Headlines

  • Teams Not Expecting Sam Bennett To Reach Free Agency
  • Ducks May Offer Record-Breaking AAV For Mitch Marner
  • Oilers’ Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Uncertain For Game 3
  • Maple Leafs Hire Derek Lalonde As Assistant Coach
  • Avalanche’s Logan O’Connor Out 5-6 Months Following Hip Surgery
  • Lightning Hire Dan Hinote As Assistant Coach
  • 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
      • Chicago Blackhawks
      • Colorado Avalanche
      • Dallas Stars
      • Minnesota Wild
      • Nashville Predators
      • St. Louis Blues
      • Utah Mammoth
      • 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
      • Vegas Golden Knights
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Partners
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

2009 NHL Draft Take Two: Fourteenth Overall

September 23, 2023 at 2:58 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 1 Comment

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 2009 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:  Victor Hedman, New York Islanders (2)
2nd Overall: John Tavares, Tampa Bay Lightning (1)
3rd Overall: Ryan O’Reilly, Colorado Avalanche (33)
4th Overall: Matt Duchene, Atlanta Thrashers (3)
5th Overall: Chris Kreider, Los Angeles Kings (19)
6th Overall: Nazem Kadri, Phoenix Coyotes (7)
7th Overall:  Mattias Ekholm, Toronto Maple Leafs (102)
8th Overall: Evander Kane, Dallas Stars (4)
9th Overall: Brayden Schenn, Ottawa Senators (5)
10th Overall: Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Edmonton Oilers (6)
11th Overall: Ryan Ellis, Nashville Predators (11)
12th Overall: Dmitry Orlov, New York Islanders (55)
13th Overall: Anders Lee, Buffalo Sabres (152)

Lee goes much higher this time around, jumping up from the first pick of the sixth round to just above the midway mark of the first after receiving just shy of 30% of the votes.  It’s a pick that would have gone over much better for Buffalo after Zack Kassian didn’t quite live up to his draft billing.

Lee’s path to the NHL certainly wasn’t a quick one.  He had a stint with Green Bay of the USHL after being picked and then spent the following three years with Notre Dame where he was a consistent scoring threat, putting up at least 17 goals and 34 points each year.  That earned him an entry-level deal in 2013 where he made his NHL debut just days later.

But it wasn’t until 2014-15 that Lee became a regular with the Islanders.  As he did in college and the minors, he just kept on scoring, notching 25 goals in his rookie year to help him finish in the top ten in Calder Trophy voting for Rookie of the Year.  His best season came three years later when he cracked the 40-goal mark while also eclipsing the 60-point plateau.

While Lee hasn’t been able to get back to that level since then, he has been a relatively consistent scorer.  He has scored 28 goals three times in the past five seasons; the two that he didn’t were the campaigns shortened by the pandemic.  Along the way, he took over as captain in 2018 after John Tavares left for Toronto and signed a seven-year extension with the Isles one year later; that deal – which carries a $7MM AAV – still has three seasons left on it.

As things stand, Lee is tied for seventh in most goals scored from the 2009 draft class.  He’s tied with Schenn, who went ninth in our redraft, despite playing in 180 fewer NHL games thus far.  As a result, he was one of the best bargain selections from 2009, if not the best value pick overall.

Now, we turn our focus to the 14th pick which was held by the Florida Panthers.  They selected blueliner Dmitry Kulikov, a player who hasn’t lived up to the offensive profile he had in the QMJHL but one who has carved out a pretty good career for himself nonetheless and actually rejoined his original team in free agency this summer.  Was that the right pick for them or is there a better fit on the board?  Make your pick by voting in our poll below.

If you can’t access the poll above, click here to vote.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email

Florida Panthers| Polls| Pro Hockey Rumors Originals NHL Entry Draft

East Notes: Raanta, Guentzel, Cossa
Main
PHR Mailbag: Waivers, Zegras, Couture, Babcock, Hockey Canada
View Comments (1)

Comments

  1. jdgoat

    2 years ago

    I’m surprised Lehner isn’t getting more love. Despite all the injuries, a career .917 save percentage is pretty great.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.

Log in Register

    Top Stories

    Teams Not Expecting Sam Bennett To Reach Free Agency

    Ducks May Offer Record-Breaking AAV For Mitch Marner

    Oilers’ Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Uncertain For Game 3

    Maple Leafs Hire Derek Lalonde As Assistant Coach

    Avalanche’s Logan O’Connor Out 5-6 Months Following Hip Surgery

    Lightning Hire Dan Hinote As Assistant Coach

    Stars Fire Pete DeBoer

    Rangers Hire David Quinn, Joe Sacco As Assistant Coaches

    Bruins Name Marco Sturm Head Coach

    Re-Signing Luke Hughes Top Priority For Devils Off-Season

    Recent

    Pro Hockey Rumors Commenting Policy

    Teams Not Expecting Sam Bennett To Reach Free Agency

    Ducks May Offer Record-Breaking AAV For Mitch Marner

    How The Canucks Need To Approach This Summer

    Five Key Stories: 6/2/25 – 6/8/25

    PHR Mailbag: Tkachuk, Blackhawks, Dobson, Red Wings, Jets, Kings

    Blue Jackets Notes: Provorov, Danforth, Keskinen

    Lightning Sign Jack Finley To Three-Year Contract

    Sabres Mulling Options As Draft Approaches

    Brad Marchand Discussed Future With Panthers

    Rumors By Team

    Rumors By Team

    • Avalanche Rumors
    • Blackhawks Rumors
    • Blue Jackets Rumors
    • Blues Rumors
    • Bruins Rumors
    • Canadiens Rumors
    • Canucks Rumors
    • Capitals Rumors
    • Devils Rumors
    • Ducks Rumors
    • Flames Rumors
    • Flyers Rumors
    • Golden Knights Rumors
    • Hurricanes Rumors
    • Islanders Rumors
    • Jets Rumors
    • Kings Rumors
    • Kraken Rumors
    • Lightning Rumors
    • Mammoth 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

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Sam Bennett Rumors
    • Nikolaj Ehlers Rumors
    • Mitch Marner Rumors
    • Marco Rossi Rumors

    Pro Hockey Rumors Features

    Pro Hockey Rumors Features

    • Support Pro Hockey Rumors And Go Ad-Free
    • 2025 Free Agent Focus Series
    • 2025 Offseason Checklist Series
    • 2025 NHL Free Agent List
    • 2026 NHL Free Agent List
    • Active Roster Tracker
    • Coaching Staff Directory
    • Draft Order 2025
    • Trade Tracker
    • Pro Hockey Rumors On X
    • Pro Hockey Rumors Polls
    • Waiver Claims 2024-25

     

     

     

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives

    PHR Info

    • About
    • Privacy Policy
    • Commenting 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