The best current player, who was a high draft pick, that did NOT have a break out rookie season?

[Voight]

Nobody (*) seriously doubted a goaltender who put those numbers up in a season where he started year as an 18-year-old. There's a reason goalies don't regularly wander in and start in the NHL as a teenager.

(*) I'm sure someone seriously doubted Fleury, but not anyone relevant.

Not to mention he was playing on an awful team that was clearly tanking for Ovechkin.

 

[Dread Clawz]

Barkov was FLAs best forward day 1 as an 18 year old. Nick Bjugstad led that team in scoring with 38 points.

Yup, two-way forward it wasn't even close. He just didn't cheat the game for points, just like now.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Joe Thornton is the correct answer

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

Shockingly enough there are a ton of players that fit this criteria over the years

 

[Sticktape]

Tage Thompson

 

[tsujimoto74]

Jack Hughes is my choice. Draisatl is a good choice but he didn’t even play 40 games that year

I still don’t think he should’ve even been in the NHL that year. The leap in competition from US juniors to the NHL is enormous, and Hughes definitely needed to physically mature more before he could succeed at this level. Not that it ended up ruining him or anything, but it was a head scratcher.

Even as rough as that season was statistically, if you watched him his rookie season, you could clearly see his talent level. I thought the people who were questioning him as a pick were nuts.

 

[Pierre Larouche]

Jack Hughes is my choice. Draisatl is a good choice but he didn’t even play 40 games that year

People, writers had literally buried Jack Hughes in the ground and gave him his last rites. I'm so happy for him. He's an amazing player.

I still don’t think he should’ve even been in the NHL that year. The leap in competition from US juniors to the NHL is enormous, and Hughes definitely needed to physically mature more before he could succeed at this level. Not that it ended up ruining him or anything, but it was a head scratcher.

Even as rough as that season was statistically, if you watched him his rookie season, you could clearly see his talent level. I thought the people who were questioning him as a pick were nuts.

I agree.

 

[ninetyeight]

Unless you think Jack Hughes should be even better than he is, then playing him in the NHL was absolutely the right move for his development. There is no guarantee that an alternative development path would have let for the same or better result. Having him learn what he can and can't do, how to adjust to to the physical game at NHL level were pretty major obsticles that he would have had to learn eventually coming from AHL too.