Carolina Hurricanes

Will Canes find a fantastic No. 5 in NHL draft?

Published May. 13, 2015 12:26 a.m. ET

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The Hurricanes didn't have a lot of good fortune this season, and unfortunately for them, that continued through the NHL draft. Rather than moving up into one of the top two spots and getting a chance to add either Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel, the two generational prospects in this draft, the Canes remained at No. 5, where their choice will be much less certain.

It's been widely projected that the third and fourth picks will be, in some order, center Dylan Strome and defenseman Noah Hanifin. After that, things open up a bit, with little consensus about pick No. 5 ... other than that Carolina is badly in need of help on offense.

The most recent mock draft on FanSided has the Canes getting just that by taking center Mitch Marner out of London of the OHL. Marner is relatively diminutive at just 5-foot-10, 164 pounds, but he was in contention for the OHL scoring title throughout the season and would definitely add some scoring punch, so to speak, to the Hurricanes' lineup.

Other possibilities with the fifth pick include forwards Lawson Crouse of Kingston (OHL) and Mikko Rantanen of Finland, players with differing skill sets but with one important thing in common: scoring ability.

So it seems likely that the Canes will have a quality forward option available when they pick; the question is which one they'll go for (assuming Hanifin is gone, as him sliding to No. 5 would make for a very interesting conversation in the Carolina war room).

Check out the link below for the rest of the top five and more analysis on Marner.

(h/t FanSided)

Photo credit: Dennis Pajot-Getty Images

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