Closest top 5 in how long?

[SOLR]

Boumeester

Doh you're right.

 

[Letang fan 58]

I think Fleury and Zherdev had the slight edge though coming into the draft.

Fleury and Horton did actually......Horton was going to go first as the Panthers wanted him as their guy till they traded the pens the pick so they could take Fleury.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

I think 2003 was pretty close.

1 Pittsburgh Marc-Andre Fleury G Cape-Breton Screaming Eagles (QMJHL)
2 Carolina Eric Staal C Peterborough Petes (OHL)
3 Florida Nathan Horton C Oshawa Generals (OHL)
4 Columbus Nikolai Zherdev R CSKA Moscow (Russia)
5 Buffalo Thomas Vanek W U. of Minnesota (NCAA)

No one was too sure of the order. Any of the top 4 could've went number 1, IMO.

I'm surprised it took so many posts to bring this one up. That top four was a complete crap shoot. Depending on the mock, I saw all four of the top four at #1 even in the week before the draft.

 

[Gags1288]

Rich Nash was head and shoulder number 1, if I recall correctly.

You do not recall correctly if you think that. Jay Bouwmeester was the consensus #1. Columbus traded up to #1 to ensure that they'd get Nash, but Florida was promised that they wouldn't pick Bouwmeester. Atlanta also received compensation (a 4th?) for not selecting Bouwmeester.

The top 4 of that draft was very close with the #5 spot being a toss-up between Whitney and Lupul.

I think Johnson is a clear cut #1 overall, which might make the '02 draft a bit closer in the top 5.

 

[turnbuckle*]

I'm surprised it took so many posts to bring this one up. That top four was a complete crap shoot. Depending on the mock, I saw all four of the top four at #1 even in the week before the draft.

It's not similar in that there is a consensus number one this season.

Last year is eerily similar to this draft IMO - one consensus number one, one highly rated defenceman named Johnson, no consensus after the first pick.

A top seven was identified last year (Crosby, Brule, JJ, Pouliot, Ryan, Kopitar, Skille), a top seven was this year (EJ, Staal, Kessel, Backstrom, Toews, Brassard, Mueller). One American defenceman and six forwards (three Canadians, two Americans and one European forward) in each draft class in pre-draft rankings.

Like last year there will likely be some surprises - perhaps a team will like Tlusty or Little better than Brassard, maybe a late climber like Summers will crack the top ten, Frolik might drop to the mid teens. The top six or seven look like surefire top ten picks, but one thing we've learned is to never assume (not many expected Kopitar to drop out of the top 10). I know I was quite surprised to see Staal follow suit.

 

[PhoPhan]

I can't even imagine what the Penguins would be like if they had Staal or Zherdev instead of Fleury. Imagine lines of Malone-Crosby-Malkin and then Staal-Staal-Koltsov.

 

[turnbuckle*]

I can't even imagine what the Penguins would be like if they had Staal or Zherdev instead of Fleury. Imagine lines of Malone-Crosby-Malkin and then Staal-Staal-Koltsov.

Or this youthful core:

Malkin - Crosby - Armstrong
Kessel - Staal - Koltsov
Malone Christenson - Oullet
Talbot - Stone - Moulson

No lack of offence - that second line would be scorching fast.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

I can't even imagine what the Penguins would be like if they had Staal or Zherdev instead of Fleury. Imagine lines of Malone-Crosby-Malkin and then Staal-Staal-Koltsov.

I still am more than happy to have Fleury backstopping us. In the end you need an elite goalie to go far in the playoffs. Fleury is on track to be that piece of the puzzle. Though the scenerio you paint is tempting a few years from now we will likely look back and be very happy that things played out as they did.

The Pens have been incredibly lucky in that none of their top five picks have busted. Considering how many that they have had recently that is actually impressive.

 

[PhoPhan]

I'm definitely not saying Fleury is a bust--far from it. But a top 6 like that is pretty tempting, isn't it?

Further, imagine if they had taken someone like Joffrey Lupul instead of Ryan Whitney.

 

[Letang fan 58]

I'm definitely not saying Fleury is a bust--far from it. But a top 6 like that is pretty tempting, isn't it?

Further, imagine if they had taken someone like Joffrey Lupul instead of Ryan Whitney.

Imagine if the Pens took a forward with every single draft pick, wow there would be a lot of forwards.......on another note last I heard it took goaltending and defence to win as well.

 

[gocaps8]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_NHL_Entry_Draft

This is the closest draft in terms of top 5 being close I think.(Before this year.)

Another close draft that I remember:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_NHL_Entry_Draft

I forgot how good 1990 was from top to bottom, lots of NHL careers in that bunch.

 

[PhoPhan]

Imagine if the Pens took a forward with every single draft pick, wow there would be a lot of forwards.......on another note last I heard it took goaltending and defence to win as well.

Calm down, buddy. I'm just saying that guys like Eric Staal, Nik Zherdev and Joffrey Lupul have already begun to cement themselves as NHL stars, whereas players like Ryan Whitney and Marc-Andre Fleury aren't quite there yet. There's little doubt that Fleury will end up as a top flight goalie and that Whitney will be a top 4 defenseman, but if the Penguins weren't going to be winners anyway, wouldn't my dream scenario have been pretty fun to watch?

I'm not second guessing anything. You'd have to be pretty dumb to pick a forward with every single pick, every single year. But then again, if you're picking in the top five for five years in a row, perhaps you're doing something else wrong entirely.