The Carolina Hurricanes have shown a willingness the past few seasons to give significant roles to players just a few months after they were drafted. Since the 2008-09 season Zach Boychuk, Jeff Skinner and Elias Lindholm all saw action as 18-year-olds, with varying levels of success.

But with Ron Francis taking over as general manager, the club could start preaching a bit more patience with its younger players in allowing them to develop physically into NHL players.

"Everybody needs to get stronger," Hurricanes director of defense development Glen Wesley said. "That's one of the things if the guy is coming from junior or college he has to get better at, if it's the American Hockey League or the National Hockey League. You're playing against grown men and it's a completely different game. That's one of the things you have to be prepared for when you take the next step in your development."

Here's a look at the Hurricanes' top 10 prospects, according to NHL.com:

The Carolina Hurricanes made three deep playoff runs in a span of eight years, including a championship in 2006, but they have missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for five straight seasons.

PNC Arena boasts one of the League's best playoff atmospheres, but it has been too long since the building has been full of standing, screaming fans in the spring. The Hurricanes have a new general manager and a new coach, but they don't have a lot of new players.

Two seasons ago the Hurricanes scored enough to be a playoff team, but their goaltending failed them. Carolina prevented goals better in 2013-14 only to have the offense disappear. Depth up front remains a problem, though the defense corps could be improved.

Here's a look at the projected 2014-15 lineup for the Hurricanes:

With a new general manager and coach but an almost identical roster to the one that finished 13th in the Eastern Conference in 2013-14, the Carolina Hurricanes enter the 2014-15 season with questions up and down the lineup. General manager Ron Francis and coach Bill Peters will have their work cut out for them, on offense, defense and special teams, if they hope to end Carolina's five-season Stanley Cup Playoff drought.

Here are five questions facing the Hurricanes:

NHL.com continues its preview of the 2014-15 season, which will include in-depth looks at all 30 teams throughout August.

In some ways, this offseason has been an overhaul for the Carolina Hurricanes organization; in others, it has been a doubling down on the status quo.

On April 28, Jim Rutherford stepped down from the general manager post he had held since 1994, when the organization was still known as the Hartford Whalers. Taking his place is Ron Francis, who has held multiple positions with the Hurricanes, including vice president of hockey operations for the past three seasons, since retiring as a player in 2004.

Nine days later, Francis fired coach Kirk Muller and his staff after a second consecutive 13th-place finish in the Eastern Conference and an 80-80-27 overall record. The Hurricanes were unable to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs during Muller's three seasons at the helm, and their current five-season playoff drought is the longest in the conference.

When Eric Staal is on his game, he is one of the NHL's best offensive players and the man who makes the Carolina Hurricanes go. When he's less than his best, as he was for much of 2013-14, Staal's lack of productivity puts Carolina's attack on life support.

Staal was the fifth-highest paid player in the League last season with a salary of $9.25 million; his cap charge was $8.25 million, according to CapGeek. But he had his worst full-season offensive totals (20 goals, 41 assists and a minus-13 rating in 79 games) since 2003-04, his rookie season. For a player on whom the Hurricanes rely in nearly every on-ice situation, those numbers translated into a 36-35-11 record and a 13th-place finish in the Eastern Conference, their fifth straight non-playoff season.

New coach Bill Peters expects his captain to bounce back this season.

The New York Islanders have quietly assembled one of the finer pipeline pools of defensive prospects in the NHL, and there's a good chance one of them will help fortify the back end this season.

Griffin Reinhart, a 2012 first-round selection (No. 4), provides the organization with a 6-foot-4, 205-pound shutdown defenseman mature beyond his years. But Reinhart is one of several top defenders in the system, leaving general manager Garth Snow and his staff with some tough decisions to make in September.

The Islanders already have Calvin de Haan, 23; Travis Hamonic, 23; Thomas Hickey, 25; Kevin Czuczman, 23; and TJ Brennan, 25; also in the hunt for positions along the blue line this season. Lubomir Visnovsky is expected to serve as the veteran presence on defense.

NHL.com continues its preview of the 2014-15 season, which will include in-depth looks at all 30 teams throughout August.

The New York Islanders will be the first to tell you their 2013-14 season was a massive disappointment.

After giving the Pittsburgh Penguins a scare in the opening round of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Islanders were expected to build off their first postseason appearance in six years. They didn't come close to meeting those expectations.

This has been the best offseason for the New York Islanders since they chose John Tavares with the top pick of the 2009 NHL Draft.

The Islanders filled major needs, improved their NHL-quality depth and still possess an assortment of prospects that could help fetch the last piece or two needed to be a legitimate contender in the Eastern Conference.

Goaltending has been an issue for years. If newcomers Jaroslav Halak and Chad Johnson provide nothing more than League-average work it would be an enormous upgrade. Frans Nielsen has been solid behind Tavares in the middle, but adding Mikhail Grabovski (and his pal Nikolai Kulemin) should make this the deepest group of forwards Tavares has been given the chance to play with.

The New York Islanders failed to build off their appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2013 and finished in the bottom five of the NHL standings last season. General manager Garth Snow has spent this offseason working diligently to add depth and fill the holes that were visible in 2013-14, particularly in goal.

With the additions of goaltenders Jaroslav Halak and Chad Johnson and forwards Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolai Kulemin, the Islanders are deeper -- at least on paper -- than they have been in years. Now it's up to them to find a way back to the playoffs.

This season will be the Islanders' last at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum before they move to Barclays Center in Brooklyn for the start of the 2015-16 season. Coach Jack Capuano, who returns for a fourth full season in New York, would obviously like to make the Islanders' final season in Nassau County a memorable one.

Here are five questions facing the Islanders:

Heading into training camp last September, forward Brock Nelson was simply trying to earn a spot with the New York Islanders. Twelve months later, he'll have an opportunity to play a prominent role.

As a 22-year-old, Nelson played 72 games for the Islanders last season and got better as it progressed. After fighting to crack the lineup early in the season, the rookie ended up with 14 goals and 12 assists, and showed the ability to be a responsible player in both ends of the ice.

"It was maybe tough here and there, but I think I had a good support system around me," Nelson said. "Everyone just kept telling me to work hard and just keep doing the right things and you'll get your time and you'll get your opportunity. You've just got to be ready for when that moment came and I think I was able to do that, and I think the coaching staff did a great job of keeping me prepared for when that time came."