1999 Draft Picks Careers

Class of 1999: Sedins V. Zetterberg

By RWH, Redwingshardware.blogspot.com, December 21, 2010

To recap, the original draft order of that exceptionally shallow 1999 draft was this:

Tampa Bay

Atlanta

Vancouver

Chicago

Move #1: Vancouver GM Brian Burke acquires the #4 pick from Chicago for Bryan McCabe and the pick used to select Pavel Yorobiev.

Move #2: Burke acquires the #1 pick from Tampa in exchange for the #4 and two third rounders later used to select Brett Scheffelmeier and Jimmie Olviestad.

Move #3: Burke trades the #1 pick to Atlanta for the #2 and a conditional third-rounder used to select, we think, Rene Vendaereny.

After all of this hustling, plus another deal by Tampa and the Rangers, the top four draft selections looked like this:

Atlanta: Patrick Stefan

Vancouver: Daniel Sedin

Vancouver: Henrik Sedin

New York Rangers: Pavel Brendl

Look at that top four and the players selected with the swapped picks. Burke acquired the best two players by far of that group.

In that same draft, the Wings didn't have a pick until the fourth round due to the Chelios trade and some previous deadline deals, but they did manage to find a young Swede named Henrik Zetterberg in the seventh round. The respective points per game of these 1999 draftees at present:

H. Sedin: 0.802
D. Sedin: 0.795
Hank: 0.944

Advantage, as always, to the Wings.

10 Years Later: 1999 NHL Draft

Greatesthockeylegends.com, June 26, 2009

The NHL Entry Draft is hope and hype, but in hindsight it is often about disappointment. Disappointment may be the word that best describes the class of 1999, now ten years into our rear view mirror. It is generally considered to be the worst draft of all time.

Maybe that's just fitting. Not long before the draft the NHL announced the league would retire jersey #99 right around the entire NHL, to honour the recently retired Wayne Gretzky. Yet at the draft what do we see - every first round selection being handed their first NHL jersey complete with the #99. It just seemed awkward and uncomfortable then, both for the kids and obviously for the hockey gods.

We don't always give NHL managers credit where credit is due. Perhaps NHL GMs of the time knew exactly how bad the 1999 NHL draft would turn out. The first overall pick was traded three times. In fact, Tampa Bay, the original owners of the top pick, trade right out of the first round altogether.

Atlanta ended up with the first choice overall, and selected Patrik Stefan. Though he played in 455 career games, Stefan may be the biggest first overall bust of all time, best remembered for missing an empty net goal on a breakaway.

The top four picks were moved a total of 10 times between four teams. The reason for this was Vancouver GM Brian Burke, who in a complicated barrage of trades secured the 2nd and 3rd selections in order to draft twin brothers Daniel and Henrik Sedin. The twins have had a gradual ascent to the league's elite.

A decade later it looks like a brilliant move. Getting both was essential, as who knows how they would have faired apart. Since so much of their success is very dependent on each other, it is not hard to fathom being drafted apart could have seen one or each busts, much like the rest of the first round.

The Rangers took boom or bust Pavel Brendl fourth overall. He went bust, big time. The Rangers traded Dan Cloutier and Marc Savard to twice trade up to get their man.

The Islanders selected super-skilled Tim Connelly at five. Injuries have really derailed what otherwise has been a career full of promise.

Nashville selected Brian Finley as their goalie of the future at #6. He only played in 4 NHL contests.

Washington selected Kris Beech at number 7. He was supposed to be a good two way 2nd line center. The Capitals traded him two years later to Pittsburgh to get Jaromir Jagr. He was barely a 4th line center in the Steel City.

The Islanders had three picks in the top ten, also selected Taylor Pyatt at eight and Branislav Mezei at 10. Pyatt has made a career as a third or fourth liner who does not use his size well enough. Mezei is long forgotten.

Over in Manhattan the Rangers took Jamie Lundmark at #9, which was said to have been a steal. He was all heart and work ethic, and some people believed he was the safest player in the crapshoot of a draft. He played in 259 games, mostly on the 4th line.

Of the remaining 18 picks in the first round, only four players became NHL regulars - David Tanabe at 16, Barret Jackman at 17, Nick Boynton at 21 and Martin Havlat at 26. Including the Sedins that makes for only six NHL regulars in the entire first round.

Every draft mines a few gems in the later rounds, but 1999 even failed to produce much that way. I would identify only ten players in such a category for that year: Mike Commodore (42nd), Jordan Leopold (44th), Niklas Hagman (70th), Frantisek Kaberle (76th), Niclas Havelid (83rd), Mike Comrie (91st), Ryan Malone (115th), Ryan Miller (138th) Martin Erat (191st) and, surprise, surprise, Henrik Zetterberg (210th).

Yes, Henrik Zetterberg was unthinkably chosen in the 7th round, 210th overall in the worst draft in NHL history. Today he is one of the best players in the league and would most likely be chosen 1st overall if the players were somehow redrafted 10 years later. That is a testament to both how luck plays a big role in drafts, and player development. No one develops prospects better than Detroit as of late.