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2007 NHL Draft Take Two: Twenty-Fourth Overall Pick

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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 2007 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?

Here are the results of the redraft so far, with their original draft position in parentheses:

1st Overall: Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks (1)
2nd Overall: Jamie Benn, Philadelphia Flyers (129)
3rd Overall: P.K. Subban, Phoenix Coyotes (43)
4th Overall: Logan Couture, Los Angeles Kings (9)
5th Overall: Max Pacioretty, Washington Capitals (22)
6th Overall: Jakub Voracek, Edmonton Oilers (7)
7th Overall: Ryan McDonagh, Columbus Blue Jackets (12)
8th Overall: James van Riemsdyk, Boston Bruins (2)
9th Overall: Wayne Simmonds, San Jose Sharks (61)
10th Overall: Kevin Shattenkirk, Florida Panthers (14)
11th Overall: Jake Muzzin, Carolina Hurricanes (141)
12th Overall: Kyle Turris, Montreal Canadiens (3)
13th Overall: David Perron, St. Louis Blues (26)
14th Overall: Mikael Backlund, Colorado Avalanche (24)
15th Overall: Evgenii Dadonov, Edmonton Oilers (71)
16th Overall: Alec Martinez, Minnesota Wild (95)
17th Overall: Carl Hagelin, New York Rangers (168)
18th Overall: Lars Eller, St. Louis Blues (13)
19th Overall: Alex Killorn, Anaheim Ducks (77)
20th Overall: Nick Bonino, Pittsburgh Penguins (173)
21st Overall: Pat Maroon, Edmonton Oilers (161)
22nd Overall: Paul Byron, Montreal Canadiens (179)
23rd Overall: Sam Gagner, Nashville Predators (6)

Despite currently being in the AHL, Gagner managed to hold onto his status as a first-round pick in our 2007 redraft and goes to Nashville. Originally Edmonton’s first of three picks in that round, the London, Ontario native carved out quite the early career for himself in the NHL, even if it has quickly evaporated.

Back then, Gagner was an easy pick at the top of the draft. The somewhat undersized forward had just combined with Patrick Kane and Sergei Kostitsyn for the London Knights to make one of the most dynamic offensive attacks in the OHL, recording 118 points of his own in 53 games. Gagner’s 83 assists tied him with Kane for the most by any OHL rookie, and got him onto the CHL All-Rookie squad. Even at his young age he landed a roster spot on Canada’s World Junior team, something he’d never have another opportunity to do.

That’s because after he was drafted, Gagner stepped right into the NHL and became an impact player for the Edmonton Oilers. Unfortunately, the 49 points in 2007-08 as a rookie would be his highest total until many years later, as the talented center faced injury after injury that kept him out for various stretches. In fact, Gagner has never played all 82 games in a single season, only ever failing to miss time in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign. Still, it’s hard to argue with his offensive consistency for the Oilers. Scoring at least 41 points in each of his first five seasons, he would finish his first stint in Edmonton with 295 points in 481 games. Just that total would make him the 14th-highest scoring player from the 2007 draft, but Gagner wasn’t done quite yet.

After a few more seasons bouncing around the NHL—playing for the Arizona Coyotes, Philadelphia Flyers, Columbus Blue Jackets and Vancouver Canucks—Gagner has found his way back to the Edmonton organization and is now playing with the Bakersfield Condors. In 802 career games he has 446 points, making him the eighth-highest scoring player from the 2007 draft. You can bet if the Predators received that kind of production from this spot they’d be extremely happy.

In 2007, the Calgary Flames were up next and picked their own steal late in the first round. Mikael Backlund was ranked second among all European skaters by NHL Central Scouting coming into the draft, but he ended up falling thanks to a strong North American contingent. The Flames had actually traded back from their spot at No. 18, gaining a third-round selection in the process, and still got the two-way center.

It took a while for the move to really pay off though, as Backlund was a project that needed to be developed correctly. After spending another season in Sweden, Backlund split the 2008-09 season between his Swedish team, the Flames and the Kelowna Rockets, making quite the impression as a late addition to the WHL squad. The Rockets would actually take home the WHL title that season, thanks to a playoff-leading 13 goals from Backlund. It still would be another several years before he really broke out in the NHL, scoring 18 goals and 39 points in 2013-14. Since then he has been quite the consistent presence for the team, and even recorded three 20+ goal seasons.

Unfortunately for Calgary, Backlund already went to Colorado in our redraft and they’ll have to pick another name. The talent is starting to really thin out, showing just how difficult it is to even get an NHL regular out of the draft. With the twenty-fourth pick of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, who should the Calgary Flames select?  Cast your vote below!

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*Tragically, 17th overall pick Alexei Cherepanov died at the age of 19 and would never get a chance to suit up in the NHL. He has not been included in this vote.

Submit Your Questions For The #PHRMailbag

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The 2019-20 NHL regular season is underway and already there have been some surprises and disappointments. Most shocking perhaps are the injuries that have occurred early on, including Adam Larsson, Evgeni Malkin and Nate Schmidt. That has already made the rumor mill start churning over who will be the first to make a big trade—unless of course Vladislav Namestnikov heading to Ottawa is considered that already.

With that in mind, it’s time to run another edition of our mailbag. You can submit your query by using #PHRMailbag on Twitter or by leaving a comment down below. Make sure you get your questions in early and we’ll try to get through as many as possible when the mailbag runs on the weekend.

If you missed our last edition you can read it right here. Brian tackled questions regarding potential waiver candidates, correctly suggesting that Pheonix Copley, Casey DeSmith, Charlie Lindgren and Eric Comrie could all be available at the end of training camp. He also explained why Julius Honka was the only then-unsigned RFA that had a real chance of a long dispute, did his best at explaining the complicated cap situation the Toronto Maple Leafs created this summer, and gave his predictions on how the Metropolitan Division standings would look at the end of the year.

2007 NHL Draft Take Two: Twenty-Second Overall Pick

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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 2007 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?

Here are the results of the redraft so far, with their original draft position in parentheses:

1st Overall: Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks (1)
2nd Overall: Jamie Benn, Philadelphia Flyers (129)
3rd Overall: P.K. Subban, Phoenix Coyotes (43)
4th Overall: Logan Couture, Los Angeles Kings (9)
5th Overall: Max Pacioretty, Washington Capitals (22)
6th Overall: Jakub Voracek, Edmonton Oilers (7)
7th Overall: Ryan McDonagh, Columbus Blue Jackets (12)
8th Overall: James van Riemsdyk, Boston Bruins (2)
9th Overall: Wayne Simmonds, San Jose Sharks (61)
10th Overall: Kevin Shattenkirk, Florida Panthers (14)
11th Overall: Jake Muzzin, Carolina Hurricanes (141)
12th Overall: Kyle Turris, Montreal Canadiens (3)
13th Overall: David Perron, St. Louis Blues (26)
14th Overall: Mikael Backlund, Colorado Avalanche (24)
15th Overall: Evgenii Dadonov, Edmonton Oilers (71)
16th Overall: Alec Martinez, Minnesota Wild (95)
17th Overall: Carl Hagelin, New York Rangers (168)
18th Overall: Lars Eller, St. Louis Blues (13)
19th Overall: Alex Killorn, Anaheim Ducks (77)
20th Overall: Nick Bonino, Pittsburgh Penguins (173)
21st Overall: Pat Maroon, Edmonton Oilers (161)

Another sixth-round pick jumps up to the first, showing just how much of a lottery the NHL Entry Draft really is. Perhaps if Maroon started his career in Edmonton it would look even better than it does now, given the success he experienced once he finally did land there.

In 2007, Maroon was already 6’4″ 225-lbs, but concerns about his conditioning and level of competition dropped him to 208th overall among North American skaters on the NHL Central Scouting rankings. He had just played two years in the NAHL, most recently scoring 95 points in 57 games with the St. Louis Bandits to lead the league and earn a Most Valuable Player award. When he left the Bandits for the London Knights the following year and topped all OHL rookies with 90 points, the Philadelphia Flyers got an inkling that they might have a late-round steal on their hands.

In 2008, when Maroon started his pro career with the Philadelphia Phantoms, he was a monstrous winger that could push around even grown men. He scored 23 goals and 54 points in his rookie AHL season, and proved any doubters wrong about his ability to contribute at a high level. In 2010, after he failed to make the leap to the NHL for a second year, Maroon was traded to the Anaheim Ducks where he would once again dominate for their AHL affiliate. Though it took him a while, he would eventually get to the NHL as a full-time option for the Ducks in 2013, where he started what has been a successful career.

Setting a career-high with 27 goals in 2016-17 with the Edmonton Oilers, Maroon eventually found himself back in his hometown of St. Louis just in time to participate in their Stanley Cup run. Though his regular season wasn’t anything to write home about, the “Big Rig” would score one of the most memorable goals in the 2019 playoffs when he ended game seven against the Dallas Stars in double overtime. He’s now with the Tampa Bay Lightning where he’ll try for a repeat performance. In 452 career regular season games Maroon has 208 points, putting him 21st among all players drafted in 2007.

Finally, we get back to a pick that was well worth it back in 2007. The 22nd overall selection belonged to the Montreal Canadiens back then, and with it they would pick future captain and All-Star Max Pacioretty. Looking back, Pacioretty should have been off the board well before Montreal walked up to the podium for their second pick of the night (Ryan McDonagh at No. 12 wasn’t too shabby either). This time around he won’t be, as our community selected him in the top-five.

Without Pacioretty on the board, who will Montreal go after? Cast your vote below!

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*Tragically, 17th overall pick Alexei Cherepanov died at the age of 19 and would never get a chance to suit up in the NHL. He has not been included in this vote.

PHR Originals: 9/30/19 – 10/6/19

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Here’s a rundown of the original content here at PHR over the past seven days.

The Oilers are on the clock in our 2007 redraft series with the 21st selection, their third of the first round.  Their first two (Sam Gagner and Alex Plante) didn’t exactly work out as well as they hoped for while Riley Nash, their initial pick here, was traded away before he turned pro.  They’ve done a lot better in our redraft and you can make their final first-round selection for them here.

The NCAA season is now underway.  Zach took a look at some of the notable names to watch for among the top drafted prospects and those that are likely to hear their name called early in June.  He also examined some of the players that are slated to hit the UFA market in March or April depending on when their respective seasons come to an end.

With the puck dropping on the 2019-20 season, it’s prediction time.  Who will come out as the winners in the Atlantic, Metropolitan, Central, and Pacific divisions?  The current leaders are the Lightning, Capitals, Blues, and Golden Knights.  Click the respective links to make your predictions.

The Maple Leafs are the final team to be featured in our Salary Cap Deep Dive series.  They’re using plenty of LTIR to stay in compliance and with so much money tied up in their core four up front, it will be interesting to see who they’re able to retain between the pipes and on the back end over the next few seasons as the deals for several key players expire.

California recently passed a bill allowing NCAA student-athletes to profit from their name, image, and likeness.  College hockey isn’t exactly prominent there but Zach provided an overview of how this could wind up eventually affecting players in states that do have a significant college hockey presence as similar bills have been discussed elsewhere.  This doesn’t come into effect until January 2023 so there will undoubtedly be some legal challenges between now and then but it certainly could affect collegiate sports, including hockey, over the next few years.

Poll: Who Will Win The Pacific Division In 2019-20?

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We’ve finally reached the end of the offseason and things kick off tonight in the NHL. The regular season begins in Toronto with a matchup between the Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators, while the St. Louis Blues will hang their banner against the 2018 champion Washington Capitals. The excitement for the upcoming season is palpable, with even the most minor transactions generating plenty of interest among hockey fans.

With that in mind we’ve been asking you, the PHR reader, to give us your thoughts on the upcoming season. We started with the Atlantic Division, which seemed an easy choice for a good chunk of our community. The Tampa Bay Lightning ran away with the poll, earning a whopping 46% of all votes. Next was the Metropolitan Division, which wasn’t quite as lopsided. The Washington Capitals were picked by 31% of the voters to take home their fifth consecutive division title, but the Pittsburgh Penguins, Carolina Hurricanes and New York Islanders all got at least 10%.

The closest so far though goes to the Central Division, which is almost a dead heat between the Blues and Colorado Avalanche. Five teams received at least 10% of the vote, with only the Winnipeg Jets and Minnesota Wild falling below that threshold. The Central looks like it will be a meat grinder right to the end, but the reigning Stanley Cup champions are at least slightly ahead right now.

Lastly we’ll look at the Pacific Division, which was filled with disappointment in 2018-19. Just three Western Conference playoff spots came out of the group, with the other five teams all recording 86 or fewer points in the regular season. This time around things might be different, but will the upstart Arizona Coyotes, Connor McDavid-led Edmonton Oilers or rebuilt Vancouver Canucks really be able to challenge for the top spot? Cast your vote below and explain how you think the season will play out!

[Mobile users click here to vote!]

Poll: Who Will Win The Central Division In 2019-20

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We’ve finally reached the end of the offseason and things kick off this week around the NHL. Exhibition games are underway in Europe and final cuts have come down all around the league. The excitement for the upcoming season is palpable, with even the most minor transactions generating plenty of interest among hockey fans.

With that in mind we’re going to ask you, the PHR reader, to give us your thoughts on the upcoming season. We started with the Atlantic Division, which seemed an easy choice for a good chunk of our community. The Tampa Bay Lightning ran away with the poll, earning a whopping 46% of all votes. Next was the Metropolitan Division earlier today, which doesn’t look quite as lopsided. The Washington Capitals have been picked by 32% of the voters to take home their fifth consecutive division title, but the Pittsburgh Penguins, Carolina Hurricanes, New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils each currently carry more than 10%.

After finishing up the Eastern Conference we’ll now move west into the Central Division, where the Nashville Predators finished just a single point ahead of both the Winnipeg Jets and St. Louis Blues last season. In fact, Nashville’s 100 points were the lowest by any division winner and wouldn’t have even placed second in any of the other three groups. It didn’t do them much good either, as the Predators would fall in the first round to the Dallas Stars and have to watch their division rivals from St. Louis take home the Stanley Cup.

With that in mind, the Central might be the hardest division in the league to predict for 2019-20. All seven teams finished with at least 83 points last season and a similar thing might happen this year as they beat up on each other all year long. The Chicago Blackhawks, Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche should all be improved, while the Jets still have a star-studded forward group even if their defense did take a hit in the offseason.

Who do you think will come out on top of the Central Division? Will Matt Duchene’s arrival make up for the loss of P.K. Subban from the back-end in Nashville? Can the young core in Colorado take them all the way to the top? Will the Blues continue to ride a breakout Jordan Binnington all year long? Cast your vote below and explain how you think the season will play out!

[Mobile users click here to vote!]

Poll: Who Will Win The Metropolitan Division In 2019-20?

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We’ve finally reached the end of the offseason and things kick off this week around the NHL. Exhibition games are underway in Europe and final cuts have come down all around the league. The excitement for the upcoming season is palpable, with even the most minor transactions generating plenty of interest among hockey fans.

With that in mind we’re going to ask you, the PHR reader, to give us your thoughts on the upcoming season. We started with the Atlantic Division, which seemed an easy choice for a good chunk of our community. The Tampa Bay Lightning ran away with the poll, earning a whopping 46% of all votes. With the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins firmly in the second and third spots, it may be another difficult year for Atlantic teams trying to crack those divisional playoff spots.

We’ll now move on to the Metropolitan Division, which has been dominated by one team for the last several years. The Washington Capitals have taken home the divisional crown for the past four consecutive seasons, posting at least 104 points in each. Even after losing head coach Barry Trotz to the rival New York Islanders, Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals were able to fend off the rest of the group for the top spot. It didn’t do them much good as they ended up kicked out of the first round by the hard-charging Carolina Hurricanes, who should be in contention for the division lead after going all the way to the Eastern Conference Final.

It certainly won’t be easy to capture though, as the division had five playoff teams last season and could potentially be a battle between all eight clubs this time around. The New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils both underwent huge changes in the offseason, while the Pittsburgh Penguins are still led by the Hall of Fame duo down the middle.

Who do you think will come out on top of the Metropolitan Division in the regular season? Can the Capitals make it five in a row? Will the Islanders complete the transformation to defensive powerhouse? Will Carter Hart’s goaltending be the missing ingredient for the Philadelphia Flyers? Cast your vote below and explain how you think the season will play out!

[Mobile users click here to vote!]

Poll: Who Will Win The Atlantic Division In 2019-20?

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We’ve finally reached the end of the offseason and things kick off this week around the NHL. Exhibition games are underway in Europe and final cuts have come down all around the league. The excitement for the upcoming season is palpable, with even the most minor transactions generating plenty of interest among hockey fans.

With that in mind we’re going to ask you, the PHR reader, to give us your thoughts on the upcoming season. We start with the Atlantic Division, which last season gave us just three playoff teams but each of them recorded at least 100 points. The Tampa Bay Lightning led the way—just as our community predicted at this time last year—taking home the Presidents Trophy as the league’s best regular season team. Tampa Bay recorded 128 points but were stunned in the first round by the Columbus Blue Jackets and will be looking for revenge.

Tampa Bay is the odds-on favorite to win the division once again in 2019-20, but both the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins don’t trail far behind. Not only will those three powerhouses battle it out for positioning at the top of the group, but the Montreal Canadiens and Florida Panthers are both expected to compete for playoff spots and potentially improve on their respective 96 and 86-point seasons. The Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings and Ottawa Senators will all have to make large improvements to get into that playoff race, but as we saw last season with the St. Louis Blues, nothing is impossible in the NHL.

Who do you think will come out on top of the Atlantic Division in the regular season? Can Toronto really come out on top after handing so much of their salary cap to a handful of forwards? Will Boston reach the same level even with Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron another year older? Does the feisty young forward group in Montreal have what it takes to dethrone one of the top three? Cast your vote below and explain how you think the season will play out in the comments!

[Mobile users click here to vote!]

PHR Originals: 9/23/19 – 9/29/19

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Here is a rundown of the original content over the past seven days here at PHR.

Our look around the Atlantic Division salary cap situations continued as I took a look at the situations in Montreal and Ottawa while Holger did the same for Tampa Bay.  While the Canadiens and Senators sit well below the Upper Limit, the Lightning had to make cost-cutting moves this summer, a trend that is likely to continue over the next couple of offseasons as well.

At the start of every season, there are some coaches who are believed to be in danger of losing their job if their team gets off to a slow start.  We saw quite a few changes made last season and with a lot of teams expected to be tight in the standings due to increased parity around the league, there could be some quick changes made.  Which coaches are most in jeopardy?  Click here to make your prediction.

Gavin held his weekly Thursday chat.  Topics included the future of Jonathan Quick and Jeff Carter in Los Angeles, his take on the Justin Faulk trade, predictions of what teams could be making trades in the coming days, Philadelphia’s postseason changes, what type of new contracts Alex Pietrangelo and Brayden Schenn may try to get, and more.

The Penguins are on the clock in our 2007 redraft series.  They initially took Angelo Esposito who failed to make it into an NHL game and will certainly wind up with a better player in this exercise.  Make their selection here.

Our latest mailbag is now available.  Topics I tackled in this edition included waiver candidates, Toronto’s salary cap situation, the Faulk trade, forecasting the Metropolitan Division standings, and more.

Submit Your Questions For The #PHRMailbag

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The 2019-20 NHL regular season is just over a week away and there are still several top restricted free agents unsigned. Even without those players in camp however, teams are completing their final preparations for what should be an extremely exciting year. Teams like the New York Rangers and Arizona Coyotes have big aspirations as they try to get back to the playoffs, while perennial contenders like the Boston Bruins and Nashville Predators will try to overcome that final hurdle.

With that in mind, it’s time to run another edition of our mailbag. You can submit your query by using #PHRMailbag on Twitter or by leaving a comment down below. Make sure you get your questions in early and we’ll try to get through as many as possible when the mailbag runs on the weekend.

If you missed our last edition it was split into two parts you can read here and here. In the first part, Brian tackled questions regarding salary cap projections, the Washington Capitals pending free agents and of course touched on the RFA situations. In the second, he speculated on where he thought Jesse Puljujarvi would fit and gave some predictions on potential surprise playoff teams.

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