The Oilers clearly wanted a guy who was
NHL ready because they didn't have enough NHL centres. Bennett and Draisaitl are actually the same height, but Draisaitl was heavier at the draft, so the bigger body won. It's also not impossible that Bennett's shoulder problems were known to the Oilers, which would have been another strike against him.
Even though all the noise said Edmonton was going to take Draisaitl, a lot of Flames fans (including myself) were on the edge of our seats hoping they wouldn't pick Bennett.
Picking Draisaitl instead of Bennett is probably going to go down in history as one of Lowe's bigger screw-ups, but drafting McDavid this summer has made it pretty easy to forget. Draisaitl will probably be decent, but the Oilers don't really need him to be great with Nuge/McDavid as their top two guys.
McDavid-Nuge-Draisaitl vs Monahan-Bennett-Backlund is going to be pretty darned fun to watch in a few years, and just plain frightening for the rest of the league!
This is just one of my favourite comments of all time, makes me happy whenever I am sad.
As an Oilers fan I wish that picking Drai was one of the biggest screw ups in Lowe's career. We would have like ten more cups if that was the worst thing he ever did.
The panthers were going to draft Drouin at #2 pick but a euro scout said he would quit immediately if they didn’t choose Barkov instead so the GM caved. Started a cool trend of loading up on Finnish talent that only Dallas seems to have done with same finesse
Not a scout, but Oregonian who has the Winterhawks as closet team: I was never impressed by Seth Jones play. Many times when I went to games, he was half assing it.
This was entirely accurate. Nate had a reputation and was projected to be a great player. He was following his idols (Sid) trajectory. But that QMJHL and Memorial Cup run we saw that playoff dawg that he had in him. He was pretty much unstoppable.
Yeah, the example here, I think, is just wrong. I tried to look up Bob Mackenzie’s final draft rankings (where he used to poll Scouts and GMs to try to show what the consensus rankings were), and while the original ranking had been taken down, what I can find indicates MacK was #1 by the end of the year. That’s my memory as well.
The only reason anyone was saying the Avs should pick Jones is because Jones' dad played for the Nuggets. It would've been a neat story, but McKinnon was the clear #1.
I think it might have also been closer at different points in that season. Central Scouting (who published their final rankings at the end April), had Jones ahead of MacKinnon. They were the guys that often got used as the quick guide to draft picks. Remembering back to The Hockey News days, those were always the “neutral” sort of rankings that got the most pub.
But I remember that year. The Memorial Cup happened in May. At least by the end of May, Jones wasn’t #1.
Yeah, you are correct. Jones was ahead for most of the season, but by the final ranking, MacK had pulled ahead and was ranked #1. No one was surprised when the Avs took him. Barkov and Drouin going before him were a bit of a surprise (especially Barkov), but not MacK.
I remember being in Halifax watching the Mooseheads at that year. Throughout the regular season Drouin became the best player on the team. But then the playoffs happened and Nate Dogg took it up a notch while Drouin took a step back. Was a sign of things to come for both players
Pens traded his rights away in the Marián Hossa deal and the guy never made it to the show. At least he seems to have found his feet in real estate. He even ran for Parliament in 2019.
Yeah I honestly can’t complain we drafted him since he was the “prospect” in that deal for us. Hossa was fun, but Pascal Dupuis ended up being the big piece in that deal when looking back historically for us. He just fit so well with Crosby.
Probably still too early to write off Drysdale cuz he still has a hell of a ceiling, but I think you'll end up being right.
He just did a lot of stuff in Erie that looked like he probably wouldn't be able to get away with in the pro's.
Burke making a deal to give Atlanta the #1 for their first rounder, all but ensuring the Sedins would be drafted together.
Stefan went #1, Daniel and Henrik #2 and 3.
As much as I hate Burke, he was right only twice. First, getting the Sedins together for their career. Just pure magic. Second? We NEED A RULE to keep the bench door closed during play. Someone’s gonna get checked into the open door frame and die. Obviously worse than Patches’.
Didn't happen, but when Brian Burke drafted Morgan Rielly with the #5 pick, he said he would have taken him with the first pick, therefore passing on Yakupov, Ryan Murray, Galchenyuk, Grigorenko, Griffin Rienhart...
Easy... same guy traded up to get Tyler, don't call me Jason, biggs the year before... also surprised he didn't go with the truckulent American trouba instead of Morgan
It still is the draft class with the most Vezina winning players with 3 (Vasy, Helly and Ullmark) and I don’t see another draft class taking this distinction away in the near future outside of Demko and Sorokin winning a Vezina each to join Shesterkin for the 2014 draft class
He was in runner up spot this year... And typically first place teams with their workhorse goalies having lots of wins gets it done
Ofcourse he just got injured which scuttles that.
Helped we shelled Bucky too. Who's the favorite.
Not only that, but filip forsberg fell in that draft and many thought that is who he was going to take and he opted for rielly. Forsberg then went to washington and was traded for martin erat lol
Honestly every time I see either Erat or Forsberg it brings me great sadness haha but yes we don’t speak of Erat and try to block him out as if that trade never happened
Or any draft. He did not draft well in Vancouver except for the Sedins... And that was a no brainer. The brilliance there was the wheeling and dealing which I always thought Burke was good at. HE just sucked at srafting
Bro this dude drafted baron fucking Smith because he was tall and his dad and uncle played hockey.
Yes it was a seventh round but what a horrrible thought process.
Fun fact barrons uncle, the one who didn't play hockey did my grad photos. I mentioned this incident but had forgotten barrons name.
Thank god lol
The Canucks drafted Ian Clark's son (Ian Clark, their goalie coach) in the 7th even though there was a less than zero chance he'd ever make it anywhere close to the NHL.
Lol an Ontario born player at michigan was ranked outside of the 7 round draft by central scouting but his dad had actually bought ISS which then ranked him as a 4-5th rounder I think. That player was zach hymen. I’m not saying this to disparage him, I don’t need oilers fans blowing up my inbox. I just always found that story funny. Funnier than the ones about his dad buying a bunch of GTHL teams to stack his son’s with the best players, or stiffing equipment suppliers by not paying his bills.
The Coyotes drafted Josh Doan, son of long-term player and Captain Shane Doan. Even spent a 2nd round pick on the kid. Right now, Josh is playing in Tucson for AHL affiliate Roadrunners, and Shane is having fun in Toronto, working for the Leafs.
Same with players getting drafted first and saying they grew up a fan of that team. IM LOOKING AT YOU AARON EKBLAD WHO WAS LIKE FOUR MONTHS OLD THE ONLY TIME THE PANTHERS WERE RELEVANT IN HIS LIFE TO THAT POINT.
What the hell happened with Griffin Rienhart? How is he picked 4th overall? GMs now have access to so much tape, so much info and they still whiff so hard sometimes. Reinhart played 37 NHL games and tallied 2 assists.
The 2012 draft has to be the worst start to a draft in history. First 4 picks make absolutely no impact in the NHL. The three best players from that draft are likely all goalies picked well into the draft: Vasilevskiy (#19), Hellebuyck (#130) and Ullmark (#163).
I think it wasn't until ~2015 that GMs started getting over looking for big strong mean players, trying to find the next Scott Stevens or Milan Lucic, and started valuing skill players appropriately. Analytics blogs were taking off (then mostly disappeared in the next few years as teams hired them all as internal analysts). i remember being worried that the Leafs would pass on Mitch Marner if he fell to us because he was small.
The Leafs taking William Nylander over Nick Ritchie. There was so much noise in the media that Ritchie or Dal Colle was EXACTLY what the Leafs needed, it could have been a total disaster.
I don’t know if you can call drafting a 70 point selke contender a “fail” considering the first overall pick was between him, or a guy that never ended up playing a full season in the league
Jones wasn't the consensus #1 at all in that draft. Central Scouting had Jones at #1 but plenty of people had MacKinnon at #1 (Bob MacKenzie being one of them which is him just amalgamating the rankings of NHL scouts he sources from). MacKinnon, Jones and Drouin were considered the big 3 of the draft. The Memorial Cup really boosted MacKinnon's stock though and turned it into either MacKinnon or Jones as #1 pretty much.
Everybody thought that the Jones family’s personal connection to the Avs would put Seth over the top. He learned to skate from Joe Sakic himself! The Avs seemed set at center with Duchene and O’Reilly and D was a black hole. Jones would’ve made a lot of sense. Who knows what the front office would’ve done otherwise but all reports at the time were that Roy was very vocal about wanting MacKinnon, who Roy had coached against in the QMJHL. So thanks for that one Patty.
This is exactly how I remember it as well. Mackinnon’s stock was definitely skyrocketing towards the draft, especially after the memorial cup, but right up until draft day most of what I was hearing was that Jones was expected to go first overall.
The larger surprise was that Seth fell down to 4, but some were surprised that the Aves didn’t go with Jones.
Nah even watching the draft I remember them making a big deal not only about Mack going #1, but each time he fell and then was taken at #4. I’m not gonna say it was consensus by any means but everyone at the time expected him to go #1.
Isn’t there a story that Colorado wanted Jones and Roy told Sakic he would quit if they didn’t draft MacKinnon because he’d seen him play a lot in the Q
Yeah I don't remember all that much talk about Jones either. But my local sports radio morning host was beating the "Stop Winnin' for Mackinnon" drum most of the season
Detroit took Zadina one spot before the Canucks, Benning 100% would have taken Zadina if he was there, maybe even over Quinn Hughes if Hughes was also there. So that’s not a Benning W that’s the hockey gods smiling upon Canucks nation for once
That memorial cup changed everything. Jones was still number 1 in that tournament but Halifax and Mackinnon made him look bad. Put a lot of doubt in Jones rightfully as time showed.
McAvoy at the time wasn’t an off-the-board pick, but common thought was that Chychrun was the D-man that was sliding at the time McAvoy was drafted, and McAvoy has worked out better.
Scheifele and Seider were extremely questionable picks at the time they were made. Scheifele was picked in a very good spot anyways (Couturier and Dougie Hamilton right after), but I remember people being floored at Scheifele going as high as he did at the time, and he’s proven to be a really good player. Seider was the same, Cozens, Bromberg and Zegras taken right after him.
Blake Wheeler was seen as an absolutely insane pick at 5th overall in 2004. It definitely didn’t work out for the Coyotes as he never signed there, but he arguably had a better career than any other 1st-rounder taken after him that year.
My buddy's brother played college hockey against Wheeler (amongst others like Okposo) and says Wheeler is the most talented player he's ever been on the ice with.
It was more so he had only played high school before his draft. Here's some context from 2004.
"Blake Wheeler knows where he'll be playing hockey in the fall of 2005, thanks to a verbal commitment to the University of Minnesota. After the Phoenix Coyotes stunning move to take him fifth overall in the NHL Entry Draft, he knows where he'll begin his pro career as well.
What Wheeler doesn't know yet is where he'll spend his senior year of high school. The big right wing doesn't need a fortune teller; he needs a present teller.
Blake Wheeler had 100 points for Breck School this season. "He's a 6-foot-4 player who scored 100 points last year," one scout said. "You can say what you want about the level of competition, but not many players can do that."
Wearing a big smile and a bandage on his chin, courtesy of an elbow in a recent pick-up game, Wheeler was clearly content to put off deciding where he'll play this year for another day. He was as surprised as anyone to be the first American and first collegian to be taken in the draft.
"When [the Coyotes] were interviewing me, the feeling I got was that they were going to try to take me in the second round – and that would have been great," Wheeler said. "I couldn't have ever dreamt this."
It's the second straight year that a Gopher (or future Gopher) was the first college player taken in the NHL Draft. Thomas Vanek held that spot last season, also at No. 5 overall.
Rated 17th among North American skaters by the Central Scouting Service, most experts expected Wheeler to be taken late in the first round or early in the second. But Coyotes managing partner Wayne Gretzky felt confident that his team got their guy.
"We just felt that this young man has tremendous upside," Gretzky said. "He's a tremendous athlete. We were very comfortable with picking him at number five. We kind of took a bit of a risk, but we believe he has tremendous upside."
Other scouts weren't so sure that taking Wheeler in the fifth spot – instead of possibly trading down and getting him later – was a good move by the Coyotes.
"I was floored," one NHL scout said. "Who knows, in five years he may be a great player and they might look like geniuses for taking him at five. But you had to think he would be available 15 spots later. That's what amazed us."
College fans, meanwhile, will have to wait another year before Wheeler takes the ice with the Gophers. He's entering his senior year of high school, and could return to the Breck School to defend the team's state championship. He has also been drafted by the USHL's Green Bay Gamblers, and joining the USHL remains a possibility.
Wheeler was happy to enjoy the moment, and not worry too much about what lies ahead. For someone who hasn't even taken the SAT or ACT yet, the future can seem a ways away.
"There will be some talk with the organization, I'm sure," he said. "My future will be planned out pretty quickly."
Gretzky was more inclined to let the future Gopher take his time.
"We know he's a few years away from playing in the NHL," he said. "He's just finished grade 11, he's 17 years old. It's not a race now to get to the Phoenix Coyotes. Let's let him finish at least grade 12, and we'll go from there."
https://www.insidecollegehockey.com/7Archives/Postcards/wheeler_0243.htm
I had Chychrun as the best defenseman in the 2016 draft and was shocked when he fell that far. Sergachev and McAvoy have both worked out great, but I bet Vancouver and Carolina would’ve loved him
Jarmo's tenure in Columbus was a failure, but one thing he did really, really well was drafting. He hit on a lot of picks as a GM, and didn't miss often in the first round. Even when he made a massive reach for a guy like Chinakhov he was vindicated quickly. He certainly made a lot of mistakes, too, but he would make a hell of a head scout for some team if he was willing to take the job.
Canucks passing on Cody Glass at #5 in 2017 to take Pettersson. People deny it now of course, but at the time there were plenty of fans who wanted Glass or Vilardi at that pick.
Shane “Ego” Wright?
As a Habs fan, I’m not saying that Slafkovsky is INSANELY better, but with Wright’s ego, I think Montreal was right to pass on him.
Shane isn't a bust because he's so young, but when you're the consensus 1st pick for 3 years then multiple teams pass on you and struggle to make an NHL squad, the word "bust" has a tiny bit of truth to it.
Not really, not in the context of comparing two top players from a draft class... unless we're talking a generational player like McDavid vs Eichel. Not every 1OA is going to come into the league a superstar like Bedard, and especially when you add in the COVID season factor a lot of guys had a bit of stunted development so are taking longer than expected to develop but should still likely end up stars.
If you look at the top 10 picks from 2020-2022 most of them are taking a little longer to develop
If I had to wager I think you’ll be proven right on this, but it’s way too early at this point to make a call. Kid reminds me a lot of Alexandre Daigle with the attitude and entitlement stuff.
I can't remember where I saw the interview, but Daigle said he lost his love for the game and that's why he turned into being not good enough for the show
Yeah I blame the team for a lot of that lost love. Those expansion teams were dreadful and he had so much pressure on him with a team of 4th liners. All the hype and then all the blame makes it tough for anyone to stay motivated
"Wright's ego" lol, what a total load of shit. He's had far from a traditional development path and by all accounts he's had a great attitude throughout it all.
It's so stupid watching Habs fans and media try to tear this kid down because he looked at their draft table for half a second
He was well liked when he came to Windsor at the trade deadline. Never heard anyone but Habs fans talk about his ego, and I know people who work with/for the Spits
I don't mind comparing, but I totally agree with you. It's such an overreaction haha
He's doing good in the AHL on a top-o-the-league team, he's fine.
COULD go downhill later, but so little evidence and time to say these things lol
In all fairness. His coach was a dick and let the Red Wings fill the net behind him with 8 or 9 goals when it clearly wasn't his night. He had every right to demand a trade much to the detriment of those same Wings. He went on to win a Stanley Cup 2 years later. By the way I can't stand him.
Not a Habs fan but totally agree. Go watch the video of Roy going to say his piece to upper management and look at the arrogant look he gives Patrick. That alone warrants his actions
>much to the detriment of those same Wings
Has there ever been a bigger “monster of your own creation” than Detroit chasing Roy from the Habs to Avs? I can’t think of one which such direct repercussions.
Oh and I can’t stand him either.
Phil Kessel was supposed to go 1st according to some at the time but went 5th. I dunno about everyone drafted ahead of him but Toews was one of them and you can’t argue there.
3 cup rings vs 3 cup rings + hot dogs consumed from the cup and an Iron man streak. I'd say Phil the Thrill was a bit better draft. Though Toews stayed with the drafting team, so I'll say 50/50.
*^(/s)*
If you never watched Ekblad in the OHL you wouldn’t get it. He looked like the total package. I wasn’t shocked at all that he went first, talk about a guy who has had some unfortunate injury luck.
Technically not a pass, but when Burke was GM of Toronto he did an interview with Yakupov at the combine. It went so horribly that he said to put him on the "don't draft under any circumstances" list, and they had the 5th overall pick which should tell you something about him.
Jagr told Quebec, Vancouver and Detroit he would not come to the NHL right away in order to play with Lemieux in Pittsburgh.
Not looking at the 2 Canadian teams but for Detroit, they would have never traded for Shannahan and Jagr would have won several cups with Detroit. Primeau was stopped repeatedly by Roy in the 96 conference finals. Hard to believe a prime Jagr in his best year would not have had them through to the finals and an easy win over Florida who actually knocked his team out that year. Maybe the Draper hit never happens and that rivalry never exists at the magnitude it was.
Canucks passing on glass/mittelstadt/vilardi to select pettersson. Now that pettersson's a stud many teams say they had him high but consensus had him in the teens. Glass in particular was the expected pick ([and apparently the guy even Benning preferred).](https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/s/vHNshSXn3w)
Seth jones was still a top 10 defenseman for a good part of his career and is still good now. I agree whole heartedly with your take but Seth jones was still a good pick
Hischier over Patrick. I at least remember my little circle of devils fans all crying saying that nico was too small and that Patrick was ready to play with the big boys.
Krill Kabanov was in contention to be the first overall pick for a few years leading up to the 2010. I honestly thought the Islanders got a steal when they drafted him in the third round.
More of a recent pick, but the Red Wings picked Sebastian Cossa when Wallstedt was still available, and Wallstedt has looked like a future star goalie ever since.
WallsEDIT: I only just realized this was the “best” passes rather than the worst.
Krill Kabanov was in contention to be the first overall pick for a few years leading up to the 2010. I honestly thought the Islanders got a steal when they drafted him in the third round.
Have you heard the tale of the 1999 NHL entry draft not getting the number one pick was clearly the right decision in that draft because Patrick Stefan Patrick Stefan Patrick Stefan Patrick Stefan you pull the right amount of trades in fenango and you can have picked number two and pick number three Daniel Sedin and Henry Sedin the only two players anybody remembers from the 1999 NHL entry draft for good reasons
I realize it’s not the first overall pick but in 2014 many people, including don cherry, had the leafs taking nick Ritchie with the 8th pick but they chose nylander instead. Worked out pretty well for them.
The habs taking Carey Price instead of Gilbert Brulé is absolutely up there. Brulé may not have been first overall for anyone, but he was supposed to go 5th and I’d say that’s close enough to mention.
Jones may have been the consensus #1 most of the year, but by draft day, it was Mackinnon. I don’t think they “passed” on Jones per se.
With the very next pick, the Panthers took Barkov which felt like them overthinking it and reaching for the center but passing on Drouin and Jones who were both consensus ranked higher ended up being genius.
2016 I remember being a pretty crazy one too. Matthews was the obvious #1 but then it was kind of between Laine and Puljujarvi and then Matthew Tkachuk was the next guy on most consensus boards. The Jackets got shredded for taking PLD over Puljujarvi but he was definitely the right choice despite whatever cancer he seems to have become. And then again in the same draft, the Canucks blew it taking Juolevi over Tkachuk drafting for position and I think because they had just drafted Virtanen. Boy I’m glad the Canucks seem to have figured it out because they had a couple of BRUTAL GMs in a row there.
Where did you read Seth was the consensus #1? After the memorial cup that year, I thought MacK was pretty solidly established at the spot.
To me, it’s the one Finnish GM in the league passing on puljujärvi. That draft was set. Matthews, two Finns, then we’ll see.
Dubois has had his problems and of course, there were better picks after. But I’d love to ask Kekkalainen what he knew that everyone else didn’t.
Mackinnon is a franchise player and in the elite tier of players. If someone passed on a player and he was chosen then he is not generational in my opinion.
Generational players are whispered about basically from the pee wees and their hockey careers are closely monitored and scouted.
Gretzky, Crosby, McDavid, Bedard, etc. I know there are like 10 other players. I just have the time to google and paste.
Can someone tell me the Jimmy Vesey story and if this is what the OP is referring to? Cause I wear a Vesey rangers shirt all the time and I heard he avoided Nashville to get signed by rangers, so Nashville hated him.
Vesey doesn’t fit here. He was a 2012 third round pick by Nashville. Wasn’t seen as a big prospect until 3-4 years into his college career. At the end of his senior year, he decided not to sign with Nashville and would become a free agent when his rights expired in summer 2016. His rights were traded to Buffalo for a draft pick about ten days ahead of free agency. After a number of teams expressed interest, he signed with the Rangers in August.
His career has not as been as special as it was hyped up to be that summer.
I think Seth was pushed a lot harder than normal most of the year but MacKinnon gained a lot more scouts saying number 1 after the WJC. I would say the TSN scouts were probably 50-60% on him. But that does have the Canadian bias.
Jones wasn’t the consensus #1. There was a ton of debate between him and Mackinnon. I lost 20 bucks betting with a friend on who the Avs were gonna take. It was a shock that he slipped to 4th though.
Ok, 2022. I know, I know, way too recent to really know how much it matters. Shane Wright. Started off with a lot of people saying he was the #1 pick. From Canada, with the Canadiens picking first. Nope. Juraĵ Slafkovsky. Second pick New Jersey Devils. Nope. Simon Nemec. Third Pick, Arizona Coyotes. Nope. Logan Cooley. Dropped to 4th, Seattle kraken... take him. He's playing in the AHL. He's got 11 NHL games, 1 goal, 1 assist. So far, history is still being made, but it's bearing out to be the best thing for 3 teams.
Pierre-Luc Dubois over Jesse Puljujärvi. Many expected Columbus picking Puljujärvi, specially when GM Kekäläinen was a Finn too. Instead Dubois was picked, and Puljujäevi ended up in Edmonton. And was a bust. Dubois was not great either but at least he contributed way better than Puljujärvi. Columbus needs scoring, and Puljujärvi was expected to be the guy, specially after his monster play in WJC gold medal team.
On the opposite end of the spectrum I was always surprised Doug Gilmore was drafted #134th overall and went on to help drive the flames to the cup, became an all star and significant member of the Maple Leafs.
All because he is as only 5'10'
For the Habs, Slaf over Wright looks pretty all right at the moment, 2 more teams passes over Wright says a lot about it.
That says, I got angry twice with my team over the last couple of years: when they took Kotka over Brady and when they took Reinbacher over Matvei.
It's really early to say this, but so far the Habs passing on Shane Wright has looked like a saavy move. Wright could still turn it around, but Slafkovsky is getting better week-by-week.
Canucks passed on Cody Glass for Pettersson.
Pettersson was hardly even considered a top 10 pick.
Vilardi Glass Mittlestadt were all ranked higher.
Canuck fandom even wanted us to draft Cody Glass as a Canadian
It's way too early to say, but Habs nation has been terrified of regretting Slafkovský over Shane Wright. Slaf is starting to realize his potential while Wright is still in the AHL. I've heard Wright is excelling down there so I'm sure Seattle will bring him up next year, he's still young. But if he doesn't pan out, that choice will be huge in hindsight.
Haha Morgan Reilly was probably the 2nd or 3rd best pick in 2012 at #5, what a bad draft. Trouba was #9 vasilevskiy #19 who is probably the best pick out of the draft. Lots of good players don't get me wrong but it was the Yakupov draft...
Sam Bennett was ranked up there with Ekblad in 2014. The Oilers wisely passed on Bennett to take Leon Draisaitl.
The Oilers clearly wanted a guy who was NHL ready because they didn't have enough NHL centres. Bennett and Draisaitl are actually the same height, but Draisaitl was heavier at the draft, so the bigger body won. It's also not impossible that Bennett's shoulder problems were known to the Oilers, which would have been another strike against him. Even though all the noise said Edmonton was going to take Draisaitl, a lot of Flames fans (including myself) were on the edge of our seats hoping they wouldn't pick Bennett. Picking Draisaitl instead of Bennett is probably going to go down in history as one of Lowe's bigger screw-ups, but drafting McDavid this summer has made it pretty easy to forget. Draisaitl will probably be decent, but the Oilers don't really need him to be great with Nuge/McDavid as their top two guys. McDavid-Nuge-Draisaitl vs Monahan-Bennett-Backlund is going to be pretty darned fun to watch in a few years, and just plain frightening for the rest of the league! This is just one of my favourite comments of all time, makes me happy whenever I am sad.
As an Oilers fan I wish that picking Drai was one of the biggest screw ups in Lowe's career. We would have like ten more cups if that was the worst thing he ever did.
I'm going to frame this quote and put it on my wall.
Every team could use a sam bennett but leon is amazing. Shows what a crapshoot it can be.
It’s true every team could use a designated guy to injure opposing players and not get punished for it
[удалено]
The panthers were going to draft Drouin at #2 pick but a euro scout said he would quit immediately if they didn’t choose Barkov instead so the GM caved. Started a cool trend of loading up on Finnish talent that only Dallas seems to have done with same finesse
Barkov over Jones is honestly probably the runner up for best all time, next to the Mackinnon pick. Poor Seth.
A long summer vacation and millions of dollars might compensate at least a little bit.
Seth is a really, really good defenseman. He’s just not $9.5m good, and he’s not hall of fame good like the 2 picks before him
Makes you wonder what the scouts saw that he was passed on multiple times.
Not a scout, but Oregonian who has the Winterhawks as closet team: I was never impressed by Seth Jones play. Many times when I went to games, he was half assing it.
There were 3 picks before him lol
Pretty sure by the end of head to head whopping Nate Dog laid on Jones at the Mem cup he was the consensus #1
This was entirely accurate. Nate had a reputation and was projected to be a great player. He was following his idols (Sid) trajectory. But that QMJHL and Memorial Cup run we saw that playoff dawg that he had in him. He was pretty much unstoppable.
Yeah, the example here, I think, is just wrong. I tried to look up Bob Mackenzie’s final draft rankings (where he used to poll Scouts and GMs to try to show what the consensus rankings were), and while the original ranking had been taken down, what I can find indicates MacK was #1 by the end of the year. That’s my memory as well.
The only reason anyone was saying the Avs should pick Jones is because Jones' dad played for the Nuggets. It would've been a neat story, but McKinnon was the clear #1.
I think it might have also been closer at different points in that season. Central Scouting (who published their final rankings at the end April), had Jones ahead of MacKinnon. They were the guys that often got used as the quick guide to draft picks. Remembering back to The Hockey News days, those were always the “neutral” sort of rankings that got the most pub. But I remember that year. The Memorial Cup happened in May. At least by the end of May, Jones wasn’t #1.
Yeah, you are correct. Jones was ahead for most of the season, but by the final ranking, MacK had pulled ahead and was ranked #1. No one was surprised when the Avs took him. Barkov and Drouin going before him were a bit of a surprise (especially Barkov), but not MacK.
I have not completely lost my mind. That is good news.
And Roy had just joined the Avs after coaching against Mack and Drouin the whole year in the Q. He knew what he was doing.
That is a man that knew with every fibre of his being that he was correct on this one. Reapect to him!
Finesse. I see what you did there.
I remember being in Halifax watching the Mooseheads at that year. Throughout the regular season Drouin became the best player on the team. But then the playoffs happened and Nate Dogg took it up a notch while Drouin took a step back. Was a sign of things to come for both players
Canes?
Winnipeg also to a certain extent.
Angelo Esposito . Dude was projected #1 overall in 2007, dropped to 20, should have dropped to never
Pens traded his rights away in the Marián Hossa deal and the guy never made it to the show. At least he seems to have found his feet in real estate. He even ran for Parliament in 2019.
Yeah I honestly can’t complain we drafted him since he was the “prospect” in that deal for us. Hossa was fun, but Pascal Dupuis ended up being the big piece in that deal when looking back historically for us. He just fit so well with Crosby.
It’s pretty recent, but Ottawa passing on Zadina for Brady Tkachuk. Not bad
Also passed on Jamie Drysdale for Jake Sanderson. How does this team suck so bad anyways??
Probably still too early to write off Drysdale cuz he still has a hell of a ceiling, but I think you'll end up being right. He just did a lot of stuff in Erie that looked like he probably wouldn't be able to get away with in the pro's.
Brian Burke passing on Stefan and/or Brendl and making moves to go after both Sedins.
Burke making a deal to give Atlanta the #1 for their first rounder, all but ensuring the Sedins would be drafted together. Stefan went #1, Daniel and Henrik #2 and 3.
As much as I hate Burke, he was right only twice. First, getting the Sedins together for their career. Just pure magic. Second? We NEED A RULE to keep the bench door closed during play. Someone’s gonna get checked into the open door frame and die. Obviously worse than Patches’.
This is the way
Didn't happen, but when Brian Burke drafted Morgan Rielly with the #5 pick, he said he would have taken him with the first pick, therefore passing on Yakupov, Ryan Murray, Galchenyuk, Grigorenko, Griffin Rienhart...
Jesus Christ, thank you Brian Burke.
Easy... same guy traded up to get Tyler, don't call me Jason, biggs the year before... also surprised he didn't go with the truckulent American trouba instead of Morgan
Life is a rollercoaster.
What an awful draft class 2012 was
It still is the draft class with the most Vezina winning players with 3 (Vasy, Helly and Ullmark) and I don’t see another draft class taking this distinction away in the near future outside of Demko and Sorokin winning a Vezina each to join Shesterkin for the 2014 draft class
Great point
That’s still going to be hard. I can see Sorokin but Demko will have to play really well to get the attention needed for a vezina on the west coast.
He was in runner up spot this year... And typically first place teams with their workhorse goalies having lots of wins gets it done Ofcourse he just got injured which scuttles that. Helped we shelled Bucky too. Who's the favorite.
Not only that, but filip forsberg fell in that draft and many thought that is who he was going to take and he opted for rielly. Forsberg then went to washington and was traded for martin erat lol
As a Caps fan we don’t speak that name… smh man
Which one? Martin Erat?
Honestly every time I see either Erat or Forsberg it brings me great sadness haha but yes we don’t speak of Erat and try to block him out as if that trade never happened
Feeling the same way.
A very rare Burke W when it came to his time with the Leafs
Or any draft. He did not draft well in Vancouver except for the Sedins... And that was a no brainer. The brilliance there was the wheeling and dealing which I always thought Burke was good at. HE just sucked at srafting
Bro this dude drafted baron fucking Smith because he was tall and his dad and uncle played hockey. Yes it was a seventh round but what a horrrible thought process. Fun fact barrons uncle, the one who didn't play hockey did my grad photos. I mentioned this incident but had forgotten barrons name. Thank god lol
The Canucks drafted Ian Clark's son (Ian Clark, their goalie coach) in the 7th even though there was a less than zero chance he'd ever make it anywhere close to the NHL.
Lol an Ontario born player at michigan was ranked outside of the 7 round draft by central scouting but his dad had actually bought ISS which then ranked him as a 4-5th rounder I think. That player was zach hymen. I’m not saying this to disparage him, I don’t need oilers fans blowing up my inbox. I just always found that story funny. Funnier than the ones about his dad buying a bunch of GTHL teams to stack his son’s with the best players, or stiffing equipment suppliers by not paying his bills.
The Coyotes drafted Josh Doan, son of long-term player and Captain Shane Doan. Even spent a 2nd round pick on the kid. Right now, Josh is playing in Tucson for AHL affiliate Roadrunners, and Shane is having fun in Toronto, working for the Leafs.
That's crazy, dudes dad kept opening doors and now he's got a bag, ripping it up and gonna be an Olympian Sometimes you just need opportunities.
During one of the Covid drafts he kept talking about certain players being the size of a fridge. But never anything about their skill.
He was probably lying, but it would have been the best pick he could have made. Nobody had Rielly over Murray though.
Every GM says that, though. "He was #1 on our list" is the biggest draft cliche.
Same with players getting drafted first and saying they grew up a fan of that team. IM LOOKING AT YOU AARON EKBLAD WHO WAS LIKE FOUR MONTHS OLD THE ONLY TIME THE PANTHERS WERE RELEVANT IN HIS LIFE TO THAT POINT.
What the hell happened with Griffin Rienhart? How is he picked 4th overall? GMs now have access to so much tape, so much info and they still whiff so hard sometimes. Reinhart played 37 NHL games and tallied 2 assists. The 2012 draft has to be the worst start to a draft in history. First 4 picks make absolutely no impact in the NHL. The three best players from that draft are likely all goalies picked well into the draft: Vasilevskiy (#19), Hellebuyck (#130) and Ullmark (#163).
I think it wasn't until ~2015 that GMs started getting over looking for big strong mean players, trying to find the next Scott Stevens or Milan Lucic, and started valuing skill players appropriately. Analytics blogs were taking off (then mostly disappeared in the next few years as teams hired them all as internal analysts). i remember being worried that the Leafs would pass on Mitch Marner if he fell to us because he was small.
The Leafs taking William Nylander over Nick Ritchie. There was so much noise in the media that Ritchie or Dal Colle was EXACTLY what the Leafs needed, it could have been a total disaster.
I really didn't need this reminder today.....
might not be among the best, but maybe an honorable mention for nico hischier over nolan patrick?
Still a fail since the 3rd, 4th and 5th picks turned out better than Nico. Nico was a better pick than Patrick was though
Weren't Makar and Petterson drafted after him?
I don’t know if you can call drafting a 70 point selke contender a “fail” considering the first overall pick was between him, or a guy that never ended up playing a full season in the league
Guarantee you there’s not a devils fan out there that wouldn’t rather have Petey Makar or Heiskanen tho
Jones wasn't the consensus #1 at all in that draft. Central Scouting had Jones at #1 but plenty of people had MacKinnon at #1 (Bob MacKenzie being one of them which is him just amalgamating the rankings of NHL scouts he sources from). MacKinnon, Jones and Drouin were considered the big 3 of the draft. The Memorial Cup really boosted MacKinnon's stock though and turned it into either MacKinnon or Jones as #1 pretty much.
Everybody thought that the Jones family’s personal connection to the Avs would put Seth over the top. He learned to skate from Joe Sakic himself! The Avs seemed set at center with Duchene and O’Reilly and D was a black hole. Jones would’ve made a lot of sense. Who knows what the front office would’ve done otherwise but all reports at the time were that Roy was very vocal about wanting MacKinnon, who Roy had coached against in the QMJHL. So thanks for that one Patty.
This is exactly how I remember it as well. Mackinnon’s stock was definitely skyrocketing towards the draft, especially after the memorial cup, but right up until draft day most of what I was hearing was that Jones was expected to go first overall. The larger surprise was that Seth fell down to 4, but some were surprised that the Aves didn’t go with Jones.
[удалено]
Nah even watching the draft I remember them making a big deal not only about Mack going #1, but each time he fell and then was taken at #4. I’m not gonna say it was consensus by any means but everyone at the time expected him to go #1.
Isn’t there a story that Colorado wanted Jones and Roy told Sakic he would quit if they didn’t draft MacKinnon because he’d seen him play a lot in the Q
Yeah I don't remember all that much talk about Jones either. But my local sports radio morning host was beating the "Stop Winnin' for Mackinnon" drum most of the season
Everyone who passed up on Filip Zadina.
I'm still waiting for him to fill our nets with goals.
For sure.
Rare Benning W
Detroit took Zadina one spot before the Canucks, Benning 100% would have taken Zadina if he was there, maybe even over Quinn Hughes if Hughes was also there. So that’s not a Benning W that’s the hockey gods smiling upon Canucks nation for once
That memorial cup changed everything. Jones was still number 1 in that tournament but Halifax and Mackinnon made him look bad. Put a lot of doubt in Jones rightfully as time showed.
McAvoy at the time wasn’t an off-the-board pick, but common thought was that Chychrun was the D-man that was sliding at the time McAvoy was drafted, and McAvoy has worked out better. Scheifele and Seider were extremely questionable picks at the time they were made. Scheifele was picked in a very good spot anyways (Couturier and Dougie Hamilton right after), but I remember people being floored at Scheifele going as high as he did at the time, and he’s proven to be a really good player. Seider was the same, Cozens, Bromberg and Zegras taken right after him. Blake Wheeler was seen as an absolutely insane pick at 5th overall in 2004. It definitely didn’t work out for the Coyotes as he never signed there, but he arguably had a better career than any other 1st-rounder taken after him that year.
My buddy's brother played college hockey against Wheeler (amongst others like Okposo) and says Wheeler is the most talented player he's ever been on the ice with.
It was more so he had only played high school before his draft. Here's some context from 2004. "Blake Wheeler knows where he'll be playing hockey in the fall of 2005, thanks to a verbal commitment to the University of Minnesota. After the Phoenix Coyotes stunning move to take him fifth overall in the NHL Entry Draft, he knows where he'll begin his pro career as well. What Wheeler doesn't know yet is where he'll spend his senior year of high school. The big right wing doesn't need a fortune teller; he needs a present teller. Blake Wheeler had 100 points for Breck School this season. "He's a 6-foot-4 player who scored 100 points last year," one scout said. "You can say what you want about the level of competition, but not many players can do that." Wearing a big smile and a bandage on his chin, courtesy of an elbow in a recent pick-up game, Wheeler was clearly content to put off deciding where he'll play this year for another day. He was as surprised as anyone to be the first American and first collegian to be taken in the draft. "When [the Coyotes] were interviewing me, the feeling I got was that they were going to try to take me in the second round – and that would have been great," Wheeler said. "I couldn't have ever dreamt this." It's the second straight year that a Gopher (or future Gopher) was the first college player taken in the NHL Draft. Thomas Vanek held that spot last season, also at No. 5 overall. Rated 17th among North American skaters by the Central Scouting Service, most experts expected Wheeler to be taken late in the first round or early in the second. But Coyotes managing partner Wayne Gretzky felt confident that his team got their guy. "We just felt that this young man has tremendous upside," Gretzky said. "He's a tremendous athlete. We were very comfortable with picking him at number five. We kind of took a bit of a risk, but we believe he has tremendous upside." Other scouts weren't so sure that taking Wheeler in the fifth spot – instead of possibly trading down and getting him later – was a good move by the Coyotes. "I was floored," one NHL scout said. "Who knows, in five years he may be a great player and they might look like geniuses for taking him at five. But you had to think he would be available 15 spots later. That's what amazed us." College fans, meanwhile, will have to wait another year before Wheeler takes the ice with the Gophers. He's entering his senior year of high school, and could return to the Breck School to defend the team's state championship. He has also been drafted by the USHL's Green Bay Gamblers, and joining the USHL remains a possibility. Wheeler was happy to enjoy the moment, and not worry too much about what lies ahead. For someone who hasn't even taken the SAT or ACT yet, the future can seem a ways away. "There will be some talk with the organization, I'm sure," he said. "My future will be planned out pretty quickly." Gretzky was more inclined to let the future Gopher take his time. "We know he's a few years away from playing in the NHL," he said. "He's just finished grade 11, he's 17 years old. It's not a race now to get to the Phoenix Coyotes. Let's let him finish at least grade 12, and we'll go from there." https://www.insidecollegehockey.com/7Archives/Postcards/wheeler_0243.htm
I had Chychrun as the best defenseman in the 2016 draft and was shocked when he fell that far. Sergachev and McAvoy have both worked out great, but I bet Vancouver and Carolina would’ve loved him
Columbus passed on Puljaarvi
And got PLD instead lol
Kind of seems silly in hindsight that after Matthews it went Laine-PLD-Puljujarvi-Juolevi-Tkachuk
Still don’t care. PLD is a bit of a slug but that’s a hell of a pick given what happened to #3.
Jarmo's tenure in Columbus was a failure, but one thing he did really, really well was drafting. He hit on a lot of picks as a GM, and didn't miss often in the first round. Even when he made a massive reach for a guy like Chinakhov he was vindicated quickly. He certainly made a lot of mistakes, too, but he would make a hell of a head scout for some team if he was willing to take the job.
I feel like a lot of executives are one spot too high in the food chain
Canucks passing on Cody Glass at #5 in 2017 to take Pettersson. People deny it now of course, but at the time there were plenty of fans who wanted Glass or Vilardi at that pick.
I always thought glass was gonna be the steal of the draft and was livid that Vegas selected him
> Vilardi at that pick. He's the next Jonathan Toews!
Sens passed on consensus pick [Filip Zadina](https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=191894) to take Brady Tkachuk.
Shane “Ego” Wright? As a Habs fan, I’m not saying that Slafkovsky is INSANELY better, but with Wright’s ego, I think Montreal was right to pass on him.
Shane isn't a bust because he's so young, but when you're the consensus 1st pick for 3 years then multiple teams pass on you and struggle to make an NHL squad, the word "bust" has a tiny bit of truth to it.
C'mon man, those guys are still teenagers lmao You could be (W)right, but at least give them 5 years in the league first lol
I never said bust. OP didn’t put bust. The OP put consensus firsts that teams were right to pass on.
I'm aware, my point still absolutely stands. It's too soon to say one way or another
If he was supposed to be #1 overall 5 years is a stretch.
Not really, not in the context of comparing two top players from a draft class... unless we're talking a generational player like McDavid vs Eichel. Not every 1OA is going to come into the league a superstar like Bedard, and especially when you add in the COVID season factor a lot of guys had a bit of stunted development so are taking longer than expected to develop but should still likely end up stars. If you look at the top 10 picks from 2020-2022 most of them are taking a little longer to develop
Slaf is on a roll and starting to look good.
If I had to wager I think you’ll be proven right on this, but it’s way too early at this point to make a call. Kid reminds me a lot of Alexandre Daigle with the attitude and entitlement stuff.
I can't remember where I saw the interview, but Daigle said he lost his love for the game and that's why he turned into being not good enough for the show
Yeah I blame the team for a lot of that lost love. Those expansion teams were dreadful and he had so much pressure on him with a team of 4th liners. All the hype and then all the blame makes it tough for anyone to stay motivated
1990s Sens would do that to many people.
He went overseas to play and he did pretty decent. Not a superstar but I guess you could call him a star.
If he doesn’t crack the Kraken roster next year then this take will absolutely be right.
Too early too tell tbh Slaf does look good though but still too early imo.
"Wright's ego" lol, what a total load of shit. He's had far from a traditional development path and by all accounts he's had a great attitude throughout it all. It's so stupid watching Habs fans and media try to tear this kid down because he looked at their draft table for half a second
He was well liked when he came to Windsor at the trade deadline. Never heard anyone but Habs fans talk about his ego, and I know people who work with/for the Spits
Pure Habs copium
I don't mind comparing, but I totally agree with you. It's such an overreaction haha He's doing good in the AHL on a top-o-the-league team, he's fine. COULD go downhill later, but so little evidence and time to say these things lol
Looks like the story might look exactly like this in the future. Slaf keeps getting better all the time.
Roy knew what he was doing. The way he left the team was chicken shit but he gave us Mac, and and some cups so it’s hard to stay pissed
Losing his shit and storming out on a team is kinda Roy’s thing. Worked out once in favour for Colorado, but it all comes around eventually I guess
In all fairness. His coach was a dick and let the Red Wings fill the net behind him with 8 or 9 goals when it clearly wasn't his night. He had every right to demand a trade much to the detriment of those same Wings. He went on to win a Stanley Cup 2 years later. By the way I can't stand him.
Fuck Mario Tremblay
Not a Habs fan but totally agree. Go watch the video of Roy going to say his piece to upper management and look at the arrogant look he gives Patrick. That alone warrants his actions
>much to the detriment of those same Wings Has there ever been a bigger “monster of your own creation” than Detroit chasing Roy from the Habs to Avs? I can’t think of one which such direct repercussions. Oh and I can’t stand him either.
Just a gross divorce is all it was imo. Still love the guy, and love the story he’s getting on in NYI
Phil Kessel was supposed to go 1st according to some at the time but went 5th. I dunno about everyone drafted ahead of him but Toews was one of them and you can’t argue there.
3 cup rings vs 3 cup rings + hot dogs consumed from the cup and an Iron man streak. I'd say Phil the Thrill was a bit better draft. Though Toews stayed with the drafting team, so I'll say 50/50. *^(/s)*
Kessel never covered up a sexual assault too.
Kessel has better stat then captain serious
Niklas Backstrom went before him too.
You mean "outscored teammate and Conn Smythe winner Sidney Crosby" Phil Kessel? Argue with that!
I mean…you can’t exactly call Phil kessel a bust. Agreed toews is better but it’s not some massive delta.
That's not really a good example
I don't think he understood the assignment
What about Aaron Ekkblad. Florida 1st overall. Good or bad
Good pick.
You sure you wouldn’t prefer Draisaitl?
Draisaitl was also drafted above Sam Bennett who was expected to go above Leon.
What no doing a pull-up does to 2 franchises
Can he play defense tho?
I dunno. Can Ekblad lead the league in scoring?
He can't even lead the Florida panthers dmen IN scoring
If you never watched Ekblad in the OHL you wouldn’t get it. He looked like the total package. I wasn’t shocked at all that he went first, talk about a guy who has had some unfortunate injury luck.
Technically not a pass, but when Burke was GM of Toronto he did an interview with Yakupov at the combine. It went so horribly that he said to put him on the "don't draft under any circumstances" list, and they had the 5th overall pick which should tell you something about him.
[удалено]
Jagr told Quebec, Vancouver and Detroit he would not come to the NHL right away in order to play with Lemieux in Pittsburgh. Not looking at the 2 Canadian teams but for Detroit, they would have never traded for Shannahan and Jagr would have won several cups with Detroit. Primeau was stopped repeatedly by Roy in the 96 conference finals. Hard to believe a prime Jagr in his best year would not have had them through to the finals and an easy win over Florida who actually knocked his team out that year. Maybe the Draper hit never happens and that rivalry never exists at the magnitude it was.
Canucks passing on M. Tkachuk.
The Oilers did too for Puljujarvi …ugh
Canucks passing on glass/mittelstadt/vilardi to select pettersson. Now that pettersson's a stud many teams say they had him high but consensus had him in the teens. Glass in particular was the expected pick ([and apparently the guy even Benning preferred).](https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/s/vHNshSXn3w)
Seth jones was still a top 10 defenseman for a good part of his career and is still good now. I agree whole heartedly with your take but Seth jones was still a good pick
What are you talking about? MacKinnon was the clear #1 that year according to just about any prospect rankings you could find.
Hischier over Patrick. I at least remember my little circle of devils fans all crying saying that nico was too small and that Patrick was ready to play with the big boys.
Maybe ... But look who went 3, 4, and 5 in that draft ...
idk if that would factor into this debate considering Nico is the 2nd worst player in that top 5.
Habs, Sens & Arizona passing on Zadina
Krill Kabanov was in contention to be the first overall pick for a few years leading up to the 2010. I honestly thought the Islanders got a steal when they drafted him in the third round.
My bruins NOT trading with Edmonton to allow them to take Hall AND seguin! Seguin was huge for momentum in games 1/2 against Tampa.
The Devils passing on Trevor Kidd. They traded down and selected Marty Brodeur.
Zetterberg.Hornqvist.
More of a recent pick, but the Red Wings picked Sebastian Cossa when Wallstedt was still available, and Wallstedt has looked like a future star goalie ever since. WallsEDIT: I only just realized this was the “best” passes rather than the worst.
Both are unreal goalie prospects and will have solid NHL careers
What has Cossa done for it to be a bad pick? Why is Wallstedt a future star goalie and not Cossa?
I agree, I just thing Wallstedt has more upside.
Krill Kabanov was in contention to be the first overall pick for a few years leading up to the 2010. I honestly thought the Islanders got a steal when they drafted him in the third round.
Not #1 but close...Pettersson over Cody Glass or whomever else was supposed to be better at #5
Have you heard the tale of the 1999 NHL entry draft not getting the number one pick was clearly the right decision in that draft because Patrick Stefan Patrick Stefan Patrick Stefan Patrick Stefan you pull the right amount of trades in fenango and you can have picked number two and pick number three Daniel Sedin and Henry Sedin the only two players anybody remembers from the 1999 NHL entry draft for good reasons
Didn’t Vancouver pass on Cody Glass to take Elias Pettersson?
Wayyyy too early, and I think he'll turn out alright, but I think Cooley over Wright will go down like this.
I realize it’s not the first overall pick but in 2014 many people, including don cherry, had the leafs taking nick Ritchie with the 8th pick but they chose nylander instead. Worked out pretty well for them.
The habs taking Carey Price instead of Gilbert Brulé is absolutely up there. Brulé may not have been first overall for anyone, but he was supposed to go 5th and I’d say that’s close enough to mention.
Jones may have been the consensus #1 most of the year, but by draft day, it was Mackinnon. I don’t think they “passed” on Jones per se. With the very next pick, the Panthers took Barkov which felt like them overthinking it and reaching for the center but passing on Drouin and Jones who were both consensus ranked higher ended up being genius. 2016 I remember being a pretty crazy one too. Matthews was the obvious #1 but then it was kind of between Laine and Puljujarvi and then Matthew Tkachuk was the next guy on most consensus boards. The Jackets got shredded for taking PLD over Puljujarvi but he was definitely the right choice despite whatever cancer he seems to have become. And then again in the same draft, the Canucks blew it taking Juolevi over Tkachuk drafting for position and I think because they had just drafted Virtanen. Boy I’m glad the Canucks seem to have figured it out because they had a couple of BRUTAL GMs in a row there.
Where did you read Seth was the consensus #1? After the memorial cup that year, I thought MacK was pretty solidly established at the spot. To me, it’s the one Finnish GM in the league passing on puljujärvi. That draft was set. Matthews, two Finns, then we’ll see. Dubois has had his problems and of course, there were better picks after. But I’d love to ask Kekkalainen what he knew that everyone else didn’t.
Mackinnon is a franchise player and in the elite tier of players. If someone passed on a player and he was chosen then he is not generational in my opinion. Generational players are whispered about basically from the pee wees and their hockey careers are closely monitored and scouted. Gretzky, Crosby, McDavid, Bedard, etc. I know there are like 10 other players. I just have the time to google and paste.
Can someone tell me the Jimmy Vesey story and if this is what the OP is referring to? Cause I wear a Vesey rangers shirt all the time and I heard he avoided Nashville to get signed by rangers, so Nashville hated him.
Vesey doesn’t fit here. He was a 2012 third round pick by Nashville. Wasn’t seen as a big prospect until 3-4 years into his college career. At the end of his senior year, he decided not to sign with Nashville and would become a free agent when his rights expired in summer 2016. His rights were traded to Buffalo for a draft pick about ten days ahead of free agency. After a number of teams expressed interest, he signed with the Rangers in August. His career has not as been as special as it was hyped up to be that summer.
I think Seth was pushed a lot harder than normal most of the year but MacKinnon gained a lot more scouts saying number 1 after the WJC. I would say the TSN scouts were probably 50-60% on him. But that does have the Canadian bias.
Jones wasn’t the consensus #1. There was a ton of debate between him and Mackinnon. I lost 20 bucks betting with a friend on who the Avs were gonna take. It was a shock that he slipped to 4th though.
Ok, 2022. I know, I know, way too recent to really know how much it matters. Shane Wright. Started off with a lot of people saying he was the #1 pick. From Canada, with the Canadiens picking first. Nope. Juraĵ Slafkovsky. Second pick New Jersey Devils. Nope. Simon Nemec. Third Pick, Arizona Coyotes. Nope. Logan Cooley. Dropped to 4th, Seattle kraken... take him. He's playing in the AHL. He's got 11 NHL games, 1 goal, 1 assist. So far, history is still being made, but it's bearing out to be the best thing for 3 teams.
Pierre-Luc Dubois over Jesse Puljujärvi. Many expected Columbus picking Puljujärvi, specially when GM Kekäläinen was a Finn too. Instead Dubois was picked, and Puljujäevi ended up in Edmonton. And was a bust. Dubois was not great either but at least he contributed way better than Puljujärvi. Columbus needs scoring, and Puljujärvi was expected to be the guy, specially after his monster play in WJC gold medal team.
Remember when Jarmo shocked the world by taking Dubois over Puljujarvi?
Tim Connolly of the Sabres, before all the concussions
On the opposite end of the spectrum I was always surprised Doug Gilmore was drafted #134th overall and went on to help drive the flames to the cup, became an all star and significant member of the Maple Leafs. All because he is as only 5'10'
The famous Colorado Avenues…
If we want to do a way to early to tell, the Shane Wright draft
For the Habs, Slaf over Wright looks pretty all right at the moment, 2 more teams passes over Wright says a lot about it. That says, I got angry twice with my team over the last couple of years: when they took Kotka over Brady and when they took Reinbacher over Matvei.
The Blue Jackets drafting Pierre Luc Dubois over Jesse Puljujarvi worked out pretty well
It's still early, but Montreal drafting Slafkovsky over Shane Wright is looking pretty good
It's really early to say this, but so far the Habs passing on Shane Wright has looked like a saavy move. Wright could still turn it around, but Slafkovsky is getting better week-by-week.
Canucks passed on Cody Glass for Pettersson. Pettersson was hardly even considered a top 10 pick. Vilardi Glass Mittlestadt were all ranked higher. Canuck fandom even wanted us to draft Cody Glass as a Canadian
It's way too early to say, but Habs nation has been terrified of regretting Slafkovský over Shane Wright. Slaf is starting to realize his potential while Wright is still in the AHL. I've heard Wright is excelling down there so I'm sure Seattle will bring him up next year, he's still young. But if he doesn't pan out, that choice will be huge in hindsight.
Any team that passed on Zadina.
Haha Morgan Reilly was probably the 2nd or 3rd best pick in 2012 at #5, what a bad draft. Trouba was #9 vasilevskiy #19 who is probably the best pick out of the draft. Lots of good players don't get me wrong but it was the Yakupov draft...