With the NHL Draft Lottery now barely a month away on May 8, a lot of bottom-feeders are increasingly fixated on what that event could mean for their franchise.
Selecting very high — especially this year — could be a game-changer for your organization, as we all know what kind of talent tends to go in the first five picks. Casting forward is always enticing, but it’s also fun to look back at draft classes and assess how things shook out. And looking around the league on the weekend, we’re starting to wonder: If you were to declare which top-5 group from the past 20 years produced the most game-influencing talent, might that honour go to the 2017 crew?
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Nico Hischier (first overall), Miro Heiskaken (third) and Elias Pettersson (fifth) all picked up points this weekend as they round out fantastic seasons. Hischier shattered his previous personal bests across the offensive board this year, wears the ‘C’ on a dynamite New Jersey team and is in the very early stages of what will likely be a 10-year phase where he’s recognized as one of the absolute best two-way centres in the game.
Heiskanen has taken a massive offensive leap forward this year, especially in the second half, making good on the promise people always saw in him. His previous career high for points was 36 in 70 games last year for the Dallas Stars; after a four-point weekend, he now has 66 on the season and the only blue-liners with more points than his 37 since the calendar flipped to 2023 are Erik Karlsson, Quinn Hughes, Vince Dunn, and Dougie Hamilton.
Pettersson, meanwhile, picked up a goal Friday night in Calgary and is four points away from his first 100-point season as he truly becomes the stud No. 1 centre Vancouver dreamed he would be.
Cale Makar (fourth overall) was held off the scoresheet this weekend, but nobody has to spend much time stumping for the guy who won the 2022 Conn Smythe Trophy with the Colorado Avalanche.
The only ding in the argument, of course, is second-overall pick Nolan Patrick. Sadly, the Winnipeg native has battled concussions and a migraine disorder and has not laced up his skates in the NHL in about a year. Here’s hoping we see the Golden Knights centre in an NHL game again some time down the road.
Take those four guys, though — Hischier, Heiskanen, Makar and Pettersson — and compare them to the top draft boards of the past two decades and I’m not sure you’ll find a quartet on their level. Yes, 2015 was legendarily loaded and the top five was headlined by Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel and Mitch Marner. But add Dylan Strome or Noah Hanifin as the fourth guy and I think it’s still a conversation about which is the better four overall. The 2018 class is starting to get more intriguing as the Coyotes’ Barrett Hayton discovers his offensive game and Jesperi Kotkaniemi finds his best self with the Hurricanes, but neither of those guys could hold a candle as the No. 4 guy joining Rasmus Dahlin, Brady Tkachuk and Andrei Svechnikov.
The one that could potentially challenge in a couple years is the 2021 draft that saw Owen Power, Matty Beniers, Mason McTavish, Luke Hughes and Kent Johnston as the first five guys off the board.
Right now, though, Hischier, Heiskanen, Makar and Pettersson might represent the most talent mined in the top 5 of a single draft. And, with all but Pettersson poised to shine in the rapidly approaching playoffs, we’ll soon get to enjoy their games on the biggest stage.
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Other Takeaways
• Speaking of the 2017 draft, are we watching the eighth-overall pick from that year put it all together? Casey Mittelstadt had two helpers — including one on Jeff Skinner’s OT winner — on Friday versus the Rangers, then three more on Saturday in Philadelphia as Buffalo picked up another critical two points. The 24-year-old has obviously struggled to find his way in the NHL, but he’s on a four-game point streak right now — Mittelstadt is centering the Sabres’ top line with Tage Thompson out — and has basically been playing at a 60-point pace since Christmas.
• This second half by the Edmonton Oilers is quite something. Edmonton played Game 42 on Jan. 9 and, after blasting the Ducks 6-0 on Saturday, the Oilers are now 24-6-6 since that time. Only the Boston Bruins (.770) have a better winning percentage in that stretch than Edmonton’s .750. As it turns out, the Oilers have just turned up the volume on a recent trend that’s seen the Copper and Blue put up better results in the second half in each of the past three seasons. This year the Oilers’ splits are a crazy 21-17-3/24-6-6. Last season it was 22-16-3/27-11-3, in the 56-game Canadian Division year they went 17-11-0/18-8-2, and in the season that was cut short by the arrival of COVID Edmonton was 20-17-4 through 41 games and 17-8-5 the rest of the way.
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Red and White Power Rankings
1. Edmonton Oilers (45-23-9) With Jack Campbell getting his first shutout of the season versus the Ducks on Saturday, the Oilers have now blanked their opponents for 121:32 and counting.
2. Toronto Maple Leafs (45-21-10) Even if Ilya Samsonov is penciled in as the Game 1 starter at this point, it’s still tough news for the Leafs to see Matt Murray exit Sunday night’s 5-2 loss to the Red Wings after his head cracked against the ice.
3. Winnipeg Jets (43-31-3) Boy, the offence stepped up when the Jets needed it most, scoring a combined 12 goals in wins over the Wings and Devils in a massive, massive four-point weekend in Winnipeg.
4. Calgary Flames (36-26-15) Milan Lucic may well have scored the biggest goal of his Flames tenure on Sunday night, pulling his team even with the Ducks in the third period and setting the stage for Michael Stone’s blast to give Calgary two points it absolutely had to have against Anaheim.
5. Vancouver Canucks (34-35-7) No wins for Vancouver on the weekend, but nice to see former Northeastern boy Aidan McDonough get his first NHL goal in his second contest on Friday in Calgary.
6. Ottawa Senators (37-34-6) Getting one of a possible four points on the weekend means the curtain has just about come down on Ottawa’s slim playoff hopes.
7. Montreal Canadiens (30-41-6) At most, three guys — Nick Suzuki, Jonathan Kovacevic and Jordan Harris — will appear in 70 games for the injury-demolished Montreal Canadiens this year. And Harris has to dress for all five of the remaining contests to get there.
Weekend Warrior
What a season for Carter Verhaeghe, who is becoming one of the best late-bloomer stories we have in the league. The Florida Panthers’ left-winger bagged four goals in his team’s 7-0 smashing of the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday, giving him an even 40 on the season. Verhaeghe’s 22 goals since Jan. 1 are actually one more than Panthers stud Matthew Tkachuk has put up as the Cats have clawed their way back into the wild-card battle.
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The Week Ahead
• The Flames and Jets could both be on 89 points when they meet on Wednesday in Winnipeg. Calgary plays the night before at home and will be skating for the third time in four days, while the Jets — who will hold a game in hand by Wednesday — are home and cooling now.
• The IIHF Women’s World Championship kicks off on Wednesday in Brampton, Ont., with Canada gunning for a third straight gold.
• The NHL is off on Good Friday, then every team in the league is in action on the final Saturday night of the regular season.
