NHL Draft 2011: Power Ranking Sidney Crosby and the Top 15 No. 1 Overall Picks
Throughout the last 15 years, No. 1 overall picks like Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin have wowed us. There have also been some picks that have not lived up to the hype of being No. 1 overall. Surprisingly, only Ovechkin and Patrick Kane have won the Calder Trophy for Rookie of the Year in the last 15 years. But that doesn't mean the rest have not gone off to have spectacular careers.
As we approach the 2011 NHL draft and await who will be selected as No. 1 overall and carry the pressures that go with it, let us look back and the past decade and a half and rank the top overall picks.
Here we go!
15. Patrik Stefan (1999)
1 of 15It's not hard to see why Stefan gets the honor of the worst No. 1 overall draft pick in the last 15 years. Go to his Wikipedia page, and in the first two lines, it says that Stefan is "regarded by some to be one of the greatest draft busts in league history."
The Czech forward who played for the IHL's Long Beach Ice Dogs was drafted by the Atlanta Thrashers during their inaugural year. He was supposed to be the face of their franchise, but he was far from it.
Stefan never scored more than 14 goals and 40 points in a season, both of which he accomplished in the 2003-04 season. He only played a full 82-game schedule once, and that also occurred in the 2003-04 season.
He spent his last season in the NHL with the Dallas Stars. In Dallas, he was involved in probably one of the most embarrassing plays in the last decade. In the dying seconds of a 5-4 game where the Stars had the lead, Stefan approached an empty net to seal the game. However, the puck came off his stick as he lost control of it. The Oilers took control of the puck with less than 10 seconds to go in the game, went all the way back to the other end and scored on a goal by Ales Hemsky to tie the game.
The Stars eventually won the game in overtime, but the moment pretty much defined Stefan's disappointing career.
He has been out of hockey for the last three years now, but he is making a good living now as a player agent in Southern California.
14. Erik Johnson (2006)
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The St. Louis Blues took Erik Johnson out of the US National Development Program back in 2006 in search of defensive help. It wasn't the strongest draft class to begin with, but Erik Johnson was a highly touted defenseman expected to bring a strong presence on the blue line.
However, Johnson's career has been anything but spectacular. He had a solid rookie season scoring 33 points in 69 games, but he missed the entire 2008-09 season with a torn MCL and ACL.
He returned to the Blues in 2009-10 setting career highs in goals and assists with 10 and 39, respectively. Despite these numbers, the Blues expected a lot more from him. After a slow start to the 2010-11, they shocked the hockey world by trading him to the Colorado Avalanche for Chris Stewart and Kevin Shattenkirk.
It seems though that Johnson found his rhythm in Denver scoring 10 points in his 22 games with the Avalanche. It will be interesting to see how Johnson plays next year and beyond with a young group with flashy players like Matt Duchene. He can really turn his career around by serving as a great role model for a young team and develop into one of the great NHL leaders. But only time will tell.
13. Rick DiPietro (2000)
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Mike Milbury took a huge risk back in 2000 when he traded his young goaltender Roberto Luongo to open a spot for the highly touted Rick DiPietro.
At that point in time, a goalie hadn't been taken No. 1 overall since 1968 when the Montreal Canadiens took Michel Plasse. Nevertheless, the Islanders took the Boston University Terrier as their No. 1 overall pick.
Not only has Roberto Luongo gone on to have a dynamic NHL career with Florida and especially Vancouver, as he is the one of the reasons the Canucks find themselves in the Western Conference Finals, but DiPietro has had problems staying healthy throughout his career.
After being thrown into the fire almost immediately during his rookie season and posting a 3-15-1 record, the Islanders deemed that DiPietro needed more grooming in the minors.
He finally made his mark in the 2003-04 season when he had five shutouts and 23 wins on a mediocre Islander squad.
He signed a 15-year deal in 2006 worth over $67 million.
After the lockout, he posted three strong seasons on more mediocre Islander teams including a 2006-07 season which saw him getting hurt at the end. In that season though, he posted a 32-19-9 record with a 2.58 GAA and .919 save percentage.
Ever since then though, it's been downhill for DiPietro. He has only played in 39 games in the last three seasons. He keeps getting injured every year. Most recently he got into a fight with Brent Johnson in a game against the Penguins where Johnson literally broke his face.
DiPietro is not getting any younger either. We'll see how the rest of his career progresses, but as of now, it is clear the Islanders would rather have had Roberto Luongo.
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12. Taylor Hall (2010)
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Let's just say Taylor fall here because his sample size is too small. It's hard to judge a guy when he's only played one season on a ridiculously bad team.
He was selected No. 1 overall this past summer in Los Angeles by the Edmonton Oilers, and after his first season with the Oilers, he showed glimpses of what will come in the future. He scored 22 goals and 42 points in 65 games.
In his best game of the year against the Thrashers, Hall scored a natural hat trick to give the Oilers a 5-3 victory.
An injury during a fight (his first in his career) late in the season cut his season short, but the Oilers can't be disappointed with their pick.
11. John Tavares (2009)
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Like Taylor Hall, it's hard to judge John Tavares based on his small sample size. He was taken by the Islanders in 2009, and some felt he would make a Crosby-like impact in his first season.
However, he scored 24 goals and 54 points in his first season, which is very good for a rookie, but it's definitely not what Sid did.
He did build on his rookie season in his sophomore year with 67 points and two hat tricks. It should be noted that he plays for a rebuilding franchise, and Tavares really stepped it up late in the season when the Islanders had one of the best records post-All-Star break.
It will be interesting to see how he does if the Islanders can get a little more help for him on the wings. He does have great young guns who are also developing into stars like Matt Moulson and Michael Grabner.
10. Rick Nash (2002)
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What is it with professional sports teams in Ohio not being able to get help for their stars?
Rick Nash was drafted back in 2002 as a highly touted winger, and he's done everything in his power to make the Columbus Blue Jackets contenders. However, like LeBron James in Cleveland, Rick Nash has never been surrounded by anybody with talent.
Because of this, there have been many seasons where Nash significantly has more goals than assists. In 2003, in his sophomore season he scored 41 goals and only 16 assists. In fact, Nash has had more goals than assists four times in his career. The last two seasons combined he's only had three more assists than goals.
He has consistently been a 30-plus goal scorer, but he's never scored 80 points in a season in his career.
Why?
No help!
He's only made one playoff appearance quickly getting swept by the eventual Stanley Cup runner-ups, the Detroit Red Wings in 2009. During that regular season, Nash became the first player since 1948 to score a hat trick on three goals that were unassisted. This exemplifies, to a greater extent, on how Nash has been the only guy in Columbus.
One can see the damage that Nash can do with a talented teammate by looking at his international stats. If the disappointing 2006 Olympics are excluded where nobody on Team Canada showed up, Nash has 44 points in 34 games.
In a head-scratching move, Nash signed an eight-year extension with Columbus. It's unfortunate how he's toiling his best years away on a poor franchise. He has potential to be a 100-plus point player on a solid contender and maybe chase a Cup. The fact that he hasn't really asked for help from management and the fact that he resigned with the Blue Jackets for so long shows that perhaps he does not have any interest in winning and is happy with his paycheck.
This lack of interest puts him really down on his list. It's a shame. He could be a lot higher up on this list if he had more help on his team. With Columbus being an undesirable market, it does not seem like Columbus will ever get another star to play with Nash in the foreseeable future.
9. Chris Phillips (1996)
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Along with Erik Johnson, Chris Phillips was the only other defenseman taken No. 1 overall in the last 15 years. He is probably the least flashy of all the picks in this list, and it might even surprise some people that he was a first overall pick, but he was.
He was selected by the Ottawa Senators in their infancy years in 1996. After a year in juniors, he came into the NHL during the 1997-98 season. Ever since then, he has developed into a solid and fantastic defenseman who is a great model of consistency.
He's not going to wow anyone with his stickhandling or his goal scoring, but one thing he does do is consistently play solid defense.
Phillips also appears to be getting even better as he gets older. He's only missed one game in the last five seasons and he was a part of the Senators 2007 Stanley Cup run where they were ousted by the Anaheim Ducks in the Stanley Cup Final. In that season, he posted a plus-36 along with a career high of 26 points.
Phillips' value to the Senators is so immense that they gave him a three-year extension. He's 33 years old, and he brings plenty of leadership to what is now a very young team in a rebuilding process. He will serve as a great model to the young, exuberant team as they try to turn things around next season.
Nevertheless, Phillips has been anything but disappointing for the Senators. Every team wants a Chris Phillips and every Stanley Cup team has several of them on their team. He's a true shutdown defenseman and a leader that is respected in the locker room, and quite frankly, winning is impossible without a guy like him.
8. Steven Stamkos (2008)
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Drafted from the Sarnia Sting of the OHL, the Tampa Bay Lightning center has been exactly what the Bolts wanted when they drafted him.
After a disappointing rookie season, Stamkos has stepped up during the last two years. He scored 51 goals and 95 points in 2010, and he followed it up with a 45-goal, 91-point performance this season.
He is surrounded by great teammates like Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis who have won the Stanley Cup and has a chance to win it all this year with the Lightning in the Eastern Conference Finals. Whether or not he does or does not, Stamkos has a very bright looking future with the Lightning. We are bound to see many battles between Crosby, Ovechkin and Stamkos for the Rocket Richard trophy and the scoring title, perennially.
7. Ilya Kovalchuk (2001)
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Like Rick Nash, Ilya Kovalchuk was drafted by a poor franchise, and he toiled many of his best years without any real help, other than Dany Heatley. He did all he could to turn things around in Atlanta but was only able to take them to the postseason once because of lack of defense and goaltending.
After being drafted first overall, Kovalchuk started scoring at a torrid pace almost immediately. His point totals increased every year until he had his first 50-goal season in 2006 where he scored 52 goals and 98 points. The following year, he lead the Thrashers to their first playoff appearance in franchise history.The year after that in 2008, he tied his career high in goals with 52.
Other than his rookie season where he scored 29 goals, Kovalchuk has scored 30 goals in every season. He had six consecutive seasons with 40 goals or more spanning from 2004 to 2010. This earned him a monstrous 15-year, $100 million deal with New Jersey this past summer.
With a star-studded lineup featuring Zach Parise and Martin Brodeur, Kovalchuk and the Devils were expected to do a lot of damage this season, but the pressure was too much for the team, and Parise was lost for the year due to injury. They failed to make the playoffs despite a great run in the second half.
Kovalchuk will have many more chances with this Devil team to do damage in the future. But until he does, he cannot be ranked higher on this list. He needs more pelts on the wall and more victories in his belt. They will come because unlike Nash, he's on a great organization now.
We haven't seen the best of Ilya.
6. Marc-Andre Fleury (2003)
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The Pittsburgh Penguins traded their third overall pick to the Florida Panthers for their first overall pick in order to secure Marc-Andre Fleury. The Pens felt very confident with Fleury and wanted to ensure they would have a solid goaltender for their future in their rebuilding phase.
Drafting goaltenders as the No. 1 overall pick does not happen too often. In fact, other than the Islanders taking DiPietro in 2000, it hadn't happened since the late 60s.
The Penguins took a gamble with Fleury though, and it has been a very successful draft pick by then-GM Craig Patrick.
The Sorel, Quebec native got his feet wet in the NHL as an 18-year-old and struggled mightily with a 4-14-2 record. Give him a mulligan. He was 18 and playing for a terrible team.
His first full season with the Pens came after the lockout in 2005-06 when he posted a 13-27-6 record on the last place team.
With a year of experience in his belt, Fleury came up huge the following year getting 40 wins and leading the Penguins to the playoffs for the first time since 2001. The next year in the playoffs, he posted a 1.97 GAA leading the Penguins to their first Stanley Cup appearance since 1992. And finally in 2009, he recorded 35 wins in the regular season and 16 more in the playoffs to win his first Stanley Cup.
Fleury's most memorable moment of his career came in Game 7 of the 2009 Stanley Cup Final when he made a last-second save on Nicklas Lidstrom to secure the Cup for the Penguins. His ability to bounce back after tough games made Fleury very remarkable in the playoffs that season. He lost Game 5 of the Final 5-0 but responded with two 2-1 performances in Games 6 and 7.
This season on an injury-depleted Penguin team, Fleury posted a career high 2.32 GAA. He literally won games for the Penguins who were having troubles putting the puck in the net. Without Crosby and Malkin, the Penguins still finished fourth in the Eastern Conference, and that was a testament to Fleury's great play.
5. Patrick Kane (2007)
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Patrick Kane has been great ever since his first career NHL game. He won the Calder Trophy for Rookie of the Year in his first season where he recorded 72 points.
Most importantly, he revived a dormant hockey town in becoming a mad hockey city. Kane, along with teammate Jonathan Toews lead the Blackhawks to the playoffs for the first time in years, and together, they lead the Blackhawks to the Western Conference Finals in 2009.
The following year Kane set a career high in points with 88, matching his jersey number. Then in the postseason, he scored 28 points in 22 games helping his team win the Stanley Cup. Kane's most memorable moment of his career came in Game 6 of the Final when he scored the game-winning, Cup-clinching goal in overtime. He also won the silver medal with Team USA in last year's Olympics.
Kane had another solid season this year with 73 points, but the Hawks had made wholesale changes to their roster after their Cup run and failed to get out of the first round. Despite this, they return next year with the same core again, and rested Patrick Kane will make sure the Blackhawks are more dominant than just an eighth seed in the West.
Kane's contribution in making hockey one of the most popular sports in Chicago, and the Cup he won at such an early age makes him one of the best first overall picks ever taken.
4. Joe Thornton (1997)
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He's not going to score 50 goals. What he's going to do is make plays.
Joe Thornton's incredible vision on the ice and his ability to be a playmaker has made him one of the most dynamic players in the game. Jumbo Joe also has brought a physical presence because of his big size.
Thornton was originally drafted by Boston in 1997. It took him a while to be an impact player. He had respectable totals early in his career but it wasn't until 2002-03 where he had his first 100-plus point season. That number fell the following year, but following the lockout, the rule changes that promoted more scoring seemed to help Thornton the most.
With the elimination of the blue line and an increased offensive zone, Thornton was able to blossom into the player the Bruins hoped for him to become. However, they didn't weight for him to completely blossom. They traded him to the San Jose Sharks in the 2006 season which changed the Sharks' fortunes completely for seasons to come.
Thornton scored 125 points the year after the lockout and followed it up with a 114-point season the year after. That year, he had a whopping 92 assists, exemplifying his great playmaking abilities.
Thornton's numbers have diminished ever since then as he slowly exits the prime of his career. However, he has still been posting respectable numbers.
One thing missing from his resume is playoff success. He hasn't won a Stanley Cup yet and has been a part of the many Shark playoff teams that have choked in the playoffs. He hopes to make this season different as he finds himself again in the Western Conference Finals.
3. Vincent Lecavalier (1998)
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It was difficult trying to decide who would take the No. 3 spot in this power ranking between Thornton and Vincent Lecavalier. They both came into the league at a similar time, but Lecavalier has something that Thornton does not.
Sure, Thornton has over 200 points more than Lecavalier does in his career, but in 2004, Vincent Lecavalier led the Lightning to a Stanley Cup victory. This alone, and his contributions to Tampa Bay hockey has made him one of the greatest No. 1 overall draft picks.
This is a draft power ranking. When teams draft a player No. 1 overall, they are expected to be a part of the core for the team for years to come. The Bruins gave up on Thornton in 2006, and it wasn't until he was a member of the Sharks where he stepped up. However, Lecavalier is possibly the greatest Lightning ever along with teammate Martin St. Louis.
He spent his first few years on ridiculously bad Lightning teams. But after Martin St. Louis broke out to become a star, the Lightning became viable. Tampa Bay hockey grew and generally draws well if the team is doing well. Lecavalier wasn't done after 2004. He posted his first 100-point season in 2007. His point totals have diminished the last few years, but he is looking to cement his legacy with his second Stanley Cup victory this season.
2. Alex Ovechkin (2004)
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From the last 15 years, the only two players that have been transcendent are the next two.
Coming in at No. 2 in this power ranking is Alex Ovechkin. What he has done for not only the Washington Capitals but for the NHL is indescribable. The franchise was going nowhere until the Capitals were fortunate enough to draft Ovechkin.
In his rookie season, Ovechkin scored 106 points which is almost unheard of from a modern day rookie. In 2008, Ovechkin set a career high in points with 112, and the Capitals made the playoffs.
Ovechkin has continued to dominate opponents with his dazzling skills. He has 614 points in 475 career games. He has already reached the 300 career plateau in his young career.
However, the main knock on Ovechkin and the reason why he is not No. 1 on this list is his lack of playoff success. He has never reached a Conference Final and has only reached the Conference Semifinal once, being ousted by rival Sidney Crosby and the Penguins in seven games.
Even in the Olympics, Ovechkin and Team Russia were very disappointing. They were expected to be medalists but they finished sixth.
Don't kid yourself though. The rings and medals will come to Ovechkin in time. He has always been marred by playing on poor defensive and goaltending teams. His dynamic scoring ability undoubtedly will lead to great success in the postseason eventually.
1. Sidney Crosby (2005)
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Is there really an argument for having Crosby as the best No. 1 overall draft pick in the last 15 years? He entered the league with not just the pressures of performing well for the Penguins on his shoulder, but he also had the pressure of being the savior of the league on his shoulders, too.
The NHL was coming off a terrible lockout, and the league was banking on young superstars to save the sport. Alex Ovechkin was one of them, Sidney Crosby was the other. And Crosby has never disappointed.
He finished second to Ovechkin in the Calder Trophy voting in 2006, but after that, he has blown away Ovechkin in almost everything. His career points per game is higher than Ovechkin's. He has defeated him in a playoff series, and he defeated him in Olympic competition.
Crosby changed the Penguins' fortunes with his arrival in Pittsburgh. He became the youngest player ever to score 100 points in a season in his rookie year. The following year, he put up 120 points after being paired with Russian teammate Evgeni Malkin. The year after that, he took the Penguins to the Stanley Cup Final, and they lost to Detroit. But they bounced back the year after when Crosby helped Pittsburgh win the Stanley Cup.
The following year, he said he wanted to score goals. So he changed his stick and started shooting the puck more. That resulted in his first 50-goal season, and he shared the Rocket Richard trophy with Steven Stamkos.
Finally, this season, Crosby was on a ridiculous scoring pace. He had 66 points in 41 games, on pace for 132 points in the season when a concussion knocked him out for the rest of the season. He had an unbelievable 25-game point streak in the first half of the season.
As Crosby enters the 2011-12 season with more rest and health, it's only a matter of time he starts rewriting history books. Crosby is certainly special not just for the Penguins but for the NHL.
He is a transcendent icon, and he, along with Ovechkin, have lifted the sport from the dead to the point where their appearance in Cup Finals is not dependent to high ratings. Last season, Chicago and Philadelphia drew higher ratings than the years Crosby was in the Final. This season, with Crosby being knocked out for half of the season, ratings increased in many markets and have been highest in a long time in this year's playoffs.
It shouldn't be forgotten that Crosby is also a national hero for Canada. He scored the game-winning goal in the 2010 Olympic Final against Team USA, securing the gold medal for Canada.
At his age, some kids are just finishing college and making $40,000 a year. Crosby has already been in two Stanley Cup Finals, has an Olympic gold, has lifted a sport from the dead and is a national icon.
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