Who does the most with least?... i.e., what teams draft best without top picks??

[Seguins Dragon*]

I know the obvious answer is Detroit with Zetterberg and Datsyuk seems to be one that jumps out.

However I would love to know who people think are the best drafting teams... not teams that have had consecutive top 5 picks, but have consistently done well with their drafting.

One team I personally think of (other than Detroit) is Nashville.

Always do well with their picks it seems, but never super high picks, just good solid drafting.

What other teams draft well?
What teams don't fair so well at the drafting table?

Click to read more...

 

[boredmale]

Going by the 2000s I might pick Philadelphia with some good later first round picks(Richards, Downie, Giroux, Sbisa, Williams) they have an uncanny ability to pick one of the better players within a 4-5 player range before and after their pic

 

[S E P H]

Avs
Red Wings
Predators
Kings

are the best imo.

Black Jackets
Thrashers
Wild

basically all the new teams have struggles.

 

[CorsiCounter]

The Flames are easily the team that does the least vs. the amount of money the owners are willing to spend.

 

[SMoneyMonkey]

Avs
Red Wings
Predators
Kings

are the best imo.

Black Jackets
Thrashers
Wild

basically all the new teams have struggles.

I love the Kings but I don't think they really deserve a mention. Out of lateish picks that have done well there's: Clifford(35th), Moller(52nd and debatable, sadly), Simmonds(61st, pretty good, really), Quick(72nd), Matinez(95th), Parse(174th, very debatable).

The only person there who is truly core is Quick, and Bernier may eventually edge him out. Simmonds is probably the best.

That said, people like Vey, Toffoli, Kitsyn, Kozun and Weal may make Kings worthy of a mention. And Parse, you know he's the most skilled guy on the team? Stupid Murray...

 

[ct2111]

Regier has drafted very well outside of the 1st round, atleast one impact player every draft year/potential impact player for 2007 and later:
1997 - Tallinder (2nd), Afinogenov (3rd), Campbell (6th); 1998 - Kotalik (6th);
1999 - Miller (5th); 2000 - Gaustad (7th); 2001 - Roy, Pominville, Thorburn (all 2nd);
2002 - Wideman (8th); 2003 - MacArthur (3rd), Hejda (4th);
2004 - Kaleta (6th), Sekera (3rd); 2005 - Gragnani (3rd), Butler (4th), Gerbe (5th);
2006 - Weber, Enroth (both 2nd); 2007 - Brennan, Schiestel (both 2nd), Tropp (3rd), Byron (6th);
2008 - Adam (2nd), Crawford (6th); 2009 - McNabb (3rd), Foligno (4th);

His first round picks have been hot and cold, considering the Sabres had exactly one top 10 pick since he has been GM, I'd say he's done ok. That 2008 draft certainly makes up for some of the busts he's drafted over the years.

 

[BennyBST]

Ducks who have gotten guys like Perry, Getzlaf, Fowler, and Palmieri.

 

[edgevolution]

Minnesota

 

[Ice Crusher]

Avs
Red Wings
Predators
Kings

are the best imo.

Black Jackets
Thrashers
Wild

basically all the new teams have struggles.

For the Avs though, it didn't happen until Mr. Rick Pracey arrived in the organization. Because before that era, I think the Avs were one of the worst team to draft players. Now they are one of the best to find talents in the later rounds. Examples like:

- Paul Stastny 44th overall, 2nd round 2005

I could remember the year that the franchise had their best draft in history which is in 2009:

- Matt Duchene 3rd overall, 1st round 2009
- Ryan O'reilly 33rd overall, 2nd round 2009
- Stefan Elliot 49th overall, 2nd round 2009
- Tyson Barrie 64th overall, 3rd round 2009

I am not saying that Duchene wasn't an obvious pick, but as for the other guys like O'reilly, Elliot, and Barrie...those were guys that slipped through the 2nd and 3rd round and had amazing past seasons. O'reilly not being very productive, but being a force defensively. Stefan Elliot, most likely the defenseman of the year in the WHL this year. Tyson Barrie is another guy that made team Canada this year at the World Championships under 20 and won the award of the WHL's defenseman of the year last year and his nominated this year. I actually think that draft made the face of the franchise.

And who would have thought Joey Hishon, a guy nobody knew, would had this amazing season? I remember cursing why the Avs organization drafted this guy at 17th overall. Now I know why the team didn't want to risk of moving down the pick to pick him up.

 

[Mansfield]

Wings are the obvious answer.

Also the preds.

And whatever team drafted Brett Lebda obviously wins.

EDIT: Oh nvm, wings signed him as a college FA. Best college signing evaaarrr

 

[Chainshot]

It never ceases to amaze that the Wings get mentioned for things they did a dozen or more years ago.

Some teams have had success finding later round gems. In the last decade, the Hawks have picked the following regulars in the fifth round or later:


Adam Burish
James Wisniewski
Dustin Byfuglien
Jake Dowell
Troy Brouwer

....The Canadiens:

Matt D'Augostini
Sergei Kostitsyn
Mark Streit
Mikhail Grabovski
Jaro Halak


To find one NHL regular every other year from round five on? Pretty solid.

Some teams have success in the first round regarless -- the Flyers make that pick work year upon year, rarely picking in the top half of the round.

 

[bassassin]

Everyone says redwings, but honestly post lockout what has their drafting done? I mean even going back a couple of years earlier only player of note is Franzen, they cant live off finding Datsyuk and Zetterberg forever.

Nashville, obvious answer. Stacked system, never top 5 pick. They develop players really well. Just awesome system, if they were a cap team they could be a powerhouse.

 

[Blades of Glory]

Current Sharks drafted outside first round:

Jason Demers (2008, 7/186)
Marc-Eduard Vlsic (2005, 2/35)
Torrey Mitchell (2004, 4/126)
Joe Pavelski (2003, 7/205)
Ryane Clowe (2001, 6/175)
Douglas Murray (1999, 8/241)

Active former Sharks drafted outside first round:

Evgeni Nabokov (1994, 9/219)
Miikka Kipprusoff (1995, 5/116) (Vlasic)
Christian Ehrhoff (2001, 4/106)
Matt Carle (2003, 2/47) (Boyle)

First-round picks (by Sharks) on roster:

Patrick Marleau (1997, 1/2)
Devin Setoguchi (2005, 1/8)
Logan Couture (2007, 1/9)

It's important to note that the Sharks did not earn the top 10 draft picks they used on Setoguchi and Couture. They traded up for Setoguchi in 2005, and thanks to Doug Wilson convincing Toronto to give him their first round pick for Vesa Toskala and Mark Bell, they were in position to take Logan Couture in 2007. Since 1999, the Sharks have had a top 10 pick only once because of their actual record. That was in 2003, when they selected Milan Michalek 6th overall. They drafted in the top 20 in 2006 (Ty Wishart at 16), 2003 (Steve Bernier at 16) and 2001 (Marcel Goc at 20). Doug Wilson turned Michalek into Dany Heatley, Wishart and Carle into Dan Boyle, and Dean Lombardi first round picks Brad Stuart and Marco Sturm into Joe Thornton. All while never missing the playoffs and never finishing with less than 99 points. I'd say that's good drafting.

 

[Dosing]

Everyone says redwings, but honestly post lockout what has their drafting done? I mean even going back a couple of years earlier only player of note is Franzen, they cant live off finding Datsyuk and Zetterberg forever.

If it was only zetterberg, franzen and datsyuk id agree.

 

[montreal]

Habs drafted from the 5th round out,

Sergei Kostitsyn (2005, 7th round 200th overall)
Matt D'Agostini (2005, 6th round 190th)
Mikhail Grabovski (2004, 5th round 150th)
Mark Streit (2004, 9th round 262nd)
Jaroslav Halak (2003, 9th round 271st)
Andrei Markov (1998, 6th round 162nd)
Michael Ryder (1998, 8th round 216th)
Stephane Robidas (1995, 7th round 164)
Tomas Vokoun (1994, 9th round 226th)

Getting two starting goalies in Halak and Vokoun from the 9th round is impressive.

 

[hdtrax]

For some reason Calgary came to mind. They do reasonably even without drafting all that much.

Detroit is obvious, so I won't go into it.

SJ, Nashville, Montreal, Washington to an extent all come to mind. Boston as well too.

Toronto is starting to show some promise. Next couple of years we'll find out tho.

 

[SupersonicMonkey*]

Lundqvist (#205, 2000)
Dubinsky (#60)
Callahan (#124)
Anisimov (#54)
Stepan (#51)
Sauer (#40)
Staal (#12)
Girardi (undrafted)
Del Zotto (#20)

Highest pick in the group, Staal, was taken 12th overall after trading up.

Despite some picks flopping from the pre-lockout era, the Rangers have done a good job post-post lockout.

Kreider (#19)
Thomas (#40)
Grachev (#75)

Will also make an impact soon.

 

[Eli Cash]

Going by the 2000s I might pick Philadelphia with some good later first round picks(Richards, Downie, Giroux, Sbisa, Williams) they have an uncanny ability to pick one of the better players within a 4-5 player range before and after their pic

Outside of the first round, the Flyers suck. They have to be one of the worst teams in the league at drafting later picks. Since 2000, their only really good non-first round picks were Patrick Sharp in the third round in 2001, Seidenberg in the 6th round that year, and I guess you can count Cechmanek in the 6th round in 2000.

Now that I look at the other years...scratch that, they've been terrible for a really long time:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Philadelphia_Flyers_draft_picks

 

[Uindicator]

Going by the 2000s I might pick Philadelphia with some good later first round picks(Richards, Downie, Giroux, Sbisa, Williams) they have an uncanny ability to pick one of the better players within a 4-5 player range before and after their pic

Ya i like philly, Carter was also picked 11th. The Ducks when they won the cup had Perry , Getzlaf, Bryzgalov(backup) , and undrafted players in Penner , Kunitz, and Andy Macdonald, not bad.

 

[WreckItRask]

Ducks who have gotten guys like Perry, Getzlaf, Fowler, and Palmieri.

No offense, but the 2003 1st round was so good you could basically throw a dart at the top 30 and get some serviceable NHLers (Getzlaf). Ryan was 2nd overall, Fowler was a total layup pick at his spot, and Palmieri is yet to be a productive NHLer.

If you look at their draft list since about 2002 it's pretty uninspiring compared to some other teams.

http://hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/teams/dr00004643.html

 

[ADD-devil950003]

NJD:

Brodeur- 20th
Elias- 51st
White- 49th
Parise- 17th
Zajac- 20th
Tedenby- 24th
Josefson- 20th
Palmieri- 79th
Fayne- 155th
Zharkov- 77th

Greene- undrafted
Clarkson- undrafted

 

[gifted88]

Everyone says redwings, but honestly post lockout what has their drafting done? I mean even going back a couple of years earlier only player of note is Franzen, they cant live off finding Datsyuk and Zetterberg forever.

Nashville, obvious answer. Stacked system, never top 5 pick. They develop players really well. Just awesome system, if they were a cap team they could be a powerhouse.

really? Teemu Pulkkinen was a steal for the 4th round, Tomas Tatar looks like a gem, Gustav Nyquist is amazing and was a 4th round pick. They continue to draft very well even after the lockout.

my top 3 are Detroit, Montreal, and Nashville.

 

[Wats]

In the last 10 years I'd say Sharks in terms of 100th+ position drafting.

Sharks:
Christian Ehrhoff (2001 106th overall)
Ryane Clowe (2001 175th overall)
Joe Pavelski (2003 205th overall)
Torrey Mitchell (2004 126th overall)
Jason Demers (2008 186th overall)

 

[Tretyak 20]

NJD:

Brodeur- 20th
Elias- 51st
White- 49th
Parise- 17th
Zajac- 20th
Tedenby- 24th
Josefson- 20th
Palmieri- 79th
Fayne- 155th
Zharkov- 77th

Greene- undrafted
Clarkson- undrafted

...And that doesn't include:

Gomez - 27th
Gionta - 82nd
Martin - 62nd
Clemmenson - 215th
Sullivan - 233rd
Urbom - 73rd
Merrill - 38th
Burlon - 52nd

Madden - undrafted
Rafalski - undrafted
Oduya - undrafted

We are the Rodney Dangerfield of the NHL, "no respect, I tell ya!"

 

[boredmale]

Ya i like philly, Carter was also picked 11th.

I ignored all Philly picks in the top 15(Carter, JVR(this was the only one they didn't trade for) and Pitkanen) and just went with there 20-30 range picks which for the most part have been pretty spot on(the only bad pick in that range was Jeff Woywitka, the rest are the guys I listed plus they traded a bunch of those late first round picks(2002,2004,2009,2010))

Philly has consistently save 2007 been in the top 10 teams every year, so the amount of good players they got at a not so great spot is very efficient