Who should have gone No.1 in past Drafts

zoranr

Registered User
Jan 10, 2005
10
0
Just for fun. In hindsight, who should have gone No.1 in past NHL Entry Drafts, starting with the first Entry Draft in 1979.

Year No.1 pick....................Should be No.1

2006 Erik Johnson ............. can't rank yet
2005 Sidney Crosby
2004 Alex Ovechkin
2003 M-A Fleury................. Eric Staal (2)
2002 Rick Nash
2001 Ilya Kovalchuk
2000 Rick DiPietro.............. Dany Heatley (2)
1999 Pavel Stefan.............. Martin Havlat (26)
1998 Vincent Lecavalier
1997 Joe Thornton
1996 Chris Phillips............. Daniel Briere (24)
1995 Bryan Berard............. Jarome Iginla (11)
1994 Ed Jovanovski........... Ryan Smyth (6)
1993 Alexandre Daigle........ Chris Pronger (2)
1992 Roman Hamrlik
1991 Eric Lindros
1990 Owen Nolan............... Jaromir Jagr (5)
1989 Mats Sundin
1988 Mike Modano
1987 Pierre Turgeon
1986 Joe Murphy ................ Brian Leetch (9)
1985 Wendel Clark............. Joe Nieuwendyk (27)
1984 Mario Lemieux
1983 Brian Lawton.............. Steve Yzerman (4)
1982 Gord Kluzak............... Dave Andreychuk (16)
1981 Dale Hawerchuk
1980 Doug Wickenheiser...... Paul Coffey (6)
1979 Rob Ramage............... take your pick (Mike Gartner,
Ray Bourque, Mark Messier...)
 

Lalander977

Registered User
May 18, 2006
105
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Man, I was checking 1992's draft to try to find a better pick than Hamrlik... I could'nt...
 

BritSabre

Registered User
Feb 10, 2006
2,768
369
Reading, UK
Man, I was checking 1992's draft to try to find a better pick than Hamrlik... I could'nt...

A couple of years ago, Yashin and Gonchar were considered superstars. Just because they've been pretty poor for the past few years doesn't mean you should discount their entire careers. After TB won the cup, I'd have picked Khabibulin every time there. If I were picking right now, I'd pick Straka, but his career has been no where near Yashin/Gonchar for the majority.
 

illogic

Registered User
Apr 12, 2005
3,955
3
A couple of years ago, Yashin and Gonchar were considered superstars. Just because they've been pretty poor for the past few years doesn't mean you should discount their entire careers. After TB won the cup, I'd have picked Khabibulin every time there. If I were picking right now, I'd pick Straka, but his career has been no where near Yashin/Gonchar for the majority.

Gonchar's been good the past couple of seasons, except for maybe the first half of 05-06. He was second in scoring among defensemen in 07.
 

Gustave

Registered User
Feb 15, 2007
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Here
Hum... 1980 seems controversial to say the least. I would have taken Denis Savard instead of Coffey, but it is open for debate. I woudn't call Wickenheiser's pick a fiasco because he did have a career in the NHL. But it certainly didn't pan out the way it was supposed to. Savard was just a force and a spectacular player to watch.

And kudos to that 99 draft, way to go down in history as a suc*fest. :yo:
 

madpooh

Registered User
May 30, 2007
828
4
91- S. Niedermayer should probably have been 1 over Lindros and probably even Forsberg

99- You might be able to make a case for ryan miller, or Zetterberg
 

insider

Registered User
Nov 14, 2003
2,345
0
91- S. Niedermayer should probably have been 1 over Lindros and probably even Forsberg

99- You might be able to make a case for ryan miller, or Zetterberg

I was about to mention that. '99 had some good late picks, like Miller, Zetterberg, Comrie (3rd) and Vrbata.

Still not up to par though
 

BritSabre

Registered User
Feb 10, 2006
2,768
369
Reading, UK
I was about to mention that. '99 had some good late picks, like Miller, Zetterberg, Comrie (3rd) and Vrbata.

Still not up to par though

Miller for one is nowhere near the standard of Zetterberg or the Sedins let alone Havlat, though maybe more so than Comrie or Vrbata.
 

insider

Registered User
Nov 14, 2003
2,345
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Miller for one is nowhere near the standard of Zetterberg or the Sedins let alone Havlat, though maybe more so than Comrie or Vrbata.

I wasn't implying that they were on the same page. Just that they were all decent late round picks.
 

CertifiedPublicGuin

Registered User
Oct 21, 2005
5,154
36
Miller for one is nowhere near the standard of Zetterberg or the Sedins let alone Havlat, though maybe more so than Comrie or Vrbata.

MAYBE more so than Comrie and Vrbata? Sheesh. Miller IMO could be right in the category with Zetterberg and the Sedins... perhaps a small notch below Havlat because let's face it, the man is a freak. Besides, this is a thread dedicated to who should have gone #1... let's just stick with that.
 

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