From Talking Points: 

It will be four or five years before we know how the Carolina Hurricanes did in the draft last weekend, although they deserve credit for breaking new ground, by their standards, in terms of location (their first-round pick was from Quebec and three out of six picks were Europeans) and philosophy (all six were 6 feet or taller).

Whether first-round pick Philippe Paradis will be regarded as a steal or a bust is yet to be determined, but the record is already clear on many of the Hurricanes’ past drafts, at least those from 2005 and earlier.

We all know the misses — Igor Knyazev, Jeff Heerema, Nikos Tselios — but among the hits, here are the Canes’ five best draft picks since the team moved to North Carolina, not necessarily in overall talent, but in terms of how well they did with the pick.

Eric Staal, for example, was a relative no-brainer at No. 2 in 2003, but Cam Ward was not late in the first round a year earlier, which is why they bookend Tuesday’s Top Five.

Read more here. 

The Canes finished their draft selections today by taking defenseman Tommi Kivisto of Vantaa, Finland in the seventh and final round.

Kivisto, 6-1 and 189 pounds, played last season for the Red Deer Rebels (WHL).

The Canes' Tuomo Ruutu also is from Vantaa.

The Canes have taken another defenseman with their sixth-round pick: Rasmus Rissanen of Finland.

Rissanen, like the Canes' other draft selections, is taller than 6 feet — he's 6-2 and 185 pounds — and was the 37th-rated European skater.

Rissanen played with both the KalPa A junior squad and Finland’s U-18 team last season and had a reputation for being one of most physical young defensemen in his home country. Said to be an emotional, energetic player, he was a member of the team that upset Canada in the bronze-medal game at the U-18 World Championship tournament.

Another round, another big guy.

The Canes made forward Matt Kennedy their fifth-round pick and the 131st overall selection. Kennedy, 6-3 and 203 pounds, was the team MVP for the Guelph Storm (OHL) last year with 33 goals and 40 assists in 67 games.

Kennedy, 20, also signed a tryout deal and played 4 games for the Syracuse Crunch (AHL) after the OHL season. He was described as a tough, gritty grinder.

Kennedy, from Richmond Hill, Ontario, was passed over in his first two years of draft eligibility and was draft-eligible for the final time in 2009.

Richmond Hill, Guelph. Sound familiar? Former Canes forward Jeff O'Neill had the same background.

The Canes, continuing to select players with size and strength, have taken forward Mattias Lindstrom of Sweden in the third round. He was the 88th overall pick.

Lindstrom, 6-4 and 203 pounds, is described as a strong two-way player who has a very physical game. He is a native of Lulea, Sweden.

Lindstrom played most of last season with Skelleftea of the Swedish Junior League but also played seven games with the Skelleftea senior team.

The Canes' first-round selection — forward Philippe Paradis — took some by surprise. He does have the size general manager Jim Rutherford said would be a priority in the draft.

And in the second round today, with the 51st pick, the Canes took defenseman Brian Dumoulin. The 6-3, 197-pounder played for the New Hampshire Junior Monarchs of the Eastern Junior Hockey League and will attend Boston College.

Dumoulin, 17, from Biddeford, Maine, was named the defensive player of the league in the EJHL and had seven goals and 23 assists for a team that went 35-5-4-1.

"I'm a two-way hockey player," he said. "I can play both solid defense and I can also jump up in the play and create some offense. I think I'm a good skater (but) there are plenty of things to work on."

The Hurricanes don't often look to Quebec for their draft picks — they had taken only eight in the past 12 years going into Friday — but they took Philippe Paradis with the 27th overall pick.

He wasn't the biggest player available, or the highest-ranked — 6-foot-3 Carter Ashton was available when the Hurricanes picked — but he had 12 points in 21 playoff games for Shawinigan of the Quebec junior league, a postseason resume too good to pass up.

And at 6-foot-1, 196 pounds, he's by no means small, with size being the Hurricanes' No. 1 priority with their first-round pick going into the draft.

The Hurricanes pick 27th in the first round of tonight's NHL Draft, and a 20-year sample of players drafted in that position indicates they have a shot at an All-Star — but a slim one.

OK, OK, Carter Ashton may be a first-round reach at No. 27 for the Canes, and, who knows, Zach Budish could be available in the second round.

So what about ... Drew Shore?

Once again, he has the size (6-3, 190) that the Hurricanes are looking for in the draft. He's a hard-working, bruising forward. The word on the Denver native is that he's tough in those "dark areas" coaches like to talk about and a physical presence on the ice.

Most teams jealously guard their scouting report before the NHL Entry Draft like it's the last surviving copy of the Constitution, and the Hurricanes are no different. It's strictly classified.

But general manager Jim Rutherford has mandated that the Canes come out of the draft this week with some size — albeit not necessarily in the first round, when teams religiously "take the best player available." But if size and talent are available at No. 27, when the Canes pick, Rutherford wants it.

Given that draft parameter, today, the first of the Canes' first-round possibilities:

Carter Ashton, RW, Lethbridge Hurricanes