NHL Entry Draft

Poll: 2005 NHL Draft Take Two: Twenty-Third Overall Pick

December 6, 2016 at 1:45 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a 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 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)
18th Overall: Jack Johnson (Nashville Predators)
19th Overall: Matt Niskanen (Detroit Red Wings)
20th Overall: Justin Abdelkader (Florida Panthers)
21st Overall: Martin Hanzal (Toronto Maple Leafs)
22nd Overall: Andrew Cogliano (Boston Bruins)

Now we move forward to the 23rd pick, which was held by the New Jersey Devils.

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 Devils selected right winger Nicklas Bergfors out of Sodertalje in Sweden. As he wasn’t drafted out of the Canadian Hockey League, he was eligible to play for New Jersey’s farm team right away and in his post-draft season, he put up an impressive 40 points in 65 games. Unfortunately, after four full AHL seasons, he had just nine NHL games under his belt with little to show for it.

He became an NHL regular in 2009-10 and posted a career best 46 points between New Jersey and Atlanta after he was dealt to the Thrashers as part of the Ilya Kovalchuk trade. He didn’t stay in Atlanta for long as barely a year later, he was flipped to Florida for Radek Dvorak, a rental player that year. That offseason (2011), he joined Nashville as a free agent but after just 11 games with them, he cleared waivers and had his contract terminated. His overall NHL numbers aren’t too bad, with 35 goals and 48 assists in 173 games but he has not had any NHL interest since 2011.

Since that time, Bergfors has played across the pond, mostly in the KHL where he spent time with four different teams. This season, he returned home and is playing with Linkoping of the SHL, where he has just four points in 23 games so far this season.

With the 23rd pick of the 2005 NHL Redraft, who should the Devils select? Cast your vote below!

Mobile users, click here to vote.

Poll: 2005 NHL Draft Take Two: Twenty-Second Overall Pick

December 1, 2016 at 2:45 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

Here are the results of our redraft so far:

Now we move forward to the 22nd pick, which was held by the Boston Bruins.

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 Bruins selected defenseman Matt Lashoff out of Kitchener of the OHL. He was billed as an offensive blueliner and he showed signs of living up to those expectations after being drafted, picking up 47 points in just 56 games in 2005-06 at the junior level. He also averaged 0.59 points per game at the AHL level on his entry-level contract which is strong production for any defender.

However, that failed to translate into much NHL success. He played in 46 games with the Bruins (recording just eight points) before being dealt to Tampa Bay as part of a package for Mark Recchi, who went on to play two more years in Boston. Lashoff didn’t fare much better with the Lightning, seeing just 17 games of action before getting traded to Toronto, where he played in just 11 contests. All in all, Lashoff has played in 74 career NHL games and none since the 2010-11 season.

Since then, he has bounced around, playing in five different countries and leagues over the past five seasons. This year, he has caught on with San Antonio of the AHL (affiliate of Colorado), playing in 13 games. He has five points in those contests but also possesses a -15 plus/minus rating, ranking him last out of 865 skaters to play in at least one AHL game this season.

With the 22nd pick of the 2005 NHL Redraft, who should the Bruins select? Cast your vote below!

Mobile users, click here to vote.

Poll: 2005 NHL Draft Take Two: Twenty-First Overall Pick

November 22, 2016 at 2:53 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

Here are the results of our redraft so far:

Now we move forward to the 21st pick, which was held by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

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, Toronto selected goaltender Tuukka Rask out of Ilves Tampere of the SM-liiga in Finland. His selection was one of the top picks in the trade as you may have noticed he went sixth overall in our redraft. Unfortunately for the Leafs, they never really got to reap the benefits of this selection. Just one year after picking him, Toronto dealt him to Boston in exchange for Andrew Raycroft, a goalie only two years removed from getting the Calder Trophy as Rookie of the Year.

The Leafs were hoping that Raycroft would be their goalie of the present and future. It didn’t exactly work out that way as he spent just two years in Toronto, recording 39 wins in 91 games. He bounced around the NHL for a few more years with stops in Colorado, Vancouver, and Dallas, before heading overseas to play in Italy and Sweden before retiring following the 2013-14 season.

As for Rask, he has become one of the better goalies in the league with the Bruins. He has played in 343 games, going 176-105-43 with a career 2.21 GAA and a .925 SV%. He also won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best goalie in 2013-14. While Toronto may not want a mulligan on their selection back in 2005, they’d surely like a do-over on their decision to trade Rask before ever playing a game in their system.

With the 21st pick of the 2005 NHL Redraft, who should the Maple Leafs select? Cast your vote below!

Mobile users, click here to vote.

Poll: 2005 NHL Draft Take Two: Twentieth Overall Pick

November 15, 2016 at 12:41 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

Here are the results of our redraft so far:

Now we move forward to the 20th pick, which was held by the Florida Panthers.

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, Florida selected left winger Kenndal McArdle, an undersized power forward out of Moose Jaw of the WHL. In his draft season plus the one after that, he was better than a point per game player, providing some hope that he could fill a top six role before too long. That never really happened though as McArdle was a bottom six forward at the AHL level and failed to impress in a few stints with Florida. Six years after drafting him, the Panthers moved McArdle to Winnipeg in exchange for center Angelo Esposito, who was one of the biggest first round busts from the 2007 draft. McArdle, meanwhile, last played in the Swedish second division in 2013-14 and retired that summer.

With the 20th pick of the 2005 NHL Redraft, who should the Panthers select? Cast your vote below!

Mobile users, click here to vote.

Bowers Commits To Boston University

November 13, 2016 at 3:06 pm CDT | by Zach Leach Leave a Comment

Yet another top prospect is joining the Boston University Terriers. Shane Bowers has announced that he will enroll at BU next season, joining a team that is already stacked with early draft picks and has received a commitment from promising defenseman Kasper Kotkansalo as well. Bowers is considered by many to be a first-round caliber talent and is expected to go in the first 31 picks in next June’s 2017 NHL Entry Draft.

In last year’s draft, BU was proud to see both current players and 2016-17 commits selected early in the NHL Draft. Freshman Clayton Keller went #7 overall to the Arizona Coyotes, sophomore defenseman Charlie McAvoy was taken by the Boston Bruins at #14, freshman defenseman Dante Fabbro went soon after at #17 to the Nashville Predators, and almost immediately following that, freshman forward Kieffer Bellows went #19 to the New York Islanders. Yet another freshman defenseman, Chad Krys, was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the second round.

The school continues to put together an incredible array of talent, as they bring in a hard-working player with a complete game in Bowers. The Halifax native began eyeing an NCAA future last year, when he joined the USHL’s Waterloo Black Hawks. In 56 games in 2015-16, Bowers scored 33 points, and is off to a point-per-game start to the 2016-17 season. Bowers has a complete, 200-foot game and will be able to further develop his skill at Boston University.

Although recent draft speculation questions whether or not Kotkansalo makes it into the firs round, there is a consensus that Bowers will. In a first round that looks to be heavy with Canadian junior players, Bowers is joined by only two other NCAA-bound USHLers as potential first rounders at this point. Eeli Tolvanen has committed to joining BU’s biggest rival, the Boston College Eagles, next year and Casey Mittelstadt has committed to the University of Minnesota. Both players have the makings of top ten picks next June, while Bowers is looking like a a mid to late-round pick.

Poll: 2005 NHL Draft Take Two: Nineteenth Overall Pick

November 12, 2016 at 2:49 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 1 Comment

Here are the results of our redraft so far:

Now we move forward to the 19th pick, which was held by the Detroit Red Wings.

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 Red Wings selected defenseman Jakub Kindl out of Kitchener of the OHL. After being picked, Kindl’s offense took off at the junior level but that didn’t translate into much success in the NHL. After spending parts of seven seasons with Detroit (spanning 273 games), the team cut bait with him last season, flipping him to Florida for a sixth round pick in 2017 and are presently paying him $360K (of his $2.4MM cap hit) not to play for them this year. As for the Panthers, they waived Kindl last month and he is plying his trade in the AHL this season.

With the 19th pick of the 2005 NHL Redraft, who should the Red Wings select? Cast your vote below!

Mobile users, click here to vote.

Poll: 2005 NHL Draft Take Two: Eighteenth Overall Pick

November 9, 2016 at 5:54 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

Here are the results of our redraft so far:

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!

Mobile users, click here to vote.

Poll: 2005 NHL Draft Take Two: Seventeenth Overall Pick

November 7, 2016 at 8:59 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

Here are the results of our redraft so far:

Now we move forward to the 17th pick, which was held by the Phoenix (now Arizona) Coyotes.

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 Coyotes selected big center Martin Hanzal in a pick that has turned out pretty well for the franchise. Hanzal is in the top-15 from his draft class in terms of games played and points and has been a mainstay in their lineup. Last season, he set a new career high in points with 41 despite missing 18 games due to injury. He’s off to a decent start this year as well, with four points in nine games but is currently on injured reserve with a lower body injury.

While Hanzal has spent his entire career so far in the desert (ranking eighth in games played in franchise history), he is a pending unrestricted free agent and is likely to get a raise from his $3.1MM cap hit and $3.5MM salary.

With the 17th pick of the 2005 NHL Redraft, who should the Coyotes select? Cast your vote below!

Mobile users, click here to vote.

Poll: 2005 NHL Draft Take Two: Sixteenth Overall Pick

November 1, 2016 at 12:25 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

Here are the results of our redraft so far:

Now we move forward to the 16th pick, which was held by the Atlanta Thrashers (now the Winnipeg Jets).

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 Thrashers selected right winger Alex Bourret out of Lewiston of the QMJHL in a selection that certainly didn’t pan out. Bourret was an undersized power forward and despite some strong junior numbers (he had 114 points in his final ’Q’ season), his game never really translated to the pro ranks. He spent parts of four seasons in the AHL but never got into a single NHL game. He has spent the last several years in the Quebec LNAH.

Two years after picking him, Atlanta moved Bourret to the Rangers for Pascal Dupuis and a third round pick (which was later flipped for center Chris Thorburn who still remains with the organization) so while the draft pick didn’t pan out, the Thrashers at least got some value from Bourret’s selection.

With the 16th pick of the 2005 NHL Redraft, who should the Thrashers (Jets) select? Cast your vote below!

Mobile users, click here to vote.

Poll: 2005 NHL Draft Take Two: Fifteenth Overall Pick

October 25, 2016 at 12:40 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 2 Comments

Here are the results of our redraft so far:

Now we move forward to the 15th pick, which was held by the New York Islanders.

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 Islanders selected center Ryan O’Marra out of Erie of the Ontario Hockey League. However, he wasn’t in the organization for long as he was dealt two years later to Edmonton as part of the Ryan Smyth deal. Neither one of them worked too well for the Isles as O’Marra played in just 33 career NHL games scoring only a single goal while Smyth didn’t help the team reach new heights in the postseason back in 2007 as the team was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs that year.

With the 15th pick of the 2005 NHL Redraft, who should the New York Islanders select? Cast your vote below!

Mobile users, click here to vote.

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NHL Entry Draft

Poll: 2005 NHL Draft Take Two: Twenty-Third Overall Pick

Poll: 2005 NHL Draft Take Two: Twenty-Second Overall Pick

Poll: 2005 NHL Draft Take Two: Twenty-First Overall Pick

Poll: 2005 NHL Draft Take Two: Twentieth Overall Pick

Bowers Commits To Boston University

Poll: 2005 NHL Draft Take Two: Nineteenth Overall Pick

Poll: 2005 NHL Draft Take Two: Eighteenth Overall Pick

Poll: 2005 NHL Draft Take Two: Seventeenth Overall Pick

Poll: 2005 NHL Draft Take Two: Sixteenth Overall Pick

Poll: 2005 NHL Draft Take Two: Fifteenth Overall Pick

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