1 overalls rated by pre draft hype since 2004

[Frank Drebin]

Decided to go all the way back to Ovechkin. I don't know if I'm equipped to give this a shot but I'm curious to see others take a shot at it. If its too much work just throw out a top 5 or 10 list.

2004 - Ovechkin
2005 - Crosby
2006 - E Johnson
2007 - Kane
2008 - Stamkos
2009 - Tavares
2010 - Hall
2011 - RNH
2012 - Yakupov
2013 - Mackinnon
2014 - Ekblad
2015 - McDavid
2016 - Matthews
2017 - Hischier
2018 - Dahlin
2019 - Hughes
2020 - Lafreniere
2021 - Power
2022 - Slaf
2023 - Bedard
2024 - Celebrini

Click to read more...

 

[Dr John Carlson]

Memory is very foggy on anything pre-2011, be warned...

Crosby
McDavid

Bedard

Ovechkin

Dahlin
Matthews
Tavares
MacKinnon
Hughes
Lafreniere
Celebrini

Hall
Kane
Stamkos
Yakupov

Ekblad

Johnson
RNH

Power
Hischier
Slafkovsky

 

[amnesiac]

Crosby
McDavid
Bedard

Tavares
Matthews
MacKinnon
Dahlin
Ovie

Lafreniere
Hughes
Celebrini
Yakupov
Hall
Stamkos

Kane
Power
Ekblad
Johnson
RNH
Slafkovsky
Hischier

 

[MNRube]

Crosby
McDavid
Bedard
Ovechkin
Matthews
MacKinnon
Tavares
Kane
Celebrini
Stamkos
Dahlin
Lafrenriere
Hughes
Yakupov
Hall
RNH
E.Johnson
Ekblad
Power
Hischier
Slafkovsky

 

[NyQuil]

Ovechkin was hyped pretty highly.

Below Crosby and McDavid but that’s about it IMO.

 

[bobholly39]

1. Crosby
2. McDavid

Those two were close - but Crosby is definitely ahead. I'd say they're their own tiers above the rest

3. Bedard
4. Ovechkin

I'll be honest - I don't remember Ovechkin at all. I feel as though the lockout year might be the first time I really paid attention to draft and prospects as much, so I'm just guessing where Ovechkin fits in. He might be #3. He's definitely not top 2 though.

5. Dahlin
6. Matthews
7. Tavares
8. Lafreniere

Dahlin's hype was tremendous. Slightly above Matthews i'd say. And Lafreniere's hype was also great.

In my opinion, that's a clear top 8. I'd go:

MacKinnon, Hughes, Stamkos, Kane next.

Not really sure after that, but the rest definitely had lower hype.

 

[DitchMarner]

Was MacKinnon really hyped that much? From what I recall, 2013 was considered the Seth Jones draft for a while.

The hype for JT was through the roof when he was very young but had cooled off considerably by the time he was drafted.

 

[amnesiac]

Was MacKinnon really hyped that much? From what I recall, 2013 was considered the Seth Jones draft for a while.

The hype for JT was through the roof when he was very young but had cooled off considerably by the time he was drafted.

After Halifax won the Memorial Cup and MacK won MVP it was pretty unanimous.

 

[jigglysquishy]

Was MacKinnon really hyped that much? From what I recall, 2013 was considered the Seth Jones draft for a while.

The hype for JT was through the roof when he was very young but had cooled off considerably by the time he was drafted.

The whole top end of the draft was hyped. Frequently talked about there being four first overall pick calibre players in MacKinnon, Jones, Barkov, and Drouin.

There was doubt who would go first until the playoffs when MacKinnon established himself as the clear number 1.

 

[amnesiac]

The whole top end of the draft was hyped. Frequently talked about there being four first overall pick calibre players in MacKinnon, Jones, Barkov, and Drouin.

There was doubt who would go first until the playoffs when MacKinnon established himself as the clear number 1.

I remember many saying Drouin "having the best skill" was a big possibility to go #2 to FLA after the Mem Cup. What a bullet they dodged! Imagine Tampa having Barkov. (though they wouldve had massive cap problems)

 

[Lebowski]

Lafrenière was the most hyped prospect out of the Q since Crosby. He should be ahead of Mackinnon in this sort of ranking.

 

[Voight]

The whole top end of the draft was hyped. Frequently talked about there being four first overall pick calibre players in MacKinnon, Jones, Barkov, and Drouin.

There was doubt who would go first until the playoffs when MacKinnon established himself as the clear number 1.

Yea, I remember Jones being ranked ahead of him by a lot of scouting services for most if not all of the season, MackInnon only surpassing him at the Memorial Cup.

 

[NyQuil]

The other wrinkle is that media itself has changed a great deal in 20 years, in terms of social media and video availability.

We relied a lot on draft profiles on TV, news articles in magazines and papers, and discussions on radio and TV.

We didn’t have access to every goal a player had scored in the season on your cellphone, and a distribution network where any individual can put out content on any player at any time.

I think you have to consider it in relative terms, because the sheer volume of hype will only increase via the increasingly numerous channels to generate interest in players.

 

[Xirik]

depends on what you mean predraft. probably up to two weeks before the draft Nolan Patrick was the most hyped and then the narrative switched.

 

[dirtydanglez]

crosby
mcdavid

bedard
ovechkin
hughes
mackinnon
kane

lafreniere
tavares
hall
johnson
matthews
dahlin

yakapov
stamkos
power
ekblad

rnh
hischer
celebrini
slaf

 

[NyQuil]

crosby
mcdavid

bedard
ovechkin
hughes
mackinnon
kane

lafreniere
tavares
hall
johnson
matthews
dahlin

yakapov
stamkos
power
ekblad

rnh
hischer
celebrini
slaf

Matthews and Dahlin too low.

A tier above for both IMO.

Tavares’ hype peaked as an underager. By the time of the draft, it had dissipated quite a bit.

 

[Staniowski]

These are definitely the 5 biggest (in chronological order):

Ovechkin
Crosby
McDavid
Matthews
Bedard

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Everyone forgets how hyped Dahlin was. That’s one that gets forgotten very easily.

 

[EdJovanovski]

Crosby
McDavid

Bedard
Ovechkin
Lafreniere
Dahlin

Matthews
Tavares
Stamkos

MacKinnon
Kane
Yakupov

Hughes
Ekblad
Nugent-Hopkins
Hall

Celebrini
Hischier
Johnson
Power
Slafkovsky

 

[mphmiles]

Everyone forgets how hyped Dahlin was. That’s one that gets forgotten very easily.

That was what jumped out at me reading these. He was projected as the next Lidstrom. Should be basically right behind Bedard and about equal with Ovechkin.

 

[NyQuil]

That was what jumped out at me reading these. He was projected as the next Lidstrom. Should be basically right behind Bedard and about equal with Ovechkin.

Yeah, he’s higher than Matthews even.

I remember people debating whether the term generational applied to him.

I’d put him slightly behind Ovechkin in 4th or 5th.

Bedard I have a hard time with, could be ahead or behind Dahlin.

 

[Crow]

Everyone forgets how hyped Dahlin was. That’s one that gets forgotten very easily.

Yeah he was definitely 4th to me behind Crosby, McDavid, Bedard. To round out my top five I’d pick Tavares.

Maybe my memory sucks though. I’m not going to argue about it.

 

[WillardJFredricks]

From my recollection, the top few would be:

Crosby

McDavid

Bedard
Ovechkin

Stamkos
Tavares
Matthews

The Stamkos/Tavares hype was amplified for me because I follow the OHL and so they were really hyped up each city they went to. And Tavares came in at 14 and was an elite scorer immediately.

 

[tabness]

Crosby had a situation where he came up with a looming lockout which turned into a full season lockout as well as a really tough few years for the league in terms of star power and entertainment. He's on another tier of pre draft hype from even McDavid/Bedard, he's closer to Lindros level hype in that sense than to others for the past 20 years

 

[HisIceness]

I remember "Fail for Nail" being a thing here, although I think "Fall for Hall" was the first social media-esque tagline.

Crosby and McDavid are the two most hyped prospects I know of. Crosby I remember hearing about him as early as 2002.