Deceased NHL Draft Picks

[Robert Gordon Orr]

NAME	TEAM	DRAFT YEAR	SELECTION	DIED	CAUSE OF DEATH
Bill Carson	Chicago	1963	16th	2014
Richie Bays	Chicago	1964	4th	2016
Bob Birdsell	Detroit	1965	8th	2008	Cancer
Steve Atkinson	Detroit	1966	6th	2003	Heart attack
Ron Dussiaume	Chicago	1966	9th	2007
Garnet "Ace" Bailey	Boston	1966	13th	2001	9/11 attack (Plane)
Grant Cole	Detroit	1966	24th	2011
Steve Rexe	Pittsburgh	1967	2nd	2013	Peacefully at home
Gary Wood	California	1967	12th	2002
Brian Tosh	NY Rangers	1967	15th	2015
Michel Plasse	Montreal	1968	1st	2006	Heart attack
Jim Pritchard	Montreal	1968	3rd	2014
Danny Shock	Boston	1968	12th	2017
Doug Smith	Oakland	1968	13th	2012
Glen Lindsay	Minnesota	1968	22nd	2014
Bert Wilson	NY Rangers	1969	23rd	1992	Stomach cancer
Michel Brière	Pittsburgh	1969	26th	1971	Car accident
Don O'Donoghue	Oakland	1969	29th	2007	Kidney cancer
Wayne Hawrysh	Detroit	1969	33rd	2015	Cancer
Wayne Chernecki	Detroit	1969	45th	2013	Lung cancer
Brian Glenwright	NY Rangers	1969	54th	2006	Drowned
Brian Spencer	Toronto	1969	55th	1988	Shot
Wally Olds	Detroit	1969	57th	2009	Colon cancer
Rick MacLeish	Boston	1970	4th	2016	Kidney/liver failure
Ray Martyniuk	Montreal	1970	5th	2013
Greg Polis	Pittsburgh	1970	7th	2018	Cancer
Norm Gratton	NY Rangers	1970	11th	2010
Bob Stewart	Boston	1970	13th	2017	Cancer
Dan Maloney	Chicago	1970	14th	2018	Declining health
Buster Harvey	Minnesota	1970	17th	2007	Cancer
Pete Laframboise	California	1970	19th	2011	Died at his home
Michel Archambault	Chicago	1970	28th	2018
Ed Dyck	Vancouver	1970	30th	2017	Cancer
Doug Kerslake	Montreal	1970	60th	2015
Gerry Bradbury	Los Angeles	1970	73rd	2011
Terry Marshall	St.Louis	1970	92nd	2015
Doug Rombough	Buffalo	1970	97th	2015	Peacefully at home
Ric Jordan	Montreal	1970	105th	2001
Rick Martin	Buffalo	1971	5th	2011	Heart attack in car
Steve Durbano	NY Rangers	1971	13th	2002	Liver cancer
Ken Baird	California	1971	15th	2016	Suddenly at home
Terry French	Montreal	1971	25th	2017	Diabetes/Heart
Derek Harker	St.Louis	1971	52nd	2001
Greg Hubick	Montreal	1971	53rd	2013	Cancer
Gary Crosby	Los Angeles	1971	62nd	1972	Car accident
Jacques Richard	Atlanta	1972	2nd	2002	Car accident
Michel Larocque	Montreal	1972	6th	1992	Brain cancer
Jerry Byers	Minnesota	1972	12th	2006	Cancer
Don Martineau	Atlanta	1972	50th	2006	Brain tumour
Bill Nyrop	Montreal	1972	66th	1995	Colon cancer
Derek Black	NY Islanders	1972	81st	1973	Cancer
Derek Kuntz	NY Islanders	1972	113th	1978	Cancer
Dennis McCord	Vancouver	1972	115th	2005
Tom Lysiak	Atlanta	1973	2nd	2016	Cancer (Leukemia)
Bob Dailey	Vancouver	1973	9th	2016	Cancer
Bob Gassoff	St.Louis	1973	48th	1977	Motorcycle accident
Ron Kennedy	NY Islanders	1973	65th	2009	Brain cancer
Dan Hinton	Chicago	1973	77th	1994
Ken Houston	Atlanta	1973	85th	2018	Cancer
Paul Tantardini	California	1973	98th	2006	Suicide
Jim Koleff	Chicago	1973	125th	2008	Cancer
Paul Nicholson	Washington	1974	55th	2011	Suicide
Don Wheldon	St.Louis	1974	87th	1985	Struck by ligthning
Mike Boland	Kansas City	1974	110th	2017	Declining health
Jacques Locas	Los Angeles	1974	184th	2006
Rick Lapointe	Detroit	1975	5th	1999	Heart attack
Don Ashby	Toronto	1975	6th	1981	Car accident
Rick Blight	Vancouver	1975	10th	2005	Suicide
Barry Smith	Boston	1975	32nd	2013	Heart attack
Ken Breitenbach	Buffalo	1975	35th	2017	Cancer
Denny McLean	NY Islanders	1975	83rd	2017	Subdural hematoma
Matti Hagman	Boston	1975	104th	2016	Long illness
Rick Shinske	California	1975	111th	2012	Cancer
Viktor Khatulev	Philadelphia	1975	160th	1994	Alcohol/Drugs
Jeff McDill	Chicago	1976	27th	2012
Craig Hanmer	Philadelphia	1976	53rd	2011
Maurice Barrette	Montreal	1976	90th	2018
Ted Olson	Boston	1976	106th	2003	Heart attack
Juhani Wallenius	St.Louis	1976	135th	2014	Short illness
Dave Semenko	Minnesota	1977	25th	2017	Liver/Pancreatic cancer
Dave Hoyda	Philadelphia	1977	53rd	2015
Bob Sullivan	NY Rangers Atlanta	1977 1978	116th 180th	2018
Bob Suter	Los Angeles	1977	120th	2014	Heart attack
Mike Greeder	Philadelphia	1977	139th	2005	Heart attack
Rob Nicholson	Philadelphia	1977	158th	2016
Daniel Poulin	Montreal	1977	167th	2015	Skin cancer
Willie Huber	Detroit	1978	9th	2010	Heart attack
Bjorn Skaare	Detroit	1978	62nd	1989	Car accident
Daniel Métivier	Montreal	1978	186th	2000	Suicide
Carl Bloomberg	St.Louis	1978	205th	1980	Suicide
Jim Farrell	St.Louis	1978	218th	2004
Brad McCrimmon	Boston	1979	15th	2011	Plane crash
Pelle Lindbergh	Philadelphia	1979	35th	1985	Car accident
Mark Reeds	St.Louis	1979	86th	2015	Esophageal cancer
Doug Wickenheiser	Montreal	1980	1st	1999	Lung cancer
Rik Wilson	St.Louis	1980	12th	2016
Greg Terrion	Los Angeles	1980	33rd	2018	Heart attack
Walt Poddubny	Edmonton	1980	90th	2009	Died at his sister's home
Danny Held	Philadelphia	1980	105th	2015	Long illness
Roger Hagglund	St.Louis	1980	138th	1992	Car accident
Barry Tabobondung	Philadelphia	1981	47th	2000	Vehicular accident
Tony Arima	Colorado	1981	150th	2005	Suicide
Gaetan Duchesne	Washington	1981	152nd	2007	Cardiac arrest
Paul Cyr	Buffalo	1982	9th	2012	Heart failure
Miroslav Dvorak	Philadelphia	1982	46th	2008	Throat cancer
Dusan Pasek	Minnesota	1982	81st	1998	Suicide
Ulf Isaksson	Los Angeles	1982	95th	2003	Cancer
Jeff Parker	Buffalo	1982	111th	2017	Cardio Pulmonary Hypertension
Jim Johannson	Hartford	1982	130th	2018	Died in his sleep
Sergei Kapustin	NY Rangers	1982	141st	1995	Heart attack
John Hutchings	New Jersey	1982	148th	2010	Long illness
Chris McCauley	Pittsburgh	1982	220th	2017	ALS
Peter Zezel	Philadelphia	1983	41st	2009	Brain hemorrhage
Bob Probert	Detroit	1983	46th	2010	Heart attack
John Kordic	Montreal	1983	78th	1992	Cardiac arrest
Arto Javanainen	Montreal	1983	118th	2011	Long illness
Craig Butz	Detroit	1983	146th	2017	Boat accident
Brian Jopling	Philadelphia	1983	221st	2005	Heart attack
Shawn Burr	Detroit	1984	7th	2011	Massive brain trauma (fall)
Roger Belanger	Pittsburgh	1984	16th	2011	Heart attack
Duncan MacPherson	NY Islanders	1984	20th	1989	Skiing accident (body found 2003)
Greg Smyth	Philadelphia	1984	22nd	2018	Cancer
Ray Podloski	Boston	1984	40th	2018	Heart attack
Bruce Melanson	NY Islanders	1984	41st	1985	Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome
Mark Teevens	Pittsburgh	1984	64th	1998	Pulmonary embolism
Todd Ewen	Edmonton	1984	168th	2015	Suicide
Scott Brower	NY Rangers	1984	243rd	1998	Car accident
Steve Chiasson	Detroit	1985	50th	1999	Car accident
Zarley Zalapski	Pittsburgh	1986	4th	2017	Viral infection
George Pelawa	Calgary	1986	16th	1986	Car accident
Marc Potvin	Detroit	1986	169th	2006	Suicide
Vladimir Krutov	Vancouver	1986	238th	2012	Internal bleeding/liver failure
Bryan Fogarty	Quebec	1987	9th	2002	Heart failure
Ludek Cajka	NY Rangers	1987	115th	1990	On-ice spinal injury
Igor Vyazmikin	Edmonton	1987	252nd	2009	Overdose on pills
Neil Carnes	Montreal	1988	46th	1989	Motorcycle accident
Robert Larsson	Los Angeles	1988	112th	2018	Heart attack
Stephane Morin	Quebec	1989	43rd	1998	Heart attack
Sergei Mylnikov	Quebec	1989	127th	2017	Heart attack
Jeff Batters	St.Louis	1989	135th	1996	Car accident
Mark Bavis	NY Rangers	1989	181st	2001	9/11 attack (Plane)
Aleksandr Karpovtsev	Quebec	1990	158th	2011	Plane crash
Guy Leveque	Los Angeles	1991	42nd	2005	Drowned
Yanick Dupré	Philadelphia	1991	50th	1997	Cancer (Leukemia)
Brian Caruso	Calgary	1991	63rd	2018	Heart attack
Andrei Lomakin	Philadelphia	1991	138th	2006	Cancer
Igor Korolev	St.Louis	1992	38th	2011	Plane crash
Sergei Zholtok	Boston	1992	55th	2004	Heart failure
Todd Klassen	Pittsburgh	1992	91st	1993	Car accident
Artem Kopot	Pittsburgh	1992	139th	1992	Car accident
Denis Tsygurov	Buffalo	1993	38th	2015	Heart attack
Valeri Karpov	Anaheim	1933	56th	2014	Head trauma (fall)
Aleksandr Osadchy	San José	1993	80th	1996	Suicide
Joel Gagnon	Anaheim	1993	82nd	1997	Car accident
Fredrik Oduya	San José	1993	154th	2011	Motorcycle accident
Rod Hinks	NY Islanders	1993	196th	2014	Died at his home
Pavol Demitra	Ottawa	1993	227th	2011	Plane crash
Wade Belak	Quebec	1994	12th	2011	Suicide
Brad Symes	Edmonton	1994	60th	2014	Suicide
Aleksei Yegorov	San José	1994	66th	2002	Head injuries (Thrown out of a window)
Boris Zelenko	Pittsburgh	1994	206th	2002	Skin cancer
Jonathan Delisle	Montreal	1995	86th	2006	Car accident
Anatoli Ustyugov	Detroit	1995	104th	2004	Head injuries (Robbery)
Dmitri Tertyshny	Philadelphia	1995	132nd	1999	Boat accident
Ruslan Salei	Anaheim	1996	9th	2011	Plane crash
Matt Lahey	Washington	1996	125th	2014	Heart attack
Roman Lyashenko	Dallas	1997	52nd	2003	Suicide
BJ Young	Detroit	1997	157th	2005	Car accident
Denis Martyniuk	Vancouver	1997	201st	2008	Heart attack
Karel Rachunek	Ottawa	1997	229th	2011	Plane crash
Josef Vasicek	Carolina	1998	91st	2011	Plane crash
Trevor Ettinger	Edmonton	1998	159th	2003	Suicide
Andrei Troshschinsky	St.Louis	1998	170th	2015	Heart attack
BJ Ketcheson	Florida	1998	176th	2016	Cancer
Karlis Skrastins	Nashville	1998	230th	2011	Plane crash
Aleksandr Krevsun	Nashville	1999	124th	2002	Brain hemorrhage
Kaspars Astashenko	Tampa Bay	1999	127th	2012	Drug overdose
Darcy Robinson	Pittsburgh	1999	233rd	2007	Heart attack
Stefan Liv	Detroit	2000	102nd	2011	Plane crash
Nathan Marsters	Los Angeles	2000	165th	2009	Car accident
Ray Emery	Ottawa	2001	99th	2018	Drowned
Tom Cavanagh	San José	2001	182nd	2011	Suicide
Derek Boogaard	Minnesota	2001	202nd	2011	Accidental overdose
Marek Svatos	Colorado	2001	227th	2016	Drug overdose
Robert Müller	Washington	2001	275th	2009	Brain cancer
Ivan Tkachenko	Columbus	2002	98th	2011	Plane crash
Stefan Blaho	NY Islanders	2003	120th	2006	Car accident
Jan Marek	NY Rangers	2003	243rd	2011	Plane crash
Sergei Ogorodnikov	NY Islanders	2004	82nd	2018	Jet ski accident
Luc Bourdon	Vancouver	2005	10th	2008	Motorcycle accident
Vitaly Anikeyenko	Ottawa	2005	70th	2011	Plane crash
Aleksandr Vasyunov	New Jersey	2006	58th	2011	Plane crash
Aleksei Cherepanov	NY Rangers	2007	17th	2008	Cardiac arrest
Mickey Renaud	Calgary	2007	143rd	2008	Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
Robert Dietrich	Nashville	2007	174th	2011	Plane crash
Bryan Rufenach	Detroit	2007	208th	2012	Fatally electrocuted
Scott Winkler	Dallas	2008	89th	2013	Found dead in his home
Kristian Pelss	Edmonton	2010	181st	2013	Drowned (Fell of bridge)
Daniil Sobchenko	San José	2011	166th	2011	Plane crash

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Click to read more...

 

[Robert Gordon Orr]

By the way. Last week I had a few beers with a buddy of mine who dropped a question that stumped me. What team has the most deceased draft picks in history? It was such an odd question that I had to research it. That's why I compiled the list above. I have probably missed a few along the way though.

 

[unknown33]

Before entering this thread I expected this to be a list of draft picks who died before playing or something more specific like that.

 

[ted2019]

What a morbid thread. Don't really see the purpose for this.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

What a morbid thread. Don't really see the purpose for this.

Well, you're allowed to skip it if you don't want to be involved with it.

 

[SUX2BU]

Bob Probert ?

 

[Pominville Knows]

What if i told you that you're in a parallel universe and all these guys are actually still with us?

 

[Sanf]

Juhani "Bruutta" Wallenius. Drafted by Blues in 1976 (possibly scouted by Carl Brewer). Also drafted by Al Rollins Phoenix Roadrunneres with line of other Rauman Lukko players same year. Cult player of Lukko. Died after short illness in 2014.

Tony "Tiikeri" Arima. Drafted by Rockies in 1981. Another cult player. One of my favourites when I was kid. Rugged player and sadly bit rugged life. Sadly killed himself in 2005 (talked in several books so not rumour of any kind).

 

[Robert Gordon Orr]

What a morbid thread. Don't really see the purpose for this.

No real purpose for this really, and yes, it is a bit morbid. As I wrote, I made the list since I was unable to give a good answer to that weird question.

Bob Probert ?

Thanks, he's added to the list.

Juhani "Bruutta" Wallenius. Drafted by Blues in 1976 (possibly scouted by Carl Brewer). Also drafted by Al Rollins Phoenix Roadrunneres with line of other Rauman Lukko players same year. Cult player of Lukko. Died after short illness in 2014.
Tony "Tiikeri" Arima. Drafted by Rockies in 1981. Another cult player. One of my favourites when I was kid. Rugged player and sadly bit rugged life. Sadly killed himself in 2005 (talked in several books so not rumour of any kind).

Thanks for the additions, they are added to the list.

 

[Tarantula]

Somewhat morbid but still useful. Some of the names on the list I didn't know about.

 

[Big Phil]

I had no idea Igor Korolev was dead. Sergei Zholtok either although I guess he was still playing in 2004, crazy how I don't remember that. I know it was only 2018 but it is amazing how you forget that Ray Emery died. Cherepanov I remember because he was similar to a guy like Nail Yakupov, either a stellar talent or a bust. He was sort of sink or swim that way, I thought. We just never found out.

I am guessing this thread is players who died while their playing careers were still happening?

I thought Roman Lyashenko could have been pretty good because I remember him in the 1999 WJC. He was young, but his numbers were awful offensively. What a way to go with him too. It was decided that it was a suicide.

 

[seventieslord]

I am guessing this thread is players who died while their playing careers were still happening?

No, look near the top of the list. It doesn't matter when they died, their deaths are all listed.

 

[Moose Head]

A lot of guys from that KHL plane crash.

 

[sr edler]

Well, all people die eventually, even draft picks. Even me, probably.

Sometimes players are even dying alive. Ask Jagr about it.

 

[Nick Hansen]

Yeah, I had also forgot about Ray Emery...that was shocking at the time. Guess I'm getting numb by now to all the darkness in the world.

 

[Big Phil]

Just wondering, but what is the standard for this list? The draft has been going on for 5 decades now, surely there are more deceased players than this aren't there?

 

[Fantomas]

Sobchenko was such a beaut. Brilliant on the gold-medal winning team Russia at the 2011 WJC. Good looking kid. Great potential.

I often think of him and Urychev. And Sergei Ostapchuk too -- really good prospect.

 

[Sprague Cleghorn]

Just wondering, but what is the standard for this list? The draft has been going on for 5 decades now, surely there are more deceased players than this aren't there?

Well, 50 + ~20 = ~70. Average age of death in Canada and USA, I believe is somewhere in late 70s or early 80s, so I think the amount is about right.

 

[Big Phil]

Well, 50 + ~20 = ~70. Average age of death in Canada and USA, I believe is somewhere in late 70s or early 80s, so I think the amount is about right.

There are only three players deceased from the 1963, 1964 and 1965 drafts combined? Those numbers just don't add up to me. In comparison let's look at the deceased players from Canada's 1972 team who would be of similar ages. Bergman, Goldsworthy, Martin, Mikita..........who else am I missing? Anyway, that's 4 right there from a 35 player team.

 

[Moose Head]

There are only three players deceased from the 1963, 1964 and 1965 drafts combined? Those numbers just don't add up to me. In comparison let's look at the deceased players from Canada's 1972 team who would be of similar ages. Bergman, Goldsworthy, Martin, Mikita..........who else am I missing? Anyway, that's 4 right there from a 35 player team.

Combined, only 25 players were drafted those 3 drafts. C form era, where most of the best draft age players were already property of a team.