Most successful entry draft by a team

[pandro]

The thread on Mathieu Schneider led me to noticing that the Canadiens drafted Andrew Cassels, John LeClair, Eric Desjardins and Schneider all within a span of 27 picks in 1987. That's 4414 regular season games just from the first three rounds.
What's the most successful single draft by a team in terms of combined games played in the NHL by the players selected (not limited by the games played for the team that drafted the players)?

 

[AlwaysSunnyInDetroit]

I mean, the answer has to be the 89 Wings, right? 14 players, 5595 regular season games, 6686 including post season.

 

[pandro]

I mean, the answer has to be the 89 Wings, right? 14 players, 5595 regular season games, 6686 including post season.

Good answer.
I guess you meant 5955

 

[Dale53130]

I'd go with Detroit in '89 too.

But, for a condensed 6 round draft by comparison, the '79 draft (per round) has to be brought up.

-- Oilers: Lowe, Messier, Anderson
-- Nordiques: Goulet, Dale Hunter, Anton Stastny, Lee Norwood, Pierre Lacroix
-- Boston: Bourque, McCrimmon, Crowder, Larry Melnyk, Krushelnyski

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Boston 2006 is up there with 4,010 games played and 486 playoff games. Not bad with a goalie in the mix

Kessel, Lucic, Marchand, Rask (draft day trade)

 

[Bear of Bad News]

Boston 2006 is up there with 4,010 games played and 486 playoff games. Not bad with a goalie in the mix

Kessel, Lucic, Marchand, Rask (draft day trade)

Counting Rask seems like a bit of a stretch - it was a draft day trade, but Rask was a 2005 draftee and the trade was one year later (and the asset used to get Rask wasn't a 2006 pick).

If Rask counts, then I think you're opening the door of possibilities pretty wide.

 

[carjackmalone]

The canucks have a spotty draft record by 79-80 is pretty decent in hindsight Rick Vsive ,Brent Ashton ,Dirk Graham

 

[Jumptheshark]

For me there are a few keys...

Games played is nice...but I go first to

Pts
Playoff performances
Cup win
Hall of Famers drafted

For me overall games only count for games played for the drafting team and not overall

 

[The Panther]

But, for a condensed 6 round draft by comparison, the '79 draft (per round) has to be brought up.

-- Oilers: Lowe, Messier, Anderson

And then in 1980, Coffey, Kurri, & Moog.

(But if we're counting games played for the franchise that selected them, then all those guys go down the list for Edmonton, of course.)

 

[GMR]

I mean, the answer has to be the 89 Wings, right? 14 players, 5595 regular season games, 6686 including post season.

My favorite Red Wings draft is still 1983.

Yzerman
Probert
Klima
Kocur
Grimson

 

[hypereconomist]

The Wings' '89 draft is definitely the king of drafts with respect to games played.

Honorable Mentions

Bruins' '79 draft, which had 5555 games (4934 RS + 621 PO) from several players, including Bourque and McCrimmon

Flames' '84 draft, which had 5409 games (4813 RS + 522 PO) from several players, including Hull, Roberts, and Suter.

Kings' '80 draft, which had 5314 games (4844 RS + 470 PO) from nine players, including Murphy and Nicholls

Hawks' '80 draft, which had 5284 games (4742 RS + 542 PO) from nine players, including Savard and Larmer

Habs' '84 draft, which 4917 games (4267 RS + 648 PO) from Corson, Roy, Richer, and Svoboda

Caps' '84 draft, which had 4816 games (4374 RS + 442 PO) from seven players, including Hatcher

Oilers' '79 draft, which had 4814 games (4138 RS + 675 PO) from Lowe, Messier, and Anderson

Sabres' '83 draft, which had 4776 games (4400 RS + 376 PO) from eleven players, including Barrasso

Whalers' '82 draft, which had 4545 games (4250 RS + 295 PO) from several players, including Dineen, Samuelsson, and Ferraro


Other Honorable Mentions (still active)

Isles' '08 draft, which is currently at 4162 games (3912 RS + 250 PO) with four players still active (Bailey, Martin, Spurgeon, and Hamonic)

Ducks' '03 draft, which is currently at 3959 games (3528 RS + 421 PO) with one player still active (Perry)

Bruins' '06 draft, which is currently at 3870 games (3488 RS + 382 PO) with three players still active (Marchand, Lucic, and Kessel)

Isles' '09 draft, which is currently at 3715 games (3500 RS + 215 PO) with four players still active (Tavares, De Haan, Cizikas, and Lee)


The weak drafts during the deadpuck era are really, really noticeable in this type of exercise; as is the lower number of rounds of the current draft setup, and the lower number of playoff games now that not as many teams make the playoffs in a 32-team league.

It's also super impressive that the Whalers managed to have a pick from each of the first six rounds of the '82 draft make the NHL in some capacity. If that happened today, heads would explode if a team managed to pick an NHLer in each round.

 

[Quatre Vingt Treize]

The thread on Mathieu Schneider led me to noticing that the Canadiens drafted Andrew Cassels, John LeClair, Eric Desjardins and Schneider all within a span of 27 picks in 1987. That's 4414 regular season games just from the first three rounds.
What's the most successful single draft by a team in terms of combined games played in the NHL by the players selected (not limited by the games played for the team that drafted the players)?

Montreal '71 for me. Lafleur and Robinson

 

[Hasbro]

-- Nordiques: Goulet, Dale Hunter, Anton Stastny, Lee Norwood, Pierre Lacroix (points for his work as a GM)

Not the same guy.

 

[GreatSaveEssensa]

The 2017 draft is shaping up to be a franchise altering one for the Dallas Stars. They got Heiskinen, Otteniger and Robertson. Pretty good if you ask me

 

[JianYang]

The 2017 draft is shaping up to be a franchise altering one for the Dallas Stars. They got Heiskinen, Otteniger and Robertson. Pretty good if you ask me

In more recent times, I thought the Habs did well in 2007.

Their first three picks were McDonagh, pacioretty, and subban. Yannick Weber was also from that draft if I recall correctly but thats a different tier player.

 

[The Panther]

The Wings' '89 draft is definitely the king of drafts with respect to games played.

Honorable Mentions

Bruins' '79 draft, which had 5555 games (4934 RS + 621 PO) from several players, including Bourque and McCrimmon

Flames' '84 draft, which had 5409 games (4813 RS + 522 PO) from several players, including Hull, Roberts, and Suter.

Kings' '80 draft, which had 5314 games (4844 RS + 470 PO) from nine players, including Murphy and Nicholls

Hawks' '80 draft, which had 5284 games (4742 RS + 542 PO) from nine players, including Savard and Larmer

Habs' '84 draft, which 4917 games (4267 RS + 648 PO) from Corson, Roy, Richer, and Svoboda

Caps' '84 draft, which had 4816 games (4374 RS + 442 PO) from seven players, including Hatcher

Oilers' '79 draft, which had 4814 games (4138 RS + 675 PO) from Lowe, Messier, and Anderson

Sabres' '83 draft, which had 4776 games (4400 RS + 376 PO) from eleven players, including Barrasso

Whalers' '82 draft, which had 4545 games (4250 RS + 295 PO) from several players, including Dineen, Samuelsson, and Ferraro

Don't forget the Oilers' amazing 1990 draft when they got ZERO games from the total of every player they drafted. ; )

 

[Johnny Engine]

Don't forget the Oilers' amazing 1990 draft when they got ZERO games from the total of every player they drafted. ; )

Edmonton's per-pick domination in 1990 is unparalleled, but era adjusted, Phoenix can give them a run for their money by getting zero games out of 8 picks in 2003 of all drafts.

 

[Brodeur]

Boston 2006 is up there with 4,010 games played and 486 playoff games. Not bad with a goalie in the mix

Kessel, Lucic, Marchand, Rask (draft day trade)

Slight tangent, but maybe sometimes shows that there's a degree of luck with the draft:

LA hired Dean Lombardi two months before the 2006 Draft. Lombardi spent the 2005-06 season as a pro scout for the Flyers, so he didn't know a ton about the draft prospects. When he inherited the Kings roster, they were loaded with young forwards but lacked defensemen.

Lombardi deferred to the scouts for their first two picks (Jonathan Bernier/Trevor Lewis) but suddenly stepped in for pick #48. LA's scouts wanted to pick Milan Lucic but Lombardi forced them to take a D. LA took Joe Ryan who didn't pan out and Lucic went #50 to Boston.

I always wondered if passing on Lucic was something that haunted Lombardi. In 2009, Lombardi was fully locked in on taking a Lucic-esque prospect in Kyle Clifford. LA's scouts were pushing Lombardi to trade up for Ryan O'Reilly but he didn't want to lose out on Clifford. Then in 2015, Lombardi finally had the chance to get Lucic.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Slight tangent, but maybe sometimes shows that there's a degree of luck with the draft:

LA hired Dean Lombardi two months before the 2006 Draft. Lombardi spent the 2005-06 season as a pro scout for the Flyers, so he didn't know a ton about the draft prospects. When he inherited the Kings roster, they were loaded with young forwards but lacked defensemen.

Lombardi deferred to the scouts for their first two picks (Jonathan Bernier/Trevor Lewis) but suddenly stepped in for pick #48. LA's scouts wanted to pick Milan Lucic but Lombardi forced them to take a D. LA took Joe Ryan who didn't pan out and Lucic went #50 to Boston.

I always wondered if passing on Lucic was something that haunted Lombardi. In 2009, Lombardi was fully locked in on taking a Lucic-esque prospect in Kyle Clifford. LA's scouts were pushing Lombardi to trade up for Ryan O'Reilly but he didn't want to lose out on Clifford. Then in 2015, Lombardi finally had the chance to get Lucic.

2009-2012 Lucic definitely had the rest of the league scrambling to find another Lucic in the draft.

In addition to your example you had picks like Montreal taking Leblanc at 18OA and McCarron 25OA, Vancouver taking Virtanen at 6OA, Buffalo taking Kassian at 13OA and Toronto taking Kadri at 7OA

 

[seventieslord]

2009-2012 Lucic definitely had the rest of the league scrambling to find another Lucic in the draft.

In addition to your example you had picks like Montreal taking Leblanc at 18OA and McCarron 25OA, Vancouver taking Virtanen at 6OA, Buffalo taking Kassian at 13OA and Toronto taking Kadri at 7OA

What does Kadri have to do with Lucic?

 

[Claude The Fraud]

I'd go with Detroit in '89 too.

But, for a condensed 6 round draft by comparison, the '79 draft (per round) has to be brought up.

-- Oilers: Lowe, Messier, Anderson
-- Nordiques: Goulet, Dale Hunter, Anton Stastny, Lee Norwood, Pierre Lacroix (points for his work as a GM)
-- Boston: Bourque, McCrimmon, Crowder, Larry Melnyk, Krushelnyski

It isn’t the same guy.

 

[UED]

89 Wings, 71 Canadiens, 05 Penguins, 79 Bruins, 03 Preds are probably the drafts I would most want to add to my team today. I like the 07 Canadiens although no superstar there, 84 Flames and 17 Stars too