Most Hyped/best prospect in draft History

lextune

I'm too old for this.
Jun 9, 2008
11,436
2,365
New Hampshire
I didn't mention Gretz or Orr because the OP seemed to be specifically asking about drafts.

But if you just want to talk about hype surrounding hockey players here is the list from my lifetime:

Group 1:
Orr
Lemieux
Gretzky
Lindros

Group 2:
Crosby
Lafleur
Perreault

I see people mentioning the likes of Daigle and Ovechkin and that is just crazy. Even with modern media neither one of them approaches the level of excitement surrounding the other players I mentioned.
 

Breakfast of Champs

Registered User
Apr 15, 2007
2,951
2,904
I didn't mention Gretz or Orr because the OP seemed to be specifically asking about drafts.

But if you just want to talk about hype surrounding hockey players here is the list from my lifetime:

Group 1:
Orr
Lemieux
Gretzky
Lindros

Group 2:
Crosby
Lafleur
Perreault

I see people mentioning the likes of Daigle and Ovechkin and that is just crazy. Even with modern media neither one of them approaches the level of excitement surrounding the other players I mentioned.


Yea I was not around even for the Daigle "hype" so I have no Idea I just know he was a #1 pick and he was a bust. People now probably exaggerate how hyped he was for dramatic effect on how bad he turned out. As for ovie, I had heard of him and he was a god prospect but he was never crazily hyped by any means
 

Eisen

Registered User
Sep 30, 2009
16,737
3,101
Duesseldorf
Names like Lindros, Crosby, Lemieux, and Daigle are coming to mind. This is not a thread about who turned out the best, only who was the most hyped/best prospect the nhl has ever seen.

Back in the day when Lindros was drafted, Germany usually didn`t really get a lot of NHL news and even ardent hockey fans were not very aware of what happened over there simply because of lack of access. But you heard about Lindros.
 
Last edited:

connellc

Registered User
Dec 2, 2010
274
17
Does anyone remember the hype that Nik Antropov got out of Toronto? Something tells me that Pat Quinn was hyping him up, but I'm not entirely sure. Toronto media also came into play here.
 

Sens Rule

Registered User
Sep 22, 2005
21,251
73
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.

Daigle and Fogarty's names do not belong in this post.

I'll say we saw Mario and Orr at their best. Maybe not for a long period of time, or complete seasons of health but we saw them and Lindros at their VERY BEST. We know how good they could be. Clearly we did or Mario and Orr would not be top 4 players all time.

It would be nice to have a dozen healthy prime years like Gretzky had but at least we got to see them play in the periods they were healthy at their best.
 

vancanucks16

Registered User
Nov 12, 2010
74
0
Vancouver
Due to my age I only remember the Crosby hype but I am assured that the Lindros hype was was bigger. What about next prospect to get a lot of hype? Max Domi possibly?
 

Nalyd Psycho

Registered User
Feb 27, 2002
24,415
14
No Bandwagon
Visit site
Does anyone remember the hype that Nik Antropov got out of Toronto? Something tells me that Pat Quinn was hyping him up, but I'm not entirely sure. Toronto media also came into play here.

The Maple Leafs top prospect is almost always overhyped by the local media, same happens in Montreal, but local hype to feed a rabid fan base is very different from what happened with Lindros.

In my time following hockey.

1. Lindros
2. Crosby
3. everyone else. (Although obviously some 1sts, Daigle, Ovechkin, Kovalchuk etc... were more hyped than others like Stefan, Jovanovski, Hamrlik etc...)
 

Infinite Vision*

Guest
Yeah Ovechkin really didn't get a lot of hype. I remember more than halfway through their rookie seasons when Ovechkin was handily outscoring Crosby, my friend knew all about Crosby but had no clue who Ovechkin was.
 

Big Phil

Registered User
Nov 2, 2003
31,703
4,144
Yeah Ovechkin really didn't get a lot of hype. I remember more than halfway through their rookie seasons when Ovechkin was handily outscoring Crosby, my friend knew all about Crosby but had no clue who Ovechkin was.

The dude must not watch hockey at all then eh? I mean Crosby was getting a lot of press but it was Ovechkin with the highlight reel goals. The classic one on his back in Phoenix was actually in his rookie season.

Did someone mention Max Domi? I'll be honest I don't know a lot about him but is he hyped up because of his old man and the fact that he has much more skill than Tie or is the kid really a gem?

By the way, in my honest opinion if you were to do an all-time draft and you were a GM with the #1 overall pick I think Mario Lemieux would be impossible to pass up. Even over Orr and Lindros.
 

Habsfan18

The Hockey Library
May 13, 2003
30,614
8,625
Ontario
While certainly far from the most hyped, Dale McCourt had a fair amount of excitement surrounding him before he entered the league and throughout his first few seasons.

His last 3 seasons in the OHA...126, 139, and 139 points.

His first 4 seasons in the NHL...72, 71, 81, 86 points.

He finished his NHL career with 478 points in 532 games, which is still pretty respectable. But for a guy with so much hype around him as the next Red Wings superstar, a 7 year NHL career has to be viewed as a disappointment.
 

Breakfast of Champs

Registered User
Apr 15, 2007
2,951
2,904
The dude must not watch hockey at all then eh? I mean Crosby was getting a lot of press but it was Ovechkin with the highlight reel goals. The classic one on his back in Phoenix was actually in his rookie season.

Did someone mention Max Domi? I'll be honest I don't know a lot about him but is he hyped up because of his old man and the fact that he has much more skill than Tie or is the kid really a gem?

By the way, in my honest opinion if you were to do an all-time draft and you were a GM with the #1 overall pick I think Mario Lemieux would be impossible to pass up. Even over Orr and Lindros.

Domi is OK. He will go in the 1st round of the ohl draft but likely not 1st overall. At this point there are quite a few better 95 born prospects in canada
 

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad

-->