What If?

[Brass]

I got this idea from the 2003 NBA draft type post someone did in the Sports in General section. I thought that maybe I would do the NHL drafts 1980 to current, most of them, in the top 10. Here's how it might of played out, if we could see into the future....

1.) With the first overall pick in the 1980 National Hockey League draft, the Montreal Canadiens select defensemen Paul Coffey - No doubt that Coffey has established himself as one of the best defensemen in the history. With 1,531 points in career, frankly, it's a no-brainer!

2.) With the second overall pick in the 1980 National Hockey League draft, the Winnipeg Jets select Jari Kurri - Another player that established himself as one of the best. Despite technically being a "journeyman", Kurri was still an excellant player. If he went to Winnipeg? Edmonton without the dynasty? The Oilers possibly in Phoenix?? We can only imagine!

3.) With the third overall pick in the 1980 National Hockey League draft, the Chicago Blackhawks select Denis Savard - He was their pick anyway, so I guess it was a good choice by the 'Hawks. Another great career netting 1,338 points.

4.) With the fourth pick, the Los Angeles Kings select Bernie Nicholls - Another one selected by the Kings anyway. Spent the 80's with the Kings and then shipped to New York.

5.) With the fifth pick, the Washington Capitals select Larry Murphy - Spent 6 1/2 seasons with the Caps after being selected 4th overall by the Kings in the real 1980 NHL Entry Draft.

6.) With the sixth pick, the Edmonton Oilers select Steve Larmer - Another 1,000 point club member. Spent career with Blackhawks mostly, before leaving to New York to finish up his career.

7.) With the seventh pick, the Vancouver Canucks select Brent Sutter - Who wouldn't want to see Sutter in those snazzy bright yellow, orange, and black, vintage Canucks jerseys? No one! With just under 830 points in his career, spend mostly with the Isles and 'Hawks, Sutter could of really helped the Canucks more than their real pick. (Rick Lanz)

8.) With the eigth pick, the Hartford Whalers select Dave Babych - Came to Hartford anyway down the road. Another pretty good career. If he started with Hartford however, would of been interesting to see where he ended up after that?

9.) With the ninth pick, the Pittsburgh Penguins select Brian Mullen - A short, but sweet career. Would of been interesting to see what he could of added to the Penguins Cup runs, if he was still on the team at that time.

10.) With the tenth pick, the Los Angeles Kings select Mike Bullard - Believe it or not, Bullard just retired from hockey in 2002-03 after spending nearly 11 years in Europe playing. With 13 NHL seasons, however, he was still able to rack up 674 points.

So that's it. If you have any compliments, suggestions, CONSTRUCTIVE critisim, questions, or anything, please post. Hope ya enjoy it!

[Neon_Matrix]

What if the Leafs picked Joe Sakic in the 1987 draft or if they took Patrick Roy in his draft before he was taken 3rd round by Montreal? Oh the possibilities.

[CC97]

What if the Leafs picked Joe Sakic in the 1987 draft or if they took Patrick Roy in his draft before he was taken 3rd round by Montreal? Oh the possibilities.

With Harold Ballard as owner we would've found a way to screw that up (Courtnall for Kordic?)

[Brendan]

7.) With the seventh pick, the Vancouver Canucks select Brent Sutter - Who wouldn't want to see Sutter in those snazzy bright yellow, orange, and black, vintage Canucks jerseys? No one! With just under 830 points in his career, spend mostly with the Isles and 'Hawks, Sutter could of really helped the Canucks more than their real pick. (Rick Lanz)

ya we have a traditon of making bad picks and this is just another example.

[Coast2CoastAM2006]

7.) With the seventh pick, the Vancouver Canucks select Brent Sutter - Who wouldn't want to see Sutter in those snazzy bright yellow, orange, and black, vintage Canucks jerseys? No one! With just under 830 points in his career, spend mostly with the Isles and 'Hawks, Sutter could of really helped the Canucks more than their real pick. (Rick Lanz)

ya we have a traditon of making bad picks and this is just another example.

and the isles has a tradition of trading good players for peanuts.

[Fred T. Jane]

2.) With the second overall pick in the 1980 National Hockey League draft, the Winnipeg Jets select Jari Kurri - Another player that established himself as one of the best. Despite technically being a "journeyman", Kurri was still an excellant player. If he went to Winnipeg? Edmonton without the dynasty? The Oilers possibly in Phoenix?? We can only imagine!

Have to disagree with the pick of Kurri at No. 2. Now, I love Jari Kurri and everything, but when you look at his stats, it's obvious a lot of his success came from riding shotgun with Gretzky (60% of Kurri's goals came from Gretzky) and later in Edmonton with Messier. Simply put, who would he have played on a line with? Morris Lukowich? Granted, the Jets got Hawerchuk the next season, but taking into account the inflated goal totals of the 1980s and playing with Gretzky, Kurri would have been a 350+ goal man with a better reputation as a two-way forward than he currently has.

Check out Kurri's Stats when he was a linemate of either Gretzky or Messier...

80-81

32-43-75

55-109-164

81-82

32-54-86

92-120-212

82-83

45-59-104

71-125-196

83-84

52-61-113

87-118-205

84-85

71-64-135

73-135-208

85-86

68-63-131

52-163-215

86-87

54-54-108

62-121-183

87-88

43-53-96

40-109-149

88-89

44-58-102

33-61-94

89-90

33-60-93

45-84-129

90-91

DNP

91-92

23-37-60

31-90-121

92-93

27-60-87

16-49-65

63-62-125 <----- Because of Gretzky's back injury, Kurri relied on Luc Robatille, no small fry either

93-94

31-46-77

38-92-130

94-95

10-19-29

11-37-48

95-96

18-27-45 <----- Kurri scored 1-4-5 with the Rangers

23-79-102 <----- Gretzky scored 8-13-21 with St. Louis

47-52-99

96-97

13-22-35

97-98

5-17-22

[Sharky99MB]

Didnt the Montreal Canadiens acquire a late draft pick from the Winnipeg Jets back in 1984 or so that they used to pick Patrick Roy??? Wonder if the Jets had chosen Roy if they hadnt traded the pick?? that I wonder....

[Stampman]

I heard Sam Pollock--former Habs GM, was trying to wheel & deal for a first overall pick before Gretzky signed in the WHA in the hopes of drafting him.

But the WHA's penchant for signing 17 years olds ruined that.

Imagine the dunasty the Habs would have had though.

[HatCityEnforcer]

This is a pretty cool subject...

I can only imagine the "What If" scenario for the 1983 draft...

Somehow, I don't think Brian Lawton & Sylvain Turgeon woulda been 1-2..and I don't think Stevie Y would have been there at #3 for the Wings

(Personally, he shouldn't have been there to begin with....what in the world were the Whale thinking? Oy...what could have been )