Headlines

  • Detroit Red Wings Sign Patrick Kane
  • Blackhawks Place Corey Perry On Waivers, Intend To Terminate Contract
  • Minnesota Wild Fire Dean Evason, Name John Hynes Head Coach
  • Nico Hischier Activated Off IR, On The Ice For Warmups
  • Corey Perry To Be Away From Blackhawks For Foreseeable Future
  • Maple Leafs Place John Klingberg On LTIR, Recall Alex Steeves
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • MLB Trade Rumors
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors

Pro Hockey Rumors

  • Home
  • Teams
    • Atlantic
      • Boston Bruins
      • Buffalo Sabres
      • Detroit Red Wings
      • Florida Panthers
      • Montreal Canadiens
      • Ottawa Senators
      • Tampa Bay Lightning
      • Toronto Maple Leafs
    • Central
      • Arizona Coyotes
      • Chicago Blackhawks
      • Colorado Avalanche
      • Dallas Stars
      • Minnesota Wild
      • Nashville Predators
      • St. Louis Blues
      • Winnipeg Jets
    • Metropolitan
      • Carolina Hurricanes
      • Columbus Blue Jackets
      • New Jersey Devils
      • New York Islanders
      • New York Rangers
      • Philadelphia Flyers
      • Pittsburgh Penguins
      • Washington Capitals
    • Pacific
      • Anaheim Ducks
      • Calgary Flames
      • Edmonton Oilers
      • Los Angeles Kings
      • San Jose Sharks
      • Seattle Kraken
      • Vancouver Canucks
  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Partners
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

2008 NHL Draft Take Two: Ninth Overall Pick

September 11, 2022 at 10:35 am CDT | by Josh Erickson 4 Comments

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 2008 NHL Entry Draft and asking how it would shake out knowing what we do now.  Will the first round remain the same, or will some late-round picks jump up to the top of the board?

The results of our redraft so far are as follows with their original draft position in parentheses:

1st Overall: Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning (1)

2nd Overall: Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings (2)

3rd Overall: Roman Josi, Atlanta Thrashers (38)

4th Overall: Alex Pietrangelo, St. Louis Blues (4)

5th Overall: Erik Karlsson, Toronto Maple Leafs (15)

6th Overall: John Carlson, Columbus Blue Jackets (27)

7th Overall: Jacob Markstrom, Nashville Predators (31)

8th Overall: Braden Holtby, Phoenix Coyotes (93)

The Coyotes’ original 2008 eighth-overall selection, Mikkel Boedker, had a long career in Phoenix, but squarely belongs in the “disappointing” category of top-ten picks. Not a bust by any means, having played over 700 NHL games, he had just 327 points in those 709 games. Those numbers aren’t great, but they are good enough for 15th in scoring among the class, which was weak for forwards overall. It also means that Boedker’s offense would have been an easily replaceable asset in free agency, so it’s reasonable to wonder if taking Holtby and his Stanley Cup-winning pedigree would’ve made a difference in the Coyotes’ fortunes.

While the organization never had elite scoring talent and failed to build consistent year-to-year performances, goaltending was usually the least of their worries. Immediately after the draft, Phoenix got the three best seasons of Ilya Bryzgalov’s career, including a Vezina Trophy nomination in 2009-10. After his departure in 2011, Mike Smith immediately broke out, guiding them to the Western Conference Final in 2012. Over 310 starts in the desert, Smith served the Coyotes well with a .916 save percentage. While you’ll hear little argument that Holtby was the better goaltender between those three, the upgrade is marginal enough that it likely wouldn’t have made much of a difference in the team’s fortunes.

The New York Islanders stepped up to the plate for the ninth-overall selection, trading four spots down on draft day in total from the fifth overall pick. It was a move that worked out extremely well for them in hindsight. Their selection at ninth overall was Josh Bailey, who remains third in scoring among forwards from the class on this day. When comparing Bailey’s career with that of the fifth overall selection (Luke Schenn) and seventh overall selection (Colin Wilson) that they dealt away that day, it was an even smarter move from then-general manager Garth Snow. Bailey, who’s remained a career Islander ever since draft day and is currently an alternate captain, has 555 career points and will play his 1,000th game as an Islander this season.

Bailey made his NHL debut in November of 2008, just five months after he was drafted, and played nearly a full NHL season as a 19-year-old. He had 25 points in 68 games during his rookie season, good enough for ninth in scoring on an atrocious Islanders team that finished with just 61 points. From that point forward, Bailey was a surefire threat for anywhere between 30 and 50 points in a full season. He set a career-high of 71 points in 76 games in 2017-18, 15 more points than his next-best season total.

Despite the impressive career as an Islander, there may have been better selections available yet on the board at ninth overall for New York. There’s Jordan Eberle, who did end up an Islander anyway after a few seasons in Edmonton, who’s the only forward that ranks ahead of Bailey in terms of career points from the class not named Steven Stamkos. There’s also current Minnesota Wild captain Jared Spurgeon, who perenially remains one of the most underrated defensemen in the NHL.

So we ask you, who should have the New York Islanders selected with the ninth overall pick in 2008? Make your voice heard in the poll below.

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email

Polls NHL Entry Draft| Pro Hockey Rumors Originals

Montreal Canadiens Announce Rookie Camp Roster
Main
Conor Timmins Healthy For Next Season
View Comments (4)

Comments

  1. manosthof

    1 year ago

    Jared Spurgeon is criminally underrated. I can’t believe Holtby got picked first. Holtby had 3-4 really good seasons and. Spurgeon has been solid for 11-years and is the captain of his team.

    3
    Reply
    • coloredpaper

      1 year ago

      Yeah well, doesn’t look like he’ll be chosen 9th overall either. I definitely think Spurgeon should be the pick here, as I don’t think they had any good D prospects at the time.

      Arizona doesn’t draft goalies in the 1st round, as far as I can remember, and I think they wouldn’t have drafted Holtby 8th overall either.

      Reply
    • MoneyBallJustWorks

      1 year ago

      Holtby has a cup and Vézina and 5 all star selections. think that’s worth more than “3-4 really good seasons.”

      I have no issue with Spurgeon here but I also argue Holtby should have been taken ahead of Markstrom.

      Reply
  2. sweetg

    1 year ago

    I have been drafting . Who i thought was best not by position. Have not even cared about team drafting. successful teams would take who they think was best player. Yes me again hyping Spurgeon have been picking since 6th . lol likely earliest he will be picked is 11th. real life people would write what a steal at number 11. lol

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.

Log in Register

    Top Stories

    Detroit Red Wings Sign Patrick Kane

    Blackhawks Place Corey Perry On Waivers, Intend To Terminate Contract

    Minnesota Wild Fire Dean Evason, Name John Hynes Head Coach

    Nico Hischier Activated Off IR, On The Ice For Warmups

    Corey Perry To Be Away From Blackhawks For Foreseeable Future

    Maple Leafs Place John Klingberg On LTIR, Recall Alex Steeves

    Lightning Waive Matt Tomkins, Prepared To Activate Andrei Vasilevskiy

    Taylor Hall Out For The Season Due To Knee Surgery

    Damon Severson Out 6 Weeks With Oblique Injury

    Panthers Activate Aaron Ekblad, Brandon Montour; Place Josh Mahura On IR

    Recent

    Snapshots: Kane, Perry, Near

    Vegas Golden Knights Sign Jordan Gustafson To Entry-Level Contract

    Shea Theodore Week-To-Week After Successful Surgery

    Injury Notes: Thomas Chabot, Matt Martin, Dougie Hamilton

    Canucks Recall Matt Irwin and Linus Karlsson, Send Akito Hirose Down

    Sabres Send Jiri Kulich To AHL, Jordan Greenway Set To Return

    Flames Recall Jordan Oesterle

    New Jersey Devils Recall Samuel Laberge

    Pittsburgh Penguins Reassign Alex Nylander

    Buffalo Sabres Recall Brandon Biro

    Rumors By Team

    Rumors By Team

    • Avalanche Rumors
    • Blackhawks Rumors
    • Blue Jackets Rumors
    • Blues Rumors
    • Bruins Rumors
    • Canadiens Rumors
    • Canucks Rumors
    • Capitals Rumors
    • Coyotes Rumors
    • Devils Rumors
    • Ducks Rumors
    • Flames Rumors
    • Flyers Rumors
    • Golden Knights Rumors
    • Hurricanes Rumors
    • Islanders Rumors
    • Jets Rumors
    • Kings Rumors
    • Kraken Rumors
    • Lightning Rumors
    • Maple Leafs Rumors
    • Oilers Rumors
    • Panthers Rumors
    • Penguins Rumors
    • Predators Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Red Wings Rumors
    • Sabres Rumors
    • Senators Rumors
    • Sharks Rumors
    • Stars Rumors
    • Wild Rumors

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives

    PHR Info

    • About
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

    scroll to top

    Register

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version