June 25, 2010

The Best Picks Ever

The following article, which features former Cornell standout Joe Nieuwendyk, appeared June 24 on the National Hockey League (NHL) Web site.

 

By John Kreiser
NHL.com Columnist

There's not a hockey fan alive who doesn't think he or she could do a better job at the draft than an NHL general manager. But drafting is an inexact science -- for every late-round gem (Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk), there's a high pick who didn't turn out to be the star the team that picked him thought he would be (think 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 2005-09).

Please remember that some players, including Wayne Gretzky, were not drafted.

No. 27: Joe Nieuwendyk  (Calgary, 1985) -- It's hard to start your career much better than Nieuwendyk did -- he scored 51 goals in each of his first two full seasons, the second of which ended with the Flames hoisting the Stanley Cup. Nieuwendyk never reached those heights again, but he scored 45 goals in each of the next two seasons and 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: Ivan Vishnevskiy (2006), John Carlson (2008)
Disappointment: Ari Ahonen (1999)

Complete article can be accessed via the NHL Web site by clicking here.