What If? 1981!

[Brass]

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 1981 NHL Draft, part 2. With the sucess of the first one, I thought I would do 1981! We're going to look back at "What could of been". And away we go....

1.) With the first overall pick in the 1980 NHL Draft, the Winnipeg Jets select Ron Francis - 1,798 points says it all. Seeing Francis is anything besides a Whaler jersey, personally hurts me, but if they knew what was going to happen, Francis would be a jet.

2.) With the second overall pick in the 1980 NHL Draft, the Los Angeles Kings select Dale Hawechuk - Missing out on Francis, the Kings will have to settle for a guy who scored a mere 1,409 points in a career spanning 17 seasons. Bummer.

3.) With the third overall pick in the 1980 NHL Draft, the Washington Capitals select Grant Fuhr - The Caps get themselves a Hall-of-Famer, as they select WHL standout Grant Fuhr, otherwise known as one of the backbones of the Oiler's dynasty in the 80's.

4.) With the 4th pick in the draft, the Hartford Whalers select Al MacInnis - Honesly, I'm torturing myself doing this when this type of stuff comes around, lol. Al MacInnis will be a Hall-of-Famer with 1,274 points in his career. What could he have done with the Whale?

5.) With the 5th pick in the draft, the Colorado Rockies select Chris Chelios - Probably the second-best defensemen in the draft, maybe the Rockies could of stayed in Colorado if they drafted a young Chelios? Maybe they would still be around, and the whole Avs paradox would be ruined forever!

6.) With the 6th pick in the draft, the Toronto Maple Leafs select Bobby Carpenter - 728 points ain't shabby, and the Maple Leafs probably would of loved it. Carpenter would of strived in Toronto IMO, and could of been to the Leafs in the 80's and early 90's, as Mats Sundin is to them now.

7.) With the 7th pick in the draft, the Montreal Canadiens select John Vanbiesbrouck - "Beezer" was able to lead a practically expansion franchise in the Panthers, into the Stanley Cup finals in 1996, only to loose to the Avs. I think that the Habs would of loved Vanbiesbrouck, but this could of lead to Roy not being taken in the draft either in later years....

8.) With the 8th pick in the draft, the Edmonton Oilers select James Patrick - A very underrated defensemen with 639 points that could of formed a very good tag team on defense with Paul Coffey.

9.) With the 9th pick in the draft, the New York Rangers select Tony Tanti - Damn, whatever happened to this guy? Did very well in Vancouver, but interesting to think how he could of endured the pressure from the Big Apple.

10.)With the 10th pick in the draft, the Vancouver Canucks select Mike Vernon - Big Mike Vernon in 'Couver. Probably wouldn't of gotten much ice time for a few years being behind Richard Brodeur and Glen Hanlon, but he could of flourished.

Next up, 1982!

[Stampman]

So are you going to combine the rosters?

How about doing the full first round?

It could prove interesting.

[NJTank]

5.) With the 5th pick in the draft, the Colorado Rockies select Chris Chelios - Probably the second-best defensemen in the draft, maybe the Rockies could of stayed in Colorado if they drafted a young Chelios? Maybe they would still be around, and the whole Avs paradox would be ruined forever!

The Rockies were already doomed Chelious would not have saved them in just 1 season, because after 81/82 they were Jersey bound.

[fiasco!]

would have, could have, should have

would've, could've, should've

not: would of, could of, should of

sorry, a huge pet peeve.

[Shylockthejew]

Hawerchuk = Jets.

Sorry man, that was a good pick.

[officeglenn]

would have, could have, should have

would've, could've, should've

not: would of, could of, should of

sorry, a huge pet peeve.

Amen, brother.