That’s right, I’m opening up this wound today. The 2016 Draft was surrounded with a lot of hype for Hurricanes fans. They had drafted Noah Hanifin and Sebastian Aho the year prior and both players were looking like stars. Haydn Fleury was progressing nicely, Alex Nedeljkovic was about to turn pro and there was a hint of optimism in the fan base for the first time in a long time.
No draft is ever going to be perfect and plenty of teams strike out every once in a while. You’re not going to draft a franchise-defining player in every draft, although the Hurricanes have managed to do so in three drafts since 2015.