Over the past few years, I've heard a number of arguments over which '90s NHL entry draft was the most significant. It's an interesting debate because there isn't a definitive answer. Some drafts have resulted in more Stanley Cups. Others, more goals. But statistics never tell the whole story. What about leadership? What about loyalty? These are impossible to measure but, to a certain extent, equally important.
Below, I pick 15 of the most important players from each draft. They are in no particular order of standing. They're just significant individuals. If you disagree with my picks, I'd love to hear about it in either the comment section or on Twitter (@HolyJumpin40).
1990:
1. Jaromir Jagr
2. Peter Bondra
3. Derian Hatcher
4. Martin Brodeur
5. Doug Weight
6. Geoff Sanderson
7. Owen Nolan
8. Mike Ricci
9. Sergei Zubov
10. Robert Lang
11. Petr Nedved
12. Keith Tkachuk
13. Vyacheslav Kozlov
14. Keith Primeau
15. Darryl Sydor
Honorable Mentions: Brad May, Alexei Zhamnov, Craig Conroy, Bryan Smolinksi, Felix Potvin, Roman Turek and Mikael Renberg.
1991:
1. Scott Niedermayer
2. Eric Lindros
3. Peter Forsberg
4. Brian Rolston
5. Alexei Kovalev
6. Markus Naslund
7. Ray Whitney
8. Zigmund Palffy
9. Jozef Stumpel
10. Michael Nylander
11. Mike Knuble
12. Alexei Zhitnik
13. Martin Lapointe
14. Chris Osgood
15. Aaron Ward
Honorable Mentions: Sean O'Donnell, Sandy McCarthy, Steve Staios, Brian Savage, Martin Rucinsky, Sandis Ozolinsh, Yanic Perreault, Scott Lachance and Richard Matvichuk.
1992:
1. Cory Stillman
2. Alexei Yashin
3. Roman Hamrlik
4. Sergei Gonchar
5. Martin Straka
6. Jason Smith
7. Mike Peca
8. Kirk Maltby
9. Craig Rivet
10. Jere Lehtinen
11. Matthew Barnaby
12. Adrian Aucoin
13. Ian Laperriere
14. Darius Kasparaitis
15. Nikolai Khabibulin
Honorable Mentions: Mattias Nortstrom, Darren McCarty, Jim Carey, Manny Fernandez, Sergei Brylin, Igor Korolev, Stephane Yelle and Anson Carter.
1993:
1. Chris Pronger
2. Saku Koivu
3. Hal Gill
4. Paul Kariya
5. Rob Niedermayer
6. Jason Arnott
7. Viktor Kozlov
8. Todd Bertuzzi
9. Jamie Langebrunner
10. Bryan McCabe
11. Vaclav Prospal
12. Pavol Demitra
13. Darcy Tucker
14. Andrew Brunette
15. Kimmo Timonen
Honorable Mentions: Chris Gratton, Jocelyn Thibault, Kevin Weekes, Mike Grier, Todd Marchant, Miroslav Satan, Brendan Morrison, Jay Pandolfo, Jamal Mayers and Scott Walker.
1994:
1. Ed Jovanovski
2. Jeff O'Neill
3. Ryan Smyth
4. Tomas Vokoun
5. Richard Zednik
6. Patrik Elias
7. Chris Drury
8. Sheldon Souray
9. Steve Sullivan
10. Jose Theodore
11. Milan Hejduk
12. Daniel Alfredsson
13. Marty Turco
14. Tim Thomas
15. Evgeni Nabokov
Honorable Mentions: Fredrik Modin, Radek Bonk, Ethan Moreau, Mathieu Dandenault, Mattias Ohlund, Wayne Primeau, Richard Park, Chris Clark, Brad Lukowich, Bryce Salvador and Tomas Holmstrom.
1995:
1. Shane Doan
2. Wade Redden
3. Jarome Iginla
4. Daymond Langkow
5. Radek Dvorak
6. Petr Sykora
7. Marc Savard
8. Michal Handzus
9. Miikka Kiprusoff
10. Jay McKee
11. Sami Kapanen
12. Stephane Robidas
13. P.J. Axelsson
14. Filip Kuba
15. Jochen Hecht
Honorable Mentions: Jean-Sebastion Giguere, Georges Laraque, Kye McLaren, Brent Sopel, Martin Biron, Peter Schaefer, Brad Isbister and Vesa Toskala.
1996:
1. Daniel Briere
2. Dainius Zubrus
3. Marco Sturm
4. Cory Sarich
5. Matt Cullen
6. Zdeno Chara
7. Tom Poti
8. Toni Lydman
9. Pavel Kubina
10. Tomas Kaberle
11. Samuel Pahlsson
12. Derek Morris
13. Ruslan Salei
14. Chris Phillips
15. J.P. Dumont
Honorable Mentions: Colin White, Michal Rozsival, Marty Reasoner, Arron Asham, Eric Belanger, Brett Clark, Matt Bradley, Sami Salo and Craig Adams.
1997:
1. Joe Thornton
2. Patrick Marleau
3. Marian Hossa
4. Roberto Luongo
5. Olli Jokinen
6. Sergei Samsonov
7. Brian Campbell
8. Scott Hannan
9. Eric Brewer
10. Brenden Morrow
11. Matt Cooke
12. Paul Mara
13. Daniel Cleary
14. Maxim Afinogevov
15. Jason Chimera
Honorable Mentions: Andrew Ference, Henrik Tallinder, Kristian Huselius, Nick Boynton, Joe Corvo, Adam Mair, Todd Fedoruk, Mike York and Shawn Thornton.
1998:
1. Vincent Lecavalier
2. David Legwand
3. Alex Tanguay
4. Robyn Regehr
5. Scott Gomez
6. Brad Richards
7. Mike Ribiero
8. Erik Cole
9. Brian Gionta
10. Andrei Markov
11. Mikael Samuelsson
12. Shawn Horcoff
13. Simon Gagne
14. Mike Fisher
15. Pavel Datsyuk
Honorable Mentions: Manny Malhorta, Karlis Skrastins, Jaroslav Spacek, Brad Stuart, Michael Ryder, Michael Rupp, Martin Skoula, Jarkko Ruutu, Francois Beauchemin, Chris Neil and Ales Kotalik.
1999:
1. Henrik Sedin
2. Daniel Sedin
3. Taylor Pyatt
4. Tim Connolly
5. Martin Havlat
6. Niklas Hagman
7. Mike Comrie
8. Niclas Havelid
9. Martin Erat
10. Henrik Zetterberg
11. Radim Vrbata
12. Ryan Miller
13. Craig Anderson
14. Barret Jackman
15. Jordan Leopold
Honorable Mentions: Adam Hall, Chris Kelly, Ryan Malone, Douglas Murray, Nick Boynton, Mike Commodore, Frantisek Kaberle and Tom Kostopoulos.
Which '90s draft do you think had the most significant impact? What about least significant?
My picks:
Most significant - 1997
Least significant - 1992
No comments:
Post a Comment