Best drafting team in the NHL

[Spezza]

Let's not forget development, which is just as important as drafting. Detroit and Ottawa seem to be a step above the rest, but Montreal, Colorado, and NJ have also been excellent in recent years.

Thats a great point.

 

[salty justice]

The Sens are easily the best team at the draft. They consistantly get good players in mid and late rounds.

The 2nd tier teams would be Detroit, Jersey, Colorado.

I would consider Montreal and Los Angeles 3rd tier.

The expansion teams have a ton of good young talent because of all their high picks, same goes with Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Carolina so I wont count them.

Most of the other teams get lucky here and there but for the most part suck compared to the others Ive named.


What people seem to forget is that there is a crapload more to drafting than just picking up players. It really only appears like that best teams do the best at the draft. It has a lot more to do with the system teams bring young players in to. When you surround hand picked young guys with future hall of famers it is almost a sure bet they will look good. It speeds up their development and gives them everything they need to succeed. Late round gems like Datsyuk and Zetterberg would not be where they are today if they were drafted by almost any other team.

When teams suck at "drafting" IMO it really has more to do with them sucking at developing players. Guys that turn out to be busts can often have just as much talent as guys who turn into superstars.

 

[AlienWorkShop]

OMG the Leafs!

Vincent Damphousse
Darryl Shannon
Luke Richardson
Joe Sacco
Mike Eastwood
Damien Rhodes
Tie Domi
Scott Thornton
Rob Pearson
Steve Bancroft
Keith Carney
Drake Berehowsky
Felix Potvin
Darby Hendrickson
Yanic Perreault
Dimitri Mironov
Grant Marshall
Ryan VandenBussche
Nathan Dempsey
Kenny Jonsson
Landon Wilson
Fredrik Modin
Sergei Berezin
Yannick Tremblay
Daniil Markov
Tomas Kaberle
Adam Mair
Shawn Thornton
Nik Antropov
Alexei Ponikarovsky
Pierre Hedin
Brad Boyes
Mikael Tellqvist
Carlo Colaiacovo
Karel Pilar
Kyle Wellwood
Maxim Kondratiev
Alex Steen
Matt Stajan
Jarkko Immonen
Staffan Kronwall
Jeremy Williams
Justin Pogge
Roman Kukumberg
Dimitry Vorobiev
Robbie Earl
Tuuku Rask
Chad Rau

 

[Rex88]

How do they make a drafting thread if they were signed as free agents?

RJ does not count as he was selected by Van, but scouting Feds is just like drafting him as other teams passed and the Flyers picked him up.

 

[The Nemesis]

San Jose drafts very well, and develops players well too. In their history, only Teemu Riihijarvi stands out as a 1st round pick never to make the NHL. There were also some poor high 1st rounders (Falloon, Zyuzin, and Jillson stand out), but look at the record the rest of the way:


Michalek, Bernier, Goc, Ehrhoff, Clowe, Schaefer, Dimitrakos, Stuart, Cheechoo, Davison, Marleau, Hannan, Smith, Sturm, Toskala, Fahey and Nabokov are all Sharks draft picks who have suited up this season.

Meanwhile, Ray Whitney, Sandis Ozolinsh, Mike Rathje, Viktor Kozlov, Shean Donovan, Jeff Friesen, Vaclav Varada, Miikka Kiprusoff, and Mikael Samuelsson are all on NHL clubs this year. You can add Zyuzin to this list if you overlook the fact that he was a 2nd overall pick and isn't doing great considering his draft position.

Toss in Ragnarsson and Korolyuk, and things look pretty good on the NHL front.

And the Sharks system isn't exactly in shambles either.

 

[aspin]

Actually the Oilers in the Lowe era have been drafting pretty good except for Niinimaki. Here are some notables:

2001

13 Ales Hemsky
43 Doug Lynch
133 Jussi Markannen
215 Dan Baum
272 Ales Pisa


2002

31 Jeff Deslaueriers
36 Jarret Stoll
44 Matt Greene
79 Brock Radunske
181 Mikko Luoma
244 Dwight Helminen


2003

22 Marc Antoine Pouliot
51 Colin McDonald
68 Jean-Francois Jacques
72 Mikail Zhukov
94 Zach Stortini
184 Dragan Umicevic
214 Kyle Brodziak
215 Mathieu Roy
248 Josef Hrabal
278 Troy Bodie


2004

14 Devon Dubnyk
25 Robbie Schremp
44 Roman Tesliuk
57 Geoff Paukovich
112 Liam Reddox
208 Stephan Goulet
242 Tyler Spurgeon

I also think that Bryan Young at 146 will be really solid.


2005

25 Andrew Cogliano
36 Taylor Chorney
81 Danny Syvret
120 Slava Trukhno
157 Fredrick Petterson

Robby Dee and Chris Vande Velde have hugely high upsides as well but they are a few years away.

 

[Hasbro]

Who are these gems that Detroit uncover in the 1st round?

Mostly in theory.

Since 96 they've had 3 first round picks. Jiri Fischer, Nic Kronwall and Jakub Kindl. Small sample though.

 

[Jurgy25]

Based on players, I think Pittsburgh has had some awesome drafts since 2002!

Crosby F
Malkin F
Fleury G
Whitney D
Welch D
Talbot F
Salmonsson F
Christensen F
Stone F
...

Based on "average" position drafting, I think both New Jersey and Ottawa win this thread...

AWESOME DRAFTS???? anyone is gonna have an awesome draft landing Crosby Malkin, and Fleury. 2002-5th overall, 2003-3rd overall (traded up to 1st to get Fleury) 2004- 2nd and 2005- 1st overall pick.

 

[RandomCanuckFan]

I think Detroit, followed closely by Colorado, followed closely by Ottawa

 

[spintheblackcircle]

Det
Ott
SJ
Col

 

[Missionhockey]

I'm not quite sure why Detriot is getting so much respect. Forgive me if I'm wrong but after Datsyuk, and Zetterberg they don't have any other proven young players drafted from their team. Obviously they drafted Fedorov and Yzerman but that was years ago.

 

[Leb_Hitch*]

How does the drafting system work. It seems really hard. Like for instance if a team has they're eyes on a player in the 3rd and let's say they don't pick him up but some earlier team does, then how do they know what to select, do they have bios and scouting reports on every single player to finally make a decision. It seems like a tought job, and they're only given like a few minutes to make a decision that could cost them a good pick.

I was thinking that they have a list of players that they're willing to take, rank them, and then don't choose anything else but them, unless some miracle arrises, like meszaros by ottawa in 2003.

 

[Pangu]

Not a chance in hell that the Sens drafting is better then colorados. If memory serves me currectly the Sens were the laugh stock of the league a couple years ago no wonder they got good younge players. Yes they have a some good players in the late rounds. If you think Sens have better drafting then Colorado and Detroit you have to be smoking some harsh ****. Colorado and Detriot find as good players that are in the 1st round in the late rounds.

What is your definition of a couple? Is it 8?
I would say that the best are Ottawa and Phily.
Normally I think of New Jersey when I think of the best, but in the last decade their drafting has been quite poor. Maybe closer to one of the worst rather than one of the best. I believe that the best player that they have taken is Gomez or Sykora. I mean just as Ottawa was entering the league they were very good, but not since then.

 

[Pangu]

How does the drafting system work. It seems really hard. Like for instance if a team has they're eyes on a player in the 3rd and let's say they don't pick him up but some earlier team does, then how do they know what to select, do they have bios and scouting reports on every single player to finally make a decision. It seems like a tought job, and they're only given like a few minutes to make a decision that could cost them a good pick.

I was thinking that they have a list of players that they're willing to take, rank them, and then don't choose anything else but them, unless some miracle arrises, like meszaros by ottawa in 2003.

Ahhh... they better have player bios. I would imagine that they do indeed rank all the players and then select the best remaining player. These people do this for a full time job and the draft is their "superbowl" so they better be ready.

 

[Leaf Army]

Keith Carney

A little off topic, but this is a different Keith Carney.

What's sick though is that they're both from Rhode Island. What are the freakin' chances of that? Plus they were born only a year and four days apart and taken in consecutive drafts. Man that's strange.

Kind of like when the Leafs and Blue Jays each had a top prospect named Jeff Ware at the same time. And they were both busts.

 

[Leb_Hitch*]

A little off topic, but this is a different Keith Carney.

What's sick though is that they're both from Rhode Island. What are the freakin' chances of that? Plus they were born only a year and four days apart and taken in consecutive drafts. Man that's strange.

Kind of like when the Leafs and Blue Jays each had a top prospect named Jeff Ware at the same time. And they were both busts.

kind of stupid but imagine they both ended up getting the wrong player they wanted

 

[Big McLargehuge]

AWESOME DRAFTS???? anyone is gonna have an awesome draft landing Crosby Malkin, and Fleury. 2002-5th overall, 2003-3rd overall (traded up to 1st to get Fleury) 2004- 2nd and 2005- 1st overall pick.

Yeah, but even after those guys the Penguins have lots of talent sitting in their system from outside the first.

2 of our Top 10 prospects were 7th rounders. Maxime Talbot, who has been amazing in a penalty killing role for the Penguins this year, and Andy Chiodo.

One of our better prospects was a 9th rounder too, Matt Moulson is looking like a real steal.

Every team can say they have late round gems though.


I'll say Detroit & New Jersey have to be considered in any discussion with drafting. They've stayed at or near the top for many reasons, but atop that list has to be the fact that they're constantly bringing in solid youngsters regardless of where they draft.

 

[Jason MacIsaac]

What is your definition of a couple? Is it 8?
I would say that the best are Ottawa and Phily.
Normally I think of New Jersey when I think of the best, but in the last decade their drafting has been quite poor. Maybe closer to one of the worst rather than one of the best. I believe that the best player that they have taken is Gomez or Sykora. I mean just as Ottawa was entering the league they were very good, but not since then.

Sheldon Souray
Steve Sullivan
Petr Sykora
Alyn McCauley
Pierre Dagenais
Colin White
Scott Parker
Josef Boumedienne
Willie Mitchell
Scott Clemmensen
Mike Van Ryn
Scott Gomez
Brian Gionta
David Hale
Paul Martin
Michael Rupp
Mike Danton

That doesn't count signing Madden and Rafalski as FA's which is basicly the same as drafting.

Thats not bad for a 5 year stretch....from 01 on is too young to judge.

 

[Safir*]

Colorado and Detriot find as good players that are in the 1st round in the late rounds.

Oh you mean good players like Mikhail Kuleshov, Vaclav Nedorost, Jonas Johansson, Anders Eriksson, Yan Golubovsky, Maxim Kuznetsov?

 

[Phanuthier*]

Detriot seems to have a good eye for that talent that gets passed by.

SJ always seems to have a glut of talent in goal (Nabokov, Kiprusoff, Toskala, now Schaffer) but maybe it has more to do with their goaltending coach then their drafting? Warren Stralow is a very underrated name thats having a huge impact on the league right now.

And, of coarse, NJ, the black ace of the deck. They never look really impressive, but you sit back and just have to admire what they do. They don't always draft what us wannabe's want them to draft, but they pick the players that make the best team, not just good players.

 

[Safir*]

I'm sure that Minnesota and Nashville will work their way up to these teams already mentioned (Wings, Devils, Sharks, Sens, Avs.)

 

[Corto]

Based on players, I think Pittsburgh has had some awesome drafts since 2002!

Crosby F
Malkin F
Fleury G
Whitney D
Welch D
Talbot F
Salmonsson F
Christensen F
Stone F
...

Based on "average" position drafting, I think both New Jersey and Ottawa win this thread...

I disagree, the Pens' drafting has got to be one of the worst in the NHL.

Malkin, Sidney, MAF are #2, #1 and #1 picks. Hard to miss.
Whitney is looking like an awesome player.

Then Welch and Orpik. Talent, but certainly not locks to become valid top-4 defensemen.

The other guys are mostly grinders (Endicott, Talbot..) and depth defensemen (Koci, Bisonette....) with some NHL-AHL border line scoring talent (Surovy, Christensen...).

Armstrong and Koltsov are not the type of players you pick in the 1st round.
Dome, Wells, Hillier, Berqvist... Nothing good there.
Morozov and Kraft were good picks but horribly handled, especially Morozov, and now that he's looking like a valid top-6 forward, the Pens are losing him to UFA next season.

IMO, Ottawa, NJ and Detroit have had the best drafts in the last 10 years.

 

[nik jr]

IMO, Ottawa, NJ and Detroit have had the best drafts in the last 10 years.

detroit's drafting was crap in the mid 90's. it didn't matter a lot b/c they hit the jackpot in 89--lidstrom, fedorov, konstantinov. the early 90's drafts were also decent.
but stating around 93 the drafts were horrible:
1993
22 D Anders Eriksson
48 D Jon Coleman
74 C Kevin Hilton
97 D John Jakopin
100 D Benoit Larose
126 G Norm Maracle
152 Tim Spitzig
178 D Yuri Yuresko
204 D Vitezslav Skuta
230 R Ryan Shanahan
256 G Jamie Kosecki
282 L Gordy Hunt

1994
23 D Yan Golubovsky
49 R Mathieu Dandenault
75 D Sean Gillam
114 G Frederic Deschenes
127 D Doug Battaglia
153 F Pavel Agarkov
205 G Jason Elliott
231 C Jeff Mikesch
257 L Tomas Holmstrom
283 L Toivo Suursoo

1995
26 D Maxim Kuznetsov
52 L Philippe Audet
58 C Darryl Laplante
104 F Anatoly Ustyugov
125 D Chad Wilchynski
126 G Dave Arsenault
156 C Tyler Perry
182 R Per Eklund
208 F Andrei Samokhvalov
234 L David Engblom

1996
26 D Jesse Wallin
52 G Aren Miller
108 L Johan Forsander
135 G Michal Podolka
144 L Magnus Nilsson
162 R Alexandre Jacques
189 C Colin Beardsmore
215 W Craig Stahl
241 Evgeny Afanasiev

1997
49 L Yuri Butsayev
76 C Petr Sykora
102 L Quintin Laing
129 D John Wikstrom
157 R B.J. Young
186 Mike Laceby
213 Steve Wilejto
239 D Greg Willers

the drafting has been much better since. detroit often has no 1st rounders, and always drafts late, but still has decent prospects, and finds late round gems. they do better than expected.
much credit goes to detroit's european scout Hakan Andersson, who was at least partly responsible for drafting datsyuk (171st) zetterberg (210th) grigorenko (62nd) kronwall (29th) hudler (58th) fleischmann (63rd; traded to washington) filppula (95th).

 

[nik jr]

I'm not quite sure why Detriot is getting so much respect. Forgive me if I'm wrong but after Datsyuk, and Zetterberg they don't have any other proven young players drafted from their team. Obviously they drafted Fedorov and Yzerman but that was years ago.

fischer drafted 98. kronwall, on IR, drafted 2000. grigorenko, 2001, would already be in NHL, but nearly died in a car wreck a couple of yrs ago (before that he was i think 7th on HF's top 10). fleischmann, 2002, was traded but was recently called up by washington. filppula, 2002, nearly made the team this yr. same w/ hudler, who is AHL's leading scorer.
young players don't easily make the cut in detroit b/c there are better players on the team. if detroit were a mediocre team, you'd see more young draftees. look at williams--he's currently tied for 11th in scoring, but didn't get IT before b/c others were better. (he was a FA, not drafted.)

 

[Zorin]

Your dreaming.

Ottawas picks:

Kaigorodov: 47th 2002
Vermette: 55th 2000
Eaves: 29th 2003
Fisher:44th 1998
Havlat:26th 1999
Alfredsson: 133rd 1994
Boshenski: 223rd 2001
Volchenkov:21st 2000
Mezsaros:23rd 2004
Emery: 99th 2001
Hossa: 12th 1997

Detroit:

Datsyuk: 171st 1998
Hudler: 58th 2002
Holmstrom: 257th 1994
Grigorenko: 62nd 2001
Fischer: 25th 1998
Kronwall: 29th 2000
Lidstom: 53rd 1989
Howard: 64th 2003

By the looks of things Ottawa had done much better drafting then detroit. Considering I did not mention the really good prospects Ottawa has over in Russia or the talented blueliner in Lee, or Glass who won a gold medal last year in the world juniors as the teams number 1 goalie. Ottawa is not only in Detroits league when it comes to drafting but the sens set the bar.

Not difficult to argue that way if you leave guys like Filppulla, Quincey (both with very good rookie Seasons in the "A" so far), McGrath (who currently rocks the OHL) Liv (currently Top-Goalie in Sweden), Fleischmann (who seems to get it started in Washington now) aside. Yes, apart from Fleischmann they all have not played NHL so far. But this also a question of the habit of developing young talent!