panoo

Written by Holly Gunning
06/07/2007

Five years is considered the appropriate time to look back and judge a draft class. Over the past several weeks, Hockey's Future has examined the 2002 draft crop, team by team. The hyperlinks in the table below lead to the individual articles.

We have measured success in selecting by using NHL games player, because it is fair to all types of players, flashy goal scorers to defensive defensemen.

Overall, NHL teams have gotten an average of 22.5 NHL games per pick out of the 2002 draft class, which is not far from the averages for 2000 and 2001, each after five years.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have gotten the most value out of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft thus far, averaging 59 NHL games per pick. They accomplished this despite making their first selection at 24th overall. The Chicago Blackhawks came in fourth among teams, despite not picking until 21st overall.

The Columbus Blue Jackets, who selected first overall in 2002, came in second with an average of 49.4 games per pick. The Atlanta Thrashers selected second overall, but having taken a goaltender in the first round, haven’t yet seen the fruits of the pick as much as teams who took skaters.

The Vancouver Canucks have the lowest average in the league, with just 0.1 NHL games per pick thanks to the one game played by goaltender Rob McVicar. They had four picks in the top 100 in 2002, starting with the 49th pick. Four teams began their picks even lower than Vancouver, including Tampa at 60th.

The player taken the highest in the draft who has not played NHL games is Jesse Niinimaki, chosen by Edmonton at No. 15.

The Buffalo Sabres made good selections in 2002 and averaged 35 NHL games per player, but only Daniel Paille out of the four still plays for the team. First rounder Keith Ballard was traded to the Phoenix Coyotes.

The Carolina Hurricanes had the fewest picks with four, and Edmonton had the most picks with 15. Both have averages near the mean.

FULL STORY

esum19

well here is where the saying "quality over quantity" comes in. most value perhaps, best value...i am not sure about that.

__________________
L E C A V A L I E R!!