Closest top 5 in how long?

Letang fan 58

No More Fleury
May 12, 2004
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I dont remember a top 5 in the draft being this tightly scouted in years........there is some talk that Erik Johnson should go number one but that is not a sure thing with the Blues apparently liking both Jordan Staal and Backstrom as well.

When was the last time that every player in the top 5 could have a solid argument for going first overall like could be done this year.

Kessel- the surefire number 1 pick going into the world juniors is still thought of as the most skillful player in the draft by quite a ways.

Toews- the most skilled 2 way player in the draft, who competes hard and is a big game player

EJ- Big time Dman who had dominant World junior tourney and looks to be possible franchise dman

Staal- lots of hype from his last name, but he has backed it up this season with a great playoffs and vastly improved skating, as well one of the smartest if not smartest players in the draft.

Backstrom- Started out bottom line on his Sr mens team and ended the season being the best Fwd on the team, won rookie of the year award in the SEL and had a great year on most accounts. not to mention won gold in the worlds.

Are they all this close? or is the scouting off? or is it just being held closely till draft time.
 

Jaded-Fan

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I agree with this thread and wonder how much the fact of Johnson being the only defenseman worth much at the very top of the draft is a factor in his 'separation' from the pack. There are as many as five or six center prospects that would be in the top five in almost any draft year. And all are fairly close though none are generational talents . . . except maybe Kessel if he hit his top end of his potential.
 

crosby_87

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Jun 22, 2005
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Jaded-Fan said:
I agree with this thread and wonder how much the fact of Johnson being the only defenseman worth much at the very top of the draft is a factor in his 'separation' from the pack. There are as many as five or six center prospects that would be in the top five in almost any draft year. And all are fairly close though none are generational talents . . . except maybe Kessel if he hit his top end of his potential.
Kessel does NOT have the potential to be a generational talent.
 

Crosby=Gretzky

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I agree. All of these 5(EJ, Kessel, Backstrom, Staal and Toews) could go 1st OVR, but also, any one of those guys(exept for Johnson) could go at 4 or 5, or even slip out of the top 5, IMO.
 

Rabid Ranger

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Jaded-Fan said:
I agree with this thread and wonder how much the fact of Johnson being the only defenseman worth much at the very top of the draft is a factor in his 'separation' from the pack. There are as many as five or six center prospects that would be in the top five in almost any draft year. And all are fairly close though none are generational talents . . . except maybe Kessel if he hit his top end of his potential.


Johnson being a defenseman is helping his profile in this draft, but I don't think that should take away from the fact that he's the best player available. He has everything that you can look for in a player and virtually zero negatives.
 

crosby_87

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Rabid Ranger said:
Johnson being a defenseman is helping his profile in this draft, but I don't think that should take away from the fact that he's the best player available. He has everything that you can look for in a player and virtually zero negatives.
Totally agree. Johnson will be an awesome d-man. I just can't stand how Jaded-fan has such a hard-on for Kessel in every post.
 

Lalander977

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SOLR said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_NHL_Entry_Draft

This is the closest draft in terms of top 5 being close I think.(Before this year.)

Another close draft that I remember:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_NHL_Entry_Draft

Did that one was close too?

1983 NHL Entry Draft

1 Minnesota Brian Lawton L Mount St. Charles H.S. (R.I.)
2 Hartford Sylvain Turgeon L Hull Olympiques (QMJHL)
3 NY Islanders Pat LaFontaine C Verdun Juniors (QMJHL)
4 Detroit Steve Yzerman C Peterborough Petes (OHL)
5 Buffalo Tom Barrasso G Acton-Boxboro H.S. (Mass.)
 

crosby_87

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Lalander977 said:
Did that one was close too?

1983 NHL Entry Draft

1 Minnesota Brian Lawton L Mount St. Charles H.S. (R.I.)
2 Hartford Sylvain Turgeon L Hull Olympiques (QMJHL)
3 NY Islanders Pat LaFontaine C Verdun Juniors (QMJHL)
4 Detroit Steve Yzerman C Peterborough Petes (OHL)
5 Buffalo Tom Barrasso G Acton-Boxboro H.S. (Mass.)
Boy oh Boy did the North Stars and Whalers f up.
 

Roger's Pancreas*

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What about the 2002 NHL Draft?

1 Columbus Rick Nash L London Knights (OHL)
2 Atlanta Kari Lehtonen G Jokerit Helsinki (FNL)
3 Florida Jay Bouwmeester D Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL)
4 Philadelphia Joni Pitkanen D Karpat (FNL)
5 Pittsburgh Ryan Whitney D Boston University (NCAA)
 

turnbuckle*

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To be honest this year reminds me of last year in some ways. After Crosby, were the next four not close?

If I recall correctly, most around here had Johnson second, Brule third, Pouliot fourth, Ryan fifth, and Kopitar sixth.

Well; it didn't go down that way did it? Turns out the players were really "close" in abilites after all was said and done. Some teams had Johnson second, some had Ryan, a couple had Pouliot, and still others were sold on Brule. I even talked to a scout who had Mark Staal second overall on his list. Many teams didn't have Kopitar in it's top six obviously, Price was in the top six of at least one NHL team as Hab fans shockingly discovered. ;)

This year there is also a consensus number one...after that it's anybody's guess who goes where, much like last year.
 

Letang fan 58

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Panasonic Youth said:
What about the 2002 NHL Draft?

1 Columbus Rick Nash L London Knights (OHL)
2 Atlanta Kari Lehtonen G Jokerit Helsinki (FNL)
3 Florida Jay Bouwmeester D Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL)
4 Philadelphia Joni Pitkanen D Karpat (FNL)
5 Pittsburgh Ryan Whitney D Boston University (NCAA)

Pitkanen and Whitney were never going in the top 3 leading up to this draft......now they look as good but then they didnt.
 

Rabid Ranger

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crosby_87 said:
Totally agree. Johnson will be an awesome d-man. I just can't stand how Jaded-fan has such a hard-on for Kessel in every post.

Kind of like the hard-on you have for Toews? ;) We all have our favorites and are vocal about it in our own ways.
 

Jaded-Fan

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Rabid Ranger said:
Kind of like the hard-on you have for Toews? ;) We all have our favorites and are vocal about it in our own ways.

I actually think that all of the top five, including Johnson, are fairly close. Including Toews for that matter. I personally love how Kessel projects to fit at wing for the Pens. He seems to be the most likely to create havoc offensively of any of the top prospects. That said, if we did not have Crosby and Malkin at center I might be looking far more closely at some of the others, including Toews. But it is my personal preference, others have every right to feel differently.

I certainly will not cry if we end up with Toews, he is a great prospect. But I would prefer we end up with another.
 

turnbuckle*

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FWIW - I asked a scout yesterday who he thought the Pens would take - (he's of the opinion that Johnson is the consensus number one without question BTW) - he figures Kessel even though he has others ahead of him on his list.

He thinks it would be a 'waste" to spend the second overall pick on another top-two center like Staal or Backstrom, and Kessel has the most experience on the wing of any of the top picks. It may be an instance where the Pens don't necessarily take the BPA, but only because the prospects are so close. He did admit that it happens on occasion, especially when the BPA on a team's list is a goalie.
 

Habsaku

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Panasonic Youth said:
What about the 2002 NHL Draft?

1 Columbus Rick Nash L London Knights (OHL)
2 Atlanta Kari Lehtonen G Jokerit Helsinki (FNL)
3 Florida Jay Bouwmeester D Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL)
4 Philadelphia Joni Pitkanen D Karpat (FNL)
5 Pittsburgh Ryan Whitney D Boston University (NCAA)
That was the most recent one I was thinking about.
 

MN_Gopher

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I think they are all so different too. Thats does not help. If one were better at this area or faster or more explosive or bigger. They would be each other. But there is that inbetween area. Can person Y Xcel more in this area to out weigh what he lacks in that area. Or will he come around in that area and make it a non issue.
 

weaponomega

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If I remember, didn't the 99 draft have a fairly close top 4 at least?

Atlanta - Patrik Stefan
Vancouver - Daniel Sedin
Vancouver - Henrik Sedin
NY Rangers - Pavel Brendl
 

SOLR

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Panasonic Youth said:
What about the 2002 NHL Draft?

1 Columbus Rick Nash L London Knights (OHL)
2 Atlanta Kari Lehtonen G Jokerit Helsinki (FNL)
3 Florida Jay Bouwmeester D Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL)
4 Philadelphia Joni Pitkanen D Karpat (FNL)
5 Pittsburgh Ryan Whitney D Boston University (NCAA)

Rich Nash was head and shoulder number 1, if I recall correctly.
 

SOLR

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weaponomega said:
If I remember, didn't the 99 draft have a fairly close top 4 at least?

Atlanta - Patrik Stefan
Vancouver - Daniel Sedin
Vancouver - Henrik Sedin
NY Rangers - Pavel Brendl

Poorest draft in the last 20 years.

Martin Havlat for the steal at 29th or something like that.
 

SOLR

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turnbuckle said:
To be honest this year reminds me of last year in some ways. After Crosby, were the next four not close?

If I recall correctly, most around here had Johnson second, Brule third, Pouliot fourth, Ryan fifth, and Kopitar sixth.

Well; it didn't go down that way did it? Turns out the players were really "close" in abilites after all was said and done. Some teams had Johnson second, some had Ryan, a couple had Pouliot, and still others were sold on Brule. I even talked to a scout who had Mark Staal second overall on his list. Many teams didn't have Kopitar in it's top six obviously, Price was in the top six of at least one NHL team as Hab fans shockingly discovered. ;)

This year there is also a consensus number one...after that it's
anybody's guess who goes where, much like last year.

Absolutely if you forget Crosby. Overall I think scouting is getting more accurate.
 

SOLR

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Lalander977 said:
Did that one was close too?

1983 NHL Entry Draft

1 Minnesota Brian Lawton L Mount St. Charles H.S. (R.I.)
2 Hartford Sylvain Turgeon L Hull Olympiques (QMJHL)
3 NY Islanders Pat LaFontaine C Verdun Juniors (QMJHL)
4 Detroit Steve Yzerman C Peterborough Petes (OHL)
5 Buffalo Tom Barrasso G Acton-Boxboro H.S. (Mass.)

:innocent: I was a little to young to remember the hype or BPA discussions back then :)
 

Draft Guru

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I think 2003 was pretty close.

1 Pittsburgh Marc-Andre Fleury G Cape-Breton Screaming Eagles (QMJHL)
2 Carolina Eric Staal C Peterborough Petes (OHL)
3 Florida Nathan Horton C Oshawa Generals (OHL)
4 Columbus Nikolai Zherdev R CSKA Moscow (Russia)
5 Buffalo Thomas Vanek W U. of Minnesota (NCAA)

No one was too sure of the order. Any of the top 4 could've went number 1, IMO.
 

Form and Substance

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Jun 11, 2004
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Draft Guru said:
I think 2003 was pretty close.

1 Pittsburgh Marc-Andre Fleury G Cape-Breton Screaming Eagles (QMJHL)
2 Carolina Eric Staal C Peterborough Petes (OHL)
3 Florida Nathan Horton C Oshawa Generals (OHL)
4 Columbus Nikolai Zherdev R CSKA Moscow (Russia)
5 Buffalo Thomas Vanek W U. of Minnesota (NCAA)

No one was too sure of the order. Any of the top 4 could've went number 1, IMO.

I think Fleury and Zherdev had the slight edge though coming into the draft.
 

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