Top 10 of 2003:
1. Fleury
2. Staal
3. Horton
4. Zherdev
5. Vanek
6. Michalek
7. Suter
8. Coburn
9. Phaneuf
10. Kastsitsyn
My expected top 10 of 2004:
1. Ovechkin
2. Olesz
3. Schremp
4. Malkin
5. Barker
6. Wolski
7. McGrath
8. Pineault
9. Schwarz
10. Dubnyk
well this is how I would break it down, I do not think that any goalie in this draft is as good as Fleury IMO, but the depth of top end goalies in this draft is beyond 2003 by far, there are about 5 to 6 great goalies available in this draft. So the goaltending depth is alot deeper in this draft than in most.
IMO the top end talent is better as I do not think anyone in the 2003 draft can compare to Ovechkin, Olesz, and Schremp. Barker is better than any d-man taken in 2003 and Malkin, Pineault, Wolski, McGrath, Tukonen, Sindel, Salomonsson, Hensick, are on a comparable bases with which Staal. Vanek, Horton, Zherdev are on. The rest make for a solid solid draft with Picard, Makarov, Kasper, Lammers, Lisin, Shitikov.
The defense in this draft is way better than in 2003 as Barker, Card, Smid, Fistric, Sersen, Green, Richard Demen-Willaume, Jordan Smith, Mikko Kuukka, Sergei Karetin, Nicolai Goc, Lashoff, Maunu are all of superstar, Star or excellent status.
My take is the depth of players in 2003 was one of the best by far. This draft has better top end forward and defense than 2003 had and though the depth of players isn't as good as 2003 the first 2 or 3 rounds are great with the 1st round possibly being better than the 2003 first round.