Just how deep was that 2003 draft?

Just wow.

Round 1:
Pos Drafted From
1 Pittsburgh Marc-Andre Fleury
2 Carolina Eric Staal
3 Florida Nathan Horton
4 Columbus Nikolai Zherdev
5 Buffalo Thomas Vanek
6 San Jose Milan Michalek
7 Nashville Ryan Suter
8 Atlanta Braydon Coburn
9 Calgary Dion Phaneuf
10 Mtl. Canadiens Andrei Kostitsyn
11 Philadelphia Jeff Carter
12 NY Rangers Hugh Jessiman HAHAH
13 Los Angeles Dustin Brown
14 Chicago Brent Seabrook
15 NY Islanders Robert Nilsson
16 San Jose Steve Bernier
17 New Jersey Zach Parise
18 Washington Eric Fehr
19 Anaheim Ryan Getzlaf
20 Minnesota Brent Burns
21 Boston Mark Stuart
22 Edmonton Marc-Antoine Pouliot
23 Vancouver Ryan Kesler
24 Philadelphia Mike Richards
25 Florida Anthony Stewart
27 Los Angeles Jeff Tambellini
28 Anaheim Corey Perry
29 Ottawa Patrick Eaves


ROUND 2:

Boston Patrice Bergeron C
San Jose Matt Carle D
Nashville Shea Weber D

ROUND 3:
81 Philadelphia Stefan Ruzicka R
85 Philadelphia Alexandre Picard D
87 Philadelphia Ryan Potulny C


ROUND 5:
148 St. Louis Lee Stempniak F
149 NY Rangers Nigel Dawes L
151 Chicago Lasse Kukkonen D

ROUND 7:
San Jose Joe Pavelski C



I like Carter, and he is playing better this year, but I would take Getzlaf, definitely Parise, and with tenuous argument, Perry over Carter in hindsight. I guess this contract year will define how far he can go as a player at this point, because the almighty dollar is at stake. Getzlaf fits the "Flyer" player model perfectly. Damn. What a draft, though. I wonder when we will see a draft like this again. Last year's draft was anemic is comparison and this is an understatement.

12 NY Rangers Hugh Jessiman HAHAH
Lol.

Lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhuTVbWD5Nw

*Hugh* owed Downie money. "Hugh did some work with a boxing instruc... he gets tagged!" Classic. That always lifts my spirits: A bowl of schadenfreude is a delicious snack, every now and then.

Just wow.

Round 1:
Pos Drafted From
1 Pittsburgh Marc-Andre Fleury
2 Carolina Eric Staal
3 Florida Nathan Horton
4 Columbus Nikolai Zherdev
5 Buffalo Thomas Vanek
6 San Jose Milan Michalek
7 Nashville Ryan Suter
8 Atlanta Braydon Coburn
9 Calgary Dion Phaneuf
10 Mtl. Canadiens Andrei Kostitsyn
11 Philadelphia Jeff Carter
12 NY Rangers Hugh Jessiman HAHAH
13 Los Angeles Dustin Brown
14 Chicago Brent Seabrook
15 NY Islanders Robert Nilsson
16 San Jose Steve Bernier
17 New Jersey Zach Parise
18 Washington Eric Fehr
19 Anaheim Ryan Getzlaf
20 Minnesota Brent Burns
21 Boston Mark Stuart
22 Edmonton Marc-Antoine Pouliot
23 Vancouver Ryan Kesler
24 Philadelphia Mike Richards
25 Florida Anthony Stewart
27 Los Angeles Jeff Tambellini
28 Anaheim Corey Perry
29 Ottawa Patrick Eaves


ROUND 2:

Boston Patrice Bergeron C
San Jose Matt Carle D
Nashville Shea Weber D

ROUND 3:
81 Philadelphia Stefan Ruzicka R
85 Philadelphia Alexandre Picard D
87 Philadelphia Ryan Potulny C


ROUND 5:
148 St. Louis Lee Stempniak F
149 NY Rangers Nigel Dawes L
151 Chicago Lasse Kukkonen D

ROUND 7:
San Jose Joe Pavelski C



I like Carter, and he is playing better this year, but I would take Getzlaf, definitely Parise, and with tenuous argument, Perry over Carter in hindsight. I guess this contract year will define how far he can go as a player at this point, because the almighty dollar is at stake. Getzlaf fits the "Flyer" player model perfectly. Damn. What a draft, though. I wonder when we will see a draft like this again. Last year's draft was anemic is comparison and this is an understatement.

I wonder if Vancouver wishes they took MR instead. I mean, he had to be on their radar.

nice, but I would have liked to see us trade all 3 of our 3rd rnd picks for either Carle or Weber in the 2nd round.

nice, but I would have liked to see us trade all 3 of our 3rd rnd picks for either Carle or Weber in the 2nd round.

Nashville got Suter and Weber. Basically your top 2 for the next decade. Amazing.

they got kevin klein too - before or after weber. i forgot.

Nashville got Suter and Weber. Basically your top 2 for the next decade. Amazing.

Not to mention they have Hamhuis and they had Parent. Disgusting the defense corps they built there.

Not to mention they have Hamhuis and they had Parent. Disgusting the defense corps they built there.

Shame they couldn't keep it together: in a few years, they would have been the Sens or close thereto.

I was planning on doing some huge statistical analysis, but I decided I don't care enough. Last year, people were ready to label Richards a bust. This year, he's out-performing everyone on that list except for Staal (who has one more point in one more game).

Carter and Richards have historically been compared to other good young tandems like Getzlaf/Perry, Stajan/Steen, Parise/Zajac. Well this year, I think so far our boys are coming out on top.

There's even more quality players not on your list.

Round 2
56 Patrick O'Sullivan
62 David Backes

Round 5
145 Brett Sterling

Round 8
239 Tobias Enstrom
261 Shane O'Brien

Round 9
271 Jaroslav Halak

and some that I probably overlooked.
Awesome draft.

I like Carter, and he is playing better this year, but I would take Getzlaf, definitely Parise, and with tenuous argument, Perry over Carter in hindsight.

I'd still certainly take Carter over Parise and Perry. We need Carter's size down the middle.

Carter continues to get unfaily slagged, he was very good again last night ... leads all Flyers forwards with a +8, kills penalties, and for the most part this year hasn't had much in the way of linemates ... and doesn't get the opportunity to play on the top power play line.

I think you'll see once Gagne returns and Hartnell - Carter - Upshall become a line, that they are goign to cause all kinds of problems for other teams with size and speed on the forecheck.

The power play would be even better if he took Knuble's place in front of the net, but it can't happen ... because you can have your top three centers all on one power play unit.

I'd still certainly take Carter over Parise and Perry. We need Carter's size down the middle.

Carter continues to get unfaily slagged, he was very good again last night ... leads all Flyers forwards with a +8, kills penalties, and for the most part this year hasn't had much in the way of linemates ... and doesn't get the opportunity to play on the top power play line.

I think you'll see once Gagne returns and Hartnell - Carter - Upshall become a line, that they are goign to cause all kinds of problems for other teams with size and speed on the forecheck.

The power play would be even better if he took Knuble's place in front of the net, but it can't happen ... because you can have your top three centers all on one power play unit.

I think Carter vs Parise is close! Carter has the edge in size, but size doesn't necessarily mean what it used to in this league (citations omitted). I'd wager Parise has the more consistent career, but it is so noted that Parise has a bigger role on the Devils. I believe they are priming him for captancy, too, but I may be incorrect. My spelling may also be off here, heh.

I'd still certainly take Carter over Parise and Perry. We need Carter's size down the middle.

Carter continues to get unfaily slagged, he was very good again last night ... leads all Flyers forwards with a +8, kills penalties, and for the most part this year hasn't had much in the way of linemates ... and doesn't get the opportunity to play on the top power play line.

I think you'll see once Gagne returns and Hartnell - Carter - Upshall become a line, that they are goign to cause all kinds of problems for other teams with size and speed on the forecheck.

The power play would be even better if he took Knuble's place in front of the net, but it can't happen ... because you can have your top three centers all on one power play unit.

It is safe to say that Richards is playing better at this point, but I agree, I certainly wouldnt say that Carter has been playing bad. I still stand by my original assumption back when they were drafted, that Richards is going to be the better player for the first 5 years of their career, it is after that that Carter has the potential to be better, but it remains to be seen if he develops that way.

Anyway, I am happy with Carter so far...Richards has just been amazing

I think Carter vs Parise is close! Carter has the edge in size, but size doesn't necessarily mean what it used to in this league (citations omitted). I'd wager Parise has the more consistent career, but it is so noted that Parise has a bigger role on the Devils. I believe they are priming him for captancy, too, but I may be incorrect. My spelling may also be off here, heh.

I would lean towards Parise at this point, but Carter fits our team's need better.

I wonder if Vancouver wishes they took MR instead. I mean, he had to be on their radar.

i remember hearing that vancouver was all but set to take richards and we were gonna take kesler...thank god that didnt happen

I think Carter vs Parise is close! Carter has the edge in size, but size doesn't necessarily mean what it used to in this league (citations omitted). I'd wager Parise has the more consistent career, but it is so noted that Parise has a bigger role on the Devils. I believe they are priming him for captancy, too, but I may be incorrect. My spelling may also be off here, heh.

Parise was certainly better last year, but I think Carter will be the better player .... and Parise is a winger, and we have a ton of depth at wing. Carter is the only center with any size that we have.

If I were to rank the draft right now, Richards(6th best forward) would be in the top 10, Coburn(6th best D) and Carter (10th best forward) in the top 20 and Kukkonen(8th best D) just making the top 30. Flyers are really building a team around this draft.

There's even more quality players not on your list.


Round 8
239 Tobias Enstrom




steal of the draft right there.

i had no idea that so many of those guys weer all the same year. thx for the thread. it was an interesting read.

steal of the draft right there.

i had no idea that so many of those guys weer all the same year. thx for the thread. it was an interesting read.
Absolutely... his stock is rising like crazy. I have him just behind Coburn among 03 defensemen right now, but if he plays like he has been playing for a whole season, he'll be #3 behind Phaneuf and Weber. He's that good.

Sutter was prepared to take Richards with the 9th pick if Phaneuf wasn't available

2003 was supposed to be the deepest draft in years. It hasn't disappointed.

steal of the draft right there.

i had no idea that so many of those guys weer all the same year. thx for the thread. it was an interesting read.

Yeah, I thought it was an interesting read myself. Crazy draft that was...

A lot of people may not have liked Clarke as a gm, but he saw what was coming, and loaded up on picks for that draft.

Shame they couldn't keep it together: in a few years, they would have been the Sens or close thereto.
We still have Franson, Laakso, Klein and Blum in the pipes, Parent won't be missed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhuTVbWD5Nw

*Hugh* owed Downie money. "Hugh did some work with a boxing instruc... he gets tagged!" Classic. That always lifts my spirits: A bowl of schadenfreude is a delicious snack, every now and then.
I love how the announcer says "Downie with that face shield.." but Jessiman had one on too. man, I remember when he was drafted, he was all the rage. all of the so called experts couldn't stop talking about him and calling him 'Huge Specimen'. lol, that Downie is a nasty dude.

A lot of people may not have liked Clarke as a gm, but he saw what was coming, and loaded up on picks for that draft.

Clarkie is still around, he just doesn't have the title. Guy is the VP now! Do people really think Clarke has no say. For the record, if it is not clear, I like Bob and what he is about. Granted, when he played he looked like a crackhead, what with all his missing front teeth, but that was a testament to how much he gave a f*c*-.

A lot of people may not have liked Clarke as a gm, but he saw what was coming, and loaded up on picks for that draft.

If he did, Holmgren still gets the credit. He'd been running the scouting for years and would've told Bobby about it as well as supervising the list that produces the Carter/Richards picks.

Clarke was interviewed recently about Lindros as a HHOF candidate, but also talked about his role with the team. He said Holmgren talks to him about things but he doesn't get in on the decisions anymore. Don Luce is much more influential.

This shows because Homer did what we've all said needed doing: acquire a starting goaltender. Biron and Briere are here because of Don Luce's advice - not Clarke's.

Really good draft, gotta feel kind of fortunate that we were able to land Richards with that second pick... ...you'd think that when a goalie goes first that there isn't Eric Staal and 20 some odd other guys who can flatout play behind him.

Really good draft, gotta feel kind of fortunate that we were able to land Richards with that second pick... ...you'd think that when a goalie goes first that there isn't Eric Staal and 20 some odd other guys who can flatout play behind him.

Especially when we know how wrong teams can get it.
Case in point:

1 Minnesota Brian Lawton <--Oh noes!
2 Hartford Sylvain Turgeon
3 NY Islanders Pat LaFontaine
4 Detroit Steve Yzerman
5 Buffalo Tom Barrasso
6 New Jersey John MacLean
7 Toronto Russ Courtnall
8 Winnipeg Andrew McBain
9 Vancouver Cam Neely
10 Buffalo Normand Lacombe
11 Buffalo Adam Creighton
12 NY Rangers Dave Gagner
13 Calgary Dan Quinn
14 Winnipeg Bobby Dollas
15 Pittsburgh Bob Errey
16 NY Islanders Gerald Diduck
17 Mtl. Canadiens Alfie Turcotte
18 Chicago Bruce Cassidy
19 Edmonton Jeff Beukeboom
20 Hartford David Jensen
21 Boston Nevin Markwart

..is pouliot a "bust" yet?

Just so deep...

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/nhl2003e.html

And, I noticed Lee Stempniak was drafted that year, too. He should notch at least 60 pts this year.

thats what she said

Just so deep...

Why did you need to bring it back up?

64- Jimmy Howard
74- Dan Carcillo
245- Dustin Byfugelin

amazing draft

A lot of us wanted to take Dustin Brown 12th overall. I still wish we did.

Holy thread bump.

Anyways yea, hell of a draft. Would of loved to have Getzlaf instead of Carter, but hopefully Carter becomes as good (or better) as Getzlaf sometime soon.

Add Nigel Dawes, Kyle Brodziak and Lasse Kukkonen.

Wonder how this draft would go if redone today...specifically, where would Richards go...

..is pouliot a "bust" yet?

I wouldn't call him that - yet. It's only been 3 years since he's been drafted.....give him some more time to "bust".

Why did you need to bring it back up?

Because it is ALWAYS noteworthy. But, more specifically, I was playing NHL09 (PS3) against the Bruins and wondering if even they screwed up in 2003: the Bruins scouting team is horrible, and the only player they "got right" in the top spot within the last 10 years they gave away for basically a puck bucket and Marco Sturm. They picked M. Stuart in that draft, who I think we can safely call an under-performer (they love horrible Dmen...M. Lashoff?).

But I love looking at the 2003 draft:that first round had so many quality players. I wonder when we will see something like it again. Lord knows that one can't expect to see a draft like that again: that expectation is unrealistic.

A lot of us wanted to take Dustin Brown 12th overall. I still wish we did.

Dustin Brown IS quite good. I picked him up for my fantasy team and didn't realize just how much of a breakout season he had last year. He will be a player.

Dustin Brown IS quite good. I picked him up for my fantasy team and didn't realize just how much of a breakout season he had last year. He will be a player.

He's going to have huge numbers this year, and will likely be captain of the team.

Dustin Brown IS quite good. I picked him up for my fantasy team and didn't realize just how much of a breakout season he had last year. He will be a player.

I love Dustin Brown, kid would skate thru a wall for you.
I remember we had him in Manchester during the lockout, and near the end of regulation in a tie game, it might have been Springfield, he got high sticked in the mouth lost 3 teeth. I was sitting near the glass and you could see the teeth in his glove as hes going back to the bench.
All he does is come out and score the GWG in OT.
kid is a heck of a player.

I give up. How deep was it?

I give up. How deep was it?

It was thiiiss deep :highclap:

I give up. How deep was it?

Find a first round that rivals it: There aren't many.

He's going to have huge numbers this year, and will likely be captain of the team.

I'd perform many deviant sexual acts to get Dustin Brown on this team.

Find a first round that rivals it: There aren't many.

No dispute here! Just a natural born wise a$$ that's all. And it had been like 10 months since we last discussed it so you were well within you rights to rebirth it. It was so good in fact maybe HF can have this thread regenerate every 10 months until all of said draft class retire.

He's going to have huge numbers this year, and will likely be captain of the team.



and will probably lead the league in hits again. Good year to be a "closet Kings fan GKJ?"

I give up. How deep was it?

Balls Deep!

I'm glad we Devils fans aren't the only ones that find the Jessiman selection to be beyond hysterical. If they wanted a forward from Dartmouth they would've been better off taking Stempniak.

Yeah, that was an awesome draft. Parise was a steal for us, and Vrana could end up being a player for us or someone else. He might make the team this year.

No dispute here! Just a natural born wise a$$ that's all. And it had been like 10 months since we last discussed it so you were well within you rights to rebirth it. It was so good in fact maybe HF can have this thread regenerate every 10 months until all of said draft class retire.

I should caution you: if you have a daytime job, don't quit it.

I'm glad we Devils fans aren't the only ones that find the Jessiman selection to be beyond hysterical. If they wanted a forward from Dartmouth they would've been better off taking Stempniak.

Yeah, that was an awesome draft. Parise was a steal for us, and Vrana could end up being a player for us or someone else. He might make the team this year.

Other than Rangers fans is there anyone who doesn't find the Jessiman selection hilarious? I remember before the draft when there were all these stores about him, and pretty much all it was about was how huge he was. So it seemed pretty clear he would be a failure. I was afraid that Clarke would pick him though since many of us know how much he liked huge players. Thankfully Jeff Carter also was pretty big.

Other than Rangers fans is there anyone who doesn't find the Jessiman selection hilarious? I remember before the draft when there were all these stores about him, and pretty much all it was about was how huge he was. So it seemed pretty clear he would be a failure. I was afraid that Clarke would pick him though since many of us know how much he liked huge players. Thankfully Jeff Carter also was pretty big.

Review a couple of Dustin Brown highlight vids on YouTube and tell me you wouldn't have preferred him to Carter. He plays with such an edge: Brown and Richards would make for a sleeker Legion Line, with less power. How did Clarke miss dude! He would be the perfect Flyer.

I should caution you: if you have a daytime job, don't quit it.

Uh, ok. Your opinon has been noted.

Back on topic, my buddy and I talk about this draft class alot. One of the greatest of all time without a doubt.

Review a couple of Dustin Brown highlight vids on YouTube and tell me you wouldn't have preferred him to Carter. He plays with such an edge: Brown and Richards would make for a sleeker Legion Line, with less power. How did Clarke miss dude! He would be the perfect Flyer.

I didn't say I prefer Carter to Dustin Brown. I said on draft day I was happy Clarke drafted him rather than Hugh Jessiman (who I was afraid Clarke would take). I had actually wanted to draft Getzlaf, but it was not to be.

I swear every 3 months or so a "the 2003 draft was deep" thread always pops up.

I swear every 3 months or so a "the 2003 draft was deep" thread always pops up.

It was just a freaky event is all. Today, no joke, I wanted to see what class Kesler was in because TSN had him in a poll for potential captain of the 'Nucks. Of course, you know our history with said player. Well, I totally forgot he was 23 that year. Silly stuff like that piques interest, fascination.