Picks I wasn't a fan of...oh boy.
2005: Kindl and Abdelkader. Ugh.
2008: McCollum - McCollum was the top ranked NA goaltender, but wasn't even considered a first round talent. Roman Josi was the #6 ranked european player in the draft. He was picked #38. Not only that, but we knew Howard was going to be our future starter within a year or two. What a waste of a chance at a franchise defenseman...
2009: Landon Ferraro - low ceiling pick. If we pick Tatar in this spot instead then I'm not as bothered by it. But We picked Landon Ferraro and the next pick was Ryan O'Reilly who was also on my wishlist that year.
2010: Sheahan - I wanted Jarred Tinordi because I remembered his dad as a rough and tumble defensive defenseman from his Minnesota days. I thought his son would be just as good. Turned out that he only taught his son how to hit and fight, not play defense or skate.
2015: Evgeni Svechnikov - He looked like a sure-bet middle 6 winger, but I thought that Brock Boeser and Travis Konecky would have more upside. This was a year I would have been OK with Holland trading back for an additional pick but he didn't do it, either. That was an incredibly deep 2nd round in hindsight.
2016: Hated the Cholowski pick then, hate it now, and not because we missed out on Chyrchun. I wanted Sam Steel or Brett Howden at that slot. They're both decent players, though the jury is out on if they're going to be top 6 guys. Also hated the Givani Smith pick at the time. I'm glad we have him on the team but I'm sure we could have had him in the 4th round or later in his draft year.
2017: Pretty much this entire draft. I'm glad that we have a future player in Rasmussen but this was a swing to get on 1st base and not a swing for the fences pick. I think he could be a tremendous 3rd liner. Maybe he becomes Brian Boyle and gets 20 points a season and is a PK specialist, in which case I'm pissed he went top 10. Maybe another Kevin Hayes 30-40 point 3rd liner, or another Michal Handzus which I'd be completely happy with. It's really hard to tell right now though. Lindstrom looks like he could be that affordable bottom pair defensive anchor but is another guy that you can't help but think he would have been available after the 3rd round. When I did some digging on the net he wasn't even ranked on most lists.
2018: I was pretty happy with this draft. I wasn't expecting to get Zadina who I expect will be a consistent 30 goal threat in the league. Getting Veleno at 30 was a steal and I believe he's got it in him to be a very good 2nd line center in the league. Berggren and McIsaac in the 2nd were also good picks. I think we're going to see at least 3 of these 4 become solid NHL regulars, with Berggren's chances hinging entirely on his injury problems. I'm hoping that he can stay healthy and blow the SHL away next season.
2019: Seider was a guy I didn't know anything about when we drafted him so I was cautiously optimistic because of Yzerman. After looking at his D1 WJC highlight reels and what I could of his DEL play on youtube I thought he looked better than his numbers indicated. Definitely better than Broberg who lots on the wings board were in love with. Now I'm convinced that this kid is going to be our lynchpin on defense for 15 years. Tuomisto was another guy I was skeptical on for the same reasons. I haven't seen much of his end to end skating but what I can gather from his highlight reels is that he's great at holding the offensive zone and has a rocket of a shot from the point. I actually wanted Mastrosimone at this slot (Go BU!) but was through the roof when they got him late in the 2nd. I think he can be some kind of strange mix between Dan Cleary and Tomas Tatar as a player.
