Second-guessing is all the time simple – particularly on the subject of newbie drafts in skilled sports activities. How might my staff take this participant over that one which yr? Wasn’t it as apparent on the time, once they have been fresh-faced youngsters, as it’s now, years later?
The reply, in fact, is usually no – even on the subject of the NHL draft, which appears to ship stars or a minimum of excellent gamers with its high picks extra persistently than different main sports activities. Loads of examples of drafter’s remorse in hockey exist, when even when the highest choose seems to be a very good participant, a generally significantly higher one goes to a staff drafting a couple of picks later.
Associated: 2012 NHL Draft Prime 10 – The place Are They Now?
A glance again on the NHL drafts of the 2010s reveals some good (or, unhealthy) ones. We’ll restrict our checklist of higher options to every No. 1 choose to the highest gamers listed in that yr’s closing NHL Central Scouting report – not sleepers or gamers that turned out to be underrated and most groups handed on.
With out additional ado, and in no specific order:
2014 – Aaron Ekblad, Florida Panthers
The Panthers can’t be sad with Aaron Ekblad, the large, sturdy defenseman who at age 27 has developed right into a top-pair, right-side shutdown man – a sought-after commodity within the NHL. Ekblad, who received the 2015 Calder Trophy winner because the league’s high rookie that season, helped the Panthers win their franchise’s first Stanley Cup in 2024.
Nonetheless…it simply can’t be simple for Florida to observe Leon Draisaitl, the No. 3 choose that yr by the Edmonton Oilers, evening after evening. Among the many league’s most prolific offensive gamers, he’s recorded a minimum of 105 factors in 5 of the final six seasons (he had 84 in 56 video games of the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season), has scored 50 objectives 3 times and set a career-high with 128 factors in 2022-23. Draisaitl led the NHL with 13 playoff objectives in 2023 regardless of enjoying in solely 12 video games. His partnership with otherworldly famous person Connor McDavid actually helps his level totals, however there’s little query about Draisaitl’s affect.
It’s little comfort to the Panthers that the Buffalo Sabres additionally handed on Draisaitl in favor of Sam Reinhart with the second choose.
This choice has gone a great distance towards mitigating Edmonton’s a minimum of partial misses on two of its 4 No. 1 general picks in a five-year span (extra on that later). Pretty much as good as Ekblad has grow to be, it needs to be tough for Florida to contemplate an alternate actuality.
2012 – Nail Yakupov, Oilers
The Oilers, sadly for them, dominate this checklist. Edmonton got here out of the 2010s with McDavid (No. 1 general in 2015) and Draisaitl, so its efforts within the draft throughout that interval can hardly be deemed a failure. Nonetheless, the greatness of these two gamers obscures the truth that the Oilers might have had much more, on condition that they picked on the high of the draft 4 instances in 5 years.
Nail Yakupov, one of many greatest failures in draft historical past, has been largely forgotten in northern Alberta, which is maybe one of the best the franchise can hope for on the subject of the 2012 draft. The Russian ahead, gone from the NHL for 2 seasons now, represents a rarity for a high general NHL draft choose: A near-complete bust, a participant who not solely failed to ascertain himself as an upper-echelon expertise, however one who was unable to carve out any semblance of a productive profession. Yakupov, who obtained high rankings from NHL Central Scouting and different scouting companies that yr, lasted 252 video games and recorded 50 objectives and 61 assists. He bounced from Colorado to St. Louis in his closing two seasons earlier than returning to Russia to play within the KHL.
What makes this choice maybe barely extra tolerable for the Oilers now could be the truth that they didn’t miss out on one other franchise expertise in a first-round that’s hardly confirmed to be star-laden. The largest disappointment for Edmonton right here may need been passing on top-ranked European skater Filip Forsberg, who fell to the Capitals at No. 11 and was traded to the Nashville Predators in April 2013. Forsberg has scored 287 objectives in 698 profession video games.
It’s not real looking, however… how would 2018-19 Vezina Trophy winner and 2021 Conn Smythe Trophy winner Andrei Vasilevskiy, the top-ranked goaltending prospect in 2012 who was taken nineteenth by the Tampa Bay Lightning, look in web for the Oilers proper now?
2017 – Nico Hischier, New Jersey Devils
Blame Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar, the fourth general choice, for Nico Hischier’s inclusion on this checklist. Hischier blossomed into an impressive two-way heart in his sixth season with 80 factors and a plus-33 score, whereas additionally establishing a popularity as a high matchup pivot. He’s recorded 136 objectives and 217 assists in his profession.
Makar, although, has emerged because the generational expertise of this draft, with 336 factors in 315 video games, capturing the 2022 Norris Trophy and Conn Smythe Trophy that very same yr after powering Colorado to its first Stanley Cup since 2001. The dynamic Makar was ranked ninth amongst North American prospects that yr, whereas Hischier was second.
New Jersey Devils followers actually love Hischier, a cornerstone on an thrilling and rising Cup contender. Nonetheless … would they go on a do-over if that they had one?
2010 – Taylor Corridor, Oilers
Simple, everybody – Taylor Corridor was, in fact, something however a foul choose, notching an 80-point season in 2013-14 and a 93-point effort in 2017-18 – when he received the Hart Trophy as league MVP with the Devils. Nonetheless, he’s reached 60 factors just one time since. Corridor is one other one who falls into the “excellent participant” class however in all probability isn’t a bonafide star.
Higher choices have been out there, most notably No. 2 choose Tyler Seguin, who was chosen by the Bruins. The middle, the top-ranked North American skater by NHL Central Scouting that yr, has recorded 5 30-goal seasons, together with 40 in 2017-18. Corridor has solely reached the 30-goal mark as soon as.
Seguin, who performed two seasons in Boston earlier than touchdown with the Dallas Stars in a lopsided commerce, has additionally been remarkably sturdy, with 10 full seasons of a minimum of 71 video games performed, all 48 in 2012-13 and 69 of 70 in 2019-20.
There was additionally a pair of Russians that made for fairly good choices for the highest choose that yr: Vladimir Tarasenko, ranked second amongst Europeans, who fell to sixteenth the place he was scooped up by St. Louis; and a diminutive left-wing named Artemi Panarin, who one way or the other wasn’t drafted in any respect (OK, mentioning Panarin breaks the principles of solely taking a look at extremely ranked prospects acknowledged earlier, however an unpicked participant who in hindsight would have made a powerful No. 1 general choose begs for an exception).
Prime Picks Since 2010 Have been a Rollercoaster
Typically groups nail the highest choose, generally not. The NHL drafts of the 2010s present ample reminder that buying the primary general choice hardly ensures a franchise-changing expertise – a far cry from the seven drafts from 2003-2009, which delivered Marc-Andre Fleury, Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Patrick Kane, Steven Stamkos and John Tavares in a wave of superstars.
The Oilers’ expertise alone illustrates the extent of the uncertainty – doing advantageous, however not in addition to they may have with Corridor and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in 2011 and whiffing fully on Yakupov earlier than lastly scoring a generational famous person in McDavid with their most up-to-date No. 1 choose. Having the best choice on the proper time can also be crucial.
The 2010s actually delivered skills worthy of their No. 1 general standing – McDavid, Makar, Colorado teammate Nathan MacKinnon and the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews are all superstars who made quick impacts and may very well be on the highway to the Corridor of Fame. The rollercoaster outcomes of that stretch of high choices is destined to be remembered for simply how properly groups can do when choosing first – and simply how badly they’ll miss.
