The prospect pool isn’t what it was. Scott Wheeler is in the process of updating his team prospect rankings. He had the Canes at 9 in last year’s analysis which was done in February. He had Morrow, Suzuki, Koivunen, Gunler and Drury as 1-5 and said any of the first 4 could be listed at 1. Rees, Honka, Keane (gone), Puistola and Bokk (as good as gone) were the next 5. Koochie, Nybeck, Fensore, Ponomaryov, Blake, Heimosalmi, Nikishin (signed in the KHL until 2025), Hreschuk (gone), Seeley and Pashin were 11-20. While not bare, it’s a lot sparser than it was last year and will turn on how he ranks the 2022 draftees. Corey Pronman gave the Canes a B and said all of the top 4; Trikozov, Perevalov, Forsmark and Lucius could eventually play in the league.
I think Waddell will have to move someone on the roster. Turbo has a 10 team NTC, CapFriendly also shows Stastny, Slavin (he’s untouchable), Burns, Skjei and Andersen having some sort of NTC.