yave1964 Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 With the draft a week a goa nd 30 GMs dreaming of sugar plums and fairies, just a quick little write up of what happens when you get it wrong. I present my personal list of the worst first rounders of each team.I weighted it heavily towards the lower picks, if a number five pick had similar numbers to a number 20, i listed the number five. ANAHEIM: Slave Christov, 5th pick in draft 2001. A scoring winger who couldn't score spent 2 full years and parts of another in the NHL. COYOTES: Viktor Tikhonov. 2008. When Russians go wrong. This will be a fairly common theme. He spent his rookie year in the NHL scoring 8 goals and then disappeared to the AHL then the KHL and has not been heard from since. BRUINS: Zach Hamill number 8 in 2007. Close battle between he and Jordan Caron from the following year, Chose Hamill because even his AHL and KHL numbers are awful. Played a measly 20 games in the NHL. SABRES: Marek Zagrapan number 13 in 2005. WHO????? He played a couple of years in the AHL before returning to Europe. In recent years he has been released midseason by a KHL team and a Czech team as well. FLAMES: Deep class of horrible players. Rico Fata number 6 in 1998 ties with Daniel Tkaczuk tie, both were wretched. Other recent first rounders for the Flames are Oleg Saprykin, Brent Krahn, Greg Nemitz, Matt Pelech, Kris Chucko, Leland Irving and Sven bAertchi. Just awful drafting for a long, long time. HURRICANES: Zach Boychuk, number 14 in 2008. Still gets a game or two here or there, but simply an awful player. BLACKHAWKS: Mikhail Yakubov number 10 in 2000. Another Russian, a scoring center who logged 2 goals in 53 NHL games. AVALANCHE: Duncan Siemens number 11 in 2011. Concussion issues have derailed him but he has been awful when he plays. Has one career NHL game. BLUE JACKETS: Nikita Filatov number 6 in 2008 gets the slight edge over Gilbert Brule who was number 6 in 2006. Filatov simply did not like to be hit. Ken Hitchcock would have loved to have hit him many times himself. Possibly the laziest player in NHL history. STARS: Scott Glennie, number 8 in 2009. Fans tired of his refusal to play through injuries. Has played one NHL game, just released. RED WINGS: Tom McCollum 2008. The Wings usually trade their first rounder away, they kept it in 2008 and drafted a goalie who has managed a handful of NHL games. OILERS: Nail Yakupov first pick in draft 2012. Looking like a brutal bust. PANTHERS: Quinton Howdon , 2010. Has managed a measly 34 games and 6 points in the NHL. AHL numbers are awful as well. KINGS: Colton Teubert number 13 in 2008. The rugged d-man taken 11 picks after taking Doughty managed 24 games with the Oilers, now toils in Europe putting up pedestrian numbers. WILD: Tyler Cuma 23rd in 2008. Managed 1 game in the NHL before heading for Europe. Was awful at the AHL level as well. CANADIENS: Doug Wickenheiser first pick in draft 2008. Always on the list of possibly the worst first pick ever. Timing was wretched, he came along at the time that the Habs dynasty was ending. PREDATORS: Brian Finley, number 6 in 1999. A goalie with the 6th pick in the draft? his final stats, 3 NHL games, zero wins. DEVILS: Matt Corrente first rounder in 2006. Corrente has logged 34 games in the NHL with zero goals, and has not made an appearance beyond the AHL in five years. ISLANDERS: Josh Bailey number 9 in 2008. He still plays, he still shows flashes, but he has not lived up to expectations. RANGERS: Dylan Mcilrath number 10 in 2010. Has yet to establish himself, has managed a whopping 3 games at the NHL since being drafted five years ago. SENATORS: Alexandre Daigle number one pick in the draft in 1993. Disrupted team chemistry, lazy, never was close to the player that his talent dictated he should be. FLYERS: Ryan Sittler, number 7 in 1992. Never played a single second in the NHL. Only a year a a bit of another at the AHL. An ECHL player with the 7th pick. PENGUINS: Angelo Esposito number 20 in 2007. Never sniffed the NHL. His only saving grace is he was part of the package that brought Hossa and Dupuis from Atlanta. SHARKS: Ty Wishart number 16 in 2006. Wishart managed 26 games in the NHL. Involved in a few strange trades, traded for Matthieu Carle and two years later traded with Matt Carle. Traded for Dan Boyle and for Rollie the Goalie. BLUES: Marek Schwarz, goalie, 17 overall in 2004. Managed a whopping six games in the NHL over three years. Had stiff competition from Shawn Belle who was the first rounder the year before. who managed 20 games in the NHL. LIGHTNING: Riku Helenius, goalie, 15th pick in 2006. Why on earth do people draft goalies in the first round???? Helenius managed one game, seven minutes in the NHL. He was a .500 goalie at the AHL level and is now a backup goalie in the KHL. MAPLE LEAFS: 2011 draft, two picks in first round. The Leafs drafted Tyler Biggs who never made the NHL and now toils for the Orlando Solar Bears and Stuart Percy who has managed 9 games at the NHL level with the 22nd and 25 picks in the draft. Pretty poor return. I may be a bit unfair, Percy is still considered a meh prospect, the early nineties drafts may have been among the worst of all time with such names as Steve Bancroft, Brandon Convery, Jeff Ware and Eric Fichaud. CANUCKS: Jordan Schroeder number 22 in 2009. Career stuck in the mud, cannot get it going. CAPITALS: Taking the way back machine, the Caps first pick in their inaugural season was Greg Joly, the number one pick in the draft in 1974. An awful defenseman who stuck around a few years, teams kept giving him a chance because they thought, he was the first pick in the draft, there has to be more, but there was not. An awful hockey player. If you want to move further up, Anton Gustafsson was the first rounder (21) in 2009 who came to North America, played one game and said he hated it and went back home to Sweden never to return to North America again. JETS: None so far, the Jets have drafted well since moving to Winnipeg. Organizationally tho, names such as Boris Valibik, Alex Bourret, and Daulton Levielle dot the barren landscape, while the possible worst first rounder of all time, Patrik Stefan was chosen number one in 1999 over either of the Sedins. That is it. My list of the awful, the names that you need to cover your eyes and peek between your fingers as you read hoping your team gets it right this time after getting it wrong before. Just a reason to temper your enthusiasm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WordsOfWisdom Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 Why is why teams shouldn't value prospects as highly as they do. A prospect is an unknown commodity. They haven't proven anything until they get to the NHL and do it at that level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J0e Th0rnton Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 With the draft a week a goa nd 30 GMs dreaming of sugar plums and fairies, just a quick little write up of what happens when you get it wrong. I present my personal list of the worst first rounders of each team.I weighted it heavily towards the lower picks, if a number five pick had similar numbers to a number 20, i listed the number five. ANAHEIM: Slave Christov, 5th pick in draft 2001. A scoring winger who couldn't score spent 2 full years and parts of another in the NHL. COYOTES: Viktor Tikhonov. 2008. When Russians go wrong. This will be a fairly common theme. He spent his rookie year in the NHL scoring 8 goals and then disappeared to the AHL then the KHL and has not been heard from since. BRUINS: Zach Hamill number 8 in 2007. Close battle between he and Jordan Caron from the following year, Chose Hamill because even his AHL and KHL numbers are awful. Played a measly 20 games in the NHL. SABRES: Marek Zagrapan number 13 in 2005. WHO????? He played a couple of years in the AHL before returning to Europe. In recent years he has been released midseason by a KHL team and a Czech team as well. FLAMES: Deep class of horrible players. Rico Fata number 6 in 1998 ties with Daniel Tkaczuk tie, both were wretched. Other recent first rounders for the Flames are Oleg Saprykin, Brent Krahn, Greg Nemitz, Matt Pelech, Kris Chucko, Leland Irving and Sven bAertchi. Just awful drafting for a long, long time. HURRICANES: Zach Boychuk, number 14 in 2008. Still gets a game or two here or there, but simply an awful player. BLACKHAWKS: Mikhail Yakubov number 10 in 2000. Another Russian, a scoring center who logged 2 goals in 53 NHL games. AVALANCHE: Duncan Siemens number 11 in 2011. Concussion issues have derailed him but he has been awful when he plays. Has one career NHL game. BLUE JACKETS: Nikita Filatov number 6 in 2008 gets the slight edge over Gilbert Brule who was number 6 in 2006. Filatov simply did not like to be hit. Ken Hitchcock would have loved to have hit him many times himself. Possibly the laziest player in NHL history. STARS: Scott Glennie, number 8 in 2009. Fans tired of his refusal to play through injuries. Has played one NHL game, just released. RED WINGS: Tom McCollum 2008. The Wings usually trade their first rounder away, they kept it in 2008 and drafted a goalie who has managed a handful of NHL games. OILERS: Nail Yakupov first pick in draft 2012. Looking like a brutal bust. PANTHERS: Quinton Howdon , 2010. Has managed a measly 34 games and 6 points in the NHL. AHL numbers are awful as well. KINGS: Colton Teubert number 13 in 2008. The rugged d-man taken 11 picks after taking Doughty managed 24 games with the Oilers, now toils in Europe putting up pedestrian numbers. WILD: Tyler Cuma 23rd in 2008. Managed 1 game in the NHL before heading for Europe. Was awful at the AHL level as well. CANADIENS: Doug Wickenheiser first pick in draft 2008. Always on the list of possibly the worst first pick ever. Timing was wretched, he came along at the time that the Habs dynasty was ending. PREDATORS: Brian Finley, number 6 in 1999. A goalie with the 6th pick in the draft? his final stats, 3 NHL games, zero wins. DEVILS: Matt Corrente first rounder in 2006. Corrente has logged 34 games in the NHL with zero goals, and has not made an appearance beyond the AHL in five years. ISLANDERS: Josh Bailey number 9 in 2008. He still plays, he still shows flashes, but he has not lived up to expectations. RANGERS: Dylan Mcilrath number 10 in 2010. Has yet to establish himself, has managed a whopping 3 games at the NHL since being drafted five years ago. SENATORS: Alexandre Daigle number one pick in the draft in 1993. Disrupted team chemistry, lazy, never was close to the player that his talent dictated he should be. FLYERS: Ryan Sittler, number 7 in 1992. Never played a single second in the NHL. Only a year a a bit of another at the AHL. An ECHL player with the 7th pick. PENGUINS: Angelo Esposito number 20 in 2007. Never sniffed the NHL. His only saving grace is he was part of the package that brought Hossa and Dupuis from Atlanta. SHARKS: Ty Wishart number 16 in 2006. Wishart managed 26 games in the NHL. Involved in a few strange trades, traded for Matthieu Carle and two years later traded with Matt Carle. Traded for Dan Boyle and for Rollie the Goalie. BLUES: Marek Schwarz, goalie, 17 overall in 2004. Managed a whopping six games in the NHL over three years. Had stiff competition from Shawn Belle who was the first rounder the year before. who managed 20 games in the NHL. LIGHTNING: Riku Helenius, goalie, 15th pick in 2006. Why on earth do people draft goalies in the first round???? Helenius managed one game, seven minutes in the NHL. He was a .500 goalie at the AHL level and is now a backup goalie in the KHL. MAPLE LEAFS: 2011 draft, two picks in first round. The Leafs drafted Tyler Biggs who never made the NHL and now toils for the Orlando Solar Bears and Stuart Percy who has managed 9 games at the NHL level with the 22nd and 25 picks in the draft. Pretty poor return. I may be a bit unfair, Percy is still considered a meh prospect, the early nineties drafts may have been among the worst of all time with such names as Steve Bancroft, Brandon Convery, Jeff Ware and Eric Fichaud. CANUCKS: Jordan Schroeder number 22 in 2009. Career stuck in the mud, cannot get it going. CAPITALS: Taking the way back machine, the Caps first pick in their inaugural season was Greg Joly, the number one pick in the draft in 1974. An awful defenseman who stuck around a few years, teams kept giving him a chance because they thought, he was the first pick in the draft, there has to be more, but there was not. An awful hockey player. If you want to move further up, Anton Gustafsson was the first rounder (21) in 2009 who came to North America, played one game and said he hated it and went back home to Sweden never to return to North America again. JETS: None so far, the Jets have drafted well since moving to Winnipeg. Organizationally tho, names such as Boris Valibik, Alex Bourret, and Daulton Levielle dot the barren landscape, while the possible worst first rounder of all time, Patrik Stefan was chosen number one in 1999 over either of the Sedins. That is it. My list of the awful, the names that you need to cover your eyes and peek between your fingers as you read hoping your team gets it right this time after getting it wrong before. Just a reason to temper your enthusiasm.Add Lucas Kaspar, 22nd overall in 2004. 16 Games in NHL, with 2 goals, 2 assists And of course, Nick Petrecki. 28th pick 2007, played 1 game in the NHL. But get this. His combined points for 5 AHL seasons for the Worchester Sharks, 8 goals, 38 assists and -41 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertmega Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 Great write up. I would like to nominate Pavel Brendl for the Rangers, and Rick DiPeitro for the Islanders (due to the contract that Wanger gave him) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pilldoc Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 Great write up. I would like to nominate Pavel Brendl for the Rangers, Excellant choice! Talk about a waste of space. Never understood why the Flyers traded for him in the first place. In case anyone cares he has been a journeyman over in Europe. Currently playing for the HK 36 Skalica in the Slovak Extraliga. He had a few decent seasons a couple of years ago while playing in the KHL, but was pretty much a stiff throughout his NHL career. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radoran Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 Never understood why the Flyers traded for him in the first place. Because Clarke had a personal problem with Lindros*. * not saying some of the enmity wasn't deserved but there was more than a little fault on both sides... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadDevil Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 For the Devils I'm not sure I'd go with Corrente. He was clearly a bust, but had numerous injuries that played at least a part in him busting. I would go with Adrian Foster who went 28th overall in 2001, Ari Ahonen who went 27th overall in 1999, or JF Damphousse who went 24th overall in 1997. Combined, they played a whole 6 NHL games (all of which were played by Damphousse). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pilldoc Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 @yave1964@J0e Th0rnton Surprised no one has mentioned this player yet....... Therefore, I would like to nominate that illustriously player from SJ known as Pat Falloon! Drafted #2 overall in 1991 by the Sharks, he would play 9 yrs in the NHL. After scoring over 120 pts in back to back years for Spokane in the WHL, he never lived up to the potential he was touted as having. He became a journeyman playing for the Sharks / Flyers / Senators / Oilers / Penguins. IMO, he is one of the biggest draft busts around. (I'm ashamed to admit I actually have his autograph. Met him at the Flyers Wives Carnival back in 1997. His booth remained relatively desolate of fans almost the entire time we were there.) Later in his career Falloon became known more for his lack of conditioning which earned him the nickname "Fat Balloon". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted June 23, 2015 Author Share Posted June 23, 2015 @yave1964 @J0e Th0rnton Surprised no one has mentioned this player yet....... Therefore, I would like to nominate that illustriously player from SJ known as Pat Falloon! Drafted #2 overall in 1991 by the Sharks, he would play 9 yrs in the NHL. After scoring over 120 pts in back to back years for Spokane in the WHL, he never lived up to the potential he was touted as having. He became a journeyman playing for the Sharks / Flyers / Senators / Oilers / Penguins. IMO, he is one of the biggest draft busts around. (I'm ashamed to admit I actually have his autograph. Met him at the Flyers Wives Carnival back in 1997. His booth remained relatively desolate of fans almost the entire time we were there.) Later in his career Falloon became known more for his lack of conditioning which earned him the nickname "Fat Balloon".I thought of Falloon and Brian Lawton as well from a generation before but I left them off the list because they sort of had a career. For the most part I went with guys who were first rounders and complete busts. Yeah, old Fat Balloon, I collect cards, still do, and the rookie 'cant miss' Superstars destined for Hall of Fame greatness, I gobbled up every card printed of those guys back in the day....somewhere in a box in my closet is an entire stack of Pat Falloon cards just waiting for the day that I can sell them and take that Barbados vacation that the wife and I always wanted, they are right there next to my Eric Daze cards..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted June 23, 2015 Author Share Posted June 23, 2015 @pilldoc@Bertmega@J0e Th0rnton And speaking of 'Fat Balloon', my attempts at humor have fallen upon deaf ears with the moniker of 'Full' Kessel that I have attempted to hang upon our portly pal from the North. Oh Well, back to the old drawing board.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjsharks39 Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 @yave1964 @pilldoc Yeah ol Falloon our 1st ever draft pick...............i grew up hating this guy. Only if we would've won the lottery that year & got Lindros, what makes the Falloon pick even worse is Scott Niedermayer went 3rd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted June 24, 2015 Author Share Posted June 24, 2015 @yave1964 @pilldoc Yeah ol Falloon our 1st ever draft pick...............i grew up hating this guy. Only if we would've won the lottery that year & got Lindros, what makes the Falloon pick even worse is Scott Niedermayer went 3rd.Welcome to the forum! Just awful luck, and how the game may have been changed forever if the Sharks had gotten Lindros. Would Falloon have been as hated in Quebec as Lindros today, they would have likely still moved, having not acquired Forsberg and the rest for Lindros, instead having Falloon to deal with. Certainly the Avalanche would have never won a cup, at least as constituted when they moved to Denver in 1996. And for Flyer fans they have to wonder what might have been as well. Without the haul they gave up, a cup or more might have been in their sights... and my Wings, good lord it goes on and on. Quebec with Falloon and no Forsberg may have moved to Denver but the Wings would have certainly defeated them in 1996 giving them 3 in a row, 96,97,98. All off of one move. wow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pilldoc Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 @yave1964 Yeah..talk about the domino effect. My how NHL history could have changed....there are so many "if's" I don't know where to start. No Lindros on Flyers, then does the trade with Montreal go down acquiring LeClair and Desjardins? No Lindros No LeClair, how effective are the Flyers then? True they would have Forsberg in his prime. All very thought provoking questions all because of one player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claude Monet Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 @yave1964Yeah..talk about the domino effect. My how NHL history could have changed....there are so many "if's" I don't know where to start. No Lindros on Flyers, then does the trade with Montreal go down acquiring LeClair and Desjardins? No Lindros No LeClair, how effective are the Flyers then? True they would have Forsberg in his prime.All very thought provoking questions all because of one player.This is the Flyers so Fopa's skate issues would have started much earlier or they would have traded him for mike York and Jeff Calder anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zz_ Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 @yave1964 I cannot say I agree with the Duncan Siemens bash. Though he has had some injury issues, I think his 1 career game in the NHL was decently solid. It also gives you NO chance to see how he REALLY plays at the NHL level. He is a defensive d-man, you are not going to see him scoring a lot of points, you also won't see him on the the ice for a lot of goals unless he is a 1st pair guy in my opinion. D normally (excluding select few) normally take until they are about 20-22 to enter the league. Sakic and Roy are in NO rush on any of their D and want to key in on making a future D guy that is really worth while. I also know Duncan very well and have a lot of bias. If you were to re-pick for Colorado, I would 100% put Joey Hishon, the Avalanche #17 pick in 2010 - 13 career games he has 1g 1a -1 with 19 shots / we drafted him knowing he was injury prone. Yes he took and INSANE hit from McNabb that nearly cost him his career, but even then, when he is on the team...He is no better than Reto Berra. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted June 25, 2015 Author Share Posted June 25, 2015 @ I actualy thought if Hishon, I considered it close to a coin toss between them. I gave Hishon the slight benefit of the doubt because of the McNabb hit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zz_ Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 @ I actualy thought if Hishon, I considered it close to a coin toss between them. I gave Hishon the slight benefit of the doubt because of the McNabb hit.@yave1964 Even then, he is injury prone to begin with. I agreed with the guys when we drafted him, the Avs could have gotten him in the 2nd round (more than likely) and picked up a guy like; Nick Bjugstad, Beau Bennett, Riley Sheahan, Evgeny Kuznetsov, or Emerson Etem. In my eyes, shows how poor our scouting department is becoming. Mind you MacKinnon, Landeskog and Duchene were great picks, they were also no brainers. When it comes to the outside of no brainer picks, we do not seem to find that "spark" obviously select few (O'Ry, Barrie) but other than that we have yet to find home runners outside of the top 3..... I do not enjoy our scouting team... at all... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.