Most Hyped/best prospect in draft History

[vadim sharifijanov]

viktor kozlov may have been the most heavily hyped russian prospect. (russian mario lemieux > russian bobby orr? jovanovski wasn't all that hyped and i think bonk was the frontrunner for a lot of tverdovsky's year, but as i recall none of them were supposed to be on the modano/thornton/kovalchuk level of sure thing prospect. kozlov ended up falling, part of that is because san jose had side deals with teams not to take him, but early reports had him being better than daigle and a bona fide franchise-carrying superstar.)

that said, i was living in a US non-hockey market and not following the NHL as closely around kovalchuk's draft year so maybe he gauge of the kovalchuk hype is not totally accurate.

 

[Angelus*]

quick question, would much hype for Gretzky would there have been if he was available for the 1979 draft?

 

[lextune]

Lemieux. By a lot.

Then Lindros and Crosby rounding out the top three.

 

[Reverend Mayhem]

Kovalchuk was supposed to be the best Russian prospect ever, Ovechkin was just supposed to be a really good player that you can build a franchise around.

Yeah, it seemed like media didn't really honour how good he was until a month or 2 into his rookie season.

Back on topic:

For newer fans, I think Tavares will be that player. He was hyped for a looooooooooooong time leading up to that draft. For example, I knew about him when he was 14/15.

But Lindros was supposedly Gordie Howe on steroids. Whether he reached that peak is hard to say.

 

[Crossfire Hurricane]

You really feel ovie had that much hype? IMO ovechkin was touted to be a great player but the words "next one" wernt used to describe him. He was also up and coming at the same time as crosby and was usually in the shadow of crosbys hype. Just my opinion though

I know it's not the end all indication, but I was bored at work once and started digging through some of the old threads on the Prospects board and found that some (and not just the lunatic fringe) were saying Ovechkin would be better than Crosby. I can't remember the exact details, but I remember reading that he'd be elite offensively and defensively.

 

[Rhiessan71]

quick question, would much hype for Gretzky would there have been if he was available for the 1979 draft?

Believe it or not, Gretzky actually wasn't as hyped as you might think.
His last year in Junior, he was out scored by Bobby Smith and Ciccarelli scored more goals.

He then went to the WHA at 17 and had a good season but not like what was to come and many people didn't think he would be able to even get 100 points in the NHL.
The NHL talking heads were pretty harsh on anything WHA back then and Gretzky's size was being talked about constantly.
Hell, even after he won the Hart in his first season in the NHL and narrowly lost the Art Ross to Dionne, people were still not ready to get on board.
His record setting second year with 164 quieted the nay sayers some more but when he scored 50 in 39 and ended up with 92 goals and 212 points in his third season, that was when he finally shut them up completely.
He did what was considered absolutely impossible and to this day is prolly the most memorable and craziest season I ever witnessed.

The memories of that season and the following seasons are very much in my mind when I see posts saying Gretzky couldn't dominate today. If you weren't there you really just don't understand the scope of what he did, how he did it and what he was up against.

 

[Strangle]

From what I remember at the time, Lindros is the most hyped prospect I've ever seen. The poster earlier in this thread who brought the hockey card point into the discussion is right. My friends and I were racing to collect Oshawa generals Lindros cards.

Lindros made mainstream news regularly before he was an NHL player, for many reasons. Im not sure, but was there a TSN in Canada at that time?

 

[McRpro]

I was too young/didn't care about hockey in '84 so I can't comment on the Lemieux hype but IMO Lindros was the most hyped. No doubt about it. And that comment about hockey cards is spot on. I had a few friends stockpiling Lindros "Future Superstar" cards(the one in his Oshawa jersey). Those Lindros cards were gold back then.

 

[blogofmike]

From what I remember at the time, Lindros is the most hyped prospect I've ever seen. The poster earlier in this thread who brought the hockey card point into the discussion is right. My friends and I were racing to collect Oshawa generals Lindros cards.

Lindros made mainstream news regularly before he was an NHL player, for many reasons. Im not sure, but was there a TSN in Canada at that time?

Ah, Lindros cards. He came up right when trading cards had their last big bubble. And yes TSN did exist.

As for mainstream news, I remember Lindros being on Team Canada for the best-on-best 1991 Canada Cup, and even with zero NHL games under his belt no one thought about that twice, given his status as The Next One.

 

[Sens Rule]

In order:

1) Crosby
2) Lindros
3) Ovechkin
4) Daigle
5) Lemieux

Ovechkin was not hyped much at all as a prospect or after he was drafted. I mean in comparison to Lindros or Crosby. Also the lockout had something to do with that.

We are talking hype pre-draft. Recently Spezza had a ton of hype as a 15 year old, I remember seeing him play for Brampton as a 15 year old phenom. He continued to be hyped big time, he got stuck with the horrible Ice Dogs team though. He had almost Tavares level hype as a 15-17 year old. Then at the draft he went second to Kovalchuk who got a ton of hype for a Russian at the time, but for only the final season before the draft was their big hype surrounding him. I would say the most HYPED Russian prospect was Bure. But the hype was different because he was not going to make the NHL anytime soon as Communism had not fallen but as an underaged prospect player I think he had the most hype and anticipation.

Forsberg would not entirely qualify as his hype grew AFTER he was drafted. But he was very much anticipated to come over from Sweden after his dominant Junior and Top level International performances.

I think it goes like this and you need to do it by era as the media and hype machine has evolved a great deal:

Frank Mahovich
Jean Beliveau
-Two of the most hyped players from the 50's before they made the NHL

Bobby Orr
- Was anticipated to be the best defenceman in the league and surpassed those expectations. Was well known before he made the NHL, Dominated Junior and I think played games as a 14 year old in OHL.

Early 70's
Gilbert Perreault - big deal who would get him of Expansion Canucks and Sabres and made a big difference in the Sabres being far more successful.
Lafleur and to a lesser degree Dionne the same year
Potvin who dominated junior and made the 67's as a 14 year old.

Gretzky

Mario

Lindros

Crosby

All the rest of the hyped players were not on the same level of the hype of these players.

 

[Sens Rule]

An interesting speculation exercise could be:

Who would have been the consensus #1 overall pick at 15 years old, 16, 17, (or when it was a 20 year old draft 18 and 19)

I think Lindros definately would have been at 15. Mario maybe at 15 definately as 16. Crosby Maybe at 16, definately at 17.

Orr at 15 for sure if there was a draft then.

Gretzky is interesting because many GMs would have taken him at 16 or 17 but there was questions about his size and I don't know if he would have been a consensus pick. Someone asked if he would have gone first as an 18 year old in 1979? For certain he would have. He was the best player in the WHA by the end of his rookie season there. And he was 17!

 

[nutbar]

From what I remember at the time, Lindros is the most hyped prospect I've ever seen. The poster earlier in this thread who brought the hockey card point into the discussion is right. My friends and I were racing to collect Oshawa generals Lindros cards.

Lindros made mainstream news regularly before he was an NHL player, for many reasons. Im not sure, but was there a TSN in Canada at that time?

A few years ago I was at a used book sale and came across a 1991 World Junior program signed by Eric, his brother Brett and their dad. I'm sure somebody in 1991 thought it was a priceless artifact. I bought it for a dollar.

 

[kingpest19]

Sid got a ton of hype but it paled to what Lindros received and that's saying something, considering the difference of availability in media/mediums 20 years ago.

Back then you actually had to buy and read newspapers, magazines and watch HNiC, TSN or the old Global Sports Line.
Old timers know what I'm talking about.

Exactly. Even without the mediums available today those of us on the West Coast knew who Lindros was long before his draft year.

 

[Rhiessan71]

An interesting speculation exercise could be:

Who would have been the consensus #1 overall pick at 15 years old, 16, 17, (or when it was a 20 year old draft 18 and 19)

I think Lindros definately would have been at 15. Mario maybe at 15 definately as 16. Crosby Maybe at 16, definately at 17.

Orr at 15 for sure if there was a draft then.

Gretzky is interesting because many GMs would have taken him at 16 or 17 but there was questions about his size and I don't know if he would have been a consensus pick. Someone asked if he would have gone first as an 18 year old in 1979? For certain he would have. He was the best player in the WHA by the end of his rookie season there. And he was 17!

Orr was scouted at the unheard of age of 12 while playing against kids 2-3 years older and was signed by the Bruins at 14.
So it's a good bet he's prolly got everyone beat here

 

[pluppe]

there may have been more media voices when crosby was 15-18, but relative to the hype of his peers, i think it still has to be lindros. at least within the span of my memory, which is too short to remember mario.

he was supposed to gretzky with mario size and messier toughness and meanness. which, in 1990-'91, was the perfect player. gretzky was gretzky. messier was a recent MVP and captained a cup winner without gretzky. mario had just won the conn smythe and was arguably at his absolute peak.

and all the controversy surrounding lindros helped keep his name in the papers and on everyone's tongues. holding out with the greyhounds, publicly declaring that he wouldn't play for quebec before the draft, the accusations that he called a french teammate a "frog," that was huge news. the biggest controversy surrounding crosby was cherry blasting him for being a "hot dog." doesn't compare.

and plus, even if there was more media when crosby was coming up, people talked about lindros more in day to day conversation. there was a stretch run to follow, where people watched quebec trying to out-lose toronto. hell, considering how long the lindros hype cycle ran before the '91 draft, there was a whole season to watch who would finish last. would it be quebec, winnipeg, vancouver, the islanders, or the devils? in some ways, the hockey vacuum that was the lockout insulated crosby's draft, even though there were a lot of questions about how the league would decide that year's draft order.

one last thing about lindros is the newly booming hockey card market. a new brand (score) based its entire line around lindros. and another new brand (upper deck) largely made is mark on weaseling around lindros' exclusive contract with score. this has no bearing on who was the better player or prospect, but i think it made a lot of difference with regard to hype, at least to people of my age at the time.

and the Quebec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanches are forever grateful!

 

[Seanconn*]

there may have been more media voices when crosby was 15-18, but relative to the hype of his peers, i think it still has to be lindros. at least within the span of my memory, which is too short to remember mario.

he was supposed to gretzky with mario size and messier toughness and meanness. which, in 1990-'91, was the perfect player. gretzky was gretzky. messier was a recent MVP and captained a cup winner without gretzky. mario had just won the conn smythe and was arguably at his absolute peak.

and all the controversy surrounding lindros helped keep his name in the papers and on everyone's tongues. holding out with the greyhounds, publicly declaring that he wouldn't play for quebec before the draft, the accusations that he called a french teammate a "frog," that was huge news. the biggest controversy surrounding crosby was cherry blasting him for being a "hot dog." doesn't compare.

and plus, even if there was more media when crosby was coming up, people talked about lindros more in day to day conversation. there was a stretch run to follow, where people watched quebec trying to out-lose toronto. hell, considering how long the lindros hype cycle ran before the '91 draft, there was a whole season to watch who would finish last. would it be quebec, winnipeg, vancouver, the islanders, or the devils? in some ways, the hockey vacuum that was the lockout insulated crosby's draft, even though there were a lot of questions about how the league would decide that year's draft order.

one last thing about lindros is the newly booming hockey card market. a new brand (score) based its entire line around lindros. and another new brand (upper deck) largely made is mark on weaseling around lindros' exclusive contract with score. this has no bearing on who was the better player or prospect, but i think it made a lot of difference with regard to hype, at least to people of my age at the time.

I wouldn't say Mario was at his peek in 1990/91 that year would be more like the observation telescope at his pinnacle from 88/89-92/93, where his PPG was equally impressive as anything Gretzky posted before.

but that's beside the point the fact people were going on like Lindros could become the next gretzky or Lemieux was just laughable based on jr. hockey experience.

what did Lindros do in Jr. hockey that matched what Lemieux did in the Q?
or what Gretzky did as a 16 year old or freaking 17 year old in the pro WHA.

it was pure speculation that the most talented jr. player would be the next one.

Lemieux put up 282 points in 70 games in the Q and, Gretzky put up 182 in 64 as a 16 year old, then 110 points as a 17 year old rookie in the WHA.

why all the hype about Lindros, and not Pavel Bure at the time? because Lindros was Canadian

 

[HighAndTight]

Lindros for sure.

I can't tell you how many Lindros junior cards I have from my dad collecting them.

 

[Sens Rule]

why all the hype about Lindros, and not Pavel Bure at the time? because Lindros was Canadian

Well he was Canadian, but he also had MASSIVE Size. He was as big and strong as pretty much the biggest NHL players at 16 or 17. I think his aggression and size made scouts believe he would be the next great player. And for awhile he was. I don't think anyone believed he had the offensive skills of Mario or Gretzky, but he was as good as anyone else besides those two plus he had an entire different dimension to his game.

He had a pretty ridiculously dominant before he was drafted. To say he wasn't is just untrue. He was basically too big and good for the OHL after his 16 year old season. He would have been an NHL STAR at age 16 and 17, and it was pretty clear to everyone that that was the case. 149 points as a 17 year old?

 

[monster_bertuzzi]

Lindros was living up the the hype in 94/95/96/97...he was just dominant those years.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

No one remembers the Brian Bellows hype?

"Bellows played junior hockey in the Ontario Hockey League with the Kitchener Rangers. During this time, he was featured in Sports Illustrated, which described him as the hottest prospect since Wayne Gretzky."

Not many juniors getting into Sports Illustrated at that time.

 

[Form and Substance]

No one remembers the Brian Bellows hype?

"Bellows played junior hockey in the Ontario Hockey League with the Kitchener Rangers. During this time, he was featured in Sports Illustrated, which described him as the hottest prospect since Wayne Gretzky."

Not many juniors getting into Sports Illustrated at that time.

I remember the Bellows hype. Well I can't remember since I was born in 87 but I remember reading a lot about it when I was obsessed with prospects.

Dale Hawerchuk got a lot of press too in his draft year...he was thought of as a Gretzky-like type of player. His career turned out to be very Gretzky-lite (this is not a knock, the guy carved a bonafide HOF career for himself). He was far and away the best prospect entering the 1981 draft.

I think Pierre Turgeon was also pretty hyped, mostly because of the talented younger brother mystique (amplified by Sylvain's status as a #2 overall pick). He too was the #1 NHL prospect entering his draft year. An apple cheeked golden boy athlete, the guy had it all, talent, frame, world class hands ,skating, vision, you name it. Shame he lacked heart and determination. Still had a great career though.

For some reason, the 2001 draft sticks out to me as one that was exceptionally hyped (as a draft). Spezza was a known commodity for years, and then you had this boisterous Russian kid who overtook the mantle as the #1 overall pick. Kovalchuk was explosive, dynamic, chirpy, big, strong and talented. Traits that Spezza sort of lacked. Both those prospects pretty much lived up to their hype. But BEYOND that, I remember Chistov being compared to Kariya...and when I say compared, I don't mean in terms of playing style, this guy was SUPPOSED to be the next Kariya. It was only his small frame that made him fall to #5 much like Kariya fell to #4. I don't know what the hell went wrong there. For a guy with THAT much talent, he should be destroying the technical minded KHL. Svitov was also hyped for some reason. there was an obsession for all things Bobby Holik at the time. It doesn't help that both players look like Frankenstein.

 

[Form and Substance]

Well he was Canadian, but he also had MASSIVE Size. He was as big and strong as pretty much the biggest NHL players at 16 or 17. I think his aggression and size made scouts believe he would be the next great player. And for awhile he was. I don't think anyone believed he had the offensive skills of Mario or Gretzky, but he was as good as anyone else besides those two plus he had an entire different dimension to his game.

He had a pretty ridiculously dominant before he was drafted. To say he wasn't is just untrue. He was basically too big and good for the OHL after his 16 year old season. He would have been an NHL STAR at age 16 and 17, and it was pretty clear to everyone that that was the case. 149 points as a 17 year old?

I think it's a stretch to say that he would have been an all-star at 16 or even 17. He put up 75pts in 61 games as a 19 year old rookie in one of the highest scoring years ever (Joe Juneau had a 102 pts that year just to put things into perspective). My guess is, he would have been physically strong enough for the NHL at 16, but would have been totally ready by 18. I actually think he would have been more dominant had he stepped in as an 18 year old.

to get back on topic, I think Lindros takes the cake. Crosby's hype was pretty close, especially when you take into account the effect that the lockout had on hockey.

 

[SidGenoMario]

It's quite sad that all the good prospects, the "next ones" and so forth... Gretzky, Lemieux, Lindros, Daigle, Crosby now, only Gretzky was able to show his best. I mean, we never saw Lemieux's best. He was the most talented player of all time, but we never saw him at 100%, he was always in constant pain and he missed a lot of time. Lindros had his peak cut short with concussions. Daigle didn't have the desire to play to his full attention. And now Crosby looks like he might have concussions affect his career. Even Bobby Orr before that, the first mega-prospect, had his career cut short. And Bryan Fogarty, who was supposed to be the next Orr, never achieved anything at the NHL level because of an unfortunate disease. Gretzky really was 1 of a kind.

 

[Psycho Papa Joe]

Believe it or not, Gretzky actually wasn't as hyped as you might think.
His last year in Junior, he was out scored by Bobby Smith and Ciccarelli scored more goals.

He then went to the WHA at 17 and had a good season but not like what was to come and many people didn't think he would be able to even get 100 points in the NHL.
The NHL talking heads were pretty harsh on anything WHA back then and Gretzky's size was being talked about constantly.
Hell, even after he won the Hart in his first season in the NHL and narrowly lost the Art Ross to Dionne, people were still not ready to get on board.
His record setting second year with 164 quieted the nay sayers some more but when he scored 50 in 39 and ended up with 92 goals and 212 points in his third season, that was when he finally shut them up completely.
He did what was considered absolutely impossible and to this day is prolly the most memorable and craziest season I ever witnessed.

The memories of that season and the following seasons are very much in my mind when I see posts saying Gretzky couldn't dominate today. If you weren't there you really just don't understand the scope of what he did, how he did it and what he was up against.

I do remember some talk of him being the most highly anticipated prospect since Guy Lafluer because of what he did as a 17 year old in the WHA. Something along those lines is even on his NHL Rookie Card.

 

[Form and Substance]

Gretzky has had his fair share of detractors but he was CRAZILY hyped. There are TONS of news stories about his scoring exploits, and I'm not talking of the Austin whatchamacalit from Michigan blowing up house league variety, these stories used to make a lot of people's jaws drop.