With the quiet days of the NHL’s offseason now in full swing, over the next few weeks I will be looking back at previous draft classes from the Carolina Hurricanes and seeing what became of them. I thought an interesting one to start with would be the 2018 class, which took place just several weeks after Ron Francis’ firing. Because of the organization being in a state of transition at the time — with Tom Dundon having just purchased the team and Don Waddell being appointed general manager (GM) — it’s hard to decide which regime deserves the praise (or criticism) for that year’s draft class.
The 2018 NHL Entry Draft was set to be a defining one for the Hurricanes, as they embarked on a journey with new ownership and managed to move up and secure the 2nd overall pick via the NHL Draft Lottery. In total, they held six picks in that draft. The Hurricanes dealt their third-round pick to the Arizona Coyotes in the trade that brought Jordan Martinook and a fourth-round pick to Raleigh. In essence, they moved back 23 spots to acquire him, which has aged amazingly. They also traded their fifth rounder to the Vegas Golden Knights for Marcus Kruger — who went on to play 48 rather insignificant games for the team. However, the player Vegas selected with that pick, Brandon Kruse, has not graduated beyond the ECHL level, so we can grade that trade as a slight Hurricanes win. Without further ado, let’s dive into the six selections that were made.
1st Round, 2nd Overall — F Andrei Svechnikov
There is no denying that the Hurricanes winning the second pick in the lottery and moving up to select Russian winger Andrei Svechnikov has totally altered the course of the organization. In the midst of a nine-year postseason drought, combined with ownership, management, and coaching overhauls, what the Hurricanes needed most was a miracle. And they were delivered one — in the form of a 6-foot-3 winger from Barnaul, Russia who’s personality was even bigger than his frame.
Since his arrival as the baby in the stork’s beak into the Hurricanes organization, the team has done a complete 180. The team has now made the postseason in seven-straight seasons, and made the shift from laughing stock to a perennial contender. And while it would be unfair to credit all of that to Svechnikov, he’s been a key cog in the turnaround with both his play and presence.
Coming from the Barrie Colts of the Ontario Hockey League where he scored an eye-popping 40 goals in 44 games, Svechnikov has always had the makings of a premier power winger. He’s got a unique blend of size and skill, with his release and ability to finish in close around the net as his strengths. And while he hasn’t been totally consistent throughout his career, I feel like he’s not quite a finished product yet at age 25. Historically, power wingers take longer to develop and really find their stride, and I believe Svechnikov’s best days are still ahead of him.
While there are some doubters who’d point to the fact that Svechnikov only has one 30-goal season and both his injury history and inconsistency as underwhelming for such a high selection, the reality is that he’s a dynamic player who is among the impactful players in the league when he’s on his game. This past postseason he was playing like a man possessed, with eight goals and four assists in 15 games combined with his physical, in-your-face style of play that the Hurricanes lack as a whole. I’ve always said that when he’s playing freely and on the edge, that’s when he’s at his best — although it doesn’t seem like the coaching staff believes that. I can’t understand putting a leash on such a dynamic talent, but maybe that’s why I’m not an NHL coach.
Regardless, seven years removed from the Svechnikov selection, there’s no doubt his arrival was a major turning point for the organization. Really, it was franchise altering. It was the turn of a new chapter in Hurricanes hockey, and the start of the largest sustained run of success in the team’s history. He currently sits second amongst all 2018 selections in goals (151) and third in points (364), and is just on the verge of entering into his prime years.
2nd Round, 42nd Overall — C Jack Drury
With their next selection, the Hurricanes turned to the Waterloo Black Hawks of the United States Hockey League and selected Jack Drury, the nephew of former NHL star Chris Drury. With this selection, the team went with a player who seemed like a relatively very safe bet to blossom into a middle-six center at the NHL level, but was a pick based more on a solid floor rather than super-high upside.
In hindsight, Drury was a solid selection. He made good on his development and grew into the player that he was forecast to be — a solid-if-unspectacular third-line center who can play in most situations. He played more than 150 games for the Hurricanes before being dealt to the Colorado Avalanche in the trade that brought Mikko Rantanen to Raleigh. With the Avalanche, Drury slotted in as their third-line center, and posted nine points in 33 games.
At 25, Drury has likely plateau’d as a bottom-six center who can kill penalties and play reliable minutes. Unfortunately for him, he was stuck behind Jordan Staal for the 3C in Carolina, and his battle with Jesperi Kotkaniemi for the 2C role was met with underwhelming results from both guys. Alas, a fresh start for him with the Avalanche should do him well, and the Hurricanes look to be well situated moving forward without him. For a second-round pick, 150-plus NHL games within the organization and then being used as a positive asset in a trade has to be looked at as a solid outcome.
4th Round, 96th Overall — F Luke Henman
This is where the 2018 draft class starts to go south. With the 96th-overall pick, the Hurricanes dipped into the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL, now the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League) and selected Luke Henman from Blainville-Boisbriand. As an avid watcher of the league, I was never really sold on this pick from the start. I watched him play multiple times both during his draft year and the rest of his junior career, and I was never really sold on the player. What I saw was a guy who had some skill, but looked very thin and small out there. I was weary about his hesitancy to shoot the puck, but his shot was not below-average so he usually looked to pass. I had real doubts about his offense translating to the next level due to his predictability.
Seven years later, it seems like my analysis was right. The Hurricanes did not sign him to an entry-level contract by the deadline in June 2020, which wasn’t a major surprise considering he was a Francis-regime pick. Interestingly enough, he later became the first player in history to sign with the Seattle Kraken — who Francis was GM of at the time. Obviously, he still saw something in Henman that the Hurricanes brass did not. His contract expired with the Kraken this past summer, and hasn’t been renewed yet. He’s currently 25 and, while he looks to have grown into a solid bottom-six American Hockey League (AHL) playe, it’s a rather disappointing outcome for a top-100 selection.
4th Round, 104th Overall — F Lenni Killinen
With their second pick in the fourth round, the Hurricanes selected Lenni Killinen from the Assat program in Finland. He was a high-energy winger with good size (6-foot-1, 210 pounds) but in need of some development to round out his offensive game. Given that European prospects have a four-year deadline to sign NHL entry-level contracts, it was a worthy gamble to see if Killinen could piece together the flaws in his game over the next few seasons.
As history suggests, that did not happen. His point totals through the next four seasons with Assat were 11, 17, 11 and 11. His progress stunted, and he maxed out as a bottom-six energy winger in the Finnish league. And while that’s not a bad career, he was very far away from any type of NHL opportunity and thus the Hurricanes elected not to sign him in 2022 and his rights expired. Nowadays, Killinen is playing with Sweden’s Bjorkloven and had 18 points in 29 games this past season. At this stage, I’d imagine he’ll be a Euro lifer.
6th Round, 166th Overall — D Jesper Sellgren
There was a point in time where I thought Jesper Sellgren was on the verge of becoming a third-pairing defenseman for the Hurricanes. They selected him as a double-overage player from the storied Modo program in Sweden, where he’d established himself as a reliable top-four defender. Sellgren was mobile, smart and made strong reads, but what hampered him may have been his lack of a truly elite trait. He was kind of just “solid” at everything, which makes breaking into the NHL a very tough thing to accomplish — especially when you’re a 5-foot-10 defenseman.
I still remember when he joined the Charlotte Checkers in the midst of their Calder Cup playoff run in 2019, and made a huge impact (three goals in 11 games) to lead them to winning the championship. He had great poise and seamlessly fit in. On one broadcast, the Checkers play-by-play commentator at the time, Jason Shaya, said “It took exactly one shift in his first game in North America to realize that Carolina picked a future NHL defenseman. He turned heads immediately.”.
Unfortunately, that never came to fruition. After the Calder Cup win, Sellgren went back to Lulea in Sweden for two more years due to a defensive log-jam within the organization. He returned to the AHL’s Chicago Wolves in 2021-22, played 73 games and won another Calder Cup championship as a key player, but didn’t get into any NHL games. And just as quickly as he returned, Sellgren departed once again for Lulea. This time, there is no anticipation of a return, and even if he does, the Hurricanes no longer own his rights so it’s unlikely we will ever see him back in the organization. He will go down as a case of “what if” — a solid player, but victim of the numbers game.
7th Round, 197th Overall — G Jacob Kucharski
A late-round dart throw on a goaltender is never a bad idea, and that’s what the Hurricanes did with Jacob Kucharski. He had prototypical NHL size at 6-foot-4 and 216 pounds, but that’s about all he had. After being drafted he committed to Providence College, but never played a game there and subsequently transferred to American International, who were in a NCAA tier-1 league but one that produced very few NHLers. The writing was on the wall from then on, although he did manage another transfer to Nebraska-Omaha, where a respectable senior season led to him turning professional.
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The Hurricanes, though, never signed him. Since turning pro in the spring of 2023, he’s made four appearances — one in the AHL, and three in the ECHL. This past 2024-25 season, he signed with the Kansas City Mavericks of the ECHL in November, but was released just three days later and never latched on anywhere else. I’m curious to see if he’s turned the page on hockey, or if he will re-surface somewhere this summer. Even if he’s no longer a Hurricanes prospect, I like to keep tabs on what the old picks are up too. Regardless, seventh-round picks are rare to ever make an NHL impact, so Kucharski not panning out is far from a surprise.
Recap
Overall, this should be looked back on as a solid class for the Hurricanes. They landed a franchise-altering player, which by itself is a massive win. The fact that Drury also became a serviceable NHLer for the team should offset the fact that both of their fourth-round picks were throwaways. Regardless, the team emerged from this class with a star player, who will remain with the team through his prime years. That’s about all one can ask for — and even moreso in a class where the organization was filled with such turmoil.
