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The Biggest Draft Day Busts in NHL HistoryAhh, the day has come. The day where NHL team scouts have the chance to
prove that the years of studying, watching hours of hockey and breaking
down individual skills of a teenager was all worth it. We call it draft
day, but NHL franchise's call it the day to change their team by
relying on 18 year olds to lead them to the Stanley Cup.This
top 10 list is based purely on players who did not live up to the hype
on which they carried from years before being drafted highly. Some were
completely useless in the NHL and some teams got suckered into drafting
them when they had some many others to choose from (yes, it is easy to
say it now).Typically, teams hope that their first round draft
pick or picks are players that can play in the league for a good 15
years with great success. When your team has the honour to have a top
10 pick, you think of franchise players to help build a team around.Unfortunately
for the following players, they were picked by teams with ear to ear
grins that quickly turned into that "what the hell happened" look. What
makes it worse is when the players picked after your bust become
consistent NHL all-stars.And now, we will not keep you waiting...#10 - Greg Joly - 1st overall by the Washington Capitals in 1974Joly
did play nine seasons in the NHL accumulating an incredible 97 points
during that time. His best scoring season was in his sophomore year
where he tallied a record breaking eight goals (sarcastic voice). He
was traded the next season to the Red Wings but did no better.Here we have a #1 pick whose best season was 27 points in nine years.Players chosen after him: Clark Gillies (4th), Mario Tremblay (12th)#9 - Dave Czyzowski - 2nd overall by the New York Islanders in 1989This
was the first of two consecutive first round flops for the Islanders
(the other is coming soon). Czyzowski was a bloomer is his junior
years, even scoring over 50 goals in a season. Well, needless to say,
his NHL career was everything but goals.He only played in 126 games in the big league and only managed 31 points.Players chosen after Czyzowski: Bill Guerin (5th), Bobby Holik (10th), Olaf Kolzig (19th)#8 - Alex Stojanov - 7th overall by the Vancouver Canucks in 1991Stojanov
was certainly not known for his great hands, crazy speed or finishing
skills but throwing fists and bringing a high energy to games instead.
He only spent 107 games in the big show, scoring seven points but
earning over 200 penalty minutes.Actually, this terrible draft
pick ended up being the best thing to happen to the province of British
Columbia. For some reason the Pittsburgh Penguins acquired Stojanov for
Markus Naslund who became the life of Vancouver.Players chosen after Stojanov: Brian Rolston (11th), Alexei Kovalev (15th), and funny enough Markus Naslund (16th)#7 - Rico Fata - 6th overall by the Calgary Flames in 1998This
kid has expectations to not be an all-star but to be a go-to guy as a
secondary scorer for the Flames. In his 208 junior regular season games
before being drafted, he did score 188 points. The second he put on a
professional jersey though, it just did not fit right.Fata
would spend a season with a pro team, do badly and get sent down to the
minors where he would blow up the stats. He was waived by three NHL
teams on which he would get signed again after putting up points in the
farm league. Finally, after only 230 games and 63 points in the NHL,
Washington waived him for the fourth time and final time in his career.Players chosen after Fata: Nik Antropov (10th), Alex Tanguay (12th), Simon Gagne (22nd)#6 - Jason Bonsignore - 4th overall by the Edmonton Oilers in 1994Edmonton
had two picks in the first round (4 th and 6 th) and made a wise
selection picking Ryan Smyth with their second choice. Their first
choice was definitely not as special as Bonsignore only played 21 games
in four seasons with the Oiler organization.To Edmonton's
defence, of the three picks before, only Ed Jovanovski has had a
productive career, while Oleg Tverdovsky and Radek Bonk could easily be
on this list. At least the Oilers got to use Bonsignore in a trade to
acquire Roman Hamrlik and Mike Comrie. Other than that, he was quite
the flop.He even had a stint where he played for 13 different teams in 13 years in four different leagues.Players chosen after Bonsignore: Jeff O'Neill (5th), Jeff Friesen (11th), Matthias Ohlund (12th)#5 - Patrick Stefan - 1st overall by the Atlanta Thrashers in 1999The
Atlanta Thrashers were given a NHL team in 1997 and with their first
selection in the franchise's history in 1999, they picked Stefan. With
all do respect though, the 99' first round draft may be one of the
worst in history. Either way, Atlanta got a real shock after putting
the team on this guy's back.Stefan was supposed to be a solid
70-80 point contributor throughout his career but only broke the 40
point barrier twice in seven NHL seasons. The one season he did not
spend in Atlanta was with the Dallas Stars as a part time water boy.Today, he is out and about in Switzerland playing for a European team.Players chosen after him: Daniel Sedin (2nd), Henrik Sedin (3rd), Henrik Zetterberg (210th)#4 - Scott Scissons - 6th overall by the New York Islanders in 1990Here
we have the second consecutive flop for New York. The sad thing for the
Islanders is that the five picks before Scissons (Owen Nolan, Petr
Nedved, Keith Primeau, Mike Ricci and Jaromir Jagr) all accomplished
great NHL careers.He only played two games in the NHL and spent
his entire hockey life playing with random semi-pro teams. Then in
1995, a shoulder injury put an end to a hockey career going nowhere
anyway.Player chosen after him: Derian Hatcher (8th), Keith Tkachuk (19th), Martin Brodeur (20th)#3 - Alexander Svitov - 3rd overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2001Finally
the Lightning draft the power house center that they needed in Svitov
who is 6' 3'' and 240 pounds. His first season was two years later
where he played in 63 games scoring a mere eight points. So, the
following year the Lightning traded away Svitov to the Blue Jackets for
Darryl Sydor.After a very short stint in Columbus, Svitov
headed back to Russia to play in the Russian Super League. Here the
Lightning thought they had a monster to control a game and ended up
with a second tier defenseman in Sydor.Players chosen after Svitov: Mike Komisarek (7th), Pascal Leclaire (8th), Derek Roy (32nd)#2 - Alexander Daigle - 1st overall pick by the Ottawa Senators in 1993The
Ottawa Senators finished dead last in the league during their inaugural
season. Hoping to change that, they drafted the highly rated player who
every team wanted. There were close to a half dozen trade offers with
most of them being serious ones. Rumours even escalated to where
players like Peter Forsberg and Owen Nolan (in his prime) were
involved, while others were willing to give two draft picks. Ottawa
rejected anything that come their way.He was supposed to be so good that no one would remember anyone drafted after him. Fool's gold at its finest.Daigle
never ever lived up to his potential though he did have two 50 point
seasons in his five years in the Canadian capital. After being traded
three times, he decided to spend two years in Hollywood to try an
acting career. Once that completed failed, he had a half a season stint
with the Penguins until Minnesota gave him a last chance.His
last day in the NHL was March 6 th, 2006, 13 years after being drafted.
Daigle, like many others who have failed in North America, is currently
playing somewhere in Europe for some second hand team.The 1993 draft was a year of great players and Ottawa simply missed the boat.Players chosen after Daigle: Chris Pronger (2nd), Paul Kariya (4th), Saku Koivu (21st) to name a few.And my winner for the biggest draft day flop/bust in NHL history goes to...#1 - Brian Lawton - 1st overall by the Minnesota North Stars in 1983Lawton
was the first American born 1st overall pick in a NHL draft and had
loads of pressure on him because of it. He was supposed to perform in
the same category as Gordie Howe and the futuristic Wayne Gretzky. The
Stars gave him five seasons with his best performance being only 44
points which is not even close to his expectations.The New York
Rangers, Hartford Whalers, Quebec Nordiques, Boston Bruins and San Jose
all gave Lawton a chance that all failed. Scoring 266 points in 483 NHL
games is not all that bad for an average Joe but very bad for a 1st
overall pick.His style did change when he entered NHL arenas.
He looked scared to go in the corners and intimidated to play the sport
the way he grew up.The key reason that he is the biggest draft day bust is simple; the 1983 class was exceptional and he was not.Players
chosen after Lawton include Sylvain Turgeon (2), Pat LaFontaine (3),
Steve Yzerman (4), Tom Barrasso (5), John MacLean (6), Russ Courtnall
(7), Andrew McBain (8), Cam Neely (9); all had much better careers than
Lawton, even McBain in the long run.The Biggest Draft Day Busts/Flops in NHL History Honorable Mention:" Steve Kelly (6th overall by the Edmonton Oilers in 1995)" Bryan Fogarty (9th overall by the Quebec Nordiques in 1987)" Pavel Brendl (4th overall by the New York Rangers in 1999)" Glen Williams (4th overall by the Detroit Red Wings in 1976)
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