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)
6th Overall: Tuukka Rask (Columbus Blue Jackets)
7th Overall: Bobby Ryan (Chicago Blackhawks)
8th Overall: Marc-Edouard Vlasic (San Jose Sharks)
9th Overall: Ben Bishop (Ottawa Senators)
10th Overall: James Neal (Vancouver Canucks)
11th Overall: T.J. Oshie (Los Angeles Kings)
12th Overall: Keith Yandle (New York Rangers)
13th Overall: Paul Stastny (Buffalo Sabres)
14th Overall: Marc Staal (Washington Capitals)
15th Overall: Patric Hornqvist (New York Islanders)
16th Overall: Niklas Hjalmarsson (Atlanta Thrashers)
17th Overall: Anton Stralman (Phoenix Coyotes)
Now we move forward to the 18th pick, which was held by the Nashville Predators.
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 Predators selected stay-at-home defenseman Ryan Parent out of Guelph of the OHL. However, he didn’t last very long in the organization as less than two years later, he was moved to Philadelphia in a deadline deal that yielded pending UFA Peter Forsberg. While Forsberg didn’t exactly pan out (he had four goals in 22 games including the regular season and playoffs), Parent didn’t turn into the reliable shutdown blueliner that Nashville was originally hoping he would.
Parent played in 106 career NHL games from 2006-07 through 2010-11, all but four of which came with the Flyers. He had just one goal and six assists while averaging 15:47 per night. He has spent the last five years bouncing around the minor leagues but is not playing anywhere this season.
With the 18th pick of the 2005 NHL Redraft, who should the Predators select? Cast your vote below!
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