What if Bure went back in the draft in 1990?

[CrosbyIsKing87]

I came across an old posting in a newspaper article today from the day of the NHL Draft in 1990. It said, "In a shocking decision released late Thursday night, tbe NHL reverser an earlier ruling and said young Soviet star Pavel Bure is tthe property of the Vancouver Canucks. A spat over Bure's draft ellgibillty arose after the Canucks plcked hlm last year. Only a month ago, NHL president John Zeigler had ruled that Bure would go back into this year'a draft pool."

If Zeigler's decision had stood, and Bure went into the 1990 draft, it would have been interesting to see if the Quebec Nordiques would have drafted him at number one. They picked another right winger, Owen Nolan, with that pick, although they were just going with the best player available I'm sure. Quebec was not opposed to picking European players. Maybe they would have taken him. If they hadn't I'm sure Vancouver would have snapped him up at the number two position anyway. But that would have pushed Primeau, Ricci, and Nedved down further. If Bure goes to Quebec maybe Nolan goes to Vancouver or Detroit. If I remember correctly, Vanvouver specifcally wanted a playmaking center in that draft and that's why they went with Nedved over Primeau. Pittsburgh would still have taken Jagr I think because he lied to the other teams and said he wasn't coming over right away. Maybe Ricci falls to the Islanders and they don't whiff by taking Scott Scissons.

1990 NHL entry draft - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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[Brodeur]

Article by Bob McKenzie from the 1990 THN Draft Preview. On just talent Bure (and Slava Kozlov) would have been in the conversation, but teams just didn't know when they would come over. Maybe easier in hindsight to think Quebec would have taken a chance at #1, but we do know that Kozlov went #45 in 1990.

Alexander Mogilny had to defect in order to play in 1989-90. There's an interesting video on YouTube about that and the sheer political waves he created. A few weeks after the 1990 Draft, Sergei Fedorov defected.

It was a few years before my time, but it seemed like teams had a sense that Russian players would have come over eventually. But they'd still have to spend several years before getting the approval to go. Devils got Slava Fetisov (31 years old) and Alexei Kasatonov (30) in 1989-90. Canucks got Igor Larionov (29) and Vladimir Krutov (29) that year, ditto Flames and Sergei Makarov (31).

 

[CrosbyIsKing87]

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Article by Bob McKenzie from the 1990 THN Draft Preview. On just talent Bure (and Slava Kozlov) would have been in the conversation, but teams just didn't know when they would come over. Maybe easier in hindsight to think Quebec would have taken a chance at #1, but we do know that Kozlov went #45 in 1990.

Alexander Mogilny had to defect in order to play in 1989-90. There's an interesting video on YouTube about that and the sheer political waves he created. A few weeks after the 1990 Draft, Sergei Fedorov defected.

It was a few years before my time, but it seemed like teams had a sense that Russian players would have come over eventually. But they'd still have to spend several years before getting the approval to go. Devils got Slava Fetisov (31 years old) and Alexei Kasatonov (30) in 1989-90. Canucks got Igor Larionov (29) and Vladimir Krutov (29) that year, ditto Flames and Sergei Makarov (31).

I forgot about the Whalers drafting Holik in 89 and getting him to come over so quickly. And I remember seeing something in THN about Fedorov defecting that month. After that happened I'm sure the Russians made sure that Bure was closely watched. Quebec was rebuilding so they wouldn't have had the same pressure to draft someone who was available immediately like Detroit. I think they would have taken Bure. Then he would have played with Sakic and Kamensky on a top line. Wow.

 

[Brodeur]

I'd have to read up more, but Brian Burke has a snippet about Bure in his book. Vancouver had to pay off the Soviets in order to get Bure for 1991-92.

Still feels like a stretch for Bure to go 1st overall in 1990. In the moment I'm not sure they would have risked the top pick knowing the number of hoops he'd have to jump through to come play. Teams passed on Kozlov in the first two rounds despite him seemingly being a top 10 talent.

The world was quickly changing with Alexei Kovalev being the first Russian to go in the first round in 1991. Alexei Yashin would go second overall in 1992. But I just don't know if teams would have had the appetite to use a high pick in 1990 on a Soviet player.