Five years have passed and Hockey's Future is taking a look back at the 2002 Draft.The good news? The Caps have the sixth-highest average NHL games played per pick from the draft.
The bad news? Only the Caps three first round picks - Steve Eminger, Alex Semin and Boyd Gordon - have made it to the show, and of the remaining 10 picks, only their second rounder, Maxime Daigneault, even has a realistic shot of ever playing in the bigs.
Of course, going three-for-three in a first round that included such flops as Petr Taticek (taken 9th overall) and Jesse Niinimaki (taken 15th) and finding a top-notch sniper, your shut-down center and, um, Steve Eminger far outweighs the later-round misses, but unfortunately there would be no diamonds in the rough in 2002 for GMGM et. al.
The Caps' 2002 Draft Class (pick, position, player):
12 D Steve Eminger
13 L Alexander Semin
17 R Boyd Gordon
59 G Maxime Daigneault
77 D Patrick Wellar
92 C Derek Krestanovich
109 L Jevon Desautels
118 R Petr Dvorak
145 G Robert Gherson
179 C Marian Havel
209 W Joni Lindlof
242 F Igor Ignatushkin
272 R Patric Blomdahl
2 comments:
Last year, I started going through all the drafts during McPhee's time to see how he did in relation to other teams. I never finished, but I think my impression of the 2002 overall draft was that it was pretty shallow, and most (9 of 13) of McPhee's picks came in the later rounds. Petr Prucha and Matthew Lombardi are about the only notable players to come out of Rounds 3-8. A few others seem to have become regulars (Paul Ranger, Dennis Wideman, Maxime Talbot, Ryan Craig), but that's it, and I'm not sure what their potential ceiling is. I could be missing some, of course, but overall, that draft was a desert of talent.
I don't think its a major deal that the only real prospects for the Caps came in the first two rounds. That's better than most of the teams that drafted...
Most teams get about a player and a half per draft. The Caps got three. Great draft, IMO. If they held it again today, Semin goes in the Top 3
Post a Comment