Best individual team draft

[Professor What]

I guess I've been on something of a draft history kick lately. I've been reading about drafts, I've watched a few of The Hockey Guy's draft videos on YouTube, and I started my own redraft series. I just watched a video on the 1989 draft, and that got me wondering if any team has ever done as well as the Red Wings did in that draft, when they managed to pick up Nicklas Lidstrom, Sergei Fedorov, and Vladimir Konstantinov. Are there any cases where a team has done better than that, or, what are some other particularly strong draft rosters?

 

[Staniowski]

Calgary '84, three HHOF caliber players, though only one of them is in.

Hull, Roberts, Suter

Habs '71

Flower and Bird.

 

[decma]

Oilers in 79 (Messier, Anderson, and Lowe) was also pretty good.
Or 80 (Coffey, Kurri, Moog, and Poddubny)

 

[Johnny Engine]

I just watched a video on the 1989 draft, and that got me wondering if any team has ever done as well as the Red Wings did in that draft, when they managed to pick up Nicklas Lidstrom, Sergei Fedorov, and Vladimir Konstantinov.

In an average year, a team getting Dallas Drake, Mike Sillinger and Bob Boughner out of one draft class, would be more than satisfactory.

 

[Staniowski]

Oilers in 79 (Messier, Anderson, and Lowe) was also pretty good.
Or 80 (Coffey, Kurri, Moog, and Poddubny)

I was always amazed at those two drafts by the Oilers. And you can kinda include Gretzky in there, even though he wasn't drafted. But if you want to know why the Oilers dominated in the '80s, you're looking at it.

 

[Professor What]

In an average year, a team getting Dallas Drake, Mike Sillinger and Bob Boughner out of one draft class, would be more than satisfactory.

This is true. Says a lot about what they did that those guys didn't seem worth mentioning.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

If we're counting draft day trades then Boston 2006 is up there. Not the best, but near the top

Kessel
Lucic
Marchand
Rask (trade)

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

i’m curious if anyone has a master list of most GP any team has gotten out of a draft

a few big ones off the top of my head:

edmonton in 1979: 4,143 (lowe, messier, anderson)

montreal in 1987: 4,602 (cassels, leclair, schneider, desjardins)

detroit in 1983: 5,068 (yzerman, probert, klima, kocur, grimson)

detroit 1989: 5,955 (sillinger, boughner, lidstrom, fedorov, drake, konstantinov)

can anybody beat detroit in ’89? three post-season all-stars, three team captains, four 1,000 game guys

and did anyone get more PIMs than detroit in ’83? they cleared 10,000 — between the bruise bros and the grim reaper, that’s almost 8,000 PIMs right there

 

[decma]

i’m curious if anyone has a master list of most GP any team has gotten out of a draft

a few big ones off the top of my head:

edmonton in 1979: 4,143 (lowe, messier, anderson)

montreal in 1987: 4,602 (cassels, leclair, schneider, desjardins)

detroit in 1983: 5,068 (yzerman, probert, klima, kocur, grimson)

detroit 1989: 5,955 (sillinger, boughner, lidstrom, fedorov, drake, konstantinov)

can anybody beat detroit in ’89? three post-season all-stars, three team captains, four 1,000 game guys

and did anyone get more PIMs than detroit in ’83? they cleared 10,000 — between the bruise bros and the grim reaper, that’s almost 8,000 PIMs right there

Sabres 83 comes in at 4,400, with two goalies.
Barrasso, Krupp, Creighton, Tucker, Ruuttu, Puppa, Lacombe, and four others (with between 5 and 91 GP).

 

[decma]

And Bruins 79 with 4,934 (Bourque, McCrimmon, Krushelnyski, Crowder, Melnyk, Baron, and Doug Morrison.

 

[kaiser matias]

I was always amazed at those two drafts by the Oilers. And you can kinda include Gretzky in there, even though he wasn't drafted. But if you want to know why the Oilers dominated in the '80s, you're looking at it.

Don't forget 1981: Fuhr and Steve Smith (they also selected Marc Habscheid, though he didn't do much for the Oilers).

 

[pandro]

Some info can be found in a similar topic from last year:
Most successful entry draft by a team

 

[carjackmalone]

1979 Nordiques

Michel Goulet
Anton Stastny
Dale Hunter

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

i’m curious if anyone has a master list of most GP any team has gotten out of a draft

a few big ones off the top of my head:

edmonton in 1979: 4,143 (lowe, messier, anderson)

montreal in 1987: 4,602 (cassels, leclair, schneider, desjardins)

detroit in 1983: 5,068 (yzerman, probert, klima, kocur, grimson)

detroit 1989: 5,955 (sillinger, boughner, lidstrom, fedorov, drake, konstantinov)

can anybody beat detroit in ’89? three post-season all-stars, three team captains, four 1,000 game guys

and did anyone get more PIMs than detroit in ’83? they cleared 10,000 — between the bruise bros and the grim reaper, that’s almost 8,000 PIMs right there

I’m not 100% I caught them all but these were the drafts I found where one team drafted players who combined would go on to have at least 4000 GP in the NHL:

1. Wings 1989: 5955 (Lidstrom, Fedorov, Sillinger…)
2. Wings 1983: 5068 (Yzerman, Probert, Kocur, Klima, Grimson…)
3. Flames 1984: 4975 (Roberts, Ranheim, Hull, Suter…)
4. Bruins 1979: 4934 (Bourque, McCrimmon, Krushelnyski, Crowder…)
5. Kings 1980: 4882 (Murphy, Nicholls, Fox, Bozek, Terrion…)
6. Hawks 1980: 4743 (Savard, Larmer, T Murray…)
7. Habs* 1987: 4602 (Leclair, Desjardins, Cassels, Schneider…)
8. Habs 1977: 4591 (Langway, Roberts, Napier, Cote…)
9. Sabres 1983: 4400 (Barrasso, Creighton, C Ruuttu, Krupp…)
10. Caps 1984: 4373 (K Hatcher, S Leach, Pivonka, K King…)
11. Devils 1990: 4283 (Brodeur, Zelepukin, Modey, Dunham…)
12. Habs 1984: 4267 (Svoboda, Corson, Richer, Roy)
13. Whalers 1982: 4251 (Dineen, Samuelsson, Ferraro, Gilhen…)
14. Oilers 1979: 4143 (Lowe, Messier, Anderson…)
15. Nords 1988: 4152 (Leschyshyn, Lapointe, Gusarov, Kamensky, Fiset…)
16. Habs 1998: 4001 (Ribeiro, Beauchemin, Ryder, Markov…)

* Mistakenly had typed Flyers for the 1987 Habs draft. Couldn’t verify it then realized I’d read Desjardins and Leclair’s names and gone with my hockey card collecting child reaction.