"There probably was no better or more accurate way for Jim Rutherford to size up the Carolina Hurricanes' drafting of Jeff Skinner last year.

"It was a big home run for us," Rutherford, the Canes' general manager, said this week.

The seventh overall pick of the 2010 NHL draft, Skinner made the Hurricanes' roster as an 18-year-old, scored 31 goals, created something of a frenzy among Triangle hockey fans, and on Wednesday was named the Calder Trophy winner as the league's rookie of the year.

The question now is, can the Hurricanes go deep back-to-back?

The 2011 draft begins tonight (7, Versus) at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., and Carolina has the 12th overall selection in the first round. The Canes are being coy about who they've targeted, as they were with Skinner a year ago.

It could be a Canadian-born defenseman such as Ryan Murphy or Duncan Siemens, or one of the two Swedish blueliners, Jonas Brodin and Oscar Klefbom. There are any number of promising forwards to choose from - Sven Baertschi, Joel Armia, Mika Zibanejad and Brandon Saad, to name a few.

"We could get a player at No. 12 who could make our team next year," Rutherford said. "There's no guarantee, but based on the guys we like and that may fall to No. 12, it could happen. I think we will like our pick a lot.""