Most controversial draft picks all time?

[kmad]

Taro Tsujimoto, obvious one

Jiri Dudacek, Alex Mogilny, for iron curtain purposes

Jaromir Jagr, military purposes

Pavel Bure, for the RSL papers / igor larionov thing

Perreault, for the confusing coinflip

Ovechkin.. the 9th rounder Keenan used in 2004 to try to draft him

Any more?

Click to read more...

 

[Raoul Duke*]

Wasn't Perreault done on a stupid wheel spin Maggie the Monkey style with Vancouver?

 

[Lowetide]

Bobby Clarke was somewhat controversial. His talent and final jr season certainly warranted a 1st rd pick but being a diabetic hurt his draft number badly. Legend has it that the Flyers were still thinking about passing on Clarke in the 2nd rd when a Red Wing scout mentioned to a group of Flyers' brass that he was the best player available and that the Flyers might as well take him because the idiots he worked for weren't going to no matter how far he fell.

 

[kmad]

Wasn't Perreault done on a stupid wheel spin Maggie the Monkey style with Vancouver?

Yep. Canucks chose even numbers, Sabres chose odd numbers. It landed on what the Canucks thought was roman numerals for 2, but it was 11.

 

[Masao]

Carey Price.

 

[kmad]

Wasn't Perreault done on a stupid wheel spin Maggie the Monkey style with Vancouver?

Yep. Canucks chose even numbers, Sabres chose odd numbers. It landed on what the Canucks thought was roman numerals for 2, but it was 11.

I don't know why I said coinflip.

 

[Raoul Duke*]

For some reason I'll always think that whole lottery for Crosby was tainted, controversial.
The whole behind closed doors, and just the way it rolled out with TB being 30th after they won the Cup.... and well whatever, I could go on but sound like a crazy theorist.

 

[solipsta]

For some reason I'll always think that whole lottery for Crosby was tainted, controversial.
The whole behind closed doors, and just the way it rolled out with TB being 30th after they won the Cup.... and well whatever, I could go on but sound like a crazy theorist.

The policy of doing these things behind closed doors is insane. If they're doing it legit, there's no reason not to get it on camera so you can show people that you're doing it correctly.

 

[turnbuckle*]

Bjorn Johansson - Drafted 5th overall by Cleveland Barons in the late 70's.

Why draft Bernie Federko when you can waste a high pick on the first European ever chosen in the first round? Soon was discovered that he wan't the next Borje Salming, in contradiction to what some Swedish birddog told them for $20.

Tretiak drafted by Montreal when no one dreamed of such a thing.

Toronto drafting three Belleville Bulls with their 3 first round picks, none which panned out like they hoped.

 

[Roughneck]

"DOAN! DOAN! DOAN!"

'the Edmonton Oilers select Steve Kelly'

 

[Stonefly]

Montreal drafting Doug Wickenheiser instead of Denis Savard in 1980.
Everyone thought they would go with Savard. Turned out to be a bad choice for Montreal.

 

[hgo]

DiPietro. First goalie to ever go #1. The next two picks: Heatley, and Gaborik. Other notables in that draft - Lundqvist going in the 7th round, Liles in the 4th round, and Visnovsky (who was 24) in the 4th.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

"DOAN! DOAN! DOAN!"

'the Edmonton Oilers select Steve Kelly'

First thing that came to my mind when I saw the thread title.

Also, the 2003 draft when Atlanta passed over Phaneuf to draft Braydon Coburn. The analysts were all surprised, and rightly so by the looks of things right now.

 

[Hasbro]

DiPietro. First goalie to ever go #1. The next two picks: Heatley, and Gaborik. Other notables in that draft - Lundqvist going in the 7th round, Liles in the 4th round, and Visnovsky (who was 24) in the 4th.

A million times more contravesal because Milbury traded Luongo to open up a spot for DiPietro.

 

[Inklings]

Alexander Mogilny

the dude was scared to death of flying and the sabres had to sneak him out the Soviet Union.

I can remember him not going to some away games cause he was scared to fly and the sabres wouldnt buss him out to far west cost games.

 

[John Belushi]

Ovechkin.. the 9th rounder Keenan used in 2004 to try to draft him

Any more?

What happened?

 

[Hasbro]

What happened?

In the 2003 draft Keenan spent his 9th on Ovy and said the four leap years that Ovy lived through pushed him into elligibility for that year. Trying to pull a fast one.

 

[norrisnick]

I'll go with Bure. Wings were told no, but then Larionov dug up some magic game sheets for the 'Nucks with Bure pencilled in. At least Igor redeemed himself with the Wings later in his career, but that '89 Wings draft could have been legendary.

Lidstrom, Fedorov, Konstantinov, Bure and then a couple still active guys in Drake, Sillinger, and Boughner was servicable for a while.

 

[Big Phil]

It wasnt controversial at the time but to look back on it you'd think it was. Nik Antropov to Toronto 10th overall. After him in the 1st round were Tanguay, Regehr, Gagne and Gomez. Ouch. Even Cheechoo was taken 29th.

 

[John Flyers Fan]

Bobby Clarke was somewhat controversial. His talent and final jr season certainly warranted a 1st rd pick but being a diabetic hurt his draft number badly. Legend has it that the Flyers were still thinking about passing on Clarke in the 2nd rd when a Red Wing scout mentioned to a group of Flyers' brass that he was the best player available and that the Flyers might as well take him because the idiots he worked for weren't going to no matter how far he fell.

Flyers scout Jerry Melnyk was begging for the Flyers to take Clarke with their 1st round pick.

Bud Polie didn't listen in the first round and Melnyk finally got Keith Alen (asst. at the time) to convince Poile to take him in round two.

Detroit GM who had taken Jimmy Rutherford in round one and was hoping to get another shot at Clarke in round two immediately offered two players for Clarke and was turned down.

Ten teams passed on him once, with the Bruins passing 3 times, Minnesota and the Rangers twice each.



All the above courtesy of Full Spectrum by Jay Greenberg.

 

[Evil Janney]

the first year san jose came into the league, instead of the expansion getting the first overall it was given to quebec (lindros). i think it may have been the first year they ever did that. still not 100% sure but i think it had something to do with gund (owner of the sharks) making a deal with the league or something...maybe u can dig up old threads in the sharks forum.

 

[shatner_rules]

Winnipeg drafting Jimmy Mann in '79.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

I knew the Flyers drafted Anton Stastny but maybe someone can fill in the blanks as to whether Quebec's drafting was controversial or not -- here is a summary from the Draft Central site:

http://www.hockeydraftcentral.com/1978/78198.html

Stastny's Defection: Stastny and his brother Peter defected from their native Czechoslovakia in 1980. In bolting the communist nation, they risked their lives for the chance to play in the NHL. The Quebec Nordiques organization played a major role in helping the Stastnys, as the team had worked on the maneuver since the summer of 1979. Initially, Quebec hoped that the Stastnys could defect at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y., but security had been too tight and prevented Quebec executives from communicating with the brothers.

 

[The_Human_Atombomb]

In the 2003 draft Keenan spent his 9th on Ovy and said the four leap years that Ovy lived through pushed him into elligibility for that year. Trying to pull a fast one.

That was one of the most insane things I've ever heard. Though that was Dudley.

 

[Hasbro]

That was one of the most insane things I've ever heard. Though that was Dudley.

May have been. I've lost track of the florida front office.