Your Team's Worst Draft Picks

[Moose Head]

I think Wickenheiser's legacy is also easier in hindsight. He had all the tools to be a great center for Lafleur. It just never panned out like nearly everybody was thinking. Sure, not picking Savard has kept me up at nights and he was the home town favorite, but there was history on Wickenheiser's side with Big Pete as Lafleur's centerman; the best offensively.




The big miss was Bossy being drafted long after Napier. Despite Claude Ruel's pleas to Pollock ("He's the first player I've seen to bring me out of my seat since Lafleur!"), Pollock went with Napier for who knows what reasons.

A lot of mediocre skaters scored like Bossy in the Q. Napier was scoring a lot in what was thought a superior league and had better wheels. I can understand Pollock's decision. Bossy also walked into a perfect storm in NY playing 1st line with two of the best playmakers in the NHL. In Montreal they had Lafluer and Courny in the top two lines, and Houle and Tremblay as the checking righties. Bossy would have had a more difficult road in Montreal. Without developing that early confidence, who knows how he would have developed in Montreal.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

what's the difference between guys like bossy and robitaille, and guys like patrick lebeau or any of the million other QMJHL guys who put up crazy points and never made the NHL? toughness.

scouts severely underrated bossy's willingness to take the punishment necessary to get his stick on the puck and his ability to fight through it.

i mean, okay there are other differences too, like talent, intelligence, etc., but the big one is toughness.

 

[NYRangers3061]

1. Hugh Jessiman: 2003, 13th
Players taken after: Seabrook, Parise, Getzlaf, Burns, Kesler, Perry, Bergeron...

2. Bobby Sanguinetti: 2006, 21st
Players taken after: Giroux

3. Al Montoya: 2004, 6th
Players taken after: Stafford, Zajac, Green

I'll add more later, have to get back to class now

 

[Martin Riggs]

Blackhawks got 2 1st rounders from Detroit in the Chelios trade. They drafted Steve McCarthy in '99 and Adam Munro in '01. Whole lotta nothin' right there..

 

[Brodeur]

Blackhawks got 2 1st rounders from Detroit in the Chelios trade. They drafted Steve McCarthy in '99 and Adam Munro in '01. Whole lotta nothin' right there..

Like I mentioned on the previous page, there must have been something in the water as those 1996-2002 Drafts just weren't up to par in terms of depth.

Ie, McCarthy didn't pan out but of the next 40 picks, the only everyday NHLers were Martin Havlat, Mike Commodore, Jordan Leopold, and Adam Hall. Not exactly a murderer's row.

If your team missed out on the 2003 bonanza that's a higher degree of difficulty than whiffing on a pick in 1996 or 1999.

 

[hototogisu]

that pick still amazes me. i mean, this is 2005. jose theodore was recent hart winner who had a bad post-MVP year and then had a major bounce back where he didn't contend for the vezina but you'd still probably have him on your top five goalies in the league list. the '04 playoffs especially, with his ridiculous 40+ save performance facing elimination in game 5 to spark the comeback from 3-1 against first place boston, capped off by a game 7 shutout where his team only put one goal behind the guy on the other side of the ice. then of course they got outclassed by the presidents trophy/cup winners but still, theo was a star. what did gainey know that the rest of us didn't yet?

I don't know what Gainey had aside from balls of steel to make that call I don't even want to imagine if the reverse had happened - if Brule went on to be a star and Price busted. The city would have been burned to the ground by now.

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:

It's funny (well not really funny for a Sharks fan) but there was a brief time when it looked like the Sharks were another team who cleaned up in the 2003 draft. Michalek was looking like an offensive stud, Bernier was a budding power forward, and Carle was a very highly thought of D prospect.

It's just interesting how even a couple of years after the draft a team can look like a winner, only for things to change. The Sharks at least got Heatley, Campbell and Boyle out of those picks who were solid contributors for a while.

 

[tjcurrie]

1.Brian Lawton - 1st overall 1983

- Not a terrible career (71 goals, 162 points in 303 games with the North Stars. 112 goals and 266 points in 483 games overall), but considering he was taken 1st overall, considering he who the other options were, 3rd overall Pat Lafontaine and Steve Yzerman 4th overall (among others), definitely a big time failure.

2.Scott Glennie - 8th 2009

- Product of junior linemates, off-ice issues, just a complete bust. Joe Nieuwendyk had just taken over as GM prior so I'm not sure how much preparation went into this. Not that there was a plethora of high-end talent taken next, but some good NHL talent (Ryan Ellis and Dmitry Kulikov to name a couple).

3.Dave Archibald - 6th 1987

- Lou Nanne (Then GM) - "We drafted Dave Archibald first in 1987. He was playing in the WHL and we were looking for a big centerman. We were hoping to get a defenseman but Boston took Glen Wesley before us, so we took Archibald. I made a mistake there - a couple of my scouts, Murray Oliver and Dick Bouchard were very passionate about Joe Sakic."

Sakic went 15th

4.Scott Cashman - 112th in 1989

- Okay, 112, how do you "fail" here? If you get even a few games out of a player here you're okay. If not, nobody bats an eye. The only thing that puts netminder Scott Cashman on my list is when you consider who went 113th - Pavel Bure to the Canucks.

Cashman eventually played 3 games for Adirondack of the AHL in 1993-94. Unfortunately he passed away from heart-related issue in 2008 at age 39.

5.Ron Meighan - 13th 1981

- Gentlemen, if you're wanting a defenseman, might I suggest this Alan Macinnis kid out of Kitchener? No? Okay then. Meighan it is.

Calgary took that Macinnis kid 2 pick later.

Meighan played 7 games for the North Stars, and 41 with the Penguins. If you're on here, I don't need to go over Al Macinnis.

But don't sweat, North Stars fans. The team had 4 picks early 2nd round to make up for it.

27.Dave Donnelly
31.Mike Sands
33.Tom Hirsch
34.David Preuss

Montreal took Chris Chelios with the 40th pick.

 

[Oscar Acosta]

Like I mentioned on the previous page, there must have been something in the water as those 1996-2002 Drafts just weren't up to par in terms of depth.

Ie, McCarthy didn't pan out but of the next 40 picks, the only everyday NHLers were Martin Havlat, Mike Commodore, Jordan Leopold, and Adam Hall. Not exactly a murderer's row.

If your team missed out on the 2003 bonanza that's a higher degree of difficulty than whiffing on a pick in 1996 or 1999.

Makes me feel even worse for not making it to the NHL when I would have been a 1999 draft haha.

 

[xyz1]

Hirsch and Preuss both suffered career-ending injuries at fairly early ages; neither one would have been Chris Chelios, but that provides at least a bit of an excuse.

But the fact that Norm Green is such a perfect cartoon villain has made it easy for people to overlook just how badly Lou Nanne drafted, and how much this contributed to the eventual move to Dallas, as years of losing caused the fan base to evaporate (the North Stars only drew when they had .500 or better teams). That '81 draft is a doozy; Minnesota had 6 of the first 41 picks, and 9 of the first 97, but the players selected with those picks played a total of 222 NHL games. All players drafted by the North Stars between '83 and '87 scored a total of 315 NHL goals. That is absolutely abysmal.

 

[MS]

Talking about weak drafts and then saying late 1st rounders Bowen, Kuznetsov and Golubovsky should be on there, is ironic. Sillinger was a 11th overall. Complete bust.

Jesse Wallin was good. His career got derailed by injuries. Not a bad selection.

Complete bust? What on earth? The guy played 1000+ NHL games and scored 240 NHL goals.

There was also 1 guy taken in the rest of the first round (Kolzig) who turned out better. Nobody else was even close.

Sillinger was a terrific pick there. He didn't provide much value to Detroit in the end because of their center depth at the time (Yzerman, Fedorov, Primeau) was absurd but listing him as one of their worst picks ever is absurd.

Wallin had injury troubles but was a fringe NHLer at best before those injuries hit.

 

[MS]

For Vancouver :

1) Dan Woodley, #7 overall in 1986. Complete bust, one of the worst top-10 picks of the last 30 years. Taken immediately in front of Brian Leetch.

2) Jere Gillis, #4 overall in 1977. Hung around for a few years, but a terrible result from a top-5 pick in a good draft.

3) Patrick White, #25 overall in 2007. In terms of ability, the worst Canuck #1 pick ever. Never played a pro game in North America.

4) Jason Herter, #8 overall in 1989. Skill defender who just never developed. 1 career NHL game.

5) Shawn Antoski, #18 overall in 1990. Was a useful 4th liner for a bit, but what hurts here is that the scouts had Keith Tkachuk's name on a jersey and wanted to take him but were overruled by Pat Quinn.

Somehow, our drafting has been bad enough that Libor Polasek, Brad Ference, Alex Stojanov, Nathan Smith, and Luc Bourdon (RIP) don't make the top-5.

 

[tjcurrie]

Hirsch and Preuss both suffered career-ending injuries at fairly early ages; neither one would have been Chris Chelios, but that provides at least a bit of an excuse.

But the fact that Norm Green is such a perfect cartoon villain has made it easy for people to overlook just how badly Lou Nanne drafted, and how much this contributed to the eventual move to Dallas, as years of losing caused the fan base to evaporate (the North Stars only drew when they had .500 or better teams). That '81 draft is a doozy; Minnesota had 6 of the first 41 picks, and 9 of the first 97, but the players selected with those picks played a total of 222 NHL games. All players drafted by the North Stars between '83 and '87 scored a total of 315 NHL goals. That is absolutely abysmal.

Nanne did a great job constructing those early 1980s North Stars teams. Huge influx of talent in a very short span that took them from bottom feeder to one of the most talented teams going, and a contender.

The merging with Cleveland helped (Meloche, Maruk, MacAdam), but he should also be credited with dealing behind the scenes there as well.

1978 Draft
1.Bobby Smith
19.Steve Payne
24.Steve Christoff
54.Curt Giles

1979 Draft
6.Craig Hartsburg
10.Tom McCarthy (planned on taking Bourque, Boston took him #8)
42.Neal Broten (traded Dave Semenko to Edmonton for this pick)

- Did his diligence and signed undrafted free agent Dino Ciccarelli

1980 Draft
16.Brad Palmer (eventually given to Boston to ensure they'd leave Bellows and take Kluzak 1st overall in the 1982 Draft)
37.Don Beaupre

1982 Draft
2.Brian Bellows
80.Bob Rouse

- 1987 Traded Jari Gronstrand and Paul Boutilier to NYR for Dave Gagner. Amazing story behind this trade too.

1988 Draft
1.Mike Modano

If you look at those first 3 drafts of his ('78, '79, '80) all 9 of those players listed were on that 1981 team that went to the Final. That's pretty incredible. So I give him big props for some amazingly successful drafts, some good managing and trades, and taking Modano 1st overall (no offense to Linden, but it was the right choice). The drafting in that gap between though, you're right, pretty abysmal.

It didn't help that guys like Payne and Hartsburg and McCarthy suffered injuries and what not that derailed their would-have-been excellent/great careers, or that Bobby Smith walked into Nanne's office and demanded a trade. He did okay in that trade getting Mark Napier and Keith Acton from Montreal, but that was a big blow to the talent level there. Apparently the next best offer was Keith Crowder from Boston.

So those things, combined with the gap of abysmal drafting as you mentioned, really sunk that ship, and put him in position to draft Modano 1st overall.

 

[David Bruce Banner]

For Vancouver :

1) Dan Woodley, #7 overall in 1986. Complete bust, one of the worst top-10 picks of the last 30 years. Taken immediately in front of Brian Leetch.

2) Jere Gillis, #4 overall in 1977. Hung around for a few years, but a terrible result from a top-5 pick in a good draft.

3) Patrick White, #25 overall in 2007. In terms of ability, the worst Canuck #1 pick ever. Never played a pro game in North America.

4) Jason Herter, #8 overall in 1989. Skill defender who just never developed. 1 career NHL game.

5) Shawn Antoski, #18 overall in 1990. Was a useful 4th liner for a bit, but what hurts here is that the scouts had Keith Tkachuk's name on a jersey and wanted to take him but were overruled by Pat Quinn.

Somehow, our drafting has been bad enough that Libor Polasek, Brad Ference, Alex Stojanov, Nathan Smith, and Luc Bourdon (RIP) don't make the top-5.

I gotta take issue with you including Luc in this list, even as a HM. Sure, we would still probably be bewailing not picking Kopitar, but who knows how good Bourdon could have been? It was a tragedy and let's leave it at that.

Otherwise a fine list and I'll add... what burns about that 1990 draft is not only did we pick Antoski instead of Tkachuk... but we also missed on Brodeur, who went a couple of picks later AND we picked Nedved instead of Jagr.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

After drafting five Hall of Famers in their first three drafts, the Edmonton Oilers have been downright abysmal at the draft table. From 1984-1990, seven consecutive Oilers first rounders were complete and total busts, several never even playing a single NHL game. The draft table was definitely Glen Sather's biggest weakness as a manager. Things weren't a whole lot better under Kevin Lowe. I figured I'd do up a top 10 list.

10. Michael Henrich. 13th Overall, 1998. Never played an NHL game, had one decent AHL season. Almost every other first rounder that year at least had a couple years in the NHL.

9. Selmar Odelein. 21st Overall, 1984. This was a deep draft. A whopping 27 players drafted after Odelein played 500+ games. The lesser of the Odelein's had a cup of coffee in the NHL and was playing in Austria by age 25.

8. Jason Bonsignore. 4th Overall, 1994. You're probably wondering how he's this far down the list. A big-time draft bust, but almost any other team would have taken him in this position, and the first round as a whole was lousy. The Oilers got Ryan Smyth anyway with the 6th pick. Other than Jeff O'Neill (5th pick) and Jeff Freisen (11th), almost every other first rounder would also be seen as a disappointment at 4th overall. Central Scouting itself simply missed the mark on Bonsignore.

7. Jason Soules. 15th Overall, 1989. Never played in the NHL, played just 52 games in the AHL. Defensemen taken shortly after Soules included Adam Foote, Bob Boughner, Patrice Brisebois, and his Niagara Falls junior teammate Paul Laus.

6. Peter Soberlak. 21st Overall, 1987. Brief AHL career, never played an NHL game. Stephan Matteau and John LeClair were fellow LW taken immediately afterward. This was a deep draft, with almost every player taken in the top 50 at least getting a look in the NHL.

5. Jesse Niinimaki. 15th Overall, 2002. A way off the board pick, I believe he was ranked around 60th on draft day. A total bust even in the AHL, where he had one point in 24 career games.

4. Scott Allison. 17th Overall, 1990. Zero NHL games played, was an average AHL player for a few years. Keith Tkachuk, Martin Brodeur, and Bryan Smolinski were three of the next four picks made.

3. Alexei Mikhnov. 17th Overall, 2000. Classic "we drafted him because he's big" pick. Played a grand total of 29 career games in North America. Three of the next four wingers selected were Alex Frolov, Justin Williams, and Brad Boyes.

2. Steve Kelly. 6th Overall, 1995. This is where it really gets ugly. Edmonton was the host of this draft. With the crowd chanting "Doan! Doan! Doan!", in hopes that the local(ish) product would be taken, Glen Sather steps up and takes Steve Kelly. Doan is closing in on 400 career goals, Kelly finished with 9. Doan's teammate Jarome Iginla (went 11th) would also have been a fine pick here. Radek Dvorak, Petr Sykora, Kyle McLaren, Jay McKee, and J-S Giguere were also scooped up right afterwards.

1. Marc-Antoine Pouliot. 22nd Overall, 2003. The legendary 2003 draft, where almost everyone walked away with a future star. And there were several sitting there for the Oilers at 17th overall, namely Zach Parise and Ryan Getzlaf. But they decided to trade down to 22nd. OK, no need to panic. Ryan Kesler, Mike Richards, and Corey Perry are still there. And they take Pouliot. Everyone knew this was a horrible pick the instant it was made. Except Kevin Lowe. Everyone proved to be correct.

This pick proved to the one draft pick above all others that had long-reaching implications. Getzlaf was already looking like a potential steal sitting there at 17th. And Anaheim offered Corey Perry for Mike Comrie a few months later when Comrie demanded a trade. But Kevin Lowe backed out at the last second, and traded him for Jeff Woywitka instead. That's right, the Oilers should have had Getzlaf and Perry for the last decade. And it's not really one of those hypothetical, what-if scenarios that depends on a bunch of stuff falling into place. It absolutely should have happened and only didn't because of two really stupid decisions.

The Oilers' track record in the first round is so bad that total busts in Alex Plante, Michel Reisen, Mathieu Descoteux, Nick Stajduhar, Scott Metcalfe, and Kim Issel (all less than 20 career NHL games) don't even make a top 10 list.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

8. Jason Bonsignore. 4th Overall, 1994. You're probably wondering how he's this far down the list. A big-time draft bust, but almost any other team would have taken him in this position, and the first round as a whole was lousy. The Oilers got Ryan Smyth anyway with the 6th pick. Other than Jeff O'Neill (5th pick) and Jeff Freisen (11th), almost every other first rounder would also be seen as a disappointment at 4th overall. Central Scouting itself simply missed the mark on Bonsignore.

to be honest, i totally expected the oilers to go with o'neill at that pick. as i recall, for a long time he was considered the best north american in the draft and even though he turned out to be a passive and lazy winger, he was projected to be a hardworking gilmour or '93 kirk muller-type franchise center.

but i guess if you have the 4 and the 6, why not roll the dice with the big toolsy bonsignore? you've got a second crack at it if he busts...

ryan johansen at #4 in 2010 felt the same way to me. sometimes you win with those guys, sometimes you lose, and i guess in columbus' case sometimes you win, then you lose.

This pick proved to the one draft pick above all others that had long-reaching implications. Getzlaf was already looking like a potential steal sitting there at 17th. And Anaheim offered Corey Perry for Mike Comrie a few months later when Comrie demanded a trade. But Kevin Lowe backed out at the last second, and traded him for Jeff Woywitka instead. That's right, the Oilers should have had Getzlaf and Perry for the last decade.

wow, i've never thought of that before. instead they end up with dustin penner and pay him $20 million.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

to be honest, i totally expected the oilers to go with o'neill at that pick. as i recall, for a long time he was considered the best north american in the draft and even though he turned out to be a passive and lazy winger, he was projected to be a hardworking gilmour or '93 kirk muller-type franchise center.

but i guess if you have the 4 and the 6, why not roll the dice with the big toolsy bonsignore? you've got a second crack at it if he busts...

ryan johansen at #4 in 2010 felt the same way to me. sometimes you win with those guys, sometimes you lose, and i guess in columbus' case sometimes you win, then you lose.

Sather was looking for another Messier. Tyler Wright, Joe Hulbig, and Jason Arnott were their first rounders in 1991/2/3. All big and/or physical forwards. The first two ended up being complete busts (as usual). Bonsignore just continued the pattern. I don't think there was any way he was passing on a 6'4, 200+ pound center. If he didn't take him at 4th, he was taking him at 6th. Or he was taking a Brett Lindros, Jason Weimer, or Wade Belak. None of whom would have been of much use either.

Bonsignore is generally considered the worst draft bust in Oilers history, and he is if you base it on how poor of a showing they got out of a 4th overall pick. But in terms of ranking how bad a pick was, you have to look at the alternate scenarios had the pick not been made. Say they take O'Neill instead...they probably don't take Smyth. Given how things turned out for the rest of that draft class, I think ending up with Smyth+Bonsignore is actually coming out in pretty good shape. It could have easily been Bonsignore+Belak. Or Lindros+Weimer. Smyth was easily the best first rounder in 1994, a first round extremely thin on talent.

wow, i've never thought of that before. instead they end up with dustin penner and pay him $20 million.

Don't forget the great Joffrey Lupul. Still amazes me that Chris Pronger coming off a Conn Smythe-contending playoff run got traded to Anaheim and somehow neither Perry or Getzlaf had to be sacrificed. The Ducks really ought to have sent Kevin Lowe a Stanley Cup ring after they won in 2007.

 

[HitoftheMillennium*]

TOR:

It's hard to pick five... I'll go with ten, starting with 1981-1990:


5. Drake Berehowsky. Tenth overall in 1990. The first eight picks that year produced some great/solid NHL players, but Brodeur and Tkachuk were the only notables selected after TOR's draft choice. Still, it's hard to get excited over a guy like Drake


4. Scott Thornton. Third overall in 1989. They JUST missed out on finishing last and being able to select first. Damn it, if you're going to suck for basically an entire decade, at least finish the decade by getting a first overall pick. The Leafs finished with 62 points, one behind both the Isles and Nords. Just one more loss instead of a win and they could have drafted some guy named Mats Sundin, although knowing how the management operated at the time, it wouldn't have been shocking if they had picked someone else first LOL. But as for Thornton, he was a bust for a long time and then finally rounded into a decent third line-esque forward late in his career. After Mats, the first round of this draft was rather lackluster, but TOR could/should have taken Barnes, Guerin, Holik or Kolzig.

Pearson, selected later in the first round the same by TOR, was also quite "meh," but so was every players taken in the first round after him aside from Kolzig.


3. Luke Richarson. Seventh overall in 1987. The top ten picks - aside from the first three - were quite dismal in this draft, so I guess the Leafs deserve some slack here. Richardson was no star, but he did have a long and half-decent career and was better than Wayne Mcbean, Chris Joseph, Jimmy Waite and Jay Moore (other top ten picks). But of course the Nordiques selected Joe Sakic 15th overall that year. Andrew Cassels would also have been a better pick than Luke.


2. Gary Nylund. Third overall in 1982. Players that were drafted afterward: Housley, Stevens, Rich and Ron Sutter, Andreychuk, Flatley.


1. Scott Pearson. Sixth overall in 1988. Horrible, just horrible. The next four picks were all players that had far better NHL careers: Gelinas, Roenick, Brind'amour, Selanne.

 

[The Panther]

3. Luke Richardson. Seventh overall in 1987.

I guess for 7th in 1987, he doesn't look so hot, but I think this was actually a good pick for Toronto. With Courtnall, Clark, Damphousse, Olcyzk, and Leeman already locked up, Richardson was exactly the kind of young, tough D-man Toronto needed.

Besides, 1400 games (69 playoffs) is hardly lacking in career value.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

I guess for 7th in 1987, he doesn't look so hot, but I think this was actually a good pick for Toronto. With Courtnall, Clark, Damphousse, Olcyzk, and Leeman already locked up, Richardson was exactly the kind of young, tough D-man Toronto needed.

Besides, 1400 games (69 playoffs) is hardly lacking in career value.

What makes it bad is that supposedly Toronto's WHL scout was begging the GM to take Joe Sakic. But the GM wanted to go with the guy from Ontario and Richardson it was.

That tidbit (which may not even be true) aside, you're right. Nobody taken after Richardson in that first round (besides Sakic) became anyone worth losing sleep over. And you can go all the way down to Eric Desjardins late in the 2nd round before you find another defenseman who had a better career than Richardson.

Still amazes me to see how Sakic slipped all the way to 15th in that draft. He was fourth in WHL scoring as a 17 year old rookie.

 

[Zippy316]

I started following the Draft in 1995, so I'll try avoid anything from before then:


1. Adrian Foster - 28th overall (2001) - Just a bizarre pick back then which doesn't look much better now. From Gare Joyce's book "Future Greats and Heartbreaks", Joyce recounted how the Devils simply didn't like anybody in that spot. So they went with a home run swing in Foster who barely played the previous two seasons due to injuries. Foster had grown up playing with Dany Heatley and Krys Kolanos and apparently looked like he was a similarly high end bantam. Joyce further relayed that the Devils staff knew it was a long shot and that they knew they could get the 58th pick in the deeper 2003 Draft as compensation if Foster wasn't signed.

Foster did sign an ELC and was a black ace for the 2003 SCF but didn't pan out. Realistically, a late first rounder in an average/below average year not panning out isn't that notable but the circumstances were just strange.

If I recall correctly, the Devils also thought they had a strong prospect pool so it was worth it to take a shot in the dark at a potential high upside guy in Foster.

 

[Hennessy]

I can't come up with five because of how new of a franchise the Avalanche are, but -

In the 1998 NHL Entry Draft, the Avs had four picks. They tried to send them all to Tampa Bay for 1st overall (Vincent Lecavalier), but failed. They selected:

12th Overall - Alex Tanguay
17th Overall - Martin Skoula
19th Overall - Robyn Regehr
20th Overall - Scott Parker

I know it was a different NHL then, but in place of Scott Parker (7 goals, 699 PIM in 308 GP), the Avalanche could have selected Simon Gagne or Scott Gomez.

Ironically they had the first pick of the 2nd Round that year, 28th Overall. They selected Ramzi Abid, one pick before Jonathan Cheechoo went to San Jose at 29th Overall.

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

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

3,200

 

[hototogisu]

Don't forget the great Joffrey Lupul. Still amazes me that Chris Pronger coming off a Conn Smythe-contending playoff run got traded to Anaheim and somehow neither Perry or Getzlaf had to be sacrificed. The Ducks really ought to have sent Kevin Lowe a Stanley Cup ring after they won in 2007.

Lupul looked pretty good at the time. Scored 28 goals for the Ducks as a rookie. I think many people probably felt he was at least on par with Getzlaf and Perry at the time (they were all roughly the same age and all had played a year in the NHL). Of course time has a way of making these things look way more slanted.

The Oilers also got Eberle out of that deal with one of the picks the Ducks sent.

 

[tjcurrie]

What makes it bad is that supposedly Toronto's WHL scout was begging the GM to take Joe Sakic. But the GM wanted to go with the guy from Ontario and Richardson it was.

That tidbit (which may not even be true) aside, you're right. Nobody taken after Richardson in that first round (besides Sakic) became anyone worth losing sleep over. And you can go all the way down to Eric Desjardins late in the 2nd round before you find another defenseman who had a better career than Richardson.

Still amazes me to see how Sakic slipped all the way to 15th in that draft. He was fourth in WHL scoring as a 17 year old rookie.

Aside from Sakic, which several teams gaffed on, Richardson was a fine pick at #7. You get a defenseman who plays for that long in the NHL, it's a good pick, especially like you said, when you go down the list and see all the other names available.

Sakic kind of got the Gretzky treatment back then. He was "Small, not sure if his numbers can translate to the NHL." and he wasn't very fast, so teams hesitated.

As I stated above, my North Stars passed on him and took Dave Archibald with the 6th pick. Two of our scouts really wanted Sakic, but nope, vetoed, Archibald it was.

I'm sure we still manage to finish last the following season and pick first. Can you imagine getting Joe Sakic and Mike Modano back to back?

 

[nutbar]

6. Peter Soberlak. 21st Overall, 1987. Brief AHL career, never played an NHL game. Stephan Matteau and John LeClair were fellow LW taken immediately afterward. This was a deep draft, with almost every player taken in the top 50 at least getting a look in the NHL.

The book "Sudden Death", about the 1987 Swift Current bus crash, quotes Soberlak quite a bit. He was one of the best 15 year olds in the country, but according to him Ken Hitchcock and the older players on the Kamloops Blazers bullied him to the extent that he didn't like the game anymore. Then he went to Swift Current and had to deal with the bus crash, and I think he got injured that season as well.