Worst draft year by team based on NHL experience

[Ducksforcup]

The Ducks worst draft was in 1997.

1997
18 C Michael Holmqvist
45 L Maxim Balmochnykh
72 R Jay Legault
125 G Luc Vaillancourt
178 L Tony Mohagen
181 D Mat Snesrud
209 Rene Stussi
235 F Tommi Degerman

Holmqvist is the only one playing in the NHL (for the Hawks) and is having an OK season. Other than that though...yah.

 

[Stephen]

To be fair, neither Scott Thornton nor Keith Carney can be considered crap. Sure they didn't do anything for the Leafs, but they still turned out to be solid NHLers.

The Keith Carney we drafted isn't the Keith Carney you're thinking of. He's a nobody.

Anyway, Thornton has had a decent career, but at number 3, that's an unmitigated disaster, even if he had stayed in Toronto this whole time.

1999 was the worst in terms of NHL games played, but we had much less to work with in terms of high picks.

 

[KH1]

2001
Cory Stillman
Dusan Salficky
Andy Chiodo
Jan Holub
Mike Bray
Bryan Perez
Roman Kukhtinov
Juha-Pekka Ketola

Ah the miracles of www.hockeydb.com....

Anywho the Isles 2001 draftees have played a total of 8 games in the NHL, all Andy Chiodo with the Penguins.

 

[Don Draper]

A few have mentioned the Oilers 1990 team, but really the Oilers drafting from 84-92 was absolutely atrocious. Someone had a great post on this sometime last year just going over what a disaster it was over those years. Just take a look for yourselves over that time and you can understand the fans frustration with the draft table.

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/teams/dr000041.html

 

[The Nemesis]

A few have mentioned the Oilers 1990 team, but really the Oilers drafting from 84-92 was absolutely atrocious. Someone had a great post on this sometime last year just going over what a disaster it was over those years. Just take a look for yourselves over that time and you can understand the fans frustration with the draft table.

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/teams/dr000041.html

Was it this?

http://www.hfboards.com/showthread.php?p=3866318#post3866318

I wrote that in a thread about the team with the worst drafting history.

 

[Bixby Snyder]

With the Canucks they've had so many horrid drafts thru their history its just too hard to pick one. 2000 and 2002 are just the latest example of futility at the draft.

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/teams/dr000039.html

 

[insider]

Oilers
95

6 L Steve Kelly
31 L Georges Laraque
57 D Lukas Zib
83 G Mike Minard
109 D Jan Snopek
161 C Martin Cerven
187 D Stephen Douglas
213 Jiri Antonin

94. (just Smyth)

4 C Jason Bonsignore
6 L Ryan Smyth
32 L Mike Watt
53 D Corey Neilson
60 D Brad Symes
79 R Adam Copeland
95 R Jussi Tarvainen
110 L Jon Gaskins
136 C Terry Marchant
160 D Curtis Sheptak
162 Dimitrius Sulba
179 G Chris Wickenheiser
185 D Rob Guinn
188 D Jason Reid
214 G Jeremy Jablonski
266 D Ladislav Benysek

'92
13 L Joe Hulbig
37 F Martin Reichel
61 Simon Roy
65 L Kirk Maltby
96 L Ralph Intranuovo
109 G Joaquin Gage
157 L Steve Gibson
181 L Kyuin Shim
190 C Colin Schmidt
205 R Marko Tuomainen
253 R Brian Rasmussen

'97

14 R Michel Riesen
41 G Patrick Dovigi
68 D Sergei Yerkovich
94 D Jonas Elofsson
121 L Jason Chimera
141 C Peter Sarno
176 D Kevin Bolibruck
187 C Chad Hinz
205 Chris Kerr
231 G Alexander Fomitchev

'88


19 D Francois Leroux
39 R Petro Koivunen
53 C Trevor Sim
61 D Collin Bauer
82 D Cam Brauer
103 D Don Martin
124 C Len Barrie
145 R Mike Glover
166 L Shjon Podein
187 G Tom Cole
208 D Vladimir Zubkov
229 Darin MacDonald
250 C Tim Tisdale

There's the reason Oilers sucked in the 90's

 

[Ted Hoffman]

The Blues in 1983 tops anything anyone else has. The Blues didn't even get to draft because of ownership issues (no one could agree who actually controlled the team and thus who should go to the draft), and the league refused to give the Blues an exception or allow them to get compensatory picks in future years to make up for missing the '83 draft.

 

[Amd]

There was 2 Keith Carney's?

Yeah the one that is still playing was drafted by Buffalo #76th overall in 1988.

For what it is worth he sucked his time in Buffalo.

 

[Jumptheshark]

1989
3 C Scott Thornton
12 R Rob Pearson
21 D Steve Bancroft
66 D Matt Martin
96 D Keith Carney
108 D Dave Burke
125 W Mike Doers
129 Keith Merkler
150 D Derek Langille
171 Jeff St. Laurent
192 F Justin Tomberlin
213 R Mike Jackson
234 F Steve Chartrand

Toronto Maple Leafs 1989 draft performance was probably the worst, considering they had 3 first round picks and all three of them sucked. Everybody else was just crap too.

99 by far is worse

aslo

the fact that Thorton is still playing--ya lose the battle

he is a legit 3rd liner--

 

[Habs4ever]

You my friend have got wrong information

habs traded their first round pick and 1999 draft was very weak according to habs scouting staff, so I don't see whats the fuss about!!

 

[Lobstertainment]

99 by far is worse

aslo

the fact that Thorton is still playing--ya lose the battle

he is a legit 3rd liner--

Yeah Thornton is still playing well for the Sharks but I think Stephen's point is that

Stu Barnes at #4
Bill Guerrin at #5

is what made it a bad pick

another was us picking Bancroft at #21 and watching Adam Foote go at #22

in the End though we got the #1 guy from the 89 draft in Sundin and that's been gold for us so far.

 

[GudVibransons]

Agreed on the Panthers 2000 class. Yuck.

2000
58 D Vladimir Sapozhnikov
77 F Robert Fried
82 R Sean O'Connor
115 D Chris Eade
120 G Davis Parley
190 W Josh Olson
234 Janis Sprukts
253 L Matt Sommerfeld

When Josh Olson is the BEST you have to show for that draft class, you're in trouble.

 

[Scotianhab]

habs traded their first round pick and 1999 draft was very weak according to habs scouting staff, so I don't see whats the fuss about!!

That draft was weak and our picks were weak but I always had hope Buturlin would turn into something but once he went back to Russia I knew it'd be a bust draft.

 

[insider]

Agreed on the Panthers 2000 class. Yuck.

2000
58 D Vladimir Sapozhnikov
77 F Robert Fried
82 R Sean O'Connor
115 D Chris Eade
120 G Davis Parley
190 W Josh Olson
234 Janis Sprukts
253 L Matt Sommerfeld

When Josh Olson is the BEST you have to show for that draft class, you're in trouble.

Don't quit on Sprukts yet, he's tearing up the Finnish league

 

[GudVibransons]

I'll gladly welcome Janis Sprukts if he ever decides to come back across the pond. Until then, he's just another guy who never played in the NHL from this draft class.

 

[MXD]

Just in the '90s for the Capitals....'94-'96, '98-'99



Worst bust of talent in the draft for the Capitals in recent memory is either the '96 or '99 in the 1st and 2nd rounds where it matters the most

1996
4 R Alexandre Volchkov (bust)
17 L Jaroslav Svejkovsky (bust b/c of concussions)
43 C Jan Bulis (reliable player but nowhere near where he was projected to be)

Had Jan Bulis been RIGHTFULLY projected more than what he is right now - a good 3rd liner than could play on many 2nd lines without looking out of place - , he wouldn't had beed drafted 43th...

 

[Habsaku]

I think the 97 and 99 drafts we're terrible for pretty much everyone(I'm betting except the Sens). I hear we should expect the same for this year.

 

[Lionel Hutz]

The Penguins have had some doozies, but there always seems to be one player who, for better or worse, makes it to the NHL.

Have to go way back for an entirely bare draft:
1971 - 56 NHL games played with 2 forwards combining for 9 career points.
1978 - (only 3 picks) combined total 4 NHL games played, 0 career points.

While the Pens don't have any 0 games played drafts in recent history, I think one like this still compares:

1996
23 G Craig Hillier
28 D Pavel Skrbek
72 L Boyd Kane
77 R Boris Protsenko
105 D Michal Rozsival
150 Peter Bergman
186 W Eric Meloche
238 Timo Seikkula

16 total games played with the exception of Meloche (61) and Rozival. Are 16 games from Skrbek and Kane really any better than 0 games played by any other losers? Put an asterisk on Meloche's GP because he was a filler on the horrible Pens firesale team.

Another great performance came in 1997 which produced the gems Ference and Melichar

1997
17 R Robert Dome
44 C Brian Gaffaney
71 D Josef Melichar
97 C Alexander Mathieu
124 D Harlan Pratt
152 L Petr Havelka
179 D Mark Moore
208 D Andrew Ference
234 D Eric Lind

Basically, pick any mid-90's Pens draft and remove one player, and you've got a farce.

 

[Stealth JD]

The Blues have had some of the worst draft classes of the last decade:

1994
68 C Stephane Roy
94 D Tyler Harlton
120 D Edwin Frylen
172 C Roman Vopat
198 C Steve Noble
224 Marc Stephan
250 Kevin Harper
276 G Scott Fankhouser

1996
14 C Marty Reasoner
67 L Gordie Dwyer
95 C Jon Zukiwsky
97 R Andrei Petrakov
159 G Stephen Wagner
169 C Daniel Corso
177 R Reed Low
196 L Andrej Podkonicky
203 F Tony Hutchins
229 R Konstantin Shafronov

1997
40 C Tyler Rennette
86 D Didier Tremblay
98 D Jan Horacek
106 R Jame Pollock
149 D Nicholas Bilotto
177 C Ladislav Nagy
206 F Bob Haglund
232 D Dmitri Plekhanov
244 C Marek Ivan

1999
17 D Barret Jackman
85 D Peter Smrek
114 D Chad Starling
143 D Trevor Byrne
180 L Tore Vikingstad
203 G Phil Osaer
221 F Colin Hemingway
232 D Alexander Khavanov
260 D Brian McMeekin
270 C James Desmarais

2000
30 C Jeff Taffe
65 R David Morisset
75 C Justin Papineau
96 D Antoine Bergeron
129 C Troy Riddle
167 D Craig Weller
229 L Brett Lutes
261 G Reinhard Divis
293 D Lauri Kinos

2002
48 C Alexei Shkotov
62 C Andrei Mikhnov
89 C Tomas Troliga
120 R Robin Jonsson
165 L Justin Maiser
190 W D.J. King
221 C Jonas Johnson
253 D Tom Koivisto
284 Ryan MacMurchy




Of those 6 draft classes, only Nagy & Jackman stand out as good picks. Khavanov & Reasoner have had less than stellar careers thus far....And the draft classes that I didn't mention (95, 98, 01) aren't exactly models of how to build a team....Thank God Jarmo Kekalanien has been on board since the 2003 draft, because Teddy Hampson and his staff couldn't evaluate talent to save their lives....

 

[NOTENOUGHJTCGOALS]

I think the 97 and 99 drafts we're terrible for pretty much everyone(I'm betting except the Sens). I hear we should expect the same for this year.

The Sedins are looking pretty good now. 1999 may turn out decent for some teams.

edit: Buffalo I believe has since stolen all the goodies from 1999 so Buffalo Vancouver and Ottawa all looking like the did ok on that draft.

 

[Pete Rock]

The Leafs' '89 draft totaled over a 1000 career NHL games, so it wasn't all that bad. The three Belleville picks just underachieved big time.

1999 was brutal for Toronto, 3 NHL games.

24 C Luca Cereda
60 D Peter Reynolds
108 L Mirko Murovic
110 D Jonathan Zion
151 D Vaclav Zavoral
161 F Jan Sochor
211 G Vladimir Kulikov
239 D Pierre Hedin
267 D Peter Metcalf

1997 was a sad joke as well:

57 C Jeff Farkas (31)
84 R Adam Mair (249 and counting)
111 L Frank Mrazek
138 L Eric Gooldy
165 D Hugo Marchand
190 R Shawn Thornton (31 and counting sorta)
194 C Russ Bartlett
221 L Jonathan Hedstrom (66 and counting)

A perennial 4th-liner, a cup of coffee 4th-liner, and the inexplicable Hedstrom.

1988 was horrific talent-wise but were okay "experience wise":

6 L Scott Pearson (292)
27 R Tie Domi (1005)
48 G Peter Ing (74)
69 D Ted Crowley (34)
86 D Len Esau (27)
132 Matt Mallgrave
153 Roger Elvenes
174 Mike Delay
195 C David Sacco (35)
216 G Mike Gregorio
237 C Peter DeBoer

Not one of these players amounted to more than a 4th-liner/back-up, although one turned out to be a pretty good coach.

 

[cbj21]

Oilers
..
'97

14 R Michel Riesen
41 G Patrick Dovigi
68 D Sergei Yerkovich
94 D Jonas Elofsson
121 L Jason Chimera
141 C Peter Sarno
176 D Kevin Bolibruck
187 C Chad Hinz
205 Chris Kerr
231 G Alexander Fomitchev
There's the reason Oilers sucked in the 90's

Again thanks for Chimera ^_^

No bad Jacket drafts yet but worst so far must be:
2001
8 G Pascal Leclaire
38 W Tim Jackman
53 C Kiel McLeod
85 D Aaron Johnson
87 F Per Mars
141 D Cole Jarrett
173 Justin Aikins
187 Artem Vostrikov
204 C Raffaele Sannitz
236 R Ryan Bowness
242 C Andrew Murray

.. but mostly because of that Kiel guy

 

[Ted Hoffman]

The Blues have had some of the worst draft classes of the last decade:

1994 - That one was brutal, slightly masked b/c the first pick wasn't until 68.
1996 - Reasoner never developed into a scorer, Low never developed into a fighter.
1997 - Nagy saves this one entirely.
1999 - When you have a Calder Trophy winner, you can't call it a bad draft.
2000 - Riddle has an outside shot of making it eventually, otherwise this one could be bad.
2002 - The jury is still out here. Shkotov is still highly regarded but if he never comes back over, then it looks really bad. Jonsson probably won't be over, Maiser has been a complete bust and can't even score in Alaska, King has an outside shot of making it eventually, and Koivisto was a bust in his 2 year here. Mikhnov and Troliga don't even merit a comment.

 

[Samkow]

Again thanks for Chimera ^_^

No bad Jacket drafts yet but worst so far must be:
2001
8 G Pascal Leclaire
38 W Tim Jackman
53 C Kiel McLeod
85 D Aaron Johnson
87 F Per Mars
141 D Cole Jarrett
173 Justin Aikins
187 Artem Vostrikov
204 C Raffaele Sannitz
236 R Ryan Bowness
242 C Andrew Murray

.. but mostly because of that Kiel guy

Thats a good draft compared too the 2000 Blue Jackets Draft
4 D Rostislav Klesla
69 D Ben Knopp
133 D Petteri Nummelin
138 D Scott Heffernan
150 C Tyler Kolarik
169 G Shane Bendera
200 F Janne Jokila
231 F Peter Zingoni
278 L Martin Paroulek
286 C Andrej Nedorost
292 D Louis Mandeville