The Weakest First Rounds in Draft History...

[GlitchMarner]

In 1988, Modano and Linden were the top two picks and then Gelinas, Roenick, Brind'Amour and Selanne were all picked in a row later on.

The rest of the first round was absolute trash, with the most notable player taken being Curtis Leschyshyn.

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/nhl1988e.html


1989:

Sundin was obviously a strong first overall, but then Dave Chyzowski was drafted second overall and Thornton went third.

The only worthwhile players selected in the first round that year were:

Sundin
Kolzig
Guerin
Holik
Barnes
Sillinger


http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/nhl1989e.html

Aside from a HOF centre and a star goalie, a pretty good power forward, a solid checker, a fairly skilled top six forward and a decent checker were the best players selected in the first that year.


1994's first round looks notably weak: Aside from Jovanovski, Ohlund and Smyth, the best players taken were Bonk, O'Neill, Tverdovsky, Friesen and Wayne Primeau.

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/nhl1994e.html


In 1999, the best drafted in round one aside from the Sedins were Havlat, Barrett Jackman, Connolly, Stefan, and Taylot Pyatt.

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/nhl1999e.html

Click to read more...

 

[Habsfan18]

The 1992 1st round features a ton of busts. Was considered a weak draft overall at the time but there were still some players that looked like they would be decent NHLers.

Ryan Sittler, Brandon Convery, David Cooper, Joe Hulbig, Jason Bowen, David Wilkie, Libor Polasek, and Curtis Bowen all busted hard considering they were all projected as solid NHLers.

Hamrlik, Yashin, Stillman, Rathje, Kasparitis, Valeri Bure, Gonchar, Jason Smith, and Straka are really the only impact NHLers fron that entire 1st round. Guess you could add Grant Marshall there as well. Some solid NHLers from that round but no true stars really other than Yashin and Gonchar.

 

[VanIslander]

The 1989? There were several SOLID picks. Not only Sundin.

• Kolzig is the greatest Caps goalie ever and led them to the Stanley Cup Finals with Conn Smythe worthy performances, Vezina winner, 300+ wins for the franchise. heck, give me a 19th overall like that any day!
  
• Holik was a premier 3rd line center who played a solid two-way game, was important in two Stanley Cup championships and led the team in game winners in a third run at the finals.
• Guerin and Barnes were underperformers based on expectations but Barnes was clutch with 61 game winners and I recall a real solid utility player who could and did play on every line and played his best in close games and Guerin went to four all-star games.

1999 1st round was a DOG'S BREAKFAST other than the Sedins (okay, injury-prone Havlat went 26th and Barret Jackman had a decent career as a 2nd pairing guy in St. Louis) .

Stepan, Brendl, Connolly, Finley, Beech, Lundmark, Mezei and Edmonton's hyped Jani Rita with "the shot heard around the world" in the world juniors. Ugh. THAT was the worst draft of 1st rounders I recall. Vancouver was gonna trade away its 1st rounder until a Swedish scout convinced them to trade up and get both Sedins. EITHER strategy was a winning one that year!

 

[seventieslord]

I do not think of 1989 or 1994 when I think of weak drafts. Maybe with some more solid data you could convince me, but off the top of my head they seem like they're average, at worst.

 

[whatname]

'99 was bad. Stefan and Brendl did not come close to living up to expectations.

'96 was also pretty bad. A few first rounders had solid careers, but nobody in the first round stood out. Zubrus was drafted out of Tier 2 Jr A in this draft. This draft might have had bad luck because these guys entered right into the dead puck era, and most likely wasn't prepared. Briere did better as the league tried to get rid of the clutch and grab. Sturm probably would have done better if he was born a few years later.

 

[Killion]

Though established in 1963 it wasnt until 1970 that we saw any real depth of quality in the Draft, 1965 & 67 the worst with the only players going on to have pro careers being;

1965
5th - Pierre Bouchard
10th - Michel Parizeau

1967
5th - Serge Bernier
16th - Bob Kelly
17th - Al Karlander

.... while the most notable's in 1963 & 1964 included Ken Dryden, Pete Mahovlich, Walt McKechnie, Gerry Monahan, Jim McKenny, Mike Pelyk, Jim Dorey & Syl Apps Jr.

 

[weaponomega]

The 1996 first round is littered with the who's who of average NHL players.

 

[Michael Farkas]

Conversely, and irrelevant, from 2009 to 2014 inclusive, only six first round picks have not played an NHL regular season game...

Two in 2014 (picks 5, 23), one in 2013 (pick 28), two in 2011 (picks 22, 28), one in 2009 (pick 27)

 

[seventieslord]

Biggs....

 

[Michael Farkas]

Wasn't truculent enough for you...?

 

[GJB]

For me its pretty hard to be worse than '99. A very thin year.

 

[Michael Farkas]

Four years after 1995 shortened season, which was a wonky season in its own right. Half the first round was Euro players (not that there's anything wrong with that), but when you're at that age when you start to specialize in a sport and one of those sports is set to [Off] it's easy to see why that was such a poor year.

Conversely, look at Americans taken in the first round of Entry Drafts. A COMBINED three (none in the top 10) up to and including 1980.

Miracle on Ice happens in 1980...five Americans taken in round 1 in 1983 including three of the top five picks. Four more in 1984, including two of the top five.

2002 USA/Canada gold medal game. Pretty big deal. A combined 18 American first rounders in 2005 in 2006. Eight of which were top-10 picks.

2005 season gets washed out...2008/2009, just 10 combined Americans in the first round. Just two in the top-10.

 

[tony d]

1999- The Sedins, Marty Havlat and then not much else. The Islanders had 4 1st rounders that year; Tim Connolly was the best.

 

[Hobnobs]

Why are people mentioning years that atleast produced quality players. 99 was a bad year overall sure but have youve seen the first drafts held? Or are we not counting the amateur drafts now?

 

[sr edler]

Hamrlik, Yashin, Stillman, Rathje, Kasparitis, Valeri Bure, Gonchar, Jason Smith, and Straka are really the only impact NHLers fron that entire 1st round.

Valeri Bure was a second round pick.

 

[Nick Hansen]

1999- The Sedins, Marty Havlat and then not much else. The Islanders had 4 1st rounders that year; Tim Connolly was the best.

Shame about Connolly, he had some incredible hands. Too bad about the injuries. I'll never forget this goal:

 

[Sens Rule]

It is clearly 1996. I don’t think there should even be an argument about it.

 

[Howie Hodge]

Gotta go with Weaponomega, Whatname, and Sens Rule here; 1996 was most unremarkable...

Pick	Player
1	Chris Phillips
2	Andrei Zyuzin
3	Jean-Pierre Dumont
4	Alexander Volchkov
5	Ric Jackman
6	Boyd Devereaux
7	Erik Rasmussen
8	Johnathan Aitken
9	Ruslan Salei
10	Lance Ward
11	Dan Focht
12	Josh Holden
13	Derek Morris
14	Marty Reasoner
15	Dainius Zubrus
16	Mario Larocque
17	Jaroslav Svejkovsky
18	Matt Higgins
19	Matthieu Descoteaux
20	Marcus Nilson
21	Marco Sturm
22	Jeff Brown
23	Craig Hillier
24	Daniel Briere
25	Peter Ratchuk
26	Jesse Wallin

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[GlitchMarner]

The best players from that first round...

Briere, Phillips, Dumont, Zubrus, Morris, Sturm, Nilsson, Reasoner... not a very impressive list at all.



Damn Erik Rasmussen. That scrub scored the goal that eliminated the Leafs from '99 ECF.

 

[Howie Hodge]

Damn Erik Rasmussen. That scrub scored the goal that eliminated the Leafs from '99 ECF.

We weren't big fans of his in Buffalo either; but it wasn't from scoring goals......

 

[arrbez]

Biggs....

Wasn't truculent enough for you...?

He's point-per-game in the ECHL this year and his truculence/60 is off the charts.

I love how we're ready to write a guy off just because he can't crack the AHL in his D+7 year. Typical HF.

 

[Michael Farkas]

Hey, if Chris Gratton can play the "potential" card until he's 30, why not Biggs...? Power forwards, and such...