Arena The NHL Draft: Now discussing 2000

1980 NHL Draft

A very, very strong draft, this one was notorious for the first choice: Doug Wickenhauser was never a great star, and the Canadiens' fans wanted Francophone Savard who went third to Chicago, and was a Great Big Star.

This draft also included Paul Coffey (at sixth). Chicago did well, even getting Steve Larmer in the sixth round, and NYR whiffed.

 

1981 NHL Draft

Very good deep draft. The top five were Dale Hawerchuk, Doug Smith, Bobby Carpenter, Ron Francis and Joe Cirella, and Francis had the best career.

Two Steve Smiths were in this draft. Philly took one in the first round--he played 18 games in the NHL. Edmonton took the other at #111, and he was a great success.

Montreal, Buffalo and St. Louis all whiffed the first round; Montreal whiffed their first choice in the second round, too. But their second choice in the second round was Chris Chelios.

 

1982 Draft

Another good draft, with a semi-whiff in the first choice: Gord Kluzak by the Bruins.
But Brian Bellows (2nd to Minnesota), Ron Sutter (4th to Philly), Scott Stevens (5th to Washington) were all good.

In the later rounds, there was plenty of talent: Boston semi-whiffed the second round, too, but New Jersey had their choice in the third and took Pat Verbeek. Hartford took Ulf Samuelsson in the 4th and Ray Ferraro in the 5th. St. Louis took Doug Gilmour in the 7th.

 

1983 NHL Draft

The best choices in the first round were (4th) Steve Yzerman by Detroit, and (9th) Cam Neely by Vancouver (they, of course, traded him).

The best choices in the second round were (26th) Claude Lemieux by Montreal and (41) Peter Zezel by Philly.

Detroit took Bob Probert in the third, and Edmonton took Esa Tikkanen in the 4th rounds.

Chicago took Dominik Hasek in the 10th.

 

1984 NHL Draft

A thin draft after Mario Lemieux went first, but Patrick Roy was taken in the third, Luc Robitaille in the 9th, and Brett Hull in the sixth.

 

1985 NHL Draft

A very poor year; the only real stars were Joe Nieuwendyk (2d round) and Igor Larionov (11th)

 

I think you missed a potential HOF'er, Mike Richter.

 

True.

 

A really disastrous year, with only Vincent Damphousse (6th to Toronto) and Brian Leetch (9th to New York Rangers) making any impact; but there were a very few good draws in the lower rounds: Lyle Odelin, Adam Graves, Jykri Lumme and Tiepo Numminen.

 

This year is extremely uneven: the 1st three, Turgeon, Shanahan and Wesley all did well, but there were a number of poor picks thereafter, with the exception of Luke Richardson at 7th by Toronto until Quintal (Boston) and Sakic (Quebec) at 14 and 15.

In the lower rounds, Montreal took Mathieu Schneider in the third and Calgary took Theoren Fleury in the 8th.

 

1988 NHL Draft

Another talent-rich but uneven year. The first three choices, Modano (Dallas), Linden (Vancouver) and Leschyshyn (Quebec) all had long careers. The next three, by Pittsburgh, Toronto and Quebec, again, were not.

Gelinas, Roenick, Brind'Amour, and Selanne were chosen next by LA, Chicago, St. Louis and Winnipeg. The rest of the first round--11 to 21--was a wash.

The only decent choice in the 2nd round was Tie Domi by Toronto at 27.

The fourth round yielded Mark Recchi, Rob Blake, Tony Amonte, and Keith Carney

The fifth round yielded Alexander Mogilny.

The tenth round yielded Bret Hedican.

 

1989 NHL Draft

Mats Sundin went first, to Quebec. The second pick was poor, and the rest spotty. Adam Foote went first in the second round, and Detroit took Niklas Lidstrom in the 3rd and Sergei Federov in the 4th, and Pavel Bure went in the sixth.

 

1990 NHL Draft

A good deep draft, though Owen Nolan, first over all, was something of a disappointment.

Vancouver chose Petr Nedved second in the first round and Jiri Slegr in the second; one of the reasons I think Czechs aren't good drafts. Of course, Jagr went fifth to Pittsburgh, which always has inordinate luck or so it seems.

Primeau went third to Detroit; Ricci fourth to Philly. Keith Tkachuk and Martin Brodeur went very late in the round.

The Rangers and Edmonton whiffed the first round; the Islanders came close to it. The Rangers took Doug Weight in the second, however, and Zubov in the fifth. Detroit got Kozlov in the third round.

 

The 1991 NHL Draft

A very odd draft. Eric Lindros was first. He wasted some of the best years of his career feuding with people, with the result that his career, despite a lot of talent, hasn't been as much as it could have been.

Scott Neidenmeyer was the best choice (third over all to NJ); Forsberg went sixth to Philly; Kovalev 15th to the Rangers, and Naslund 16th to Pittsburgh.

Montreal whiffed the first round; and Washington and Calgary came close.

 

That 3rd pick belonged to the Leafs. Just another blown draft by the beloved buds.

 

Oh, tell me about it. I used to be a Leaf fan.

 

Used to? Come on, don't give up the faith. Even though they just let Bryan McCabe score two goals against them in what is turning out to be another blown trade with Florida for Mike Van Ryn.

 

Not only a Leaf fan, but a fourth generation Leaf fan.

Not that being a Canuck fan is any more fun, because it isn't.

As Modal once said, you have to love pain.

 

I hated Lindros so much that I even stopped cheering for the Flyers from 1998 until 2001, until Lindros was off the team. I truly believe that if the Flyers never made this trade and kept Forsberg, Ricci and Simon, they would have won a cup in the 90's.

 

1992 NHL Draft

A poor draft; three teams (Philly, Vancouver and Detroit) whiffed the first round. Vancouver did get Mike Pecca in the second, and Ian Lapierre was drafted in the 6th and Stephane Yelle in the 7th.

 

So was it at this point that the Russians & East Europeans started coming into the NHL like gangbusters? 1991-92 marks the end of the USSR and continued transformation of the East Bloc away from communism. Were they being drafted a lot at this point?

I know nothing about NHL drafts. I'm just curious if the end of communism was a 'game-changer' for incoming talent in the NHL in terms of talent depth in a given year. Did so many new Russians/East Europeans affect salaries & contracts? Or did they earn comparable pay to Canadians, Americans, Swedes, etc?

 

A lot of the first Russians were mature players, and some adjusted quickly, and some didn't.

But yes, this is the point they started making a difference.

1993 Draft

A terrific draft, full of talent, with the exception of number one, Alexandre Daigle, one of those inexplicable players that just don't make it, despite all the tools.

Good choices through the first 10 in general, with only Chicago and Calgary whiffing the first round, and Pittsburgh and Edmonton coming close.

There are some long careers in the lower rounds, including Satan in the fifth, Darcy Tucker in the sixth, Todd Marchant in the seventh, Hal Gill in the eighth, and Pavol Demitra in the ninth.

 

Pavol Demitra in the Ninth round. The Leafs took Landon Wilson with their first pick. Can't we get lucky, just once?!

 

1994 Draft

Ed Jovanovski was first, and best. A lot of decent enough if not great players. Washington, Boston and Quebec whiffed; Washington's other choice in the first was also a bust. NYI took Brett Lindros, and regretted it. In the middle section, Vancouver did best with Matthias Ohlund.

Quebec did poorly in the first two rounds; but got Chris Drury and Milan Hedjuk in the 3rd and 4th.

Daniel Alfredsson went to Ottawa in the 6th.

 

1995 Draft

Very poor year, in which the best pick was Jarome Iginla (11th by Dallas) and J. S. Giguere (13th by Hartford).

Mark Savard went in the 4th round to Boston.