Your Teams Draft Blunders.

[miscs75]

Just the top 10 picks based on draft position.

1. Rick DiPietro , not sure another has killed a franchise and still does.
2. Dave Chyzowski , according to NHL.com the worst # 2 pick ever.
3. Jean-Pierre Dumont, did OK away from the team
4. Scott LaChance
5. Nino Niedereitter , I know it's early but he's so over rated.
6. Scott Scissons
7. Okposo , only 7th pick ever, so here by default.
8. Taylor Pyatt, late bloomer and if not for time with Sedins a bust.
9. Brett Lindros, again NHL.coms worst pick ever at the 9th slot.
10. Branislav Mezei

The only other team with a scarier top 10 is maybe New Jersey (Patrick Stefan (1st), Neil Brady(3rd), Rocky Trottier(8th))

Dumont never even played for the Isles. I'm pretty sure he pulled a Rupp and held out.

[Reith24]

Since I was born (1987) and from what I can remember (about 1995-present). Prior to 95, they drafted Markus Naslund but didn't give him time to develop. Post 95 the guys that I can think of are:

1996 - Craig Hiller - 23rd
1997 - Robert Dome - 17th
1998 - Milan Kraft - 23rd
2007 - Angelo Esposito - 20th

No top 10 picks but still a blunder in my opinion.

[Wickabee]

Kings one's off the top of my head:

Aki Petteri Berg, Lauri Tukonen, Konstintin Pushkarev, Pavel Rosa, Jamie Storr all come to mind.

Oh and Fukufuji, though he was a late pick if I recall so not too big a waste like the others.

Don't forget my boy Barry Brust...though I'm not even sure he was actually drafted...but he was a rookie with your boys.

[marekschwarz33]

Blues:
Marek Schwarz- 17th Overall in '04
I was convinced he would be a starting goalie in the NHL. Only played 4 games.

Shawn Belle- 30th Overall in '03
Managed 20 NHL games with various teams before heading to the DEL

I'm sure there's plenty more. These are just a couple that I can remember.

[great1]

Ottawa drafted Brian Lee (9th Overall) over Anze Kopitar (11th Overall) and Marc Staal (12th Overall) in 2005.

Then there was Alexandre Daigle (1st Overall) over Chris Pronger (2nd Overall) in 1993, but I think most teams would have made that mistake.

[Wickabee]

Calgary Flames
never picked 1st through 5th
6th Daniel tkchuk or rico fata take your pick
That would be it for blunders in the top 10 as they have not picked often in the top 10.

Although the biggest draft blunder my team has committed is picking Trevor Kidd at 11 while Brodeur was drafted at 20th in the same year

You can't totally blame them for taking Kidd over Brodeur at the time. Kidd was THE goalie in the draft that year and Brodeur was just a good young goaltender. Before either of them played an NHL game no one would ever believe things would turn out as they have.

[Captain Habtastic]

Habs first round draft picks in the 90's were absolutely brutal, we got lucky with some late round steals, but judging by the absolute waste of our first round picks I'm going to say it was luck more than shrewd drafting. Imagine where the Habs could be if we didn't throw away some many high picks.

1990 12th overall Turner Stevenson
1991 17th overall Brent Bilodeau
1992 20th overall David Wilkie
1995 8th overall Terry Ryan (Iginla drafted 11th)
1996 18th overall Matt Higgins
1997 11th overall Jason Ward (Marian Hossa picked 12th)
1998 16th overall Eric Chouinard (Regher, Gagne available)

[30ranfordfan]

The Oilers... the list is long (I will list the bad picks, the year, the slot, and other first rounders they passed on):

2007 - #15 - Alex Plante
2007 - #21 - Riley Nash
(Passed on Max Pacioretty #22, Jonathon Blum #23, Mikael Backlund #24, David Perron #26)

2005 - #25 - Andrew Cogliano (Granted, he's an NHL regular, and not like they passed on anyone that panned out great... not amoungst the other 1st rounders, anyway. Give them a pass here.)

2004 - #25 - Rob Schremp
Next 4 picks were Cory Schneider, Jeff Schultz, Mark Fistric, Mike Green. Dubnyk went earlier, so Schneider was unlikely.... and I do remember really liking this pick at the time becuase of how good Schremp was with London, so I'll give a pass here

2003 - #22 - Marc-Antoine Pouliot
With the #17, and consensus BPA Zach Parise. the Oilers get cute and trade down. Pass up on Parise (or any of Eric Fehr, Ryan Getzlaf, Brent Burns) and take this waste of a pick. Could have had Ryan Kesler, Mike Richards, or Corey Perry as this point in the draft too. Urgh! While I can ignore all the other names - I do know that at the time this was actually a case of NOT WANTING PARISE and thinking that 22 would still get them Pouliot. BOOOOO!

2003 - #15 - Jesse Niinimaki.
Oilers go totally off the board (he was ranked as a 3rd round pick, or something like that) and the dude never played a game in the NHL. Cam Ward is really the only notable 1st rounder taken after him, but there are some other guys that were okay picks after the fact.

2000 - #17 - Alexei Mikhnov
Yes. This is the Oilers 7th bust from the 00's. Could have had Orpik, Frolov, Volchenkov, Boyes, Ott, Samuelsson, Williams, or Kronwall. Faiirly lengthy list of NHL regulars instead of this guy, that barley had a cup of coffee with the team before returning to Russia.

1999 - #13 - Jani Rita.
Not exactly a stacked draft class, but Barret Jackman, Nick Boynton, and Martin Havlat were all still on the table. Could give them a pass for a poor pick in a poor year, except this is just another guy that fits a pattern....

1998 - #13 - Michael Henrich
Plenty of NHL regulars, even if only for a little while, were taken after this complete bust. I remember watching (or listening on the radio?) to this this draft... Henrich was ranked really high, and kept falling. Thought the Oilers did well getting him. Turns out they got the only player of the 1st round to never play an NHL game.

1997 - #14 - Michel Riesen.
"The Swiss Miss". Highest ever drafted player from Switerland, at the time, and adds to the Oilers list of 1st round bluners

1996 - #6 - Boyd Devereau
1996 - #19 - Matthieu Descoteaux

Devereaux was a long time NHL regular, though he was never any good in Edmonton. Okay with the Wings, and sucked his last couple of years in Toronto. Should be given a pass here, since most of the first round is pretty sad. Derek Morris & Marty Reasoner were the best couple of guys they passed on.

Descoteaux represented the last of the bounty they recieved for Gretzky. He was about as exciting as the rest of the package. Marco Sturm and Danny Briere were both taken after him.

1995 - Steve Kelly
Don't let his 149 NHL GP fool you. This guy was bad. Was traded from a bad Oilers team (that he couldn't make) to a worse Lightning team (still not sure how that Hamrlik trade happened. Sather must have been dabbeling in the black arts).

What makes this pick extra special, is that the draft was hosted in Edmonton. The player that the home town fans wanted was still on the board..... and went at #7 instead. That player? Shane Doan.

1994 - #4 - Jason Bonsignore
Sather pulls off one of the biggest steals in trade history, getting Boris Mironov, Mats Lindgre, and a 1st rounder from Winnipeg for Dave Manson. The only thing Bonsignore ever did for the team was being part of the package they traded for Roman Hamrilik (see previous paragraph - re: black arts / Steve Kelly). Oilers did get Ryan Smyth at #6.

1993 - #16 - Nick Stajuhar
The second pick of three from the Gretzky trade. Oilers passed on the likes of Jason Allison, Saku Koivu, and Todd Bertuzzi for this stiff, that only played 2 games in the league. They did pick Jason Arnott with the #7 pick that year.

1992 - #13 - Joe Hulbig
Keeps getting funnier. Hulking Joe did play 55 NHL games, but none that were any good. Oilers took him over players like Sergei Gonchar, Jason Smith, and Martin Straka.

1991 - #12 - Tyler Wright
1991 - #20 - Martin Ruchinsky

Okay. Maybe these arn't total busts, as they played 600+ and 900+ NHL games. But they were Oilers busts, becuase they were terrible playing for the Oilers, and then were given away before becoming even decent NHLers. Alex Kovalev, Markus Naslund, and Glen Murray were all picked between them.

1990 - #17 - Scott Allison.
Really, I should say the entire 1990 draft class. Look it up. With 11 picks through 12 rounds, the Oilers didn't pick a player with even a single NHL game to his name. This was the start of the decade in which they picked at least one bust in every first round. They passed on Shawn Antoski, Keith Tkachuk, Martin Brodeur, and Bryan Smolinski (the next four picks)

I'm just going to list the 80s busts, and stop the paragraphs, becuase my fingers are getting tired:

1989 - #15 - Jason Soules
1988 - #19 - Francois Leroux
1987 - #21 - Peter Soberlak
1986 - #21 - Kim Issel
1985 - #20 - Scott Metcalfe
1984 - #21 - Selmar Odelein
1982 - #20 - Jim Playfair

I count 26 horrible 1st round picks since they came into the league in 1979. Not exactly a glowing record.

While a little off topic, I will give them a huge pass for all those bad picks im the 80s though..... in 1979 their first three picks were Kevin Lowe(21), Mark Messier(48), and Glenn Anderson(69). They followed that up with picking Paul Coffey(6), Jari Kurri(4), and Andy Moog(132) in 1980. That was the foundation (obviously, along with Gretzky) for a dynasty.

[flopfish]

When I think of the Canucks:
Alek Stojanov (Although he turned into Markus Naslund, so I will disregard this one)
Jason Herter (Who?)
Patrick White (Thanks San Jose for taking him)
Nathan Smith


Overall, worst pick though has to be Patrick White:

Players after him: David Perron, Brendan Smith, PK Subban, Wayne Simmonds, Jamie Benn (Round 5 albeit) and even Carl Hagelin in round 6.

[jagrnyr68]

way too many for the Rangers, although they've turned it around tremendously IMO over the past few years. but before that....

2006 - Bobby Sanguinetti - 21st overall - traded him for a few picks, will be lucky if he gets playing time with Carolina now
2004 - Al Montoya - 6th overall - not a bad goalie but not top 10 worthy. probably could've done well with us if Lundqvist didn't shine
2003 - Hugh Jessiman - 12th overall - believe he just played his 1st game this year, could be wrong....either way, complete bust
2001 - Dan Blackburn - 10th overall - bad luck with him, too bad he got injured cause he would've been pretty good
1998 - Manny Malhotra - 7th overall - again not a bad depth player but could've gotten someone better

and 1999 where we have Pavel Brendl at 4th and Jamie Lundmark at 9th....terrible