Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda. Draft Day Do-Overs.
by gallagher on Jun 26, 2009 12:00 PM CDT
7 comments
Ah, draft day. We remember way back in 2006 when we were vehemently arguing whether the Blues should be taking Erik Johnson first overall or if the Blues should skip conventional wisdom and draft either Jordan Staal or Jonathan Toews or Phil Kessel instead.
This year it's Islanders fans who have to suffer through the "Is Tavares the next Sakic or is he the next Daigle?" discussion. Poor/lucky bastards.
For the record, we're firmly in the Erik Johnson camp, but the discussion did cause us some questioning. What if we could go back to 1989 (the year that Back To The Future II was released), in a stolen suped-up Delorean with a 2009 sports almanac, Biff Tannen-style and hand over a list to the Blues' management team? What if we gave them the ability to look at the careers of the 18-year-olds before they ever stepped onto NHL ice?
Who could they have picked?
Leaving out the really deep, surprising picks (look, everyone could have picked Datsyuk and/or Zetterberg, we get it), here's who the Blues picked with their first choice in each of the last 19 years... and who they would have chosen (from players taken within one round's worth of picks) if we had a time-traveling sports car. Damn we loved that movie. Now we just wish it was real.
1989 NHL Entry Draft
The Blues select, ninth overall, defenseman Jason Marshall from the Vernon Lakers.
1989 Re-Do: The Blues select center Bobby Holik (actually drafted one pick later, 10th overall by New Jersey)
1990 NHL Entry Draft
The Blues select, 33rd overall (2nd round), left wing Craig Johnson from Hill-Murray High School.
1990 Re-Do: The Blues select center Doug Weight (actually drafted one pick later, 34th overall by New York Rangers)
1991 NHL Entry Draft
The Blues select, 27th overall, defenseman Steve Staios from Niagara Falls.
1991 Re-Do: The Blues select defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh (actually drafted three picks later, 30th overall by San Jose)
1992 NHL Entry Draft
The Blues select, 38th overall, center Igor Korolev from Moscow Dynamo
1992 Re-Do: The Blues select center Michael Peca (actually drafted two picks later, 40th overall by Vancouver)
1993 NHL Entry Draft
The Blues select, 37th overall, left wing Maxim Bets from the Spokane Chiefs.
1993 Re-Do: The Blues select defenseman Bryan McCabe (actually drafted three picks later, 40th overall by New York Islanders)
1994 NHL Entry Draft
The Blues select, 68th overall, center Stephane Roy from Val d'Or Foreors
1994 Re-Do: The Blues select center Chris Drury (actually drafted four picks later, 72nd overall by Quebec)
1995 NHL Entyry Draft
The Blues select, 49th overall, center Jochen Hecht from Mannheim.
1995 Re-Do: The Blues select Jochen Hecht. Within the next 26 picks (one round's worth in 1995), Hecht has had the longest and most prolific career of anyone else selcted after him.
1996 NHL Entry Draft
The Blues select, 14th overall, center Marty Reasoner from Boston College
1996 Re-Do: The Blues select center Marco Sturm (actually drafted seven picks later, 21st overall by San Jose). Despite the availabilty of Daniel Briere, we take the rugged German over the fragile French Canadien.
1997 NHL Entry Draft
The Blues select, 40th overall, center Tyler Renette from North Bay
1997 Re-Do: The Blues select Kristian Huselius (actually drafted 7 spots later, 47th overall by Florida)
1998 NHL Entry Draft
The Blues select, 24th overall, defenseman Christian Backman from Vastra Frolunda
1998 Re-Do: The Blues select center Scott Gomez (actually drafted three picks later, 27th overall by New Jersey)
1999 NHL Entry Draft
The Blues select, 17th overall, defenseman Barret Jackman from Regina
1999 Re-Do: The Blues select Barret Jackman. Within the next 28 picks (one round's worth in 1999), no one compares to Jackman's solid NHL resume.
2000 NHL Entry Draft
The Blues select, 30th overall, center Jeff Taffe from the University of Minnesota
2000 Re-Do: The Blues select defenseman Nick Schultz (actually selected three picks later, 33rd overall by Minnesota Wild)
2001 NHL Entry Draft
The Blues select, 57th overall, center Jay McClement from Brampton
2001 Re-Do: The Blues select Jay McClement. Tomas Plekanec, taken 14 picks later by Montreal, is a close second, but we feel like we're watching an underrated Selke Trophy winner develop right before our eyes in Silent Jay McClement.
2002 NHL Entry Draft
The Blues select, 48th overall, center Alexei Shkotov from Elemash
2002 Re-Do: The Blues select defenseman Duncan Keith (actually selected six picks later, 54th overall by Chicago)
2003 NHL Entry Draft
The Blues select, 30th overall, defenseman Shawn Belle from Tri-City
2003 Re-Do: Lots of good players to choose from (Patrice Bergeron and Kevin Klein among them, but the Blues select defenseman Shea Weber (actually selected 19 picks later, 49th overall by Nashville)
2004 NHL Entry Draft
The Blues select, 17th overall, goalie Marek Schwarz from Sparta Praha
2004 Re-Do: The Blues select center Travis Zajac (actually selected three picks later, 20th overall by New Jersey)
2005 NHL Entry Draft
The Blues select, 24th overall, center T. J. Oshie from Warroad High School
2005 Re-Do: The Blues select center Paul Stastny (actually selected 20 picks later, 44th overall by Colorado). It makes us want to vomit too, but the Blues' alumnus offspring and offensive sparkplug would rival the Teej's popularity if he was wearing a Bluenote.
2006 NHL Entry Draft
The Blues select, 1st overall, defenseman Erik Johnson from the USNDTP
2006 Re-Do: The Blues select Erik Johnson. As Blues Director of Amateur Scouting Jarmo Kekalainen has said, if all things are equal between players and one is a forward and one is a defenseman, always take the defenseman. Golf cart-lost season aside, we'll take Johnson's future over Jordan Staal (2nd overall; Pittsburgh), Jonathan Toews (3rd overall; Chicago), Niklas Backstrom (4th overall; Washington) and Phil Kessel (5th overall; Boston).
2007 NHL Entry Draft
The Blues select, 13th overall, center Lars Eller from Frolunda
2007 Re-Do: The Blues select Lars Eller. Despite the fact that he has yet to suit up for a single NHL game, the only player who has out-performed him at this point is one David Perron. Knowing what we know, thanks to our time-traveling cocaine-fueled plutonium fueled car and sports almanac, we re-select Eller here and pick up Perron at a discount with the 26th overall pick.
2008 NHL Entry Draft
The Blues select, 4th overall, defenseman Alex Pietrangelo from Niagara
2008 Re-Do: The Blues, hindered by an almanac that only covers up to this draft, decide to pass on Nikita Filatov and instead select Alex Pietrangelo because according to Jarmo 3:16, "When Thy Lord Giveth Two Players Of Equal Upside, Thee Wilst Always Select Thyselves a Defenseman."
And so, Doc Brown, there you have it. The flux capacitor did its job and Biff and his almanac did theirs. Now there's nothing left but to keep these guys together and build your dynasty. Good luck, god speed and know this: we plan to win a shit-ton of money off of this, so don't fuck it up.
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Whoa, Gallagher
This is heavy
by Poor College Student on Jun 26, 2009 1:10 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
That's not Gallagher
His underwear says Calvin Klein.
www.stlouisgametime.com
by Brad Lee on Jun 26, 2009 2:58 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
I see what you did there.
It’s like a reference wrapped inside a reference.
by gallagher on Jun 26, 2009 5:31 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
HELLO?!
Mick FLYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!
"The world is getting to be such a dangerous place, a man is lucky to get out of it alive." -- W.C. Fields
by Donut King on Jun 26, 2009 7:10 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Every time I read that someone had been selected more than a couple picks later, I felt a little better that at least a couple other clubs had whiffed on the same pick. Though the first two, ouch.
And really, the worst part of this list is that the Note didn’t even have 1st-round selections for so many of those years.
Drafting is largely a crapshoot. And still TBD on our picks over the last 5 years.
http://www.stlouisgametime.com/
by cold on Jun 26, 2009 2:24 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
This is among many things today that make me want about to vomit.
Oh, Jason Marshall, I wanted so much to believe. Lucky you the NHL expanded.
Lighthouse Hockey: Side effects may include Weight gain and frequent game loss.
by Dominik on Jun 26, 2009 3:27 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Well.
Coulda had Scott Gomez, eh? Well shit . . .
Interesting look-back though.
"The world is getting to be such a dangerous place, a man is lucky to get out of it alive." -- W.C. Fields
by Donut King on Jun 26, 2009 7:10 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
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