Prospect Ramblings – Who should have been first-round selections between 2014 to 2019?
Pat Quinn
2020-04-22
Welcome to the Thursday prospect ramblings and boy do I have a treat for you. A reading treat, not something like chocolate covered almonds. This day I am going to write about which players from the 2014 to 2019 drafted outside the first round should have instead been first round selections over other players.
When starting this it is kind of amazing how the list is so large for 2014 and then how it shrinks to be so small in 2019. Hindsight is a hell of a drug. Not all players fit in to the first round from the ones I have removed so there will be honourable mentions. Also I am not going to re-order every draft because that can be done on other lists/future ramblings.
But first! Here is my #GoodTweet of the week:
Fun fact: The Detroit drafted Ryan O'Reilly in 2018 98th overall.
— Pat Quinn (not that one) (@FHPQuinn) April 21, 2020
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2014
Out of the first round (in order):
- #4 Sam Bennett
- #5 Michael Dal Colle
- #6 Jake Virtanen
- #7 Hayden Fleury
- #12 Brendan Perlini
- #14 Julius Honka
- #16 Sonny Milano
- #23 Conner Bleackley
- #26 Nikita Scherbak
- #30 John Quenneville (I am still so upset at Lou picking JQ here)
NOTE: You would expect Ho-Sang and Goldobin to be here but they are good players, and I think it is team reasons why they never made it. Which will be part of a future ramblings for me starting next week, so stay tuned
Jumping in to the first round, in no particular order in the first round:
- Marcus Pettersson #38 to Anaheim (I remember arguing with people saying Pittsburgh lost this trade)
- Christian Dvorak - #58 to Arizona
- Ilya Sorokin – #78 to NYI
- Brayden Point – #79 to Tampa Bay
- Viktor Arvidsson – #112 to Nashville
- Igor Shestyorkin – #118 to NYR
- Kevin Labanc – #171 to San Jose
- Sammy Blais – #176 to STL
- Victor Olofsson – #181 to Buffalo
- Ondrej Kase – #105 to Anaheim
Honourable mentions:
- Brandon Montour – #55 to Anaheim
- Ryan Donato – #56 to Boston
- Lucas Wallmark – #97 to Carolina
- Devon Toews – #108 to NYI
- Kaapo Kähkönen – #109 to Minnesota
- Danton Heinen – #116 to Boston
- Oskar Lindblom – #138 to Philadelphia
- Anders Bjork – #146 to Boston
2015
Out of the first round (in order):
- #3 Dylan Strome
- #6 Pavel Zacha (I still believe, you all just wait)
- #11 Lawson Crouse (Still Hilarious)
McDavid, Eichel or Crouse….
— Damien Cox (@DamoSpin) February 7, 2015
- #13 Jakub Zboril
- #15 Zach Senyshen (Yes, I wanted to add DeBrusk here just to be a jerk haha)
- #21 Colin White
- #25 Jack Roslovic (This is still up in the air for me as he can turn out to be a top six guy)
- #27 Jacob Larsson (argument could be made that he deserves to be on the first round still)
- #29 Gabriel Carlsson
NOTE: Nick Merkley would still be a first-round talent if not for the injuries. Stay tuned over the next couple weeks for my ramblings.
Jumping in to the first round:
- Sebastian Aho – #35 to Carolina
- Roope Hintz – #49 to Dallas
- Rasmus Andersson – #53 to Calgary
- Vince Dunn – #56 to STL
- Anthony Cirelli – #72 to Tampa
- Conor Garland – #123 to Arizona
- Kirill Kaprizov – #135 to Minnesota
- Erik Cernak #43 to LA
- John Marino – #154 to Edmonton
Honourable mentions:
- Christian Fischer #32 to Arizona
- Brandon Carlo #37 to Boston
- Mackenzie Blackwood #42 to New Jersey
- Jordan Greenway #50 to Minnesota
- Yakov Trenin #55 to Nashville
- Jonas Siegenthaler #57 to Washington
- Kevin Stenlund #58 to CBJ
- Jeremy Bracco #61 to Toronto
- Denis Malgin #102 to Florida
- Glenn Gawdin #116 to STL
- Ethan Bear #124 to Edmonton
- Troy Terry – #148 to Anaheim
- Adam Gaudette #149 to Vancouver
- Vladislav Gavrikov #159 to CBJ
- Andrew Mangiapane #166 to Calgary
- Markus Nutivaara #189 to CBJ
- Sami Niku #198 to Winnipeg
2016
Out of the first round (in order):
- #8 Alex Nylander (still a good player and may become more consistent)
- #10 Tyson Jost
- #12 Michael McLeod
- #18 Logan Stanley (still amazed the Jets picked him because they have wicked scouting)
- #21 Julien Gauthier
- #25 Riley Tufte
- #26 Tage Thompson
- #29 Trent Frederic
NOTE: Rubtsov and Johansen marred by injury, so they are not included in this list but are included in the next few ramblings. Are you sick of me mentioning this yet!?!?
Jumping in to the first round:
- Jordan Kyrou – #35 to STL
- Alex DeBrincat – #39 to Chicago
- Samuel Girard – #47 to Nashville
- Carter Hart – #48 to Philadelphia
- Filip Hronek – #53 to Detroit
- Adam Fox – #66 to Calgary
- Victor Mete – #100 to Montreal
- Jesper Bratt – #162 to New Jersey
Honourable mentions:
- Janne Kuokkanen – #43 to Carolina
- Dillon Dube – #56 to Calgary
- Vitali Abramov – #65 to CBJ
2017
Out of the first round (in order):
- #7 Lias Andersson
- #8 Casey Mittelstadt
- #9 Michael Rasmussen
- #23 Pierre-Olivier Joseph
- #28 Shane Bowers
Jumping in to the first round:
- Jason Robertson – #39 to Dallas
- Aleksi Heponiemi – #40 to Florida
- Alexandre Texier – #45 to CBJ
- Alex Formenton – #47 to Ottawa
- Drake Batherson – #121 to Ottawa
Honourable mentions:
- Jack Studnicka – #53 to Boston
- Josh Brook – #56 to Montreal
- Morgan Geekie – #67 to Carolina
- Andrei Altybarmakyan – #70 to Chicago
- Daniil Tarasov – #86 to CBJ
- Jack Rathbone – #95 to Vancouver
- Emil Bemström – #117 to CBJ
- Lucas Elvenes – #127 to Vegas
- Cayden Primeau – #199 to Montreal
2018
Out of the first round (in order):
- #19 Jay O’Brien
- #24 Filip Johansson (Sorry Wild fans, but …. Yikes)
Jumping in to the first round:
- Alexander Romanov – #38 to Montreal
- Kirill Marchenko – #49 to CBJ (He will just take longer to get here)
Honourable mentions:
- Calen Addison – #53 to Pittsburgh
- Jan Jeník – #65 to Arizona
- Tyler Madden – #68 to Vancouver
2019
Well I have to say it is far too early here to judge but Pavel Dorofeyev should have been a first-round selection. That is all.
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