Draft Schmaft

Rangers trade Jessiman to Predators

UPDATE: Larry Brooks stole my column! Misfortune Rules Blueshirts Drafts

As today marks the end of the Huge Specimen Era in New York (more accurately, Hartford), I wonder if any other organisation can match the Rangers' futility (and some bad luck) with first round picks between '94 and '04?

• 04 - Montoya (bust so far - not impossible for him to make it, but it won't be in New York) / Korpikoski (could be a full-time NHLer soon)
• 03 - Jessiman (bust - likewise)
• 02 - no pick
• 01 - Blackburn (retired already)
• 00 - no pick
• 99 - Brendl/Lundmark (double bust!)
• 98 - Malhotra (solid player, but not much more - Rangers mishandled him as a kid)
• 97 - Cherneski (who?) [OK - I forgot he busted his knee, also retired]
• 96 - Brown (so good, I've seen him play in the UK)
• 95 - no pick
• 94 - Cloutier (not a disaster - I hear he is spoken highly of in Vancouver and LA though)
  

Obviously the draft is a bit of a crapshoot and hindsight is 20/20 (plus the Rangers' later round picks and recent record is better in comparison), but a sample of players that were taken after (but close to) those above is painful to look at:

• 04 - Wolski, Meszaros, Green
• 03 - Brown, Seabrook, Parise, Getzlaf, Burns, Kesler, Richards, Perry (strong draft!)
• 01 - Hamhuis, Hemsky
• 99 - Jackman, Boynton, Havlat
• 98 - Tanguay, Regehr, Gagne, Gomez (if you can't draft 'em, buy 'em)
• 97 - Hannan, Morrow
• 96 - Briere
• 94 - Theodore, Elias
  

Most of these players established themselves with the team that drafted them (Briere being the main exception).

(Info courtesy of hockey-reference.com)

Slightly obscure pleasant memories...

Off the top of my head for starters (mostly seen on TV). I'm probably not quite as anti-Devils as this makes me seem (but it's close).

• Sandy McCarthy deking Brodeur to score in the Rangers first win against the Devils for around 3,000 games in 2000/01
• The fact that Guy Hebert won that game
• Learning that somehow John Madden and Randy McKay each scored 4 in the same game against Pittsburgh (no love for the Devils at all, but my brother's a Pens fan)
• Watching a (bad) Kitchener team manage to have the first 25 shots on goal of a game against a (really bad) Mississauga team
• The Rangers being bad enough to trip Colin White (lightning on skates) on a breakaway to give him a penalty shot
• Mike Richter thankfully saving that penalty shot
• Manny Malhotra dropping Ken Daneyko with one punch
• Several brawls in the first OHL game I went to, including a Sault Ste. Marie player giving the finger to the whole crowd while skating off after being thrown out
• Winning pre-season bets on the Ducks to win the Cup in '07 (16/1) and the Caps to win the SE in '08 (14/1) - and regretting the pitiful amounts I wagered