Biggest NHL Draft Disappointments of the 1990's

Not Every Pick Is A Keeper

Jun 24, 2009 Dan Leggieri

Alexandre Daigle may be the poster boy for bad draft picks amoung NHL fans, but there has been more high draft picks that did nothing than you think.

In the 1990’s NHL entry draft has served as a platform for teams to dramatically improve their team in one pick. Many teams have benefited from owning the rights to a top 20 pick; although they didn’t draft him the Philadelphia Flyers rode Eric Lindros all the way to the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals, the Hartford Whalers grabbed Chris Pronger with the #2 pick in 1993 and Dallas brought Jerome Iginla into the league with the 11th overall pick in 1995.

Not every player selected in the top 20 is not guaranteed to impress however; in fact, many have been hyped up as stand out junior players only to be nothing but a disappointment after being drafted.

*The biggest bust from each year is based on the highest draft pick to perform at the lowest level from each draft year*

1990 NHL Draft

1st overall: The Quebec Nordiques select Owen Nolan from them Cornwall Royals of the OHL

Biggest Bust: The NY Islanders, trying to get back to the glory days of the early 80’s drafted Scott Scissons with the 6th overall pick. Scissons played only 2 games as an NHLer. Very unfortunate for the Islanders as Nolan, Petr Nedved, Keith Primeau, Mike Ricci, and Jaromir Jagr all were drafted before Scissons.

1991 NHL Draft

1st overall: The Quebec Nordiques select Eric Lindros from the Oshawa Generals of the OHL

Biggest Bust: The Vancouver Canucks squandered the #7 pick on Alek Stojanov. Stojanov impressed scouts by knocking out Eric Lindros in a fight during their draft year. He scoring 25 goals for the Hamilton Dukes and was being compared to Bob Probert,

1992 NHL Draft

1st overall: The Tampa Bay Lightning select Roman Hamrlik from Zlin ZPS AC of the Czech Rep.

Biggest Bust: The media had a lot to do with the hype surrounding the Toronto Maple Leafs 8th overall pick Brandon Convery. Convery scored 7 points in his first 11 NHL games, and that’s about it. After being placed on waivers by the LA Kings in 1999 he played for 4 years in Switzerland and 1 year in Sweden before retiring in 2004.

1993 NHL Draft

1st overall: The Ottawa Senators select Alexandre Daigle from the Victoriaville Tigres of the QMJHL

Biggest Bust: Alexandre Daigle. After tallying 137 points in his final year with Victoriaville, Daigle never posted more than 51 points in his 12 year NHL career – to this day, Daigle is still regarded as one of the biggest busts of the NHL draft.

1994 NHL Draft

1st overall: Florida Panthers select Ed Jovanovski from the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL

Biggest Bust: The Edmonton Oilers used the 4th overall pick to select Jason Bonsignore. Bonsignore played a total of 79 games in the NHL between Edmonton and Tampa Bay, earning a total of 16 points. Bonsignore was last seen kicking around the East Coast Hockey League.

1995 NHL Draft

1st overall: The Ottawa Senators select Bryan Berard from the Detroit Jr. Red Wings of the OHL

Biggest Bust: Aki Berg. Toronto Maple Leafs fans know Berg all to well and have no good memories of his time in Toronto. The LA Kings took Berg 3rd overall in ’95.

1996 NHL Draft

1st overall: The Ottawa Senators select Chris Phillips from the Prince Albert Raiders of the WHL

Biggest Bust: The 4th pick in the ’96 draft belonged to the Washington Capitals; they used it to select Alexandre Volchkov. Volchkov was a gifted forward who put up impressive offensive numbers while playing junior hockey but only managed to make his way into 3 NHL games because of his poor attitude.

1997 NHL Draft

1st overall: The Boston Bruins select Joe Thornton from the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the OHL

Biggest Bust: Daniel Tkaczuk was drafted 6th overall by Calgary and was supposed to be a star. He led the 1999 Canadian World Junior team in scoring and was an under aged standout. Never living up to his hype, Tkaczuk fled for Europe in 2003 seeking a decent pay cheque. He currently plays for EV Duisburg Die Füchse of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga.

1998 NHL Draft

1st overall: The Tampa Bay Lightning select Vincent Lecavalier from the Rimouski Oceanic of the QMJHL

Biggest Bust: Sorry Calgary, but its déjà vu all over again. Rico Fata was the Flames’ 6th overall pick in ’98. Fata tried so hard but just couldn’t make anything of his talent in the NHL. After bouncing around the league, Fata last saw action in the NHL during the 2006/2007 season with the Capitals.

1999 NHL Draft

1st overall: The Atlanta Thrashers select Patrik Stefan from the Long Beach Ice Dogs of the IHL

Biggest Bust: For the second time in the 1990’s the first overall pick turned out to be a complete dud. Like Daigle, Stefan’s career never really got going, and NHL teams were more than patient with him. The final straw was missing an empty net breakaway against Edmonton on 2007 that resulted in the Oilers taking the puck down the ice and tying the game with 2 seconds left in the game. Stefan retired on March 17, 2008 at the age of 28.

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