If you'd seen the goal that Terry Ryan scored in the 1995 CHL All-star game, you'd have taken him 8th overall, too. He had probably the most dominant power-forward season any 17 y/o not named Lindros has had in the last 20 years. His total failure as a prospect still mystifies me - the guy had Gary Roberts written all over him at the time. He probably could have overcome his skating, but concussions and a total lack of conditioning/committment did him in.
I don't recall that big of a skating knock on Iginla - he was just viewed as a solid all-around guy with a more limited (50-60 point type) upside. At the time, it wasn't felt that he had either the skill or the toughness of Ryan and Doan. He didn't explode until the following season.
Sykora was injured and didn't play after New Year's that season, which hurt his stock. He was still pegged as a top-10 lock going into the draft, but had a rather shocking fall on draft day as GMs worried about his size/grit and his injury.