Post-draft emotions tend to run hot, regardless of the direction. Either your favorite team did great, “We had so-and-so rated as a mid-first rounder and we got him in the 4th, so we feel like we got a steal” type stuff. Or, “Why in the world did we take the kid from Regina when this other guy I’d never seen play was available?”

No fan base ever says, “Well, that was a so-so draft, let’s wait and see if it pans out in five years.” Ever.

And, to be honest, what happened this weekend really should be the first step in the Canes' offseason. In fact, there is a lot of work to be done regarding the 2019-20 Hurricanes as the club tries to prove that last season wasn’t merely an outlier amid a decade of irrelevance. So, let’s take a deep breath and asses what went down in Vancouver.

The Draft

I said prior that I would be surprised (I might have used “shocked” or “stunned”, but the feeling is the same) if the Hurricanes used all of their first three picks. Numbers 28, 36 and 37 were assets to use outside of the draft pool, possibly in the aim of acquiring a top-6 forward or a center that would help the Hurricanes match up down the middle with some of the best teams in the league.

Well, color me surprised.

But, that doesn’t mean the Hurricanes didn’t do well. The team feels as though it aced the draft. From Ryan Suzuki, their first round pick — a juniors teammate of Andrei Svechnikov with the Barrie Colts — whom they rated just outside the top ten and was able to snag at 28, throughout the next 11 selections, the Canes feel great about their weekend. And, in fairness, they are not alone.

"In six years of doing this, I have never been as impressed with a team’s performance at the draft as I am with Carolina’s this weekend.” — Scott Wheeler, Draft and Prospect analyst, The Athletic.

“Considering this team was just in the Eastern Conference finals, the Canes had an absurd amount of picks -- seven in the top 100, and even added a 2020 first-rounder in the Patrick Marleau trade (more on this in a bit). The value they added to their prospect pool is exceptional.” — Chris Peters, ESPN.com

In each of those two sites’ draft “winners and losers” the Hurricanes performance was rated 1st. Not among the best, not very good, but THE best. And, I can tell you that the team is downright giddy over the way the board fell to them.

In all, Carolina selected a dozen players, three of them Finns:

They got four centers, the top goalie from Russia and a wealth of high ceiling talent up and down the draft board. They even drafted three defensemen, though not in the first round, as majority owner Tom Dundon vowed they’d never again do.

Some will stay in Europe, some will go to college, the rest will likely return to their junior clubs and hopefully they’ll develop into good, if not great, future Carolina Hurricanes. My issue, however, is that the Hurricanes today aren't any better -- in fact, they're not nearly as good -- as they were when the season ended. They didn't improve their forward group, and I'm not sure you noticed, but the Devils, Rangers and Flyers -- all teams in the Metropolitan Division -- each improved their teams last week.

The Trade

Here’s where we get into semantics. The Hurricanes traded a 6th round pick in next year’s draft to Toronto in exchange for veteran winger Patrick Marleau and two 2020 draft picks. One, a conditional first rounder the other in the 7th round. The condition is it being a top 10 protected pick. If the Leafs’ pick happens to be in the top 10 next year (fat chance of that happening) it stays in Toronto and the Canes get their 2021 first rounder.

However, before you go searching for information on how Marleau fits in with the Hurricanes style, understand that he will never play for Carolina. In spite of everything you might have heard from general manager Don Waddell or through the experts who cover the game, Marleau’s contract will be bought out and he’ll sign as a free agent back with his old team in San Jose, where he played the bulk of his soon-to-be Hall of Fame career. This was the plan all along. Everyone was on board from the beginning.

So, this was less a trade than a straight up purchase. “We bought a first round pick”, Dundon told me yesterday as he was leaving for the airport in Vancouver. According to CapFriendly.com, it comes at a cost of just $416,667 this year and next, though Marleau is due a $3,000,000 signing bonus as well. Who is responsible for that is unclear, as is whether or not he’s already actually received it, but the bottom line is honestly irrelevant — as is the $6.25 million salary cap hit, as the Hurricanes are way under the $81.5 million ceiling.

What is the most important element of this deal, in my view anyway, is the charity of Dundon in bailing out a conference rival, one that may stand in the way of a playoff spot for Carolina, that was in desperate salary cap peril. All you need to know about where the Leafs were with their financial structure is this, from Kristin Shilton, who covers the Maple Leafs for TSN in Canada.

“The move freed up $6.25 million in cap space for the Leafs this season, room they desperately need to finalize deals for restricted free agents Mitch Marner, Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson, and to help bolster a lagging defense corps.”

Why the Hurricanes would help alleviate Toronto’s cap headache for what is likely going to be a late first round pick is confusing to me. Unless, there is something else coming down the road, and my understanding is that there is nothing brewing at this time between the two clubs. Is it really worth the 22nd pick (where Toronto would have drafted this year after bowing out of the playoffs in the 1st round again) to bail out the Leafs?

Debatable, though I'm firmly entrenched in the "no way, Jose (Theodore)" camp.

Justin Faulk

A year ago, at this time, as the Hurricanes were in the midst of an off-season makeover, the team was actively shopping Jeff Skinner and Justin Faulk. The top two products of a 2010 draft that produced All Stars in the 1st and 2nd rounds. It was a foregone conclusion that Carolina would move both players, as they each had grown stale and had regressed over the latter portion of their Hurricanes tenures.

I thought both players had to go. Skinner was in the final year of a contract and seemingly reluctant to ever play the way the organization demanded — even of a dynamic offensive player with 40-goal ability. Faulk had grown a little too comfortable, had the reputation of not always being in the greatest condition, and had generally been caught out of position on defense. And, the numbers bore that out.

Skinner went to Buffalo for a couple of draft picks and prospect Cliff Pu, who was so marginal it turned out that the Hurricanes sent him to Florida halfway through his first season in the organization. Faulk, ended up staying with the Hurricanes and turned in what was arguably the best season of his career.

We can debate all day long whether Faulk was the second best defenseman on the Hurricanes last season or if it was Brett Pesce. I would say that Pesce’s career arc would be better than that of Faulk’s, but based solely on 2019, Faulk gets the edge for me. After a slow offensive start, Justin ended up putting up 11 goals, 35 points and, for the first time in his career, was a plus player for a full season, ending the year +9. It marked a +35 gain over the previous year.

But, all you have to really understand is time on ice (TOI). The head coach doles out the most to those he deems the best. That’s why Sebastian Aho was the only forward in 2018-19 to eclipse 20:00 per game. That’s why Jaccob Slavin topped 23 minutes for the second time in his career. Do you know who was second on the team in TOI?

Justin Faulk.

In fact, his TOI was roughly two minutes more, per game, then Pesce’s. Almost three minutes more than Dougie Hamilton’s. And, in the playoffs Faulk’s numbers expanded, from 22:25 in the regular season to 25:29, almost two and a half minutes more than Pesce and more than five ahead of Hamilton. Is this proof, alone, that Faulk was the better player? No, but it IS an indication that the head coach trusted him. And, this isn’t to disparage either of the other players, it’s only meant to give those of you who had already reached your anti-Faulk conclusions that THIS year he was a different player. A much, much, much better player.

In 2019, especially after the calendar turned, Faulk was everything the club wanted him to be over the previous seven years. And, this year’s version of Faulk is one you want to keep around for the next five. If I were Tom Dundon and company, and I could get Faulk to sign a deal for $30 million/5 years, at age 27, it would be almost as easy a decision as drafting Andrei Svechnikov.

And, if the trepidation is paying Faulk more than Slavin, well Hamilton already surpassed him. And, do you think Dougie’s going to take a pay cut when extension talks start for him next summer? Let’s all agree that in professional sports, there is a market rate for players. One man’s opinion does not make the market -- unless it's the highest number, of course. In my view, the only conceivable argument against keeping Faulk is if you insist that this past season is the aberration.

Oh, and one more thing, if you deal away Faulk, you have to replace him. Sure the team can move Pesce over to the right side, but then what? Haydn Fleury playing top-4 minutes? Jake Bean? Calvin de Haan is going to be out until December, more than likely. Even when he returns, do you know how many times in his 6-year career de Haan has played more than 70 games? Three. Yes, that's it.

Carolina's depth of defenseman is really a wealth of players who can operate as a 3rd pair. There's nothing wrong with that, it just means that if you deal Faulk, you have to go out and get someone to take his spot.

In baseball you can never have enough pitching. In hockey, it's defensemen. Carolina's strength, their spine, is their collection of top-flight defensemen. Why would you change that?

What’s next?

I think everyone hoped that Carolina would come away from the draft with more NHL scoring — preferably at the center position — via a trade, but that didn’t happen. It still needs to, and the organization is aware of that fact. There is still the matter of goaltending to address. And, while it doesn’t seem likely that they’ll bring back both Petr Mrazek and Curtis McElhinney, I still think it’s likely that one of them will end up back with the team for the upcoming year.

Then, there’s the matter of a contract for Sebastian Aho. My understanding is that the player’s side would rather do a shorter deal (5 years) than agree to an 8-year term at the Hurricanes current offer. But, I’d doubt very highly if the team will ever settle on anything other than the full length. In fact, my sources say that it’s either an 8-year deal or a qualifying offer — an end result that NOBODY wants since it likely means the end of the Aho era.

With that being the case, they’ll get an 8-year deal worked out, but it will be for more money than the team wants to pay. And, in all fairness, no one is supposed to feel as though they “won” when it comes to a fair negotiation. The only goal for both sides should be that they both walk away saying “that was a fair deal”. Is $72 million over eight years fair? Probably.

There's still a lot of work to be done and decisions on prospects in Charlotte that might have a chance to make the team. Free agency begins in a week and the rumors are going to be flying like crazy. We'll see what the guys on Edwards Mill Road have in store. See you guys at PNC Arena this week (Saturday for me) for prospect camp. Should be fun to watch some of these guys, especially after the excitement of the draft.