The Best Picks Ever, 1-30
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The following article, which features former Cornell standout Joe Nieuwendyk, appeared Jine 15 on the National Hockey League (NHL) Web site.
By John Kreiser - NHL.com Columnist
Drafting is an inexact science -- for every late-round gem (Henrik
Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk), there's a high pick that didn't work
out the way the a team had planned (Patrik Stefan).
Here's a look at some of the best choices in the history of the
Entry Draft, as determined by where they were selected among the
top 30 picks. (Up and coming includes players taken from 2004-08)
No. 27: Joe Nieuwendyk (Calgary, 1985) --
Nieuwendyk started his NHL career with a bang, scoring 51 goals in
each of his first two full seasons, the second of which ended with
the Flames hoisting the Stanley Cup. Nieuwendyk had 45 goals in
each of the next two seasons, and though he never reached 40 goals
again, he was a consistent scorer for winning teams until retiring
in 2006-07 with 564 goals and 1,126 points, plus 66 playoff goals,
and Stanley Cup rings with three different teams.
Runners-up: Scott Mellanby (1984), Scott Gomez
(1998)
Up and coming: Jeff Schultz (2004), Ivan
Vishnevskiy (2006)
Disappointment: Ari Ahonen (1999)
Complete article can be accessed via the NHL Web site by clicking here.
