Your Team's Worst Draft Picks

[shadow1]

Really? That's like 2000 games there. Horrible.

I'm talking solely about Scott Parker.

 

[Tkachuk4MVP]

For the San Jose Sharks:

Teemu Riihijarvi - 12th overall, 1995; Never made the NHL. Sandwiched between Jarome Iginla and J.S. Giguere, although admittedly that draft was anything super special.

Devin Setoguchi - 8th overall, 2005; Although Setoguchi had a fairly decent NHL career, including a 30 goal season, this pick is particularly terrible given the fact that many wanted the Sharks to draft Anze Kopitar, but the Sharks' Tim Burke declared decisively that Kopitar was "overrated" and went with Setoguchi instead. Setoguchi helped get the Sharks Brent Burns later on, but Kopitar has been part of a Kings mini-dynasty.

Milan Michalek, Steve Bernier, Josh Hennessy, and Matt Carle - 6th, 16th, 43rd, and 47th overall, 2003; Michalek has had a decent career as a two-way winger, especially early in his career with the Sharks. Bernier utterly failed to meet expectations as a potential brutalizing power forward before carving a decent career as a 4th liner. Hennessy was a flop, appearing in less than two dozen games and potting a single NHL goal, while Matt Carle made a strong rookie showing before becoming an albatross contract with the Lightning later on - he has no points in 30 games, despite being an offense-first defenseman this year.

But what makes these four picks so brutal was the woulda, coulda, shoulda of the 2003 draft. At their best, these guys were just decent trade bait, with Michalek being traded for a washed-up Dany Heatley, and Carle as part of a package for Dan Boyle. However, with these four picks, the Sharks could have had:

1st pick: Ryan Suter/Jeff Carer/Brent Seabrook
2nd pick: Zach Parise/Ryan Getzlaf/Corey Perry/Brent Burns/Ryan Kesler
3rd pick: Patrice Bergeron
4th pick: Shea Weber

Good post, but don't forget Fat Balloon at #2 overall in 1991 (ahead of Niedermayer, Forsberg, Kovalev, Naslund, etc.). He had a couple of productive seasons for the Sharks, but overall he was a big-time bust, especially when compared to that list of players taken after him.