Best draft class 2015 2019 or 2022

[Favin]

Of the three best draft classes of recent or coming years, which do you think will ultimately be the best?

2015
2019
2022

Click to read more...

 

[Canovin]

2015 and it's not close

 

[ESH]

At this point I’m not sure how you could vote against 2015. It’s shaping up to be one of the best draft classes ever

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

2039 gonna be so lit

 

[Stewie Griffin]

2015 might be the best of all time when all is said and done.
2019 really? What has that class done yet? It's only been 2 years but 2 years after 2015 McDavid already had a hart/art ross, and the next year Barzal, and Rantanen had point per game seasons. Not to mention Eichel, Marner, and Aho who were scoring above 60 point paces.

 

[The Moose is Loose]

I think 2015 goes down as the best of all time. They’re just now coming into their primes and it’s already stunningly deep headlined by a generational player

 

[bobholly39]

We dont know enough about 2022 yet to justify putting it above 2015, which is arguably #1 all time

 

[Dominance]

2019 has no basis for being one of three options considered here. May very well end up the worst draft between 2015 and 2022.

 

[Stewie Griffin]

2019 has no basis for being considered here. May very well end up the worst draft between 2015 and 2022.

I don't understand why these 3 in particular were chosen for the poll. One legit has the best player in the league right now, the second has like 250 combined games played, and the third hasn't even happened yet. How are they comparable at all?

 

[Dominance]

I don't understand why these 3 in particular were chosen for the poll. One legit has the best player in the league right now, the second has like 250 combined games played, and the third hasn't even happened yet. How are they comparable at all?

Yeah, I voted 2022 because of the sheer oddity of the poll.

 

[Regal]

I think 2015 is a little overrated. It has McDavid and a ton of depth of quality top 6 F/top 4 D, but the top end talent between them and McDavid isn't as good as 2003. Still, it will go down as one of the best all time. Hard to say the others will yet.

 

[Stewie Griffin]

I think 2015 is a little overrated. It has McDavid and a ton of depth of quality top 6 F/top 4 D, but the top end talent between them and McDavid isn't as good as 2003. Still, it will go down as one of the best all time. Hard to say the others will yet.

There is a ton of top talent from 2015. Eichel, Marner, Provorov, Werenski, Rantanen, Barzal, Connor, Chabot, Kaprizov and Aho are all game changers when they're on their game. I didn't even include Cirelli, Boeser, Meier, Hanifin Konecny, Beauvillier, , Hintz, or Andersson. And in net they have Samsonov and Blackwood as starters already, with Hill, Vladar, Montembault, and Daccord having games played too.

 

[ForsbergForever]

This poll would make more sense comparing 2003, 2011, and 2015.

 

[Regal]

There is a ton of top talent from 2015. Eichel, Marner, Provorov, Werenski, Rantanen, Barzal, Connor, Chabot, Kaprizov and Aho are all game changers when they're on their game. I didn't even include Cirelli, Boeser, Meier, Hanifin Konecny, Beauvillier, , Hintz, or Andersson. And in net they have Samsonov and Blackwood as starters already, with Hill, Vladar, Montembault, and Daccord having games played too.

There's lots of very good players, but I don't think it's as good as 2003 when you look at the top, say 20 guys after McDavid as a whole. It's the depth after that that's more impressive. I suppose there's still time for guys to make jumps though.

 

[HugeInTheShire]

2015 is so far ahead of where 2019 even projects to go, would have been better off doing 2003 or something that could conceivably compete with 2015
and 2022? Who knows, looks like a good draft class but you just never know

 

[Canadiens Ghost]

Why were 2028 and 2031 left off the poll? It's between these two AINEC.

 

[Hisch13r]

15 was special. That could end up at 03 level or higher

 

[CallMeShaft]

2015 and it's not close

However, the 3rd overall pick in 2019 >>> the 3rd overall pick in 2015

 

[Ivo]

We dont know enough about 2022 yet to justify putting it above 2015, which is arguably #1 all time

Tough to beat 1979 with Bourque, Messier and like 5 other Hall if Famers and scores of other star players. It was, of course, basically 2 drafts in one, but still.

 

[Favin]

2039 gonna be so lit

So 2021 birth year?

We dont know enough about 2022 yet to justify putting it above 2015, which is arguably #1 all time

True. Bird in hand vs two in bush type of thing. Which makes it kind of fun.

2019 has no basis for being one of three options considered here. May very well end up the worst draft between 2015 and 2022.

Worst year? Huh?
I'd think 2016, 2017 and 2020 would be the three I'd list for the worst years in that time frame (although 2017 looks better in retrospect). 2015, 2019 and 2022 all appear to be special years.

I don't understand why these 3 in particular were chosen for the poll. One legit has the best player in the league right now, the second has like 250 combined games played, and the third hasn't even happened yet. How are they comparable at all?

OK, I don't have an apples-to-apples comparison unless you'd like to compare 2015 to 2015.

This poll would make more sense comparing 2003, 2011, and 2015.

2003 is still probably the best year in my view. But hard to compare then to now.
2015, 2019 and 2022 are all reasonably close to each other.

I think 2015 is a little overrated. It has McDavid and a ton of depth of quality top 6 F/top 4 D, but the top end talent between them and McDavid isn't as good as 2003. Still, it will go down as one of the best all time. Hard to say the others will yet.

One of my biggest pet peeves is rating draft classes by the #1 overall pick. Or even top-5.
Usually, one can judge a draft class by picks 25-75 as much as they can by picks 1-5.

 

[Stewie Griffin]

I'd think 2016, 2017 and 2020 would be the three I'd list for the worst years in that time frame (although 2017 looks better in retrospect). 2015, 2019 and 2022 all appear to be special years.

2015, 2019 and 2022 are all reasonably close to each other.
.

What is so special about 2019? No one in that class has done anything THAT special in the NHL yet? Only a handful of players have played more than 10 games. 2020 was seen as a deeper class than 2019, so how would you list it as worse than 2019 after not even 12 months since the 2020 draft.

There isn't even enough information to rank 2019 above 2016 or 2017 right now because no one from 2019 has done anything. 2016 not only was headlined by the most recent Rocket Richard and Norris winners, but also has Tkachuk, Chychrun, and McAvoy...no one from the 2019 class has been better than any of those guys so far. Then looking at 2017...Makar, Pettersson, Heiskanen, and even Hischier have done more than the 2019 class. Obviously time will tell as they enter the league and develop more...but there is literally no basis to deem the 2019 class so special over other average years as of right now.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

2023 is the draft year tanking teams should be excited for.

But yeah, for the purposes of this poll it’s 2015.

 

[Favin]

What is so special about 2019? No one in that class has done anything THAT special in the NHL yet? Only a handful of players have played more than 10 games. 2020 was seen as a deeper class than 2019, so how would you list it as worse than 2019 after not even 12 months since the 2020 draft.

There isn't even enough information to rank 2019 above 2016 or 2017 right now because no one from 2019 has done anything. 2016 not only was headlined by the most recent Rocket Richard and Norris winners, but also has Tkachuk, Chychrun, and McAvoy...no one from the 2019 class has been better than any of those guys so far. Then looking at 2017...Makar, Pettersson, Heiskanen, and even Hischier have done more than the 2019 class. Obviously time will tell as they enter the league and develop more...but there is literally no basis to deem the 2019 class so special over other average years as of right now.

Hard to compare using GP as a benchmark since pandemic has slowed some players trips to NHL (and sped up some trips to AHL). And if a draft class was solely judged by top-5 picks, sure, I would concur. Although I still think we will see a lot more from the 2019 top-5 (Hughes, Kakko, Dach, Byram, Turcotte).

But what makes 2019 stand out is how many guys outside top-5 took major steps forward this past year....and look like steals relative to their draft position (Zegras, Knight, Caufield, Boldy, Harley, Krebs, Newhook, Bjornfot, Tomasino, McMichael, Foote, Pinto, Kaliyev, Lavoie, Hoglander, Helleson, Robertson, Bolduc, Campbell, Jones, Ludwig, Alnefelt, Beckman, Clarke, Protas, Thompson, Thrun, Teply, Abruzzese, Koster, Soderblum, Wolf to name a few).

If one were re-ranking the 2016 top-16...
1. Auston Matthews (1) - 144 games played in NHL
2. Adam Fox (66)
3. Matthew Tkachuk (6) - 144 gp
4. Charlie McAvoy (14) - 63 gp
5. Jake Chychrun (16) - 118 gp
6. Alex Debrincat (39) - 82 gp
7. Mikhail Sergachev (9) - 83 gp
8. Pierre-Luc Dubois (3) - 82 gp
9. Patrik Laine (2) - 155 gp
10. Sam Girard (47) - 73 gp
11. Jesper Bratt (162) - 74 gp
12. Jordan Kyrou (35)
13. Luke Kunin (15) - 19 gp
14. Jesse Puljujarvi (4) - 93 gp
15. Clayton Keller (7) - 85 gp
16. Filip Hronek (53)
17. Carter Hart (48)
18. Ryan Lindgren (49)
19. Tyson Jost (10) - 71 gp
20. Janne Kuokkanen (43) - 4 gp
21. Dante Fabbro (19)
22. Logan Stanley (18)
23. Dillon Dube (56)
24. Sam Steel (30)
25. Brandon Hagel (159)
26. Jake Bean (13)
27. Ross Colton (118)
28. Alex Nylander (8) - 7 gp
29. Tage Thompson (26) - 41 gp
30. Max Jones (24)

Fell out of 1st round (12 total): Juolevi, Brown, McLeod, Bellows, Cholowski, Gauthier, Rubstov, Borgstrom, Tufte, Howden, Johansen, Frederic

In all there were about a dozen regulars two years after the draft, but many of those top names hadn't made their mark yet. Including players taken outside the 1st round like Fox, Girard, Bratt, Kyrou, Hronek, Hart, Lindgren, etc.

If one were re-ranking 2019....

1. Jack Hughes (1) - 117 gp
2. Trevor Zegras (9) - 24 gp
3. Moritz Seider (6)
4. Kirby Dach (3) - 82 gp
5. Spencer Knight (13) - 4 gp
6. Cole Caufield (15) - 10 gp
7. Alex Newhook (16) - 6 gp
8. Matthew Boldy (12)
9. Bowen Byram (4) - 19 gp
10. Alex Turcotte (5)
11. Dylan Cozens (7) - 41 gp
12. Peyton Krebs (17) - 4 gp
13. Thomas Harley (18)
14. Kaapo Kakko (2) - 114 gp
15. Philip Broberg (8)
16. Victor Soderstrom (11) - 4 gp
17. Cam York (14) - 3 gp
18. Connor McMichael (25) - 1 gp
19. Philip Tomasino (24)
20. Tobias Bjornfot (22) - 36 gp
21. Nolan Foote (27) - 6 gp
22. Jakob Pelletier (26)
23. Arthur Kaliyev (33) - 1 gp
24. Ville Heinola (20) - 13 gp
25. Vasili Podkolzin (10)
26. Nils Hoglander (40) - 56 gp
27. Shane Pinto (32) - 12 gp
28. Nick Robertson (53) - 6 gp
29. Raphael Lavoie (38)
30. Samuel Puolin (21)

Fell out of top-30 (5 total): Thomson, Holmstrom, Suzuki, Tracey, Beecher

There are fewer full-time regulars, but after the top-5, it appears to me like a promising group.

But its just one guys view.

 

[Stewie Griffin]

Hard to compare using GP as a benchmark since pandemic has slowed some players trips to NHL (and sped up some trips to AHL). And if a draft class was solely judged by top-5 picks, sure, I would concur. Although I still think we will see a lot more from the 2019 top-5 (Hughes, Kakko, Dach, Byram, Turcotte).

But what makes 2019 stand out is how many guys outside top-5 took major steps forward this past year....and look like steals relative to their draft position (Zegras, Knight, Caufield, Boldy, Harley, Krebs, Newhook, Bjornfot, Tomasino, McMichael, Foote, Pinto, Kaliyev, Lavoie, Hoglander, Helleson, Robertson, Bolduc, Campbell, Jones, Ludwig, Alnefelt, Beckman, Clarke, Protas, Thompson, Thrun, Teply, Abruzzese, Koster, Soderblum, Wolf to name a few).

If one were re-ranking the 2016 top-16...
1. Auston Matthews (1) - 144 games played in NHL
2. Adam Fox (66)
3. Matthew Tkachuk (6) - 144 gp
4. Charlie McAvoy (14) - 63 gp
5. Jake Chychrun (16) - 118 gp
6. Alex Debrincat (39) - 82 gp
7. Mikhail Sergachev (9) - 83 gp
8. Pierre-Luc Dubois (3) - 82 gp
9. Patrik Laine (2) - 155 gp
10. Sam Girard (47) - 73 gp
11. Jesper Bratt (162) - 74 gp
12. Jordan Kyrou (35)
13. Luke Kunin (15) - 19 gp
14. Jesse Puljujarvi (4) - 93 gp
15. Clayton Keller (7) - 85 gp
16. Filip Hronek (53)
17. Carter Hart (48)
18. Ryan Lindgren (49)
19. Tyson Jost (10) - 71 gp
20. Janne Kuokkanen (43) - 4 gp
21. Dante Fabbro (19)
22. Logan Stanley (18)
23. Dillon Dube (56)
24. Sam Steel (30)
25. Brandon Hagel (159)
26. Jake Bean (13)
27. Ross Colton (118)
28. Alex Nylander (8) - 7 gp
29. Tage Thompson (26) - 41 gp
30. Max Jones (24)

Fell out of 1st round (12 total): Juolevi, Brown, McLeod, Bellows, Cholowski, Gauthier, Rubstov, Borgstrom, Tufte, Howden, Johansen, Frederic

In all there were about a dozen regulars two years after the draft, but many of those top names hadn't made their mark yet. Including players taken outside the 1st round like Fox, Girard, Bratt, Kyrou, Hronek, Hart, Lindgren, etc.

If one were re-ranking 2019....

1. Jack Hughes (1) - 117 gp
2. Trevor Zegras (9) - 24 gp
3. Moritz Seider (6)
4. Kirby Dach (3) - 82 gp
5. Spencer Knight (13) - 4 gp
6. Cole Caufield (15) - 10 gp
7. Alex Newhook (16) - 6 gp
8. Matthew Boldy (12)
9. Bowen Byram (4) - 19 gp
10. Alex Turcotte (5)
11. Dylan Cozens (7) - 41 gp
12. Peyton Krebs (17) - 4 gp
13. Thomas Harley (18)
14. Kaapo Kakko (2) - 114 gp
15. Philip Broberg (8)
16. Victor Soderstrom (11) - 4 gp
17. Cam York (14) - 3 gp
18. Connor McMichael (25) - 1 gp
19. Philip Tomasino (24)
20. Tobias Bjornfot (22) - 36 gp
21. Nolan Foote (27) - 6 gp
22. Jakob Pelletier (26)
23. Arthur Kaliyev (33) - 1 gp
24. Ville Heinola (20) - 13 gp
25. Vasili Podkolzin (10)
26. Nils Hoglander (40) - 56 gp
27. Shane Pinto (32) - 12 gp
28. Nick Robertson (53) - 6 gp
29. Raphael Lavoie (38)
30. Samuel Puolin (21)

Fell out of top-30 (5 total): Thomson, Holmstrom, Suzuki, Tracey, Beecher

There are fewer full-time regulars, but after the top-5, it appears to me like a promising group.

But its just one guys view.

That still doesn't explain how it comes close to 2015 by any means at all. I agree there is a lot of guys from 2019 that stepped up...but that happens every year in every draft. 2015 is loaded with legit top-6 forwards and top-4 defenseman. 2019 has promising prospects that MIGHT become that. And on top of that, you made the third option 2022 which hasn't even started their draft season yet...so how on earth are we supposed to compare them.