Wade Belak FTW.
Holden would have been very good for the Canucks if not for a skate cut to the wrist in his final year of junior. Pretty sure he never regained full strength after that due to the immense tendon damageThis topic is torture to Canuck fans everywhere, but I'll take a shot!
Dan Woodley (7th overall)
*Alek Stojanov (7th)
Jason Herter (8th)
Josh Holden (12th)
Shawn Antoski (18th)
Libor Polasek (21st)
Nathan Smith (23rd)
*thank you, Pittsburgh, for saving our ***** here
Patrick White, 25th overall in 2007, looks well on his way to joining this elite group! (12 points in 58 NCAA games for an "offensive" centre)
Well for the Leafs, where do I start
1989 3 1st Rd. picks 3) Scott Thornton 12) Rob Pearson 21) Steve Bancroft
1995 15) Jeff Ware 1999 24) Luca Cereda 1990 10) Drake Berehowsky 1992 8) Brandon Convery
Still a bust but a good reason to be one. Greg Oden is still a bust but he has good reasons as to why he failed in the NBA. Same with Nolan Patrick.Just curious, do most people consider a player a bust if it is injury related?
Going off of Zagrapan, another Buffalo one that I find fascinating is in 2000: Artem Kryukov. Never came over to North America and quite frankly, not a great pro in the K. Imagine if the Sabres take Alexander Frolov or Brad Boyes (I won't mention Justin Williams because he exceeded expectations and saying he should have gone way higher is just hindsight bias), maybe Frolov or Boyes produce like they did, but on the Sabres in this hypothetical back in late 2000s, when the Sabres were anywhere from great to decent. I know Boyes got to Buffalo eventually, but he wasn't as good then as he was when he started out in Boston and St Louis.As a Sabres fan, Marek Zagrapen, Alex Nylander, and Mikhail Grigorenko are probably the biggest first round flops in recent history.
Zagrapen because there were a decent number of guys picked around him who went on to have very good to solid careers (Oshie, Cogliano, Niskanen) while he didn't get a single NHL game in.
With Nylander, I hated the pick as soon as it was made because I would've rather had one of McAvoy or Sergachev, and it didn't seem like Nylander's skill was good enough to warrant often lazy play away from the puck. The Sabres didn't do him any favors with rushing him to the AHL, but I remember watching a game in Rochester during his second year there and he was just invisible the entire time.
Grigorenko just got screwed with being pushed to the NHL immediately and he never found his footing. Not really his fault, he was more a victim of circumstance than anything.
The sabres got a stinker in Jiri DudacekAs a Sabres fan, Marek Zagrapen, Alex Nylander, and Mikhail Grigorenko are probably the biggest first round flops in recent history.
Zagrapen because there were a decent number of guys picked around him who went on to have very good to solid careers (Oshie, Cogliano, Niskanen) while he didn't get a single NHL game in.
With Nylander, I hated the pick as soon as it was made because I would've rather had one of McAvoy or Sergachev, and it didn't seem like Nylander's skill was good enough to warrant often lazy play away from the puck. The Sabres didn't do him any favors with rushing him to the AHL, but I remember watching a game in Rochester during his second year there and he was just invisible the entire time.
Grigorenko just got screwed with being pushed to the NHL immediately and he never found his footing. Not really his fault, he was more a victim of circumstance than anything.
Alain Héroux is now a window salesman in Montreal. Bought my windows from him 5 years ago…The Habs all-time 1st Round No-Star team. Criteria - played less than 200 NHL games:
Jose Charbonneau Alain Heroux Terry Ryan
Matt Higgins Alfie Turcotte Lindsay Vallis
Jan Ingman Gord McTavish Dan Geoffrion
Bruce Baker Eric Chouinard Cam Connor
Brent Bilodeau Robin Sadler
Eric Charron David Wilkie
Ray Martiniuk
Going off of Zagrapan, another Buffalo one that I find fascinating is in 2000: Artem Kryukov. Never came over to North America and quite frankly, not a great pro in the K. Imagine if the Sabres take Alexander Frolov or Brad Boyes (I won't mention Justin Williams because he exceeded expectations and saying he should have gone way higher is just hindsight bias), maybe Frolov or Boyes produce like they did, but on the Sabres in this hypothetical back in late 2000s, when the Sabres were anywhere from great to decent. I know Boyes got to Buffalo eventually, but he wasn't as good then as he was when he started out in Boston and St Louis.
As a Sabres fan, Marek Zagrapen, Alex Nylander, and Mikhail Grigorenko are probably the biggest first round flops in recent history.
Zagrapen because there were a decent number of guys picked around him who went on to have very good to solid careers (Oshie, Cogliano, Niskanen) while he didn't get a single NHL game in.
With Nylander, I hated the pick as soon as it was made because I would've rather had one of McAvoy or Sergachev, and it didn't seem like Nylander's skill was good enough to warrant often lazy play away from the puck. The Sabres didn't do him any favors with rushing him to the AHL, but I remember watching a game in Rochester during his second year there and he was just invisible the entire time.
Grigorenko just got screwed with being pushed to the NHL immediately and he never found his footing. Not really his fault, he was more a victim of circumstance than anything.
patrick stefan