Bad Drafting Hurts

2001- Stephen Weiss- Second Line Center
        Lukas Krajicek- Second pairing Defenseman
Overall Grade D
Why? Not because of Weiss. We had 3 picks in the top 34 including two first rounders and all we have now is Weiss

2002- Jay Bouwmeester- #1 Defenseman
         Greg Campbell- 4th line center

Overall Grade C
Why? Bouwmeester is a good pick. Nash would have been fine as well. But the Panthers had three picks in the top 40 and two of those were in the top ten. Nothing to show for those other picks.

2003- Nathan Horton- Power Forward
         Kamil Kreps- 3rd line center with a possibility of one day possibly being a 2nd line center
         Anthony Stewart- 4th liner/Call up player...who used to have power forward potential
Overall Grade C+
Why? Horton was a good choice at #3 however Staal may have been a wiser choice at with originally having the #1 pick. However no knock here, Horton is a very good player. Reason why we rank this so low is because the team had three picks in the top 38 and 2 first rounders again but with nothing to show for Anthony Stewart.

2004- Rostislav Olesz- Second line Winger/ potential first line duties
         David Shantz- AHL Starter/Backup NHL Goalie. NHL career very unlikely.
         David Booth- Second line winger
Overall Grade B
Why? If you can get two second liners in any draft that's not bad at all but David Shantz has become a small bust because he was to be in the future of the Panthers which is seeming very unlikely.

2005- Kendall McArdle- Checking line Winger
         Tyler Plante- AHL Starter/Backup NHL Goalie. Probably a little more potential than Shantz but still not that great of a player for the 32nd overall pick.

Overall Grade C-/D+
Why? The Panthers did not have much to play with but with a late first round pick and an early second round pick... more should be expected since no one from the 2005 draft has seen a game in the NHL.

2006- Michael Frolik- First Line Winger
         Shawn Matthias (I know we did not draft him but we got him now)- Top 2 line Center
         Brady Calla- Bottom 2 line Center
         Michael Caruso- Bottom 4 Defenseman
         Derrick Lapoint- Bottom 2 Defenseman

Overall Grade B/B+
Why? Best Draft the Panthers and it's tough to ask for more. However, between these 4 players only 4 NHL games have been played (all my Matthias), so this could turn out to be better or worse.

2007- Keaton Ellerby- Top 4 Defenseman
         Michal Repik- Second line Winger
         Evegeni Dadonov- 2nd/ 3rd line winger. Really has to push to become a top 6 forward, probably won't happen.
         Matt Rust- 3rd line forward
         John Lee- Bottom 2 Defenseman/ Call Up

Overall Grade B+
Why? Better draft than 2006 because this team didn't actually draft Matthias but the Panthers stole Repik with the 40th overall pick. Ellerby was chosen early, but Ellerby has shown in the WHL that he will be able to skate with the best forwards in the NHL soon and should be a shutdown defenseman who can put up 20-30 points a year. Dadonov will get a shot one day at the NHL if he chooses, the others are doing decent but will have to show a lot to make it to the big club.

2008 Jacob Markstrom- NHL Starting Goaltender
        Colby Robak- Top 4 Defenseman
        Adam Comrie- Bottom 2 Defenseman
        A.J. Jenks- 3rd line center who could wear a "C" if he can make it to the 2nd line
Overall Grade B+
Best Draft of the decade because the Panthers received a shoe in for 3 solid NHL players without a pick in the 1st round. Robak can skate better than just about every Defensemen on our team other than Bouw. Markstrom is a huge step up from Shantz and Plante. And Jenks is a solid Checking line center with offensive skill above that of our current 4th line center (Greg Campbell) and has shown leadership abilities in Juniors. Still... it's hard to say how good a draft is until you see the results on the ice but it definitely looks a lot better than once before.