There had been speculation heading into the draft about the future of Eric Staal, the Carolina Hurricanes captain entering the final year of his deal.

General manager Ron Francis made it clear the priority at this point is to sign Staal to an extension.

"I’ve had a general and open and honest conversation with Eric’s agent on things," Francis said Saturday. "We’ll continue to have those as we move into the summer. Eric has indicated he wants to be part of the Hurricanes moving forward, and we’ll see if we can get that worked out."