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; 8^th overall pick in 2009, 10^th overall in 2013 and 3^rd 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 – 6^th round 192^nd pick – Jussi Jokinen (951 GP) – Bob Gainey

2001 – 5^th round 161^st pick – Mike Smith (603) – Bob Gainey

2002 – 2^nd round 43^rd pick – Trevor Daley (1,049) – Doug Armstrong

2003 – 2^nd round 33^rd pick – Loui Eriksson (961) – Doug Armstrong

2005 – 1^st round 28^th pick – Matt Niskanen (939) – Doug Armstrong

2007 – 5^th round 129^th pick – Jamie Benn (804) – Doug Armstrong

2010 – 5^th round 131^st pick – John Klingberg (415) – Joe Nieuwendyk

Notable misses:

2001 – 1^st round 26^th pick – Jason Bacashihua (38) – Bob Gainey

2002 – 1^st round 26^th pick – Martin Vagner (0) – Doug Armstrong

2006 – 1^st round 27^th pick – Ivan Vishnevskiy (5) – Doug Armstrong

2009 – 1^st round 8^th pick – Scott Glennie (1) – Joe Nieuwendyk

2010 – 1^st round 11^th pick – Jack Campbell (61) – Brett Hull/Les Jackson (the jury is still out on this one as Campbell is still active but an 11^th 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 1^st overall picks in 2010, 2011, 2012 and the McDavid year in 2015. They have also picked at 3^rd overall in 2014, 4^th overall in 2016, 7^th overall in 2013 and 8^th 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 1^st 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 – 7^th round 214^th pick – Kyle Brodziak (917) – Kevin Lowe

2005 – 1^st round 25^th pick – Andrew Cogliano (1,002) – Kevin Lowe

Notable misses:

1999 – 1^st round 13^th pick – Jani Rita (66) – Glen Sather

2000 – 1^st round 17^th pick – Alexei Mikhnov (2) – Kevin Lowe

2002 – 1^st round 15^th pick – Jesse Niinimaki (0) – Kevin Lowe

2007 – 1^st round 15^th pick – Alex Plante (10) – Kevin Lowe

2012 – 1^st round 1^st 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 – 4^th round 118^th pick – Lubomir Visnovsky (883) – Dave Taylor

2001 – 2^nd round 49^th pick – Mike Cammalleri (906) – Dave Taylor

2003 – 1^st round 13^th pick – Dustin Brown (1,172) – Dave Taylor

2005 – 3^rd round 72^nd pick – Jonathan Quick (639) – Dave Taylor

2005 – 1^st round 11^th pick – Anze Kopitar (1,062) – Dave Taylor

2007 – 2^nd round 61^st pick – Wayne Simmonds (899) – Dean Lombardi

Notable misses:

2001 – 1^st round 18^th pick – Jens Karlsson (0) – Dave Taylor

2004 – 1^st round 11^th pick – Lauri Tukonen (5) – Dave Taylor

2008 – 1^st round 13^th 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 – 1^st round 3^rd pick– Marian Gaborik (1,035) – Doug Risebrough

2000 – 2^nd round 33^rd pick – Nick Schultz (1,069) – Doug Risebrough

2001 – 1^st round 6^th pick – Mikko Koivu (1,017) – Doug Risebrough

2003 – 1^st round 20^th pick – Brent Burns (1,101) – Doug Risebrough

2009 – 7^th round 182^nd pick – Erik Haula (395) – Chuck Fletcher

Notable misses:

2004 – 1^st round 12^th pick – A.J. Thelen (0) – Doug Risebrough

2007 – 1^st round 16^th pick – Colton Gillies (154) – Doug Risebrough

2008 – 1^st round 23^rd 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 – 7^th round 191^st pick – Martin Erat (881) – David Poile

2000 – 1^st round 6^th pick – Scott Hartnell (1,249)

2001 – 1^st round 12^th pick – Dan Hamhuis (1,142)

2003 – 2^nd round 49^th pick – Shea Weber (980)

2003 – 1^st round 7^th pick – Ryan Suter (1,131)

2004 – 8^th round 258^th pick – Pekka Rinne (657)

2005 – 7^th round 230^th pick – Patric Hornqvist (758)

2008 – 2^nd round 38^th pick – Roman Josi (621)

Notable misses:

1999 – 1^st round 6^th pick – Brian Finley G (4) – David Poile

2008 – 1^st round 18^th 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.

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