Does the 1991 Draft have an argument for best class of all time?

[blundluntman]

As great as the 79 and 03 classes are, I think there may be an argument for 91 having more concentrated talent.

Besides Messier and Bourque, I don't think there are any players from either draft you can argue are better than Lindros, Forsberg, Niedermeyer and Kovalev. Along with those 4, Naslund had a great peak and Palffy was one of the most offensively productive players in the Dead Puck Era (was top 5 in ppg 5 times I believe). Osgood may have compiled a bit with those Red Wings teams but he's at least Fleury's equal imo (Lindbergh was better than both imo though).

79 likely has the 2 greatest players among all 3 classes, but as far as quantity, 91 isn't too far off.
03 is definitely the deepest of the 3, but I'd argue there isn't a single player in that class that you would take over Lindros, Niedermeyer, Forsberg and Kovalev.

Thoughts?

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[ResilientBeast]

As great as the 79 and 03 classes are, I think there may be an argument for 91 having more concentrated talent.

Besides Messier and Bourque, I don't think there are any players from either draft you can argue are better than Lindros, Forsberg, Niedermeyer and Kovalev. Along with those 4, Naslund had a great peak and Palffy was one of the most offensively productive players in the Dead Puck Era (was top 5 in ppg 5 times I believe). Osgood may have compiled a bit with those Red Wings teams but he's at least Fleury's equal imo (Lindbergh was better than both imo though).

79 likely has the 2 greatest players among all 3 classes, but as far as quantity, 91 isn't too far off.
03 is definitely the deepest of the 3, but I'd argue there isn't a single player in that class that you would take over Lindros, Niedermeyer, Forsberg and Kovalev.

Thoughts?

From 03 I'd take a lot of players before Kovalev.....

Suter, Burns, Weber, Bergeron, Getzlaf

 

[Jumptheshark]

How many hall of famers from each draft is usually the starting point

 

[decma]

Besides Messier and Bourque, I don't think there are any players from either draft you can argue are better than Lindros, Forsberg, Niedermeyer and Kovalev.

Just off the top of my head, I would put Propp, Goulet, and Naslund well ahead of Kovalev.
Also Gartner, Ogrodnick, and Anderson (G).

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

at the time 1990 felt like an infinitely better draft than 91, even with the lindros factor.

in retrospect, i think the gap looks even bigger.

jagr and brodeur are the only alltimers, but for notable players you also have zubov, tkachuk, weight, bondra, the top four of nolan, nedved, primeau, ricci, derian hatcher, slava kozlov, darryl sydor, robert lang, and alexei zhamnov.

but where that draft really is impressive is in the depth of tier three players. so many notable guys, from felix potvin (all-star goalie), craig conroy (two time selke finalist), mikael renberg (top ten scorer), geoff sanderson (two time 40 goal scorer), and that's before getting to flashes in the pan like roman turek (second team all-star) and alex karpovtsev (led the league in +/-).

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

for absolute high end, between them the three best players in the 1984 draft have

four harts, five runner ups, four third places
five conn smythes, eight cups (all as key players)
twelve first team all-stars, six second team all-stars
six goal scoring titles
six art rosses, two runner ups, a third place, two fourths, and a fifth
three vezinas, two runner ups, two third places, five jennings trophies

 

[golfortennis]

When did the age rules change? Cause if Gretzky is actually in the draft(79), is there any discussion at all?

 

[Big Phil]

When did the age rules change? Cause if Gretzky is actually in the draft(79), is there any discussion at all?

1980 is when it went to 19 year olds. This is why Wickenheiser and Savard were born in 1980. Not sure why Messier was in 1979 though. Maybe it was because he had already been a pro in the WHA. Anyway, that is how the Habs had the 1st overall pick in 1980. Sam Pollock had made some trades prior to when he left the Habs in 1978 in order to increase the chances of getting the 1st overall pick in 1980. He knew that was Gretzky`s year.

 

[Big Phil]

I still say 1979 and 2003 are the best drafts. 1991 is pretty good with top end talent, but not quite the same depth. I think there are drafts better than 1991. 1987, 1988 come to mind. 1997 is pretty good at the top end as well. I think 1991 is a bit down the list. Still a good one, but there are better ones.

 

[sonic92]

The first round is pretty solid with 17 of the 22 players getting over 500 career games.

The five guys who didn't hit that mark were Alex Stojanov (107), Pat Peake (134), Brent Bilodeau (0), Niklas Sundblad (2), and Trevor Halverson (17).

 

[MS]

1979 should always be mentioned with an *asterisk when talking about great drafts because it was essentially 3 drafts in one.

2003 started out amazing ... but really didn't end up all that great.

But that said, I can't rate 1991 ahead of 1990/1983/1984.

 

[Professor What]

1979 should always be mentioned with an *asterisk when talking about great drafts because it was essentially 3 drafts in one.

2003 started out amazing ... but really didn't end up all that great.

But that said, I can't rate 1991 ahead of 1990/1983/1984.

Edmonton made out like bandits in 1979. They make a deal to keep Gretzky by dropping to the bottom of the draft list and still get three future Hall of Famers out of it. Just wow...

 

[Staniowski]

1979 should always be mentioned with an *asterisk when talking about great drafts because it was essentially 3 drafts in one.

2003 started out amazing ... but really didn't end up all that great.

But that said, I can't rate 1991 ahead of 1990/1983/1984.

1979 was essentially 2 drafts in one, plus Mark Messier. And then, 1980 was also 2 drafts in one....or a little less than 2 drafts due to the introduction of the Sept. 15 cutoff.

So, here's the first guys drafted for each age group through this period of change:

b. 1958 - Bobby Smith (1978 draft)
b. 1959 - Rob Ramage (1979 draft)
b. 1960 - Keith Brown (1979 draft) [Ray Bourque was 2nd]
b. 1961 - Mark Messier (1979 draft)
b. 1961 (other than Mark Messier) - Doug Wickenheiser (1980 draft)
b. 1962 - Rik Wilson (1980 draft)
b. 1963 Dale Hawerchuk (1981 draft)

Of course, Wayne Gretzky would have been the first 1961 drafted, if available.

 

[golfortennis]

The first round is pretty solid with 17 of the 22 players getting over 500 career games.

The five guys who didn't hit that mark were Alex Stojanov (107), Pat Peake (134), Brent Bilodeau (0), Niklas Sundblad (2), and Trevor Halverson (17).

I think Peake would have challenged the 500 game level were it not for his ankles being destroyed in icing races.