Draft begins today.

While most of us are sitting at home, the guys from Army of the Ohio and the guys from End of the Bench will be partying inside Nationwide Arena in Columbus. The draft starts tonight at 7:00 with the first round, and it may or may not be covered by Versus. On Saturday, the fun continues with rounds 2-7 starting at 10:00 am. Again, Versus is supposed to cover it, but perhaps we shouldn't hold our breath.

The boys in C-Bus have decided to throw a blogger meetup. I won't be going, but Acid Queen will be representing the Caniac Nation. Read about their plans here.

Here is an article about the Canes "short list" of players they think will (or might) be available when their turn comes at #11. Hurricanes VP Jason Karmanos had meetings with these players, and he offers his take on each guy.

Last year, Carolina did not have a first round pick, because they traded it away to rent Doug Weight. In 2005, their first round pick was wasted on Jack Johnson, who got all Eli Manning on us and used "college" as an excuse to refuse to sign Carolina's contract offers.

Here's a quick peek at the last 20 years of Whaler/Canes first round picks. Some of it, quite frankly reads more like a "Who?" than a "who's who":

1987 -- RW Jody Hull (18th)
1988 -- RW Chris Govedaris (11th)
1989 -- Center Bobby Holik (10th)
1990 -- RW Mark Greig (15th)
1991 -- LW Patrick Poulin (9th)
1992 -- Center Robert Petrovicky (9th)
1993 -- Defenceman Chrissy Pronger (2nd)
1994 -- LW Jeff O'Neill (5th)
1995 -- Goaltender J-S Giguere (13th)
1996 -- no first round pick
1997 -- Defenseman Nikos Tselios (22nd)
1998 -- RW Jeff Heerema (11th)
1999 -- Defenseman David "Snuggles" Tanabe (16th)
2000 -- no first round pick
2001 -- Defenseman Igor Knyazev (15th)
2002 -- Goaltender Cam Ward (25th)
2003 -- Center Eric Staal (2nd)
2004 -- LW Andrew Ladd (4th)
2005 -- Defenseman Jack(ass) Johnson (3rd)
2006 -- no first round pick
2007 -- ???

Nikos Tselios was the Hurricanes first ever draft pick. He's a cousin (or something) to Chris Chelios, but didn't really pan out. The next season, Jeff Heerema was a bit of a bust with the 11th pick. After going a year without a first round pick, the Canes snagged "Snuggles", only to be a little confused and frustrated with his lack of progress. He has only just now blossomed, and I think wherever he lands, that team will be happy with him. I'm still hoping that the Hurricanes deal away Andrew Hutchinson and find a way to keep Snuggles, but time will tell. Knyazev never played a single second in the NHL, and only a handful of games in the AHL. A huge bust.

They had some nice runs. Pronger, O'Neill and Giggy in consecutive years, then Ward Staal and Ladd in consecutive years. It's doubtful that this years shallow draft will produce many NHL-ready players, and especially not as late as 11th. We can just hope to stock the River Rats.

In 1991, Poulin was an odd pick. He didn't pan out, Brian Rolston was still on the board, is also a LW, and was in the Compuware system. I'm surprised that Pete Karmanos didn't have him high on the GM's watch list.

Anyway, I'll be working tonight. Have fun watching the draft on TV. If you're in C-Bus, have fun at the draft.

I'm hoping against hope that Angelo Esposito will still be on the board when Carolina's turn comes. His stock has dropped, but he's a darn fine player.