Poll: 2005 NHL Draft Take Two: Sixth Overall Pick

Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.

We’re looking back at the 2005 NHL Draft, which kicked off the salary cap era and ushered in many of the current NHL superstars. The question we’re looking to answer is knowing now what we didn’t know then, how different would this draft look now with the benefit of hindsight?

Here are the results of our redraft so far:

1st Overall: Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins)
2nd Overall: Carey Price (Mighty Ducks of Anaheim)
3rd Overall: Anze Kopitar (Carolina Hurricanes)
4th Overall: Jonathan Quick (Minnesota Wild)
5th Overall: Kris Letang (Montreal Canadiens)

Now we move forward to the sixth pick, which was held by the Columbus Blue Jackets.

To recap how this works:

• We will go through the 2005 NHL Draft and have our readers select, through a voting process, who they think should have been taken with the selection.
• The entire first round will be redrafted, spanning picks one through thirty. The new selection is chosen by the majority of votes.

Back in 2005, the Blue Jackets selected Vancouver Giants center Gilbert Brule.  Suffice it to say, that pick did not work out well.  He spent three seasons with Columbus before being dealt to the Oilers for rugged winger Raffi Torres.  After a couple of years there, it was off to Phoenix for a cup of coffee with the Coyotes.  He is currently playing in this third straight KHL season after collecting just 95 points in 299 NHL games.

With the sixth pick of the 2005 NHL Draft, who should the Columbus Blue Jackets select? Cast your vote below!