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)
9th Overall: Jordan Eberle, New York Islanders (22)
10th Overall: Jared Spurgeon, Vancouver Canucks (156)
11th Overall: Cam Atkinson, Chicago Blackhawks (157)
12th Overall: T.J. Brodie, Buffalo Sabres (114)
13th Overall: Josh Bailey, Los Angeles Kings (9)
14th Overall: Adam Henrique, Carolina Hurricanes (82)
15th Overall: Tyler Myers, Ottawa Senators (12)
The drop wound up being a small one for Myers who only goes three spots later than his original draft position. While he has been maligned at times due to some contracts that paid him above market value, he has turned in a solid career thus far.
Throughout his junior days, Myers wasn’t known for his point-producing abilities with his career-high in points checking in at 42 in his final season with Kelowna. Not bad, but players who top out at that level don’t typically become highly-productive players in the pros.
Myers put that theory to the test in his rookie season as he had more goals (11), assists (37), and points (48) than in any of his major junior campaigns. That made him the runaway winner of the Calder Trophy and all of a sudden, it looked like Buffalo had their two-way star defender of the future.
Unfortunately, that didn’t go as planned. While Myers’ numbers in his sophomore year were still pretty good (the second-best of his career thus far), he eventually became more of a stay-at-home defender. Eventually, the Sabres decided to shake things up, moving him to Winnipeg in 2015 as part of the Evander Kane trade.
With the Jets, Myers was a capable, albeit pricey blueliner for parts of five seasons. Since then, he has spent three years in Vancouver as a capable, albeit pricey defenseman.
That said, it’s worth looking at some of Myers’ numbers in context. In his 13-year NHL career, he has averaged over 20 minutes a night in every one of them. He’s eighth in all-time games played from this draft class and with a couple of years left on his contract, he’ll have a good chance of staying in the top ten when all is said and done. No, Myers didn’t quite live up to the promise of his rookie year but he has had a very solid career so far.
Now, we move on to the 16th selection which was held by Boston. They opted to take a longer-term project, selecting Joe Colborne out of the AJHL. However, after two very strong college seasons, the Bruins turned him pro in 2019 but he never played a game for them. Instead, they moved him, a first-round pick, and a second-rounder to Toronto to rent Tomas Kaberle at the 2011 trade deadline. (If you’re curious, that first-rounder turned into Rickard Rakell.)
Colborne spent parts of three seasons with Toronto but again, didn’t play much. He was flipped to Calgary in 2013 for a fourth-round pick that eventually was used on Ville Husso.
Colborne saw regular action with Calgary for three years and spent most of another year in Colorado but hung up his skates in 2018 after a seven-year NHL career that spanned 295 games. In the grand scheme of things, Boston could have done much worse with this pick but it’s safe to say in hindsight, there were better options available.
So, who should they have picked with that benefit of hindsight? With the 16th pick in the 2008 redraft, who do they take? Make your choice by voting in the poll below.
App users, click here to vote.
You can end this whenever you want.
@padam – I think we can cut it short if we all show up at PHR HQ, en masse, reminding everyone that opening night is two or six days away, so there’s only time for -1 more re-drafts. Everybody should be too busy reporting on the sudden rash of pre-season injuries and which coaches get to be on the hot seats first.