Canes sign top pick Hanifin, keep options open
In the build-up to the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, the hype surrounded eventual top two picks Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel. They were the best players and prospects and deserved all of the attention, but that meant players like Noah Hanifin faded to the background.
Despite being the top defenseman available in the draft and ranking as high as No. 3 on pre-draft rankings, Hanifin slipped to No. 5 where the Carolina Hurricanes gleefully selected him. In a year with a loaded forward crop at the very top, Hanifin’s draft slot doesn’t necessarily register as a draft-day drop like we’ve seen for other prospects in recent years.
Despite going fifth, Hanifin very much belongs in the conversation to start the 2015-16 season in the NHL and may be equipped to be an impact player somewhat instantly. However, since he was drafted out of the NCAA, there was always the option of Hanifin heading back to play for Boston College next year without a contract, but with the Canes still holding his rights.
That door was closed when the big defenseman opted to sign with Carolina at development camp Saturday. By inking the deal, Hanifin’s college eligibility has been wiped out, but the Hurricanes still have options with him should they feel he’s not ready for the NHL.
Both the team and player probably believe he can be an NHLer from Day 1, though. His physical maturity is ahead of his years, and so is his skating ability. Those factors, on top of high-end hockey sense, leave him firmly in the mix to follow in the footsteps of Seth Jones (Nashville Predators) two years ago and Aaron Ekblad (Florida Panthers) last year of defensemen making the jump to the NHL immediately following their draft season.
The Hurricanes will still have to be very careful with the development of this potential future star. Making the jump, regardless of if it’s from junior, college or even the European pros, to playing defense in the NHL is sizable. Many believe the learning curve for D prospects to be much steeper than that of forwards.
With that in mind, the Hurricanes have a lot of options to protect Hanifin’s development if he can’t reach the NHL since Hanifin was drafted out of the NCAA and not the Canadian Hockey League.
Though they can’t send him back to BC, where he excelled as a freshman, he is allowed to be sent to the American Hockey League, which is not true for all 18-year-old defensemen.
Players out of the Canadian Hockey League who are still 18 or 19 must first be loaned back to their respective junior teams thanks to a poorly aging agreement between the CHL and NHL. If the junior team doesn’t want the player back (which basically never happens), only then can the 18- or 19-year-old player be sent to the AHL, even if he’s ready for the pros.
Considering Hanifin played at a pretty high level in college against older and stronger competition, it seems like going to a pro league is the next logicial step. If the Hurricanes want to see what Hanifin can do at the NHL level, they can still give him a taste of the league without running the risk of burning the first year off of his three-year entry-level contract, too.
Basically, the Hurricanes will have nine games to find out if the defenseman is ready for the NHL, or if it is in the best interest of his development to remain with Carolina. Once Hanifin plays that 10th game, his entry-level contract is official for that season and that year of his three-year deal is burned. Before he plays his 10th NHL game, they can send him to the AHL or they also have the option of sending him down to major junior, where his draft rights are held by the Quebec Remparts of the QMJHL. That would appear to be the last resort if the pro game proves too overwhelming for him.
Either way, the team can preserve that first year on his entry-level contract, assuming Hanifin does not play 10 or more games at the NHL level. It’s a nice option to have for a team still mired in the lower tier of the league.
When the time comes, there could be a debate to be had, but by signing Hanifin the ball is fully in the Hurricanes’ court now on that decision. They know they have him under their control for next season, which wouldn’t have been the case had he returned to school.
Hanifin has all the makings of a franchise defenseman. He accelerated his schooling to attend Boston College a year early. As one of the three youngest players in college hockey last season, Hanifin found himself matching up against players as much as seven years older than him.
He still managed to put up 23 points in 37 games for the Eagles, a solid point total for any two-way defenseman in college hockey regardless of age. At just 17 years old for the first half of the college hockey season, he had already claimed a top-four role on a blue line that included two high draft picks — Florida Panthers prospects Michael Matheson and Ian McCoshen — at one of the top hockey programs in the country.
The talented skater also earned a sizable role on Team USA at the World Junior Championship as an “underager” (i.e. a player at least two years younger than the age-20 limit) and had two assists in five games.
Hanifin is polished and mature, not unlike fellow former top-five picks Jones and Ekblad. He might not be able to put together a season like Ekblad last year, having earned the Calder Trophy after one of the best campaigns by an 18-year-old defenseman in NHL history, but Hanifin doesn’t have to do that.
The Hurricanes should be thinking all about the long term here, and they undoubtedly are. You can envision a future for the Hurricanes that has Hanifin playing with young veteran blueliner Justin Faulk, who managed to make the US Olympic team at 21 years old, for years and years to come.
There’s still a long way to go before that can happen, and there will be a lot of big decisions to be made regarding Hanifin’s development. By signing the potential No. 1 D of the future Saturday, Carolina took an important first step.
Noah Hanifin signed his first pro contract Saturday. (USATSI)
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