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.
Our look back at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft is now in full swing as we poll the PHR community to see who would have been selected in the first round and in what order knowing what we know now. Through the first four picks we’ve already seen potential Hall of Fame players switch teams, and multiple captains move up the board.
Here are the results of the redraft so far:
1st Overall: Jonathan Toews (St. Louis Blues)
2nd Overall: Claude Giroux (Pittsburgh Penguins)
3rd Overall: Nicklas Backstrom (Chicago Blackhawks)
4th Overall: Brad Marchand (Washington Capitals)
The Capitals were reeling when their target of Backstrom went off the board to the Blackhawks, but they still get an incredible talent in the fourth spot. Barely edging out Phil Kessel for the right to go to Washington is Marchand, who moves up 67 spots from where he was actually selected. The Boston Bruins pulled a rabbit out of their hats by selecting Marchand 71st-overall back in 2006, and he’s proven to be much more than a third-round selection in the year’s since.
Now we’ll move forward to the fifth pick in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, which was held by the Boston Bruins.
Incredibly, the Bruins may very well end up with the same player they chose more than a decade ago when they decided that Kessel was the best available. An outstanding scoring talent that had just put up 51 points in just 39 games as a freshman for the University of Minnesota, Kessel was once in contention for the first-overall pick. Though it wouldn’t work out in Boston, there isn’t much to argue with when you look at Kessel’s career numbers through 2018. With 914 games played he leads all 2006 draft picks, and his 741 points trail only Backstrom. Two Stanley Cup victories with the Penguins don’t hurt, though there are several other contenders for the fifth pick.
Will Boston choose the same player in Kessel all these years later, or could top picks Erik Johnson and Jordan Staal make it a race? With the fifth pick of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, who should the Boston Bruins select? Cast your vote below!
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Is this even remotely close? It’d have to be Kessel
now it gets interesting first five other then order were fairly easy.