All decade draft - 2000s

[Breakfast of Champs]

How would the all-decade draft look for the 2000s if all the players drafted from 2000-2009 were in the same draft. This is not a thread about who you would draft now in the top 10 knowing what we know now, but if all the draft prospects were put in a draft from the decade knowing only what we knew of them pre draft. What would the top 10 look like?

I'll take a crack at it (im bad with the early 2000s ive only been following the draft since 2004)

1. Sidney Crosby
2. Alexander Ovechkin
3. John Tavares
4. Steven Stamkos
5. Ilya Kovalchuk
6. Jason Spezza
7. Evgeni Malkin
8. Rick Nash
9. Marc-Andre Fleury
10.Patrick Kane

Like I said I didn't follow the draft before 04 and I am basing some of these picks on what I have read about or heard.

Click to read more...

 

[Epsilon]

I think Evgeni Malkin and Ilya Kovalchuk would both go higher than where they are in that list. By the time the 2001 draft was rolling around Kovalchuk was getting "best prospect in a decade" talk, and Malkin was considered basically equal to Ovechkin (albeit a bit less of a sure thing) once the 2004 draft arrived. I'd probably put them at 3/4 in some order, and then Stamkos at 5.

 

[Fish on The Sand]

I would move Kane ahead of Nash and Fleury. Nash and Fleury weren't expected to be the number 1 picks, Bouwmeester and Horton were, but Nash and Fleury went because their respective teams traded into number 1 to ensure they got their man.

 

[Breakfast of Champs]

I would move Kane ahead of Nash and Fleury. Nash and Fleury weren't expected to be the number 1 picks, Bouwmeester and Horton were, but Nash and Fleury went because their respective teams traded into number 1 to ensure they got their man.

Yea I didnt follow the drafts then, however I know kane was ranked #2 on the final ISS ranking of 07 with turris 1st I believe. Most people were saying kane was 1 though

 

[Blades of Glory]

Oh, nevermind. I misread.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

EDIT: should have read the OP before posting.

bouwmeester would almost certainly be in the top ten. staal and doughty are also a push (i recall by the draft staal had vaulted horton as the consensus best player in the draft).

 

[Breakfast of Champs]

just looking at second overall picks, i can't imagine too many people would take spezza over staal. doughty would definitely be in the top ten as well.

From what I can remember doughty was a distant 2nd overall to stamkos and had some competition for 2nd (pietrangelo). From waht ive hear spezza was highly touted and wouldve gone 1st in many years, and had some engative attention because he had been on the radar so long

EDIT: also with fleury I put him in their because he would have been the top ranked goalie and I felt the need to have a goaltender in there. I also think that if a goaltender of his calibre comes along, someone will take a chance in the top 10.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

i remember lehtonen being more of a "sure thing" than fleury. fleury's stock rose really quickly from a first round guy to a top ten guy to a top five guy. but i think lehtonen was always a top five guy.

re: spezza, you're totally right. now that i understand what this thread is about, he definitely would have been a top pick most years.

i don't think anyone from the kane draft would have been taken in a top ten decade re-draft honestly. it was considered weak at the time and it seems weird to say for a first overall pick who's only cracked 75 points once in four seasons, but he has exceeded all expectations.

 

[Breakfast of Champs]

i remember lehtonen being more of a "sure thing" than fleury. fleury's stock rose really quickly from a first round guy to a top ten guy to a top five guy. but i think lehtonen was always a top five guy.

re: spezza, you're totally right. now that i understand what this thread is about, he definitely would have been a top pick most years.

i don't think anyone from the kane draft would have been taken in a top ten decade re-draft honestly. it was considered weak at the time and it seems weird to say for a first overall pick who's only cracked 75 points once in four seasons, but he has exceeded all expectations.

Kane has hit 70 in all 4 seasons though, along with a 1st all star and a cup with the winning goal in ot. I think people kind of expected him to either score a lot of pts in the nhl or be a complete bust with the size issue. But he did rack up a ton of pts with london in the ohl in his draft year, more than guys like tavares, stamkos, and hall ever put up.

 

[popculturereference]

My memory of the past few drafts:

2009: Since there was serious talk of Hedman being chosen number one, he probably deserves to be on this list.
2008: Stamkos was seen as ahead of the group of four defensemen.
2007: Turris had a lot of hype coming into the draft. I think it'd be hard to put any of the top three guys on this list, just because there didn't seem like a lot separated them at the time. Also, Cherepanov was seen as a pretty high pick, but since he was Russian... It was also funny to see the fall of Angelo Esposito.
2006: I remember this being a weird draft. Erik Johnson was seen as the top pick, but the next 4 (and maybe 5 or 6) guys had a lot of hype as well.
2005: Obviously Crosby, but Ryan had some great buzz. Brule did as well, but I think it had cooled off by the time the draft started.
2004: Obviously Ovechkin and Malkin.
2003: N/A
2002: N/A
2001: Kovalchuk had a huge amount of buzz. Spezza had a lot as well, but it was a few notches down.
2000: N/A

The N/A means I am having a hard time remembering.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Kane has hit 70 in all 4 seasons though, along with a 1st all star and a cup with the winning goal in ot. I think people kind of expected him to either score a lot of pts in the nhl or be a complete bust with the size issue. But he did rack up a ton of pts with london in the ohl in his draft year, more than guys like tavares, stamkos, and hall ever put up.

i think of kane like pat lafontaine. a great prospect, a consensus high draft pick. but as a prospect not in the same league as hawerchuk or turgeon or modano due to questions about his size. i think he would certainly go top 20 among all prospects drafted in that decade, but i have my doubts that he would go top ten over, say, staal, doughty, bouwmeester, hedman, even lehtonen.

i think what he did last year, nearly hitting 90 points and putting up great playoff numbers in a cup run, was probably what scouts would have considered his ceiling when he was a teenage prospect. and, being that he is still young and presumably improving, he may well destroy that perceived ceiling.

 

[Breakfast of Champs]

My memory of the past few drafts:

2009: Since there was serious talk of Hedman being chosen number one, he probably deserves to be on this list.
2008: Stamkos was seen as ahead of the group of four defensemen.
2007: Turris had a lot of hype coming into the draft. I think it'd be hard to put any of the top three guys on this list, just because there didn't seem like a lot separated them at the time. Also, Cherepanov was seen as a pretty high pick, but since he was Russian... It was also funny to see the fall of Angelo Esposito.
2006: I remember this being a weird draft. Erik Johnson was seen as the top pick, but the next 4 (and maybe 5 or 6) guys had a lot of hype as well.
2005: Obviously Crosby, but Ryan had some great buzz. Brule did as well, but I think it had cooled off by the time the draft started.
2004: Obviously Ovechkin and Malkin.
2003: N/A
2002: N/A
2001: Kovalchuk had a huge amount of buzz. Spezza had a lot as well, but it was a few notches down.
2000: N/A

The N/A means I am having a hard time remembering.

Personally I think all that "serious talk" of hedman going #1 overall was an attempt to make the draft more interesting in that there could be some surprises. Tavares had been #1 for the past 4 years and was still #1 on most lists heading into the draft. I dont think anybody would have taken hedman over tavares. I feel the same with taylor vs tyler in that nobody actually thought seguin was a better prospect, but having 2 potential #1 picks makes the draft more interesting to those who only follow the draft a bit.

 

[canucksfan]

My memory of the past few drafts:

2009: Since there was serious talk of Hedman being chosen number one, he probably deserves to be on this list.
2008: Stamkos was seen as ahead of the group of four defensemen.
2007: Turris had a lot of hype coming into the draft. I think it'd be hard to put any of the top three guys on this list, just because there didn't seem like a lot separated them at the time. Also, Cherepanov was seen as a pretty high pick, but since he was Russian... It was also funny to see the fall of Angelo Esposito.
2006: I remember this being a weird draft. Erik Johnson was seen as the top pick, but the next 4 (and maybe 5 or 6) guys had a lot of hype as well.
2005: Obviously Crosby, but Ryan had some great buzz. Brule did as well, but I think it had cooled off by the time the draft started.
2004: Obviously Ovechkin and Malkin.
2003: N/A
2002: N/A
2001: Kovalchuk had a huge amount of buzz. Spezza had a lot as well, but it was a few notches down.
2000: N/A

The N/A means I am having a hard time remembering.

I remember the Vancouver Giants owner stating that Brule will be the better player than Crosby in the NHL. I think Cherry said something similar as well.

 

[Breakfast of Champs]

I remember the Vancouver Giants owner stating that Brule will be the better player than Crosby in the NHL. I think Cherry said something similar as well.

When someone comes along and gets that much attention before they are drafted (crsoby, lindros, etc) there are gonna be haters who think they wont succeed in the nhl. In the Q, when someone gets as much attention as crosby did, everyone points to daigle and the fact that the q is "weaker than the other chl leagues"