He drives to the net, he can hit you, he can take hits, he can score off the wrist shot, off the one-timer, he can make plays in tight. He was somebody that we didn't expect to just sort of slip to where he did, but we're pretty happy that we were able to get him there in the second round.

On Kurban Limatov: Strong skater, great reach. Rarely do you see Russian defensemen that like to be aggressive getting up in the play and sealing and flushing down in the neutral zone. So this was someone that after trading back and trying to look at where we may be able to select guys was someone that we felt like we had to get back into the draft and step up and get him.

On Roman Bausov: Massive reach, 6-foot-5 frame that can skate. You look at where the game's going in trying to take away time and space and he's able to do it with both his feet and his reach.

On Viggo Nordlund: Coming into the year playing in the J20 league, he was a strong offensive player, one-on-one skill, able to be a little bit more of a play maker and then getting time up against men, he was still even able to show that same offensive dynamics. So this was someone that maybe slipped in the draft because of his size and so we were pretty happy to get another offensive player late in the draft.

On Filip Ekberg: He got off to a slow start. Was battling an illness in Ottawa, so some of the games at the very beginning of the year, he wasn't able to play the entire game. So it was something that got a bit undiagnosed. Once he was able to manage it, his season took off culminating in leading Sweden in scoring at the under-18s. A guy that can score off the rush, he's got a dangerous shot, but at the same time, can also make you miss with his skills.

On how many of these players are expected to make it to development camp next week: I think everyone is going to be there. [Even the Russians?] All the Russian players are in the US right now.

On if that's the main benefit with having development camp so early this year: Yes and no. It's beneficial that they were just here for their agent camps so they were able to get the visas. If they weren't in the US at the draft, then we wouldn't be able to get them visas in time.

On the main goal of development camp: The biggest thing is just introducing them to the organization and getting a sense of where they are today. So our development coaches will meet with them and have already sort of been in communication with our scouts here to get a sense of what the player's strengths and weaknesses are. It's really to establish 1) a relationship and then 2) start to develop a development for them whether it's for off-ice fitness or whether it's specific areas of their game that we want the players to work on.

On why the team has drafted so many Russians: It's really just how it has fallen. It's not something we go into saying, 'Okay, we're going to get x amount of players from this country,' it's just how it falls. So if other organizations are afraid to take them, we can't control that. It' just really how it's shaked out.

On if there's any extra appeal to Russian prospects: It's really nothing. We evaluate the Russians the same way we evaluate every other country. It's just that if other organizations aren't selecting them, then we can't really control that and we put them on our list regardless of what passport they have.

On the scouting of Russian players: Oleg [Smirnov] does a great job, but the way we operate, very rarely is a player seen by one person regardless of where they are. The way we try to get cross coverage may be a little different. So it's not necessarily one person with the loudest voice trying to get a player up on the list, it's really a collective group thing trying to get as many opinions across the board on all of these players.

On if trading back is simply just to get more bites of the apple: I don't know if I'd characterize it that way. It's more trying to maximize the value of the draft. When you're picking at 29 and then again at 87, there's lots of guys that we like in between. We've been fortunate enough to take bets on trading back hoping that guys would be there and we've been able to do it. Or you're saying that there's a large grouping of players you want and you're trying to get all of them. I think this year, coming into it at 29/87, we couldn't have had this outcome if it wasn't for trading back and collecting more picks.

On if his staff didn't have any concerns with Igor Ryabkin despite what other teams might have been saying: I can't speak to what other teams have, but the results speak for themselves on what he's been able to accomplish. This is a player that we just didn't expect to be where he was.

On if the plan was to draft a goalie with one of the second-round picks: Our goalie coaches rated Frolov incredibly high. We again can't control where other teams would have taken goalies, but where we were at the draft, it felt like the best player to select.

On if the team went in looking for right-handed defensemen: No. It's so hard to predict where needs may be down the line, so it's really just very simple. We just try to take the best player available.

On the decentralized draft: It is a lot easier to do this in a massive space with great technology rather than being cramped beside 31 other teams. 

On the negative fan reception to the draft style: I guess I don't know what the fan sentiment was, I just know that from our standpoint of making the best decisions possible, having it decentralized benefitted us.

On if his staff met any of the players they drafted at the combine: Some where not invited, but we've had touchpoints on all these players throughout the year. The combine is a way to have everybody in one location, but if there's no combine, we'd still be able to meet with these players. Our staff does a tremendous job getting background information, meeting with the players, speaking with their billets, their teammates, their agents. So we'll meet with them regardless of if they're invited to the combine or not.

'We Feel Like We're In A Good Position': Carolina GM Eric Tulsky On Day 1 Of 2025 Draft Day 1 of the 2025 NHL Draft came and went (it took much longer than anyone would have liked) and the Carolina Hurricanes only move of the evening was to move down the draft, <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/carolina-hurricanes/latest-news/carolina-hurricanes-trade-out-of-first-round-again" target="_blank">trading their first-round selection</a> for two second-round picks and a 2027 fifth-round pick.

Carolina Hurricanes 2025 Draft Class

Semyon Frolov
Charlie Cerrato
Ivan Ryabkin
Kurban Limatov
Roman Bausov
Viggo Nordlund
Filip Ekberg

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