Last year's draft had Crosby in a class by himself. After that, IMO, you had J. Johnson and Brule as players who were potential all-stars or even franchise players. From there, you had a handful of guys who could be elite goalies/No. 1 defencemen/first line forwards (Ryan, Pouliot, Kopitar) and then a lot of future decent No. 1 goalies, No. 2/3 defencemen or second line forwards. I'd have a hard time rating Pouliot as a future No. 1 forward as of right now. Others, like Staal and Bourdon, have elevated their play to the point where I could see them developing into No. 1 defencemen. Others, like Setoguchi, are in that no-man's land between first and second line projections.
I don't think there's a defenceman as good as Jack Johnson (although Erik Johnson will be a wonderful player) and I don't think there's a forward who I'd rate ahead of Brule (at least for all-round ability), let alone Crosby. I don't view the defensive depth as particularly strong, although there are a few with top-pairing potential. I think there are more forwards at this point in time who I'd say have the potential to be top line guys than there were last year.
But honestly, the NHL draft is a huge guessing game. Two years ago, everyone was saying Meszaros' potential is a top-pairing defenceman. Now, he's leading the league in plus/minus, quite an impressive feat for a rookie, regardless of what you think of the stat. He seems destined to be a No. 1 blue-liner.