Fresh off a Stanley Cup title, will the Hurricanes trade away their late first-round pick once again?
Will The Carolina Hurricanes Use Their 2026 First-Round Pick Or Trade It?
The Carolina Hurricanes enter the first day of the 2026 NHL Draft holding four picks, including the 31st overall pick.
But what are the odds they actually make that selection?
Since Tom Dundon acquired the team, the Hurricanes have only made three first-round selections and actually only one in the last six years (Bradly Nadeau)*.
*With their own pick (Carolina used Toronto's 2020 first-round pick to select Seth Jarvis 13th overall)
More times than not, the Canes have ended up trading away their first-round picks and so many are expecting that trend to continue.
The Hurricanes are a team that understand pick value and when you're picking late in the first round, the gap in talent between players available there and throughout the second round isn't that large.
So a lot of times, Carolina has traded down its late first rounders for two second rounders, which to them, gives them a greater chance at landing an eventual NHL player.
The Canes are also a team that's aggressive in its approach to better the team and although they just won the Stanley Cup, they aren't content to just run it back.
Carolina has been rumored to be shopping their first-round selection and so there's a chance we see it moved as part of a package before the end of the day too.
Only time will tell what the Canes ultimately end up doing though.
Tom Dundon Era First-Overall Pick History
2025 - Traded for two seconds and a fifth
2024 - Traded for two seconds
2023 - Drafted Bradly Nadeau (30)
2022 - Offer sheet compensation for Jesperi Kotkaniemi
2021 - Traded for two seconds
2020 - Traded for Brady Skjei
2019 - Drafted Ryan Suzuki (28)
2018 - Drafted Andrei Svechnikov (2)
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