Carolina Hurricanes Top 5 Draft Busts in Franchise History
By Ryan Ritchie
Carolina Hurricanes Top 5 Countdown: Biggest Busts in Franchise History (1997-Present)
Carolina Hurricanes are next in line for our series dedicated to the top five draft busts in franchise history. Over the next while, we plan to explore all 30 teams (in alphabetical order) big misses on the draft floor since their inception.
For those expansion teams from the early and late 1990s into 2000, their franchise draft history is obviously skewed in comparison to older teams. Even with a limited sample size to choose from, each and every franchise has been victimized by the imperfect art of selecting 18-year-old prospects.
Apologies to those Hartford Whalers fans, but today’s countdown will be strictly Carolina Hurricanes (1997-present). Below is a short list of honorable mentions:
Brad DeFauw – 28th overall in 1997
Danny Richmond – 32nd overall in 2003
*Ryan Murphy – 12th overall in 2011
*The jury is still out on Ryan Murphy who continues to split time between Charlotte/Carolina. At 23 years old, there’s still time for growth/development.
Carolina Hurricanes Top 5 Draft Busts
5. Philippe Paradis – 27th overall in 2009
Philippe is the only first round selection from 2009 to not play in at least one NHL game. His Canes tenure was short-lived as Paradis was dealt to Toronto in December ’09 in exchange for Jiri Tlusty. He was later traded to Chicago in 2010 and played for AHL Rockford for three seasons before being dealt yet again, this time to Tampa Bay. Philippe has since spent the last four seasons with AHL Syracuse.
Picks after Paradis: Simon Despres (PIT) – 30th overall, Ryan O’Reilly (COL) – 33rd overall, Kyle Clifford (LA) – 35th overall, Alex Chiasson (DAL) – 38th overall, Jakob Silfverberg (OTT) – 39th overall
4. Zach Boychuk – 14th overall in 2008
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After compiling an impressive seven points for Team Canada en route to a gold medal victory at the World Juniors in 2009, it seemed the Canes had struck gold with this former WHL star.
A solid two-way center, Zach continues to enjoy success at the AHL level. He has seen several NHL stints, including a pair with Pittsburgh and Nashville after being claimed off waivers, and later re-claimed by Carolina.
Unfortunately, 2015-16 was the first season that Boychuk failed to make an NHL appearance.
There’s still time for the 26-year-old forward to re-write the script for how fans remember the former 14th overall selection, but that window is quickly closing.
Picks after Boychuk: Erik Karlsson (OTT) – 15th overall, Jake Gardiner (ANA) – 17th overall, Michael Del Zotto (NYR) – 20th overall, Jordan Eberle (EDM) – 22nd overall, Tyler Ennis (BUF) – 26th overall, John Carlson (WSH) – 27th overall
3. Nikos Tselios – 22nd overall in 1997
A near point-per-game player in the OHL around the time of his selection, Tselios played a grand total of two NHL games.
After six years of lurking in the minors, Nikos took his talents overseas to play in Finland and Sweden.
Picks after Tselios: Scott Hannan (SJ) – 23rd overall, Brenden Morrow (DAL) – 25th overall, Kristian Huselius (FLA) – 47th overall, Henrik Tallinder (BUF) – 48th overall
2. Igor Knyazev – 15th overall in 2001
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Hurricanes scouts swung and missed in a big way on this selection.
Knyazev spent two short seasons in North America playing for AHL Lowell Lock and Springfield in 2002-03 and 2003-04.
He returned to Russia in 2004-05 to play for seven more seasons before retiring in 2010-11.
To help put this in perspective, Knyazev was forced to leave the KHL after only appearing in eight games in 2008-09 to play for a lower level Russian league.
Picks after Knyazev: R.J. Umberger (VAN) – 16th overall, Carlo Colaiacovo (TOR) – 17th overall, Marcel Goc (SJ) – 20th overall, Tim Gleason (OTT) – 23rd overall
Next: Hurricanes Destined for NHL's Basement in 2016-17
1. Jeff Heerema – 11th overall in 1998
An extremely productive player at both the junior and AHL level, Heerema struggled to translate that talent to the NHL level. He enjoyed a 10-game (three goals) stint with the Canes in 2002-03 and 22 games (three points) with St.Louis in 2003-04. After spending the next three seasons with AHL Manitoba (one year) and Binghamton (two years), Jeff Heerema abandoned the NHL to play in Europe.
He spent two years in Germany (DEL), a year in Austria, and finished with two years in the British Hockey League (EIHL). Interestingly enough, Heerema was a near PPG (or exceeded it) wherever his career took him, other than the NHL of course.
Picks after Heerema: Alex Tanguay (COL) – 12th overall, Robyn Regehr (COL) – 19th overall, Simon Gagne (PHI) – 22nd overall, Scott Gomez (NJ) – 27th overall