The Top 10 NHL Draft Busts Drafted First Since 1970

They came from all over North America, and in one instance, the Czech Republic. They honed their skills on backyard ponds, wore hand-me-down skates, and were chauffeured to practices held so early in the morning it was still dark out.

They all had a dream to play in the NHL. But it's a wonder whether that dream included being selected No. 1 overall in the Amateur Draft.

Yet that's what each of these 10 NHL players have in common; they all were former No. 1 overall draft picks. And they all, for one reason or another, failed to live up to their hype.

So without further ado, here are the Top 10 No. 1 Overall Draft Busts in the NHL since 1970.

No. 10: Rick DiPietro, NY Islanders 2000

Rick DiPietro entered the NHL behind the 8-ball, because it's rare that goaltenders get picked first off the board.

And DiPietro has had a decent NHL career, which is ongoing with the Islanders, though it's currently in peril due to a knee injury.

Still, 14 career shutouts and 117 victories has hardly been worthy of No. 1 overall status.

Not that it's his fault. But who said these slideshow lists were fair?

No. 9: Billy Harris, NY Islanders 1972

Sorry, Islanders fans, for starting this list with two of yours. But at least they're not No. 1 and No. 2, right?

Harris has the distinction of being the first player drafted in team history.

Harris was 20 years old when he scored 57 goals for the Toronto Marlboros of the OHA, which is now the OHL.

Harris scored 231 goals in 12 NHL seasons. That's not bad, but a No. 1 overall pick should be better.

The Isles could have had Steve Shutt, who was drafted fourth by Montreal.

No. 8: Greg Joly, Washington Capitals 1974

Speaking of original franchise players, how about defenseman Greg Joly, who became the first official Washington Capital draft pick in 1974?

Joly impressed the Caps by scoring 21 goals for the Regina Pats of the WCHL in 1973-74.

Joly was a rushing, puck-carrying defenseman, but he played all of his career for some pretty bad teams.
The Caps, in fact, won a grand total of EIGHT games in their maiden season with Joly.

Joly has the distinction of scoring the last goal ever tallied in Detroit's old Olympia Stadium while playing for the Red Wings. It happened on an end-to-end rush on December 15, 1979.

I should know, because I was there.

No. 7: Joe Murphy, Detroit Red Wings 1986

The Red Wings were coming off a horrendous season in which they won 17 games and gave up over 400 goals.

The fans' choice with the No. 1 overall pick was local kid Jimmy Carson.

The Red Wings chose Joe Murphy, who went to Michigan State but who wasn't nearly as popular as Carson.

Murphy was a playmaking center who proved to be overwhelmed physically and not nearly as NHL-ready as Carson, who hit the ice running.

Eventually Murphy and Carson would be traded for each other.

Murphy played for several NHL teams, but was never a prolific scorer and was rarely an impactful player in the league.

Carson, drafted second by the Los Angeles Kings, was more productive, though even he fell short of expectations over the long haul.

Murphy did win a Stanley Cup with the Edmonton Oilers in 1990, the year he was traded to the Oilers by Detroit.

No. 6: Rick Green, Washington Capitals 1976

The 1976 Amateur Draft might have been one of the weakest in history.

Only a handful of first round picks that year had serviceable NHL careers.

So does that make Rick Green the worst of the worst?

Green was No. 1 overall in '76, joining a still God-awful Capitals team. He was going to be the all-around defenseman that the team sorely lacked.

Um, no.

Green did play in 845 NHL games, and he was kind of steady, but he was nowhere near worthy of being picked first overall, no matter the year.

The Caps could have had Bernie Federko, who easily had the best career of anyone picked in the first round that year.

No. 5: Gord Kluzak, Boston Bruins 1982

Gord Kluzak would have had a pretty decent NHL career if he had two good knees.

Kluzak, a defenseman, was selected over fellow blueliners Scott Stevens and Phil Housley.

Ouch.

Ouch also described Kluzak physically. He underwent no less than 11 knee surgeries during his NHL career.

Kluzak retired in 1990 at age 26, having played in the fewest NHL games of any No. 1 overall pick selected before 2000.

No. 4: Brian Lawton, Minnesota North Stars 1983

The 1983 Draft was rich with high-scoring playmakers.

There was Pat LaFontaine, who went No. 3 to the New York Islanders.

And there was Steve Yzerman, who went No. 4 to the Red Wings.

And there was Brian Lawton.

The North Stars passed on centers LaFontaine and Yzerman and went for Lawton, a 6'0", 180 lb. left wing.

Bad move.

It took Lawton 10 seasons to score a whopping 112 NHL goals. His career high was 21 in 1986-87.

I think you know what LaFontaine and Yzerman accomplished.

No. 3: Patrik Stefan, Atlanta Thrashers 1999

From the Czech Republic came Patrik Stefan, a 6'2", 210-pound forward.

He should have never left the homeland.

Who knows what the Thrashers were thinking when they made Stefan No. 1 overall in 1999, when Henrik Sedin, no less, was available.

But they did, and Stefan played just 455 NHL games, scoring 64 goals. He was out of the league in 2007 at age 27, never having scored more than 14 goals in any NHL campaign.

No. 2: Doug Wickenheiser, Montreal Canadiens 1980

I hate to speak ill of the dead, as Doug Wickenheiser died tragically from cancer in 1999 at the age of 37.

But from a pure hockey sense, Wickenheiser was likely the most vilified Montreal Canadiens draft pick in franchise history.

That's because the Habs fans dearly wanted French-Canadian Denis Savard, who played junior hockey in...MONTREAL!

But Savard slipped to No. 3 and the Canadiens got Wickenheiser, who sounded as French-Canadian as Ted Turner's accent.

To be fair to Canadiens management, Wickenheiser did score an incredible 89 goals in the 1979-80 season playing for Regina in the Western Hockey League. That kind of production is hard to overlook.

What made matters worse, of course, is that Denis Savard went on to a Hall of Fame Career, though he did eventually become a Canadien later on.

Wickenheiser played four uneventful seasons in Montreal, then bounced around the league. He retired from pro hockey as a 33-year-old minor leaguer.

Then he got sick and the rest is tragic history.

No. 1: Alexandre Daigle, Ottawa Senators 1993

Mention the name Alexandre Daigle in Ottawa and be prepared for a sigh strong enough to power a wind turbine.

The Senators had fantasies of Daigle, a Montreal-bred kid, teaming with star forward Alexei Yashin to give Ottawa a 1-2 punch unrivaled in the NHL.

Never came close to happening. Yashin was terrific; Daigle was mediocre, at best.

Not only was Daigle grossly underachieving, but his attitude was lousy.

The Senators tried to work with Daigle, but the feeling wasn't mutual.

They finally dumped him, and he became a Philadelphia Flyer in 1997. The Flyers pawned him off to Tampa Bay after two years.

There was actually a Daigle sighting as late as 2006, when he played unremarkably for the Minnesota Wild. He continued his pro career overseas.

In fact, Daigle was still playing in 2010, for Langnau in the Swiss-A League. The numbers weren't very good there, either.

Oh, and the No. 2 overall pick in 1993?

A guy named Chris Pronger.

Daigle's grand total in the NHL: 616 games, 129 goals, and about 7,236 caused migraines.