1specter
Registered User
- Sep 27, 2016
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Somewhat inspired by the recent Yakupov thread and bored off-season 'shower thoughts', who are some first round picks who were not just busts, but were so bad that they could barely handle other professional leagues outside of the NHL? You see plenty of guys who can't make the NHL, but have dominant numbers in the AHL, KHL, SEL or other high tier leagues, but what about the guys who couldn't even play at that level and made you wonder why they were ever drafted at all?
Patrick White for the Canucks comes to mind... the pick itself seemed like a galaxy brain move by Nonis, going off the board and grabbing someone who wasn't even projected as a first rounder at all. White had good numbers in the Minnesota high school program, and a short stint in the USHL with decent numbers. When he got to the NCAA, he never posted anything more than middle-six type production, and after he finished college he left North America completely and pretty much never came back. He went to a tier 3 league in Germany where he dominated for a year, then moved up to DEL2 (tier 2) the year after and scored at a 0.77 PPG pace, and then went to the Slovak league where he maintained a similar pace. He then went to the KHL which was a total disaster, scoring 0 points in 26 games, and went back to the Slovak league after, then bounced around leagues in Central Europe, Sweden, Norway and ultimately ended his career in the France league, where put up 16 pts in 40 games at age 28 and sputtered out of hockey entirely after. The silver lining about this pick? The Canucks managed to trade him to San Jose in a package for Christian Ehrhoff who played very well for them for a few years, and the Sharks received a compensatory second-round pick for not signing White at the end of his college career which they managed to turn into Chris Tierney who was a useful player for a while, and eventually was included in the package for Erik Karlsson, so everyone kinda won in the end (except Patrick I guess).
There was also Tyler Biggs for the Leafs. Burke idiotically traded the 30th and 39th picks to Anaheim (which ended up as Rickard Rakell and John Gibson) to move up and select Biggs at 22nd overall. They also had the 25th overall, which he used to select Stuart Percy; unfortunately Percy's career was heavily derailed by injuries (which hampered his already average footspeed), otherwise he actually showed some promise and was developing decently until about age ~21-22, but it stings that Burke could've had three of Rakell, J.Gibson, Jenner, Danault, Namestnikov, Kucherov, Saad, Edmundson etc and instead grabbed these two guys. Biggs was a classic case of Burke being an American size queen, as Biggs USHL numbers pre-draft were nothing to write home about. As a rookie in the NCAA, he wasn't too bad, putting up 9 goals and 17 pts in 37 games, but he left college to go to the OHL which in hindsight maybe wasn't the best for his development, and he had a decent but unspectacular year with 53 pts in 60 games playing for the Generals who had names like Scott Laughton, Jenner, Dal Colle etc also on the team. He then went pro and played for the Marlies, where he struggled immensely, and was eventually traded away with Phil Kessel to Pittsburgh. Following that, he bounced around between the AHL and ECHL, before his final year of hockey where he attempted to play overseas in the U.K. hockey league, where he posted a measly 9 pts in 24 games, then came back and finished the year in the ECHL, and quit hockey completely by age 26. He is now working as a paramedic, so kudos to him for finding some honest work in an important job.
Patrick White for the Canucks comes to mind... the pick itself seemed like a galaxy brain move by Nonis, going off the board and grabbing someone who wasn't even projected as a first rounder at all. White had good numbers in the Minnesota high school program, and a short stint in the USHL with decent numbers. When he got to the NCAA, he never posted anything more than middle-six type production, and after he finished college he left North America completely and pretty much never came back. He went to a tier 3 league in Germany where he dominated for a year, then moved up to DEL2 (tier 2) the year after and scored at a 0.77 PPG pace, and then went to the Slovak league where he maintained a similar pace. He then went to the KHL which was a total disaster, scoring 0 points in 26 games, and went back to the Slovak league after, then bounced around leagues in Central Europe, Sweden, Norway and ultimately ended his career in the France league, where put up 16 pts in 40 games at age 28 and sputtered out of hockey entirely after. The silver lining about this pick? The Canucks managed to trade him to San Jose in a package for Christian Ehrhoff who played very well for them for a few years, and the Sharks received a compensatory second-round pick for not signing White at the end of his college career which they managed to turn into Chris Tierney who was a useful player for a while, and eventually was included in the package for Erik Karlsson, so everyone kinda won in the end (except Patrick I guess).
There was also Tyler Biggs for the Leafs. Burke idiotically traded the 30th and 39th picks to Anaheim (which ended up as Rickard Rakell and John Gibson) to move up and select Biggs at 22nd overall. They also had the 25th overall, which he used to select Stuart Percy; unfortunately Percy's career was heavily derailed by injuries (which hampered his already average footspeed), otherwise he actually showed some promise and was developing decently until about age ~21-22, but it stings that Burke could've had three of Rakell, J.Gibson, Jenner, Danault, Namestnikov, Kucherov, Saad, Edmundson etc and instead grabbed these two guys. Biggs was a classic case of Burke being an American size queen, as Biggs USHL numbers pre-draft were nothing to write home about. As a rookie in the NCAA, he wasn't too bad, putting up 9 goals and 17 pts in 37 games, but he left college to go to the OHL which in hindsight maybe wasn't the best for his development, and he had a decent but unspectacular year with 53 pts in 60 games playing for the Generals who had names like Scott Laughton, Jenner, Dal Colle etc also on the team. He then went pro and played for the Marlies, where he struggled immensely, and was eventually traded away with Phil Kessel to Pittsburgh. Following that, he bounced around between the AHL and ECHL, before his final year of hockey where he attempted to play overseas in the U.K. hockey league, where he posted a measly 9 pts in 24 games, then came back and finished the year in the ECHL, and quit hockey completely by age 26. He is now working as a paramedic, so kudos to him for finding some honest work in an important job.
