Pro Hockey Rumors Originals

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.

Our look back at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft is now in full swing as we poll the PHR community to see who would have been selected in the first round and in what order knowing what we know now. Through the first eighteen picks, we’ve already seen potential Hall of Fame players switch teams, and multiple captains move up and down the draft board.

Here are the results of the redraft so far:

1st Overall: Jonathan Toews (St. Louis Blues)
2nd Overall: Claude Giroux (Pittsburgh Penguins)
3rd Overall: Nicklas Backstrom (Chicago Blackhawks)
4th Overall: Brad Marchand (Washington Capitals)
5th Overall: Phil Kessel (Boston Bruins)
6th Overall: Jordan Staal (Columbus Blue Jackets)
7th Overall: Milan Lucic (New York Islanders)
8th Overall: Kyle Okposo (Phoenix Coyotes)
9th Overall: Erik Johnson (Minnesota Wild)
10th Overall: Derick Brassard (Florida Panthers)
11th Overall: Bryan Little (Los Angeles Kings)
12th Overall: Nick Foligno (Atlanta Thrashers)
13th Overall: Semyon Varlamov (Toronto Maple Leafs)
14th Overall: Artem Anisimov (Vancouver Canucks)
15th Overall: Michael Grabner (Tampa Bay Lightning)
16th Overall: Patrik Berglund (San Jose Sharks)
17th Overall: Jeff Petry (Los Angeles Kings)
18th Overall: Jonathan Bernier (Colorado Avalanche)

With a solid 23% of the vote, Bernier skips the first portion of his career with the Los Angeles Kings, Toronto Maple Leafs and Anaheim Ducks and goes right to the club that gave him a chance to earn his current multi-year deal. The Avalanche picked Chris Stewart in real life, but could have used a goaltender like Bernier to fill the pipes and help them avoid giving up assets for the rights of Semyon Varlamov. That trade ended up costing them the first-round pick that Washington used to select Filip Forsberg, who could have been an excellent addition to the center-heavy forward group they had in Colorado for several years.

Bernier in his own right could have benefited from being selected by Colorado instead of Los Angeles, as he wouldn’t have been stuck behind a young Jonathan Quick during their Stanley Cup runs. With the Avalanche, perhaps the small, reflexive Bernier could have grown into an even more talented netminder and established himself as a real elite option.

Now we’ll move on to the nineteenth overall pick of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, which was originally held by the Anaheim Ducks.

If you don’t remember the name Mark Mitera, you’re probably not alone. One of the forgotten first round picks from 2006, the Ducks certainly would like a do-over when it comes to their selection—though fans were ecstatic at the time. The big 6’3″ defenseman had already played one season at the University of Michigan and looked like a prototypical NHL defenseman at the time, capable of defending physically and making a quick pass when necessary. The Ducks were just about to enjoy the exploits of another big defenseman named Chris Pronger, and Mitera looked like the perfect player to complement some of their other offensive-minded weapons.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go exactly as planned. In his senior season at Michigan, Mitera, the newly-named team captain, tore the ACL in his left knee and missed all but eight games. The Wolverines would be knocked out of the NCAA tournament in the first round even after he rejoined them, pushing Mitera into the Ducks system and professional hockey. His first full season would be spent mostly in the ECHL, and his game never really rebounded. In 2011, just a few years after he entered Anaheim’s development system, they would trade him to Montreal. In 2013, he was out of hockey altogether.

Every team has first round misses like Mitera in their history, but for the Ducks it was a painful one. The team was right in the middle of an incredibly competitive window, and though they won the Stanley Cup in 2007, wouldn’t be able to climb the mountain again despite a tremendously talented core. Claude Giroux was taken just a few picks later, and several other stars later in the draft. If they’d been able to foresee Mitera’s injury and subsequent decline, there’s no doubt they would have picked someone else.

With the nineteenth pick of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, who should the Anaheim Ducks select?

[Mobile users click here to vote]

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.

Our look back at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft is now in full swing as we poll the PHR community to see who would have been selected in the first round and in what order knowing what we know now. Through the first sixteen picks, we’ve already seen potential Hall of Fame players switch teams, and multiple captains move up and down the draft board.

Here are the results of the redraft so far:

1st Overall: Jonathan Toews (St. Louis Blues)
2nd Overall: Claude Giroux (Pittsburgh Penguins)
3rd Overall: Nicklas Backstrom (Chicago Blackhawks)
4th Overall: Brad Marchand (Washington Capitals)
5th Overall: Phil Kessel (Boston Bruins)
6th Overall: Jordan Staal (Columbus Blue Jackets)
7th Overall: Milan Lucic (New York Islanders)
8th Overall: Kyle Okposo (Phoenix Coyotes)
9th Overall: Erik Johnson (Minnesota Wild)
10th Overall: Derick Brassard (Florida Panthers)
11th Overall: Bryan Little (Los Angeles Kings)
12th Overall: Nick Foligno (Atlanta Thrashers)
13th Overall: Semyon Varlamov (Toronto Maple Leafs)
14th Overall: Artem Anisimov (Vancouver Canucks)
15th Overall: Michael Grabner (Tampa Bay Lightning)
16th Overall: Patrik Berglund (San Jose Sharks)

It’s easy to forget that Patrik Berglund was once an up-and-coming two-way center that some believed had 30-goal potential and the ability to really dominate a hard matchup. He was traded this summer as part of the package for Ryan O’Reilly and many St. Louis Blues fans were just happy to get his contract off the books. Back in 2006 when he was selected 25th overall by the Blues, he was a relative unknown because he’d not played at the highest level in Sweden like Nicklas Backstrom but was still the eighth-ranked skater from Europe according to the NHL’s Central Scouting.

Berglund’s selection quickly paid off for the Blues, debuting in 2008-09 with 21 goals and 47 points as a 20-year old and giving the team a running mate for young forwards like David Perron and T.J. Oshie that were meant to carry the water for the franchise for some time. Berlund would play a decade for the Blues before the aforementioned trade, and recorded 322 points in 694 games.

Though the Sharks’ original selection of Ty Wishart worked out okay after trading him to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Dan Boyle, Berglund could have given them another legitimate center option to lengthen out their forward group even further, or could have potentially been used to get even more in trade. With 168 goals in his career, Berglund actually ranks 11th among all players drafted in 2006, ahead of names like Derick Brassard, Michael Grabner and Artem Anisimov who’ve already been picked in our redraft.

Now we’ll move on to the seventeenth overall pick of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, which was originally held by the Los Angeles Kings.

If you were a Los Angeles Kings fan in 2006, you’d just seen your team miss the playoffs for the third straight season, fire their head coach near the end of the season and be led in scoring by a 29-year old defenseman and two forwards on the wrong side of thirty. There were things to look forward to, like young sniper Mike Cammalleri who had just scored 26 goals in his first full season with the team and last year’s top pick Anze Kopitar who was progressing well in Sweden. It was time to add to that young group though, and after taking Jonathan Bernier with the 11th overall pick—or Bryan Little, if they’d had the benefit of hindsight—the Kings made a draft floor trade with the Minnesota Wild to send out one of those older forwards.

Pavol Demitra was sent out of town, and the Kings brought back Patrick O’Sullivan and the 17th-overall pick in 2006. With it, they decided to add to their young forward group by nabbing USHL center Trevor Lewis. Lewis was coming off an incredible season with the Des Moines Buccaneers, finishing second in the league in both goals and points while playing with fellow top pick Kyle Okposo. He’d leave for the OHL the following season, but jump right into the Los Angeles organization in 2007 and never look back.

Lewis is still with the only franchise he’s ever known, and has been a reliable defensive presence for more than a decade. Unfortunately, that offense he showed at the junior level has never really materialized, with his career-high being set last season with 14 goals and 26 points in 68 games. Lewis is a full-time player for the team, but like Bernier earlier in the round, doesn’t look like the best pick this high in the 2006 draft. Though the back half of the first round certainly doesn’t have the kind of Hall of Fame caliber that was at the top, there are more skilled forwards still available.

But is that skill really the most important thing to select? Lewis has been a constant in the Kings lineup for years now, and was part of both recent Stanley Cup championships. Is that enough to ask for from a player selected 17th overall, or is there someone else who stands out as the obvious choice?

With the seventeenth pick of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, who should the Los Angeles Kings select?

[Mobile users click here to vote.]

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.

Our look back at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft is now in full swing as we poll the PHR community to see who would have been selected in the first round and in what order knowing what we know now. Through the first fifteen picks, we’ve already seen potential Hall of Fame players switch teams, and multiple captains move up and down the draft board.

Here are the results of the redraft so far:

1st Overall: Jonathan Toews (St. Louis Blues)
2nd Overall: Claude Giroux (Pittsburgh Penguins)
3rd Overall: Nicklas Backstrom (Chicago Blackhawks)
4th Overall: Brad Marchand (Washington Capitals)
5th Overall: Phil Kessel (Boston Bruins)
6th Overall: Jordan Staal (Columbus Blue Jackets)
7th Overall: Milan Lucic (New York Islanders)
8th Overall: Kyle Okposo (Phoenix Coyotes)
9th Overall: Erik Johnson (Minnesota Wild)
10th Overall: Derick Brassard (Florida Panthers)
11th Overall: Bryan Little (Los Angeles Kings)
12th Overall: Nick Foligno (Atlanta Thrashers)
13th Overall: Semyon Varlamov (Toronto Maple Leafs)
14th Overall: Artem Anisimov (Vancouver Canucks)
15th Overall: Michael Grabner (Tampa Bay Lightning)

There are few forwards in this draft that have experienced as varied a career as Grabner, who had to fight through several seasons in the minor leagues before even ever getting a sniff of the NHL. The speedster was just never really a fit in Vancouver after they selected him 14th overall, and ended up experiencing his breakout with the New York Islanders instead, scoring 34 goals in his first season with the club. That 34-goal campaign is still his best, though now coming off back-to-back seasons in which he has recorded 27 tallies there was still a healthy market in free agency.

Tampa Bay originally selected Finnish goaltender Riku Helenius with this pick, but would have obviously been happy with adding the talented goal scoring ability of Grabner instead. By the time he was ready to really contend in the NHL, Guy Boucher was taking the Lightning to the Eastern Conference Finals. That team could have used some more firepower beside Steven Stamkos, Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis, and perhaps could have overcome the Bruins in that 2011 Game 7 that they lost 1-0.

Now we’ll move on to the sixteenth overall pick of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, which was originally held by the San Jose Sharks.

It’s hard to blame the Sharks for their pick, but in hindsight they likely would have taken someone else entirely. Ty Wishart was a massive, gifted defenseman from the WHL who had taken over from Dustin Byfuglien as the best offensive threat on the Prince George Raiders blue line. After Erik Johnson had been selected first overall, there wasn’t another defenseman taken in the top half of the first round, but San Jose would change that. Passing on other more highly ranked smaller defenders like Bobby Sanguinetti and Ben Shutron, the Sharks went all in for the 6’4″, 205-lbs Wishart.

If you’re a Tampa Bay fan, and you recognize the name it’s because Wishart would eventually make his debut for the Lightning instead of the Sharks. That’s because just two years after being picked, the young defenseman was shipped east along with Matt Carle and some draft picks to secure future Olympic gold medalist Dan Boyle. Boyle would become the puck-moving defenseman that the Sharks needed, and play six years in San Jose. Wishart meanwhile would later be flipped to the New York Islanders for Dwayne Roloson, before ending up in Europe trying to make a name for himself.

Playing currently for Pardubice HC in the Czech Republic, Wishart has just 26 NHL games under his belt and never could quite use his size to full advantage. The Sharks did well to sell on his draft stock quickly, but they likely would have just picked a betting player if given another chance.

So who would they take instead? The first round is already starting to thin out, and there isn’t a clear option for the Sharks. Do they add some more forward depth, or take the next best defenseman on the list? With the sixteenth pick in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, who should the San Jose Sharks select?

[Mobile users click here to vote!]

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.

Our look back at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft is now in full swing as we poll the PHR community to see who would have been selected in the first round and in what order knowing what we know now.  Through the first eleven picks, we’ve already seen potential Hall of Fame players switch teams, and multiple captains move up and down the draft board.

1st Overall: Jonathan Toews (St. Louis Blues)
2nd Overall: Claude Giroux (Pittsburgh Penguins)
3rd Overall: Nicklas Backstrom (Chicago Blackhawks)
4th Overall: Brad Marchand (Washington Capitals)
5th Overall: Phil Kessel (Boston Bruins)
6th Overall: Jordan Staal (Columbus Blue Jackets)
7th Overall: Milan Lucic (New York Islanders)
8th Overall: Kyle Okposo (Phoenix Coyotes)
9th Overall: Erik Johnson (Minnesota Wild)
10th Overall: Derick Brassard (Florida Panthers)
11th Overall: Bryan Little (Los Angeles Kings)

The Kings kick off the second third of the draft by picking perpetually underrated forward Bryan Little from the Barrie Colts of the OHL. Little was coming off an 109-point season with the Colts at that point and was ranked seventh among North American skaters. Little actually went just one spot lower in the real draft, picked by the Atlanta Thrashers after they’d struggled to find much success in the previous two drafts. The savvy forward would make an impact before long with the Thrashers, scoring 31 goals in his first full NHL season. Unfortunately, that would be the highest total of his career to this point.

Still, given the fact that the Kings would see Jonathan Quick jump over their original pick in Jonathan Bernier before long, adding Little would be an impressive improvement for the club. Now with 200 goals and 475 points in 754 games, Little is a prototypical secondary scoring threat for the Winnipeg Jets who can be moved up and down the lineup and play all three forward positions. That versatility and consistency—he’s scored at least 16 goals and 40 points in seven straight non-lockout shortened seasons—earned him a new six-year, $31.75MM contract from the Jets last summer and would be a huge asset for the Kings as they continue to struggle to score goals. His talents could have helped during the Kings Stanley Cup runs, and may have even put them in contention in other years.

Now we’ll move on to the twelfth overall pick in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, which was originally held by the Atlanta Thrashers.

Little was the pick 12 years ago, and he’s now the longest-tenured member of a franchise that eventually moved from Atlanta to Winnipeg in 2011. There’s little to complain about with the original pick, but they won’t be so lucky this time around with him already off the board. Instead, the team may have to look at a different position altogether to gain the most value.

Interestingly, the position that the Kings passed on to take Little may be the direction the Thrashers should have looked. Kari Lehtonen had been the second overall pick in 2002 by the Thrashers, and was heralded as one of the very best goaltending prospects in the world. By the summer of 2005 though, the Thrashers already had enough doubt in their net that they would take Ondrej Pavelec in the second round. During the 2005-06 campaign, Lehtonen would get his first real test as a starter in the NHL and didn’t set the world on fire with a .906 save percentage and 20-15 record. It would be just a few more mediocre seasons in Atlanta before Lehtonen found himself on a Dallas Stars roster, and Pavelec in the starting role for the Thrashers. His tenure would be longer, but Atlanta and then Winnipeg would struggle for years to find above average goaltending, something they may have been able to secure in the 2006 draft.

It’s not easy to invest another high pick in a goaltender with that kind of draft capital already sitting in the organization, so perhaps Atlanta would go another way. Plenty of forward talent is still available, including former 30-goal talents like Nick Foligno and Michael Grabner. What is the right pick for the Thrashers this time around? With the twelfth pick of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, who should the Atlanta Thrashers select? Cast your vote below!

[Mobile users click here to vote]

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.

Our look back at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft is now in full swing as we poll the PHR community to see who would have been selected in the first round and in what order knowing what we know now.  Through the first ten picks, we’ve already seen potential Hall of Fame players switch teams, and multiple captains move up and down the draft board.

1st Overall: Jonathan Toews (St. Louis Blues)
2nd Overall: Claude Giroux (Pittsburgh Penguins)
3rd Overall: Nicklas Backstrom (Chicago Blackhawks)
4th Overall: Brad Marchand (Washington Capitals)
5th Overall: Phil Kessel (Boston Bruins)
6th Overall: Jordan Staal (Columbus Blue Jackets)
7th Overall: Milan Lucic (New York Islanders)
8th Overall: Kyle Okposo (Phoenix Coyotes)
9th Overall: Erik Johnson (Minnesota Wild)
10th Overall: Derick Brassard (Florida Panthers)

The Panthers round out our Top 10 by selecting Brassard out of Drummondville in the QMJHL. Dropping four spots from where he actually went, Brassard still is an excellent option for a team looking to upgrade at the forward position. A former 27-goal man with the New York Rangers, Brassard enters this season as an excellent role player behind the other stars in Pittsburgh and will try to bring home the Stanley Cup for the first time in his career. Florida, who picked Michael Frolik in real life, get a chance to add a center to their other upcoming young forwards like Stephen Weiss, David Booth and Nathan Horton. Perhaps things would have gone differently if they’d had Brassard in the mix.

Now we’ll move on to the eleventh overall pick in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, which was originally held by the Los Angeles Kings.

In 2006 the Kings were right in the middle of what would end up being the longest playoff drought in franchise history, and had just fired head coach Andy Murray near the end of the season. Their star prospect Anze Kopitar, selected in the eleventh spot a year earlier, had impressed in Sweden and was due to make his debut in the NHL the following season. The team believed he could be the answer at center, and decided to look to the crease for their next big pick.

Jonathan Bernier was the first goaltender taken in 2006, taken by the Kings after a huge workload in the QMJHL. Bernier had started 54 games for Lewiston and recorded a .908 save percentage, but showed enough athleticism and poise to be considered a top prospect in the draft. He was ranked as the top North American goaltender by CSS, and projected to have a long career in the NHL. Little did the Kings know that the third-round goaltender they’d taken a year earlier would go from a backup at UMass-Amherst to winning a Conn Smythe trophy in just a few seasons. Jonathan Quick stole the starting role in Los Angeles by 2008-09, and still hasn’t looked back.

Bernier’s career perhaps hasn’t gone exactly as planned, but he still has proven to be a legitimate NHL talent. In 288 career regular season games for the Kings, Toronto Maple Leafs, Anaheim Ducks and Colorado Avalanche he has a 128-108-30 record and has registered a .914 save percentage. He was signed by the Detroit Red Wings this offseason as a potential replacement for Jimmy Howard, and still likely has several years of high quality play in front of him.

But was that the right selection for the Kings to make? Knowing what we know now about Quick’s ascension to star goaltender the team likely wouldn’t have made the pick, but is there an obvious candidate to replace Bernier at the number 11 spot? With the eleventh pick in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, who should the Los Angeles Kings select? Cast your vote below!

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