Wild's best and worst draft selections?

[Lapa]

Who do you see as our best choices in the draft, and who do you see as our worst?

Can be first round picks, 5th round picks or whatever you like.

Click to read more...

 

[ThatGuy22]

Haula is probably the best "value" pick Fletcher has done. ie, exceeding expectations of draft slot by the most. Getting a solid NHLer that late is tough. Brodin, Granlund, Dumba all basically went roughly where they should, and have produced in the NHL as you'd expect.

Worst is probably Phillips, followed by Bussieres

 

[Dee Oh Cee]

Get in the obvious AJ Thelen first

Haula, Brodin, Koivu, Burns ended up being a great pick. Obviously no verdict yet, but Kaprizov looks to be a great one.

It's pretty impressive to get a guy who plays NHL games at all from the 7th round so that's what makes Haula/Graovac pretty cool. Sokolov 7th round too? we'll see if he makes it someday.

 

[Engebretson]

AJ Thelen was probably our biggest bust, but he was supposed to be a good pick where we got him. For the worst pick, I'd nominate Matt Kassian. Yes, he did have a NHL career, but picking him 57th overall was a joke.

We've actually had a lot of 1st rounders pan out, but I think getting Burns at #20 overall (even though it was in the stacked 2003 draft) has to be the best value. He put up arguably his best numbers after being traded, but that was a great pick for 20th overall.

 

[Saga of the Elk]

Pretty easy to say Thelen as worst. But worth keeping in mind that guys don't make the show for various reasons: http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1337853

Best? Well, no Wild pick has more NHL games than Nick Schultz.

Brent Burns might be the first Wild pick to make the HoF.

 

[gphr513]

Agree on Haula being the best "value" pick. I'm hoping the a few years we'll be hailing Kaprizov as a major draft steal

 

[MuckOG]

Burns may have been the best, but I wonder if he would've progressed the same had he stayed in Minnesota?

 

[Engebretson]

I actually knew Thelen's ex who was with him at the draft in 2004 and during the whole MSU fiasco. She always said that people didn't know the real story about what happened at Michigan State and that it wasn't Thelen's fault (but never really elaborated). I always took it with a grain of salt because she was obviously emotionally attached to him and clearly saw things from his view, but I'm willing to bet it was a situation where both parties were at least a little at fault.

Regardless of what happened at Michigan State, the guy had a shot with Houston and couldn't do anything and bounced around the ECHL until about 2011. Getting kicked off the team at MSU was clearly a turning point in his career and one that he never really recovered from.

 

[nickschultzfan]

Pretty easy to say Thelen as worst. But worth keeping in mind that guys don't make the show for various reasons: http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1337853

Best? Well, no Wild pick has more NHL games than Nick Schultz.

Brent Burns might be the first Wild pick to make the HoF.

Dang straight Schultz was a great pick!!!

 

[nickschultzfan]

Pouliot over Kopitar

 

[nickschultzfan]

Honestly, I think it is Koivu. No pick has had as long and as big of an impact to this team. And it is arguable that he turned out to be absolutely the best pick in that draft, even though there were questions about his offensive upside.

 

[Lapa]

What happened at MSU that affected Thelen?

 

[Engebretson]

What happened at MSU that affected Thelen?

He got dismissed from the team. Coach said didn't meet expectations for a student-athlete and Thelen made it sound like the coach was out to get him.

This was in his sophomore year too. He went to the WHL after that and eventually got 1 game for the Aeros before the Wild ended up cutting him loose.

 

[Dickie Dunn]

I say Pouliot. A swing and a miss at #4 with Kopitar on the board. Ouch.

 

[kfan22]

Pouliot over Kopitar

Carey Price also

 

[Wabit]

Carey Price also

What a draft that was for Goalies. Price, Rask, Bishop, Quick. Pavelec also that year, but he's a backup quality goaile.

 

[TaLoN]

Haula is probably the best "value" pick Fletcher has done. ie, exceeding expectations of draft slot by the most. Getting a solid NHLer that late is tough. Brodin, Granlund, Dumba all basically went roughly where they should, and have produced in the NHL as you'd expect.

Worst is probably Phillips, followed by Bussieres

How can you forget Sheppard and Thelen?

 

[ThatGuy22]

How can you forget Sheppard and Thelen?

I limited mine to Fletcher era, as i've scrubbed the Risebrough era from my mind through years of intensive drinking.

But yes, if you're counting all of History the answer for Worst is Thelen. Sheppard isn't in the conversation, he wasn't quite what he wanted but he had a 400 game NHL career.

 

[TaLoN]

Most of that 400 game career was after the Wild bailed on him and he had to re-dedicate himself after some ahl time. So calling him "not what we wanted" is a serious understatement.

He was the face of the first round bust here for years.

Top 10 pick who couldn't even see the ice in the bottom 6 on a team desperate for talent.

I agree Thelen is the worst, but Sheppard is absolutely in the conversation.

 

[Arturia Pendragon]

Although he's been having a down year, I would think Scandella is one our better picks.

 

[TaLoN]

Although he's been having a down year, I would think Scandella is one our better picks.

Decent pick, but got right about what was expected of him. Burns is by far the best pick. He's blowing the doors off draft day expectations. The rate he's going, he may end up in the NHL HoF.

 

[ThatGuy22]

Most of that 400 game career was after the Wild bailed on him and he had to re-dedicate himself after some ahl time. So calling him "not what we wanted" is a serious understatement.

He was the face of the first round bust here for years.

Top 10 pick who couldn't even see the ice in the bottom 6 on a team desperate for talent.

I agree Thelen is the worst, but Sheppard is absolutely in the conversation.

Flat out, he's 9th in games played amongst players drafted by the Wild. Surely some of the current crop will pass him. But amongs worst picks, he doesn't even crack top 5. First rounders alone you've got Thelen, Cuma, Gillies, Phillips who have did 100% nothing. Then you've got Fiala,Voloshenko and Bussieres who busted hard and provided zero value in the 2nd round.

Sheppard wasn't a great pick. But he's definitely in the mushy middle. He provided the Wild with over 200 of his 400 NHL games, and of the 30 first round picks in 2006, he's 16th in Games played. and there are only an additional 5 from the 2nd round that have played more games than him.

I get it, we wanted a star and got a bottom 6 type. But he had a decent NHL career and shouldn't be in the worst discussion.

 

[tomgilbertfan]

Flat out, he's 9th in games played amongst players drafted by the Wild. Surely some of the current crop will pass him. But amongs worst picks, he doesn't even crack top 5. First rounders alone you've got Thelen, Cuma, Gillies, Phillips who have did 100% nothing. Then you've got Fiala,Voloshenko and Bussieres who busted hard and provided zero value in the 2nd round.

Sheppard wasn't a great pick. But he's definitely in the mushy middle. He provided the Wild with over 200 of his 400 NHL games, and of the 30 first round picks in 2006, he's 16th in Games played. and there are only an additional 5 from the 2nd round that have played more games than him.

I get it, we wanted a star and got a bottom 6 type. But he had a decent NHL career and shouldn't be in the worst discussion.

Cuma wasn't a bad pick though, he got destroyed by injuries.

 

[TaLoN]

Flat out, he's 9th in games played amongst players drafted by the Wild. Surely some of the current crop will pass him. But amongs worst picks, he doesn't even crack top 5. First rounders alone you've got Thelen, Cuma, Gillies, Phillips who have did 100% nothing. Then you've got Fiala,Voloshenko and Bussieres who busted hard and provided zero value in the 2nd round.

Sheppard wasn't a great pick. But he's definitely in the mushy middle. He provided the Wild with over 200 of his 400 NHL games, and of the 30 first round picks in 2006, he's 16th in Games played. and there are only an additional 5 from the 2nd round that have played more games than him.

I get it, we wanted a star and got a bottom 6 type. But he had a decent NHL career and shouldn't be in the worst discussion.

We wanted a star and got a popcorn maker. He was scratched more games than he played here because he was such a liability wherever he played.

We didn't even get the bottom 6 player he ended up being.

Games played isn't everything. If it was, Daigle wouldn't be one of the biggest first overall busts in NHL history.

 

[ThatGuy22]

We wanted a star and got a popcorn maker. He was scratched more games than he played here because he was such a liability wherever he played.

We didn't even get the bottom 6 player he ended up being.

Games played isn't everything. If it was, Daigle wouldn't be one of the biggest first overall busts in NHL history.

Im not saying he was good or what we wanted. But in a discussion of worst picks ever, a player with 200+ games in a wild sweater and 400 total isnt in the conversation when there are 3 first round picks who never suited up and Colton Gillies, who was drafted to be a grinder and couldnt even manage that.