Prospects you were 100% sure about that busted.

[AmericanDream]

Was pretty high on Ty Rattie.

yep, I started his damn thread years ago!!! floored he isn't a NHLer by now

 

[AmericanDream]

two absolute humiliating swings and misses for me (and much of the scouting world early on) was Nick Ebert -D and Luke Kirwan - F...

Both of these kids were being talked about as potential #1 picks...and I have no idea how they fell as far as they did with Kirwan bouncing around from CHL leagues and teams. Kirwan was considered every bit as good as Matthews prior to the USNDP days...Kirwan had the size and skill that USA Hockey rarely sees...what happened to him is a mystery or maybe just peaked way too early, was bigger and stronger than the rest and everyone finally caught up to him...but absolutely amazing he didn't at the least get drafted for being a near 6'3 220lb forward...he had hands and a shot, watched him play a half dozen times in person...just shit the bed..

Ebert is as well know as going from a legit top 3, and #1 by some to the last player picked overall. I believe he had a lot of family problems and issues which is a shame as the kid was a flat out beast for Waterloo in the USHL and then in Windsor his first year in the CHL - FLAT OUT BEAST..

He like Kirwan just peaked too early, never got his footing right, made alot of mental errors, lost confidence and simply buckled under the pressure of being such a highly ranked player to now completely out of NA in 6 years..

 

[Cassano]

Yakupov. Though he'd a consistent 35g+ scorer who brings a feisty/nasty element to his game every night. What a damn shame.

 

[Stive Morgan]

two absolute humiliating swings and misses for me (and much of the scouting world early on) was Nick Ebert -D and Luke Kirwan - F...

Both of these kids were being talked about as potential #1 picks...and I have no idea how they fell as far as they did with Kirwan bouncing around from CHL leagues and teams. Kirwan was considered every bit as good as Matthews prior to the USNDP days...Kirwan had the size and skill that USA Hockey rarely sees...what happened to him is a mystery or maybe just peaked way too early, was bigger and stronger than the rest and everyone finally caught up to him...but absolutely amazing he didn't at the least get drafted for being a near 6'3 220lb forward...he had hands and a shot, watched him play a half dozen times in person...just **** the bed..

Ebert is as well know as going from a legit top 3, and #1 by some to the last player picked overall. I believe he had a lot of family problems and issues which is a shame as the kid was a flat out beast for Waterloo in the USHL and then in Windsor his first year in the CHL - FLAT OUT BEAST..

He like Kirwan just peaked too early, never got his footing right, made alot of mental errors, lost confidence and simply buckled under the pressure of being such a highly ranked player to now completely out of NA in 6 years..

I must admit the fact that Ebert was picked last in the 2012 draft is just hilarious. From projected 1st overall to Mr. Irrelevant

 

[Stive Morgan]

Blake Clarke is another good one. He looked so good in Brampton. He had more points in his draft -1 season than he did in the rest of his OHL career. (51 in 68 games, then 44 in his next 146 games)

 

[Gnashville]

Timofei Shishkanov He was as talented as Kovalckuck according to some scouts.
Charles-Olivier Roussel was going to be another Shea Weber.

 

[Dropkick Murphy]

Pitkänen was mentioned earlier in this thread. He had good career but completely destroyed by injuries.

Three Finnish goalies Ahonen, Noronen and Toivonen were sure bets to become elite NHL netminders. They all have their changes, but never realized them. Size, mobility, good technique but still not enough

 

[AmericanDream]

Blake Clarke is another good one. He looked so good in Brampton. He had more points in his draft -1 season than he did in the rest of his OHL career. (51 in 68 games, then 44 in his next 146 games)

Another absolute mystery of a player who dominated for a few years then just faded away...had some injuries, but something else went wrong there as I watched the kid, he should have been a legit player

 

[Chainshot]

Ryan Pepperall. Thought the Leafs really had someone there who would give them jam and finish off the wing. Loved him when he was with Kitchener, really thought he would be something. Heh.

 

[Fantomas]

yep, I started his damn thread years ago!!! floored (Rattie) isn't a NHLer by now

So many volume scorers in junior who didn't amount to a hill of beans.

But Rattie is particularly frustrating because he looked very good in his first AHL season.

 

[Pip]

Hunter Shinkaruk. I'm glad we turned him into a decent NHLer

Cody Hodgson. biggest lesson. NEVER EVER USE WJC AS AN INDICATOR OF NHL SUCCESS.

Hodgson was great at the CHL level as well

 

[ATypicalCanadian]

As a Canucks fan Hodgson(although injuries ruined him) was a treat to watch in his rookie season with those timely slapshots past goalies.

Shroeder and Shinkaruk come to mind as guys that were viewed as steals at the time and didn't pan out as expected.

 

[NoShowWilly]

Remember my dumbass about 10 years ago thinking that Crosby was going to make Angelo Esposito the steal of the draft.

 

[BM14]

Enrico Ciccone
Sergei Samsonov

 

[Jayevs]

Mark McNeill
Conner Bleackley
Curtis Lazar
Montreal’s 2012 draft

 

[AveryStar4Eva]

Nail Yakupov - Weirdest thing is going into the draft I didn't think much of him it was after his first NHL season that I thought he was going to be a star. Skill, speed, and a hard worker don't know what happened to the guy.

Zach Bogosian - Big tough defenceman who scored a point per game in the OHL in his draft year. How could he not translate into the NHL. Still sticking around, but looks not great.

Jack Campbell - Thought Stars picked up the next top goalie in his draft. Instead his stats got worse every year as did his confidence.

 

[Dempsey]

Mats Lindgren - First rounder in 1993 with a good 6'2" frame and was almost a PPG in the SEL in his draft +1 season, then 32 points in 37 GP in his draft +2 in SEL. During that season he was acquired by the Oilers from the Jets and they brought him over to the AHL to end the season and he immediately put up 7 goals and 12 points in only 13 games. Started the next season dominant in the AHL with 13 points in 9 games before getting called up. At this point how could he not be considered a future star? From there he just sort of became a third liner and bounced around before retiring. I believe it was injuries that kept him from really developing further.

Jaroslav Svejkovsky - 1996 first rounder by the Caps out of the Czech Republic. Came over to the WHL for his draft +1 season and immediately put up 58 goals in 70 games for Tri-City. His draft +2 season he's an AHL rookie starting the season as a 19-year-old and puts up 38 goals and 66 points in only 54 games before ending the season with the Capitals and puts up 10 points in 19 games including a four-goal game to finish the season. At this point "Yogi" Svejkovsky looks like an easy bet to be a superstar, and he never played more than 29 games in a season ever again. Can't remember what the injury was but this was a player who could have been a big star in the 2000's.

Brandon Gormley - He just seemed like such a safe bet. I've come to realize now to be wary of the "safe bet" players. You've gotta have something dynamic in your game at the junior level in order to be more than just "meh" as a pro.

 

[TMLeafs17]

Had Sam Reinhart rated #1 in 2014...

 

[Batrous]

Stuart Percy: The first NHL game I saw him play he was really impressive. Sadly, concussion problems and injuries destroyed his chances of being a very good defenseman.

 

[Jtown]

Mark McNeill
Conner Bleackley
Curtis Lazar
Montreal’s 2012 draft

NHL network was raving about their draft the whole day of the draft. I remember thinking wow Montreal is going to be loaded.

Michael Dal Colle.

 

[oilers4life]

what about angelo esposito i thought he was gonna be somebody really good if i remember he was hyped to be really good

 

[kidkosher]

Started following the draft more intently in 2010 so I will only go that far back. Not listing busts necessarily, but bust / disappointments / not 100% sure yet types.

Filatov - thought he just wasn’t given a fair shake under Hitchcock, and was going to become that dangling wizard Kovalev light when he got to Ottawa

Nichuskin - Not a bust yet, but after that rookie year, I thought he was a sure fire top line goal scorer. I still believe in him...want one of my teams like Ottawa to pick him up and give him a shot like ^ lol.

Rundblad - Bought into the hype just as almost everyone else. Not much to say here.

Cowen - Honestly, if it weren’t for the knee injuries leading to the total loss of mobility, I still think he could’ve been a 2nd pair guy up to a #2. Saw him dozens of times in Spokane and I always left the rink in awe of his size / ability. Saw a better skating Hal Gill at very worst. Weber like at peak...Uh oh.

Eric Roy - (dark horse) I was a WHL guy, and this guy impressed me every time I saw a Brandon game to catch the wonder which was Mark Stone. That defense with Roy / Pulock on the back end and Stone up front was fun to watch. Turns out Pulock made him look 10x better than he was.

Shawn Belle - another darkhorse. Don’t know what happened here. Once he went pro I didn’t follow his career there much after. He had the skating and two way ability, and he was a tank on his skates.

Yakupov - Again, fell for the hype. Didn’t even see him much, just watched some tape, highlights and read about him. I thought even if he stayed one-dimensional, he was still going to fly down the wings and unleash his wicked shot for 25 goals a year i.e. Mike Hoffman.

Poirier - Tons of natural talent, but the substance abuse probably ruined his career.

Shinkaruk - wanted Sens to pick him instead of Lazar...well I can’t say I dodged a bullet because both of them are busting. Mantha-Brassard-Stone just hurts thinking about.

Noesen - Injuries. I am really happy he is turning it around in spite of them and is carving out a 4th line role. Though I thought he had top 6 offensive abilities and was going to be like Chris Drury. The guy had that all out all the time drive to be a winner.

Lehner - Like I said, I’m not just listing busts, but I was super upset Craig Anderson wasn’t traded to make room for Lehner. I thought he was going to be the next Ron Hextall. A freaking ball of anger that had Vezina trophy talent. Still lots of time for him to become a solid #1, but I was expecting star.

Puempel - Shot alone I thought made him a multiple time 20 goal scorer. Was one-dimensional in juniors, and while he has since rounded out his game in the pro’s, he forgot how to score haha.

Grimaldi - Would’ve been one of the fastest guys in the league, and had tantalizing talent, and the drive to put it all together. I thought if he overcame his size disadvantage, the kid would’ve become what Grabner is (Grabner’s good years that is) I didn’t even know he was back in the NHL.

Noesen today is not who he should have been. BUT he does have that drive to win games and he is one of the few players whose gas gauge doesnt run dry in a game. Happy he's a devil, but when drafted, I for sure hoped he was more.

 

[Treb]

Alexander Avtsyn
Benjamin Conz
Louis Leblanc
Sebastian Collberg
Dalton Thrower

 

[Elias Pettersson]

Some of these aren't busts and some of these are too early to tell, but I only started following the draft closely after Vancouver started sucking... so here's my list of some recent players that I thought would be stars and are not trending well or as well as I thought they'd be

Griffin Reinhart - thought he'd be a star two way defender 50 point kind of guy. You can't go wrong with a guy named Griffin.
Mikhail Grigorenko - thought he'd be a solid 60 point player in the NHL
Jonathan Drouin - thought he was gonna be a future superstar. 70+ point winger... instead he's a 40 point center (?!)
Timo Meier - Was really hoping the Canucks could trade up from 23 and get Meier... Thank God we stayed at 23 and got Boeser instead...
Valeri Nichushkin - Thought he would be a huge star power forward. Was so upset Canucks took Horvat over him... not anymore
Dylan Strome - I once thought he'd be better than Marner...
Hunter Shinkaruk - thought the Canucks got a gem here. Turned out he's a career AHLer.
Michael Dal Colle - thought he'd be a 60 point two way forward.
Zach Fucale - thought he'd be a top 15 goalie in the NHL.

 

[Bileur]

Jared Cowen.

Was so sure that being a "regular" top-four defenseman would be his floor, and his ceiling was Chara-lite.

I had the same thought seeing this thread. He had all the tools. During that first season he was showing he had all the tools to be a top 4 defenseman.

I’d add Anthony Stewart, I badly hoped the sens would acquire him in his draft year thinking he’d be similar to Doan.

In fact, Spezza never lived up to my hopes.