Noah Hanifin Jersey Card

Team USA has announced two more entries for its young 2017 World Championships team, including Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Noah Hanifin. I have him in my keeper pool, but honestly, I can never put my faith in the Canes; even this season, I had predicted they'd finish last in their division, perhaps even in the East; I was wrong, as they finished a whole 17 points ahead of the New Jersey Devils - what a shit-show there - but second-to-last in their division is nothing to be proud of.

They have a young and talented defense, but two goalies (Cam Ward and Eddie Lack) and a head coach (Bill Peters) who are in way over their heads, and a forward corps that lacks three first-liners to slot everyone in their current top-9 back a peg and perhaps into a more proper ranking. GM Ron Francis might not get a chance to move with the team to Québec if he can't right the ship by next Christmas.

Which means Hanifin may eventually become the new Québec Nordiques' captain eventually... provided he doesn't get snatched by the Vegas Golden Knights this summer. Here he is wearing the Canes' current red (home) uniform, not a bad look, but I preferred their previous red one with stuff happening on their shoulders:

That's card #FT-NH from Upper Deck's 2015-16 Ice set and Fresh Threads sub-set, that features a matching red jersey swatch from a rookie photo shoot.