Carolina Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers Draft Hits And Misses

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CAROLINA HURRICANES/HARTFORD WHALERS

 

Best first-round pick: Ron Francis (1981) -- "Ronnie Franchise" got his two Stanley Cup rings with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the early 1990s, but he spent 16 of his 23 NHL seasons with the Whalers/Hurricanes franchise, piling up points -- and goodwill -- along the way. Only Wayne Gretzky has more career assists than Francis, and only Gretzky, Gordie Howe and Mark Messier finished their careers with more points. Francis still is with the Hurricanes as vice president of hockey operations.

 

Honorable mention: Bobby Holik (1989),Chris Pronger (1993), Cam Ward (2002), Eric Staal (2003), Jeff Skinner (2010)

 

Best pick, rounds 2-4: Kevin Dineen (1982) -- Dineen, a third-round pick during the Hartford era, made an immediate impression by scoring 25 goals as a rookie in 1984-85, then added 33, 40, 25 and 45 goals in his next four seasons while becoming one of the premier power forwards in the NHL. He never reached 30 goals after his 30th birthday, but remained in the NHL for a long time as an effective checker who could contribute offensively and was willing to do whatever was needed to win. Dineen finished with 355 goals and 760 points in 1,188 games. In his first season as an NHL coach, he led Florida to its first playoff berth since 2000.

 

Honorable mention: Geoff Sanderson (1990), Sami Kapanen (1995), Erik Cole (1998)

 

Best later-round pick: Ray Ferraro (1982) -- Those who only know Ferraro today as a television analyst missed seeing one of the hardest-working players in NHL history. A fifth-round pick by the Whalers, he was a 30-goal scorer in his second NHL season and had 41 three seasons later. The Whalers traded him to the New York Islanders in 1990, and he became immensely popular on the Island while continuing to serve as an effective No. 2 center. Ferraro played 1,258 games for six teams in his 18 NHL seasons, finishing his career with 408 goals and 898 points.

 

Honorable mention: Manny Legace (1993), Craig Adams (1996)

 

Biggest disappointment: Jeff Heerema (1998) -- You don't expect to get a career minor-leaguer with the 11th pick in the NHL draft -- especially one who is a cousin of the Staal brothers -- but that's what the Hurricanes got when they chose Heerema in 1998 after a 32-goal season for Sarnia of the Ontario Hockey League. Heerema spent two more seasons with Sarnia, then played seven seasons in the minor leagues, earning only a 10-game stretch with Carolina in 2002-03 and 22 games with the St. Louis Blues the following season. He played his last five seasons in Europe, spending 2011-12 with Nottingham in England, where he had 13 goals and 36 points in 31 games.

 

Honorable mention: Christopher Govedaris (1988), Nikos Tselios (1997)

 

This is a great overall article/post by NHL.com. Even older fans of the Canes/Whalers can learn a few things from this article.

 

I for one knew Ron Francis was a great hockey player, but I had no idea he was fourth in NHL history in points.