They were able to steal a young 1st line center, grab a goalie when they needed one, and grab wingers when they needed them. We did a good this past off season with grabbing what Darling and Williams but honestly it's just not enough and is glacially slow in comparison with Dallas.
If you're going to compare the Hurricanes to a team that finished 1st in the Central the year before last, you'd have to be of the opinion that the Hurricanes were in a position to strike after the 2014-2015 season, but I'd argue they were still trying to clean up a mess at that point.
Dallas would be in the bottom-third in the league with their prospect pool if they didn't get the #3 overall pick this past year...and might still be in the bottom-third even with Heiskanen. Not having notable prospects combined with to-cap spending means they have the freedom to sign free agents in their 30s to take prominent positions in their lineup (Bishop, Hanzal, Radulov, Methot)...they aren't worried that such moves will stifle development of their prospects. Their future 2/3 years out is very cloudy, and it'll be interesting to see what happens with them as time moves on. It will also be interesting to see what happens to them with huge expectations...a pretty scattered identity of a roster, if I may pull an opinion out of my ass.
Yes, it's easy to be excited about this year being a fan of Dallas, but I'm equally excited about the future of the Hurricanes.
