This is my seventh segment of "Who They Should Have Drafted". I go back and look at the past NHL entry drafts and go through and re-draft the 1st two rounds based on statistics only.
So here we go, this is the 1st two rounds of the 2001 draft with the best picks possible:
Pick - Team - Players - Actual Draft Position (Round/Pick)
Round 11)
- Ilya Kovalchuk* (1/1)
2)
- Jason Spezza* (1/2)
3)
- Ales Hemsky* (1/13)
4)
- Jason Pominville* (2/55)
5)
- Derek Roy* (2/32)
6)
- Mike Cammalleri* (2/49)
7)
- Stephen Weiss* (1/4)
8)
- Patrick Sharp* (3/95)
9)
- Tomas Plekanec* (3/71)
10)
- Mikko Koivu* (1/6)
11)
- Jussi Jokinen* (6/192)
12)
- R.J. Umberger* (1/16)
13)
- Marek Zidlicky* (6/176)
14)
- Tuomo Ruutu* (1/9)
15)
- Brooks Laich* (6/193)
16)
- Ryan Clowe* (6/175)
17)
- Christian Ehrhoff* (4/106)
18)
- Cristobal Huet (7/214)
19)
- Martin Gerber (8/232)
20)
- Dan Humhuis* (1/12)
21)
- Kyle Wellwood* (5/134)
22)
- Ray Emery* (4/99)
23)
- Peter Budaj* (2/63)
24)
- Mike Smith* (5/161)
25)
- Colby Armstrong* (1/21)
26)
- Chuck Kobasew* (1/14)
27)
- Kevin Bieksa* (5/151)
28)
- Fedor Tyutin* (2/40)
29)
- Jay McClement* (2/57)
30)
- Marek Svatos (7/227)
Round 21)
- Dennis Seidenberg* (6/172)
2)
- Petr Cajanek (8/253)
3)
- Carlo Colaiacovo* (1/17)
4)
- Marcel Goc* (1/20)
5)
- P.A. Parenteau* (9/264)
6)
- Jordin Tootoo* (4/98)
7)
- David Moss (7/220)
8)
- Pascal Leclaire (1/8)
9)
- Tim Gleason* (1/23)
10)
- Johnny Oduya* (7/221)
11)
- Fredrik Sjostrom (1/11)
12)
- Stephane Veillieux* (3/93)
13)
- Pasi Nurminen (6/189)
14)
- Jussi Markkanen (5/133)
15)
- Chris Thorburn* (2/50)
16)
- Milan Jurcina* (8/241)
17)
- Mike Komisarek* (1/7)
18)
- Shaone Morrisonn (1/19)
19)
- Christoph Schubert (4/127)
20)
- David Steckel* (1/30)
21)
- Lukas Krajicek (1/24)
22)
- Brandon Bochenski (7/223)
23)
- Aaron Johnson* (3/85)
24)
- Stanislav Chistov (1/5)
25)
- Tomas Surovy (4/120)
26)
- Tim Jackman* (2/38)
27)
- Jeff Woywitka* (1/27)
28)
- Cody McCormick* (5/144)
29)
- Andrew Alberts* (6/179)
30)
- Jiri Novotny (1/22)
31)
- Evgeny Artyukhin (3/94)
32)
- Nathan Paetsch (2/58)
33)
- Jay Harrison* (3/82)
* denotes still active in the NHL
The first two picks remained the same with Kovalchuk and Spezza going 1 and 2. Goalies for the most part are mostly career back-ups except the surprise starter in Mike Smith going to
. The draft's top 10-17 picks are all decent current NHLers and the draft as a whole was overall a good draft class with Jay Harrison, who just emerged as an NHL defensemen this season, being the last pick.