RALEIGH, NC—The Carolina Hurricanes today added four players to the organizational roster using their first four picks on the second day of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. Carolina then traded its seventh-round pick (192nd overall) to Montreal in exchange for goaltender Michael Leighton.

Without a second-round pick, the Hurricanes waited until the 72nd pick in the draft to make an impact on the board in the third round. Carolina selected forward Drayson Bowman, 18, from Spokane of the Western Hockey League, adding the Grand Rapids, Mich., native to its mix of forward prospects. Bowman (6’0”, 181 lbs.) notched 24 goals and 19 assists (43 points) in 61 regular-season games with Spokane in 2006-07 to rank fourth among all Chiefs skaters in goals and sixth in total scoring in his second full season of major junior hockey. In 137 regular-season WHL games with Spokane, Bowman notched 41 goals, earned 36 assists (77 points) and accumulated 106 penalty minutes. He saw his first postseason action with the Chiefs in 2007, scoring two goals and earning five assists (7 points) in Spokane’s six playoff games.

In the fourth round Carolina selected another WHL forward when it used the 102nd pick to select center Justin McCrae, 18, from the Saskatoon Blades. A native of Calgary, Alta., McCrae (6’1”, 185 lbs.) recorded 16 goals and 33 assists (49 points) in 61 regular-season games in 2006-07 with the Blades. In 206 regular-season WHL games, McRae has totaled 41 goals, 68 assists (109 points) and 220 penalty minutes. In the 2006 playoffs with Saskatoon, McRae played nine games in which he notched one goal and two assists (3 points).

The Hurricanes used their fifth-round pick, 132nd overall, to select left wing Chris Terry of the Ontario Hockey League’s Plymouth Whalers. Terry (5’10”, 195 lbs.) scored 22 goals and earned 44 assists in 68 regular-season games in 2006-07, and ranked fourth among Whalers skaters with 18 points in Plymouth’s march to the OHL championship.

In the sixth round Carolina selected Terry’s teammate, defenseman Brett Bellemore, with the 162nd pick of the draft. Bellemore (6’4”, 193 lbs.) led all Canadian Hockey League skaters in 2006-07 with a plus-48 plus/minus rating, and finished his second season of major junior hockey with 12 assists in 50 games.