Weekly Western Leaders
Goals – 5 – Elias Lindholm – Calgary, Craig Smith – Nashville, Zach Sanford – St. Louis
Assists – 7 – Leon Draisaitl – Edmonton
Points – 10 – Leon Draisaitl – Edmonton
PPP – 3 – Brandon Sutter – Vancouver, Tyler Seguin – Dallas, Leon Draisaitl – Edmonton, Quinn Hughes – Vancouver, Mark Stone – Vegas
Shots on Goal – 22 – Jonathan Marchessault – Vegas
PIM – 17 – Jarred Tinordi – Nashville
Best plus/minus – plus 5 – Craig Smith – Nashville, Darnell Nurse – Edmonton, Nick Bonino – Nashville, Matt Roy – Los Angeles
Worst plus/minus – minus 7 – Mark Scheifele – Winnipeg
Hits – 18 – Brayden Schenn – St. Louis
Blocked shots – 12 – Alex Goligoski – Arizona
FOW – 57 – Jonathan Toews – Chicago
FOL – 51 – Derek Stepan – Arizona
Giveaways – 8 – John Klingberg – Dallas
Takeaways – 8 – Jonathan Toews – Chicago
Team 5 on 5 SH% (min 3 GP) – 21.4 – Brandon Davidson – Calgary
Highest CF% (min 3 GP) – 77.2- Reilly Smith – Vegas
Lowest CF% (min 3 GP) – 28.5 – Blake Comeau – Dallas
Highest PDO (min 3 GP) – 116.6 – Nick Bonino – Nashville
Lowest PDO (min 3 GP) – 80.8 – Cody Eakin – Vegas
Goalie wins – 2 – Jacob Markstrom – Vancouver, Ben Bishop – Dallas, Mike Smith – Edmonton, Juuse Saros – Nashville, Antti Raanta – Arizona
Save percentage (min 2 starts) – 97.7 Jacob Markstrom – Vancouver
Quality starts – 2 – Jacob Markstrom – Vancouver, Philipp Grubauer – Colorado, Alex Stalock – Minnesota, Antti Raanta – Arizona, Mike Smith – Edmonton
We will continue on with part two of three looking back at the draft history of the Western Conference teams since 1999.
I've charted each year with the team's point total (blue), the NHL average point total (green), the average number of NHL games the team's draft picks have played in the NHL (brown), and the NHL average games played per pick (yellow).
Dallas
Dallas have been one of the better teams since 1999 and as a result have only three top ten picks since then; 8th overall pick in 2009, 10th overall in 2013 and 3rd overall in 2017. They are right around the league average with 7.71 draft picks per year and it is early with Miro Heiskanen in 2017 but they have not had an excellent draft since 2009 and have been below par since 2013 (excepting 2017).
Notable hits:
2001 – 6th round 192nd pick – Jussi Jokinen (951 GP) – Bob Gainey
2001 – 5th round 161st pick – Mike Smith (603) – Bob Gainey
2002 – 2nd round 43rd pick – Trevor Daley (1,049) – Doug Armstrong
2003 – 2nd round 33rd pick – Loui Eriksson (961) – Doug Armstrong
2005 – 1st round 28th pick – Matt Niskanen (939) – Doug Armstrong
2007 – 5th round 129th pick – Jamie Benn (804) – Doug Armstrong
2010 – 5th round 131st pick – John Klingberg (415) – Joe Nieuwendyk
Notable misses:
2001 – 1st round 26th pick – Jason Bacashihua (38) – Bob Gainey
2002 – 1st round 26th pick – Martin Vagner (0) – Doug Armstrong
2006 – 1st round 27th pick – Ivan Vishnevskiy (5) – Doug Armstrong
2009 – 1st round 8th pick – Scott Glennie (1) – Joe Nieuwendyk
2010 – 1st round 11th pick – Jack Campbell (61) – Brett Hull/Les Jackson (the jury is still out on this one as Campbell is still active but an 11th overall pick for a goalie should become a dominant starter in the NHL)
Edmonton
The Oilers have had two decent years since 1999; making it to the finals in 2005-06 and putting up 103 points in 2016-2017. No team has had the number of top four picks in the entry draft since 2010 as Edmonton has. They have had four 1st overall picks in 2010, 2011, 2012 and the McDavid year in 2015. They have also picked at 3rd overall in 2014, 4th overall in 2016, 7th overall in 2013 and 8th overall in 2019. With those picks you should hit more often than not and the Oilers graph should be better than it is (they have only six years significantly above the league average). Not only that, but they currently only have two of the four 1st overall picks (since 2010) on their roster and one (Nail Yakupov) is out of the NHL. They have averaged 8.28 picks per season compared to the league average of 7.71..
Notable hits:
2003 – 7th round 214th pick – Kyle Brodziak (917) – Kevin Lowe
2005 – 1st round 25th pick – Andrew Cogliano (1,002) – Kevin Lowe
Notable misses:
1999 – 1st round 13th pick – Jani Rita (66) – Glen Sather
2000 – 1st round 17th pick – Alexei Mikhnov (2) – Kevin Lowe
2002 – 1st round 15th pick – Jesse Niinimaki (0) – Kevin Lowe
2007 – 1st round 15th pick – Alex Plante (10) – Kevin Lowe
2012 – 1st round 1st pick – Nail Yakupov (350) – Steve Tambellini
Los Angeles
The Kings have actually been one of the better drafting teams since 1999 in the Western Conference and did exactly what you are supposed to do when your team has poor seasons (draft well). From 2003 to 2009 the Kings were not good, missing the playoffs each of the seven seasons. They hit it out of the park in the entry draft four out of those seven seasons, which most clubs struggle to do in 20 years. The only years that they whiffed on the draft were 2002 and 2004. They averaged 8.33 picks per year above the league average of 7.71.
Notable hits:
2000 – 4th round 118th pick – Lubomir Visnovsky (883) – Dave Taylor
2001 – 2nd round 49th pick – Mike Cammalleri (906) – Dave Taylor
2003 – 1st round 13th pick – Dustin Brown (1,172) – Dave Taylor
2005 – 3rd round 72nd pick – Jonathan Quick (639) – Dave Taylor
2005 – 1st round 11th pick – Anze Kopitar (1,062) – Dave Taylor
2007 – 2nd round 61st pick – Wayne Simmonds (899) – Dean Lombardi
Notable misses:
2001 – 1st round 18th pick – Jens Karlsson (0) – Dave Taylor
2004 – 1st round 11th pick – Lauri Tukonen (5) – Dave Taylor
2008 – 1st round 13th pick – Colten Teubert (24) – Dean Lombardi
Minnesota
The Wild came into the NHL in 2000 so we have 20 years of data to look at for their draft history. They came right out of the block in their first two drafts and set the team up for some early success by 2003. The team has had mixed success since then and have struggled at the draft table since 2011. They only average 7.25 picks per season as a result of trading their picks (for example they had nine picks combined for 2007 and 2008).
Notable hits:
2000 – 1st round 3rd pick– Marian Gaborik (1,035) – Doug Risebrough
2000 – 2nd round 33rd pick – Nick Schultz (1,069) – Doug Risebrough
2001 – 1st round 6th pick – Mikko Koivu (1,017) – Doug Risebrough
2003 – 1st round 20th pick – Brent Burns (1,101) – Doug Risebrough
2009 – 7th round 182nd pick – Erik Haula (395) – Chuck Fletcher
Notable misses:
2004 – 1st round 12th pick – A.J. Thelen (0) – Doug Risebrough
2007 – 1st round 16th pick – Colton Gillies (154) – Doug Risebrough
2008 – 1st round 23rd pick – Tyler Cuma (1) – Doug Risebrough
Nashville
Nashville has been one of the most consistent teams in the NHL since 2004 (based on points) and their huge success at the draft from 1999 to 2005 certainly helped setup the franchise for the next decade. The Predators were well above average at the draft in seven of their first 11 seasons. There is a reason that David Poile has been the club's only GM in their history. The team has averaged 8.48 picks per season well above the league average and that was especially evident before 2005. The one take away is that David Poile should never draft goalies in the first round.
Notable hits:
1999 – 7th round 191st pick – Martin Erat (881) – David Poile
2000 – 1st round 6th pick – Scott Hartnell (1,249)
2001 – 1st round 12th pick – Dan Hamhuis (1,142)
2003 – 2nd round 49th pick – Shea Weber (980)
2003 – 1st round 7th pick – Ryan Suter (1,131)
2004 – 8th round 258th pick – Pekka Rinne (657)
2005 – 7th round 230th pick – Patric Hornqvist (758)
2008 – 2nd round 38th pick – Roman Josi (621)
Notable misses:
1999 – 1st round 6th pick – Brian Finley G (4) – David Poile
2008 – 1st round 18th pick – Chet Pickard G (0)
In March we will look at part three and will look at St. Louis, San Jose, Vancouver and Winnipeg and their draft history.
If you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know below and/or follow me on Twitter @gampbler15.
