In recent years, there's been a couple of draft day shocks in which a player was selected far ahead of where they were slated. Most of the examples (Thomas Hickey, as a recent notable) haven't really illustrated an evil genius on the part of the drafting GM that saw something that no one else did. The closest I can think of is Blake Wheeler(5th overall by PHX in 2004), but even he is a "good" player, not a "great" one.
Any first rounders that you can think of that everyone said "huh?!" about, but proved their GM right?
In recent years, there's been a couple of draft day shocks in which a player was selected far ahead of where they were slated. Most of the examples (Thomas Hickey, as a recent notable) haven't really illustrated an evil genius on the part of the drafting GM that saw something that no one else did. The closest I can think of is Blake Wheeler(5th overall by PHX in 2004), but even he is a "good" player, not a "great" one.
Any first rounders that you can think of that everyone said "huh?!" about, but proved their GM right?
There weren't many other players still on the board at #5 for Phoenix that turned out to be better than Blake Wheeler. In hindsight that was a pretty astute pick.
Go back to the early 90's when the Winnipeg Jets took Sergei Bautin in the first round. It was a horrific selection then to jump over a 26 year old at the time.
NJD have a history of ignoring "experts" and sticking with their list. They drafted a player in Adrian Foster in 2001 that I'm not sure even played that season due to injury. He didn't pan out but that was a ballsy selection.
Even though it was late 1st round and I considered myself to be well educated about the 1st round that year, I had no freaking idea who T.J. Oshie was and obviously made the ''Yoshi'' joke when the Blues picked him.
To be fair, by the time the draft rolled around many people said he could end up going in the top 10. I actually said that if the Jets didn't take Dougie Hamilton, that Scheifele would be choice #2 at 7th overall.
There weren't many other players still on the board at #5 for Phoenix that turned out to be better than Blake Wheeler. In hindsight that was a pretty astute pick.
Looking at other players picked in that area it was a great pick. Sort of loses it's luster though due to fact he didn't sign with them
Going from memory of older drafts Forsberg was projected as a late first/early second round pick but Philly took him 6th
Most mocks had Skinner going in the 12-15 range. I remember because the Predators had 17 that year, and I remember there being talk about grabbing him if he was still available, which was considered possible.
Most mocks had Skinner going in the 12-15 range. I remember because the Predators had 17 that year, and I remember there being talk about grabbing him if he was still available, which was considered possible.
TSN makes it's list a week before the draft, so if they say somebody is 10, chances are he will be picked around that range
It's hard to use CSB for instance as a predictor because I believe the list they put out a couple days ago is the final list(ie early April). That list doesn't take into consideration playoffs or stuff like the under 18 tournament which can raise a players stock big time(in the case of Skinner he got like 20 goals in the playoffs)
IIRC, Forsberg was expected to be a late 1st/early 2nd round pick and I think The Hockey News had him ranked to go 25th at the draft. He went 6th to Philly and that was a genius pick.
Price wasn't suppose to be top 5. He was a guy who was generally ranked 7th to 10th
Two spots doesn't seem like much, but imagine this year...
EDM: Yakupov
CBL: Grigorenko
MTL: Forsberg
NYI: Murray
TOR: Faksa
Wouldn't that be odd with galchenyuk still on the board?
2 spots is a lot early in the draft. After 10th or so isn't as much.
As for Skinner, I had him going 9th or 10th on my list, but I liked him a lot, so it was earlier than expected for sure.
Pat Kane? Probably the only guy not ranked #1 to go #1 in a loooooooong time. He's obviously better than JVR and Turris.
