1 overalls rated by pre draft hype since 2004

[NyQuil]

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

Agreed. He and Lindros were the biggest in my lifetime (I was just a toddler when Gretzky entered the league).

 

[Pablo El Perro]

Rick Dudley tried to draft one of these players the year before he was available for the draft. He's got to be number 3.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Ha! I made a similar thread in the history of hockey board. Maybe this board is more appropriate. My thread was from 2004 how players 1st overalls performed compared to the hype.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Ovechkin was hugely hyped. I remember because the Pens were godawful in his draft year so we followed him closely. Most hyped player outside of Crosby and McDavid. I'd put Bedard on the same hype level as Ovechkin at #4. Those are the clear top 4, after that it can be argued.

 

[NyQuil]

Ovechkin was hugely hyped. I remember because the Pens were godawful in his draft year so we followed him closely. Most hyped player outside of Crosby and McDavid. I'd put Bedard on the same hype level as Ovechkin at #4. Those are the clear top 4, after that it can be argued.

Dahlin is pretty close to that group but I would agree.

Ovechkin and Crosby were going to battle it out as the next big thing in hockey.

 

[EHCler]

Ovechkin was hugely hyped. I remember because the Pens were godawful in his draft year so we followed him closely. Most hyped player outside of Crosby and McDavid. I'd put Bedard on the same hype level as Ovechkin at #4. Those are the clear top 4, after that it can be argued.

100% agree never seen so much diskussion about Draft Lottery, despite Malkin being a very good numeber 2 pick. Crosby (1st) and McDavid (2nd) hype was bigger but than there was Ovi and Florida trying to sneak him a year early in draft.

 

[MakeTheGoalsLarger]

2005 - Crosby
2015 - McDavid

2018 - Dahlin
2023 - Bedard

2009 - Tavares
2020 - Lafreniere

004 - Ovechkin
2008 - Stamkos
2016 - Matthews
2007 - Kane


2010 - Hall
2024 - Celebrini
2019 - Hughes
2013 - Mackinnon
2014 - Ekblad
2021 - Power
2011 - RNH

2017 - Hischier
2012 - Yakupov
2022 - Slaf

For some reason I didn't follow the draft during Ovechkin's year. My ranking of him is as reliable as if I stated my opinion on old timers, which I never do!

 

[Pablo El Perro]

2005 - Crosby
2015 - McDavid

2018 - Dahlin
2023 - Bedard

2009 - Tavares
2020 - Lafreniere

004 - Ovechkin
2008 - Stamkos
2016 - Matthews
2007 - Kane


2010 - Hall
2024 - Celebrini
2019 - Hughes
2013 - Mackinnon
2014 - Ekblad
2021 - Power
2011 - RNH

2017 - Hischier
2012 - Yakupov
2022 - Slaf

For some reason I didn't follow the draft during Ovechkin's year. My ranking of him is as reliable as if I stated my opinion on old timers, which I never do!

Yeah, Ovi was more hyped than Dahlin.

 

[Frank Drebin]

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

Yup he was right there with bedard in recent memory

 

[brentashton]

Crosby
McDavid
Bedard

Tavares
Matthews
MacKinnon
Dahlin
Ovie

Lafreniere
Hughes
Celebrini
Yakupov
Hall
Stamkos

Kane
Power
Ekblad
Johnson
RNH
Slafkovsky
Hischier

Yakupov in the same strata as Stamkos? I think Murray got more hype than Nail that year.

 

[Czechboy]

Yellow - a legit 1OA - GOATS
Green - a very good 1OA
Blue - bust
unhighlighted... either too soon or I don't know enough about the player to have an opinion.lol

5 years from now I'd probably up a few guys from 2017 to 2024.. it's still a bit early.

 

[JianYang]

I'll do my top 5 from my recollection.

Crosby
Mcdavid
Ovechkin
Bedard
Stamkos

 

[Pablo El Perro]

I'll do my top 5 from my recollection.

Crosby
Mcdavid
Ovechkin
Bedard
Stamkos

I agree on that top 5.

 

[Breakfast of Champs]

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.

Mackinnon was super hyped from ages 14-16, notably when he got a big feature in espn magazine at 14 where the basically said he was the 2nd coming of Crosby, it was called "Nate the kid"

It was the "Mackinnon vs Jones draft " for about 2 years but Mackinnon was 10/10 on bob mckenzies pre season rankings.

It was only after the wjc when Jones started being ranked ahead which is when most people probably start paying more attention to the draft. By the end of the season Mackinnon was 8/10 on Bob's final list. There was only like 4 months when Jones passed him but a lot of people remember it like you because there was a huge media push for him to go #1 to colorado where his dad played in thr nba and asked Joe sakic to help introduce his kids to hockey. That was a big story and the avs even leaked that they were drafting Mackinnon ahead of time so that there wouldn't be disappointment over them passing on Jones because so many news stories had already been written about it

 

[Brookbank]

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

Bedard was right there , level with Mcdavid and Crosby.

Bedard was the youngest player to be profiled by The Hockey News. He was selling out NHL arenas for jr games (playing on a terrible team)

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

As someone who has been following since roughly 2013, this is what I remember it as:

1. McDavid (2015)
T2. Dahlin (2018)
T2. Bedard (2023)
T2. Matthews (2016)
T5. Lafreniere (2020)
T5. Hughes (2019)
7. MacKinnon (2013)
8. Power (2021)
9. Ekblad (2014)
T10. Hischier (2017)
T10. Slafkovsky (2022)

There were a couple ties where I think the hype was considered very close. This year is looking like something between 5th and 8th, but still time for that to work itself out.

 

[nbwingsfan]

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

Kind of dead on, although maybe with Celebrini higher on the list

 

[Voight]

As someone who has been following since roughly 2013, this is what I remember it as:

1. McDavid (2015)
T2. Dahlin (2018)
T2. Bedard (2023)
T2. Matthews (2016)
T5. Lafreniere (2020)
T5. Hughes (2019)
7. MacKinnon (2013)
8. Power (2021)
9. Ekblad (2014)
T10. Hischier (2017)
T10. Slafkovsky (2022)

There were a couple ties where I think the hype was considered very close. This year is looking like something between 5th and 8th, but still time for that to work itself out.

Solid list. Probably the most accurate so far.

 

[RooBicks]

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.

Agreed (I think) with the notion that Hall was much more hyped than what is represented here so far. Crosby/McDavid, Bedard, Ovechkin, Dahlin seems fair as a top-5.

Also surprised to see Celebrini so low.

 

[Pablo El Perro]

Agreed (I think) with the notion that Hall was much more hyped than what is represented here so far. Crosby/McDavid, Bedard, Ovechkin, Dahlin seems fair as a top-5.

Yeah, the only thing working against Hall was it was a bit of a two player race with the Taylor or Tyler hype.

 

[RooBicks]

Yeah, the only thing working against Hall was it was a bit of a two player race with the Taylor or Tyler hype.

I remember hearing all the hype, then watching him over-carry the puck and appear to have limited on-ice awareness during the world juniors, and wondering...

 

[Pablo El Perro]

I remember hearing all the hype, then watching him over-carry the puck and appear to have limited on-ice awareness during the world juniors, and wondering...

I just remember the Panthers drafting character at #3.

 

[RooBicks]

I just remember the Panthers drafting character at #3.

Yup, that one's gotta sting. To be fair though, every other team that's signed him since has basically committed the same mistake.

 

[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

One thing that really gets forgotten about because he went #2 - I'd put Jack Eichel's pre-draft hype probably right between Dahlin and Matthews on my list here.

Probably the most hyped #2 pick of this time period, right? Malkin's right there I guess, then the next hyped was Seguin?

 

[Russian_fanatic]

How I'm ranking it considering their hype level.

Tier 1 - Generational/GOAT
Crosby
McDavid

Tier 1.5 - Alltime potential/Very close to generational
Ovechkin
Bedard

Tier 2 - Best at their position
Dahlin

Tier 3 - Franchise players
Tavares
Stamkos
Matthews

Tier 4 - Perrenial allstars
Lafreniere
Mackinnon
Celebrini

Tier 5 - First liners/Top pairing
Johnson
Kane
Hall
RNH
Yakupov
Ekblad
Hischier
Hughes
Power
Slaf