The weird case of the 2011 draft. What where they thinking?

[Brodeur]

I forgot Landeskog was in that draft. I remember doing mock drafts and figuring the Avs would take one D and one wing with picks #2 and #11. Since the Devils were picking #4 with a big need for D, I was hoping Adam Larsson would drop. Colorado signed one of Larsson's teammates Joakim Lindstrom to a contract before the draft, so some thought that was a sign that they were bringing a familiar face for Larsson but it ended up being coincidental. At any rate, my mock was if you'd rather have Landeskog + Brodin/Siemens/Beaulieu or Larsson + Baertschi/Armia.

 

[NoQuitInNewMexico]

If Landeskog gets healthy or at least bungles through 300 games somehow, everyone in that 2011 top 10 should reach 1000 career games played, which is pretty remarkable really

 

[WarriorOfGandhi]

Shattenkirk was traded for EJ before the 2011 draft. Also since we already drafted Landeskog at #2 we probably thought we could take a punt on another 1st rounder.

RS ended up working for the Hurricanes, the last I saw before he deleted his twitter account.

good for that strapping young lad to end up in the show, haven't got a tenth of his hustle

 

[The Panther]

I have data going back to 1997 and some free time so I calculated the number of NHL games played by each draft in the first 7 post-draft years:

YEAR    # Games
1999    8079
2000    8367
2007    8825
1997    9365
2002    9488
2006    9834
2001    10169
2010    10283
2017    10606
2005    10740
2016    10991
2004    11338
2014    11408
2008    11536
2009    12438
2012    12475
2013    12628
2011    13149
2015    13419
2003    13646
1998    14668

@lawrence's intuition was good re: 1999 being a particularly bad one. It produced the least # of NHL games of any draft going back to 1997!

2011 isn't actually that bad a year (actually 4th most NHL games of any draft in the timespan):
View attachment 889966

Going to echo @Sanderson that a lot of decisions look wacky in retrospect. Brian Burke is also maybe the worst drafting GM of the last 20 years so I wouldn't pay too much attention to what he gets up to:
View attachment 889968

Really good info, but would these stats not be slightly tweaked by the addition of the Thrashers, Bluejackets, Wild, Golden Knights, and Kraken? That is, when more clubs are added, there's certainly more NHL games played overall, and thus more games played by draft picks?

 

[buffalowing88]

1999 after the twins there was Richard jackman Tim Connolly Martin havlat and Henrik setterberg.

Connolly, Havlat, and Zetterberg were all elite talents. The first two couldn't stay on the ice long enough to fully reach their ceiling, but Zetterberg was a diamond in the rough and I'd say all three are positive reflections on the 99 draft.

 

[rubenflamshep]

Really good info, but would these stats not be slightly tweaked by the addition of the Thrashers, Bluejackets, Wild, Golden Knights, and Kraken? That is, when more clubs are added, there's certainly more NHL games played overall, and thus more games played by draft picks?

That's a good point! I did the correction but the effect is marginal, some minor re-shuffling of teams:

Year    # Games  # Teams  Rooke Games/Team
2000    8367     30          279
1999    8079     28          289
2007    8825     30          294
2002    9488     30          316
2006    9834     30          328
2001    10169     30          339
2017    10606     31          342
2010    10283     30          343
2005    10740     30          358
1997    9365     26          360
2016    11282     30          376
2004    11338     30          378
2014    11408     30          380
2008    11661     30          389
2009    12438     30          415
2012    12475     30          416
2013    12628     30          421
2011    13149     30          438
2015    13419     30          447
2003    13646     30          455
1998    14668     27          543

When a team is added to the NHL there's only about a 3-4% bump in the # of games payed so effects weren't as large as we were expecting.

 

[BigRangy]

1998 stands out even more on that metric. I wonder if it’s perhaps a case of the adjacent drafts all sucking, so there weren’t younger guys pushing them out as quickly.

Lots of impact talent late in that draft despite a pretty so-so top half of the first round