Protected Draft Territory - Alternate Draft History for the Year 2004

In my previous article (How to Rectify the NHL Draft Lottery) I put forth a proposal on how to rectify what I see as the issues with the current NHL Draft Lottery. My proposal was to give each NHL team what I call a Protected Draft Territory or P.D.T.

In that previous article, I listed the initial misgivings I had with my proposal – that it would bestow an unfair advantage on the NHL’s Canadian teams because of their proximity to large amateur hockey leagues and unfairly penalize the NHL’s U.S. teams because of their perceived lack of amateur hockey leagues in their vicinity. But as you will see in this article, the application of the P.D.T. to the year 2004 did not result in any discernible level of advantage or disadvantage.

At this point I’ll quickly rehash the three P.D.T. rules that I applied to the 2004 NHL Entry Draft:

1. A player’s birth place, not his last amateur hockey team before becoming eligible for the NHL Entry Draft, determined which P.D.T., if any, the player would be eligible for.
2. Where more than one NHL team shares a natural territory (such as a province or a state), how close a player’s birth place is to an NHL team determined which P.D.T. the player would be eligible for.
3. As each player was removed from the original entry draft because of designation under the P.D.T., the players below the removed player were moved up in the draft order. This seems rather arbitrary. But without any knowledge of what each team would have drafted had the player they originally drafted not been available, it seems like a fair compromise. So, for example, if the first player chosen in the original entry draft had been designated under the P.D.T., the second player chosen in the original entry draft was moved up to the first player chosen in the revised entry draft.

After 2003, one of the deepest drafts in the history of the NHL Entry Draft, a little bit of a fall-off in talent for the NHL Entry Draft for the year 2004 would have been expected. But the application of the three simple rules above may have altered the history of the NHL as we know it. A few key players on Cup winning teams might not have been there to help those teams secure their Cups or perhaps might have helped their new teams secure a Cup instead.

Table 1 below is actually two tables in one. The first six columns represent how the original NHL Entry Draft played out. The second six columns represent how a revised NHL Entry Draft might have transpired after the application of the P.D.T. rules.

Regardless of the fact that it wasn't as deep a draft as 2003, there are more than a few recognizable names from the original 2004 Entry Draft. For example, Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Andrew Ladd, Blake Wheeler, Al Montoya, Drew Stafford, Devan Dubnyk, Travis Zajac, Cory Schneider, Jeff Schultz, and Mike Green.

Even though they had, once again, traded away their first round pick in the 2004 Entry Draft, the Maple Leafs would still have been able to secure, via designation of their P.D.T., someone who turned out to be a very serviceable player – Dave Bolland.

With three of the top four original picks being designated under the P.D.T., the picks in the revised draft would have been different. For example, Drew Stafford, Devan Dubnyk, Travis Zajac, and Mike Green would have all been drafted by different teams.

By looking closely at Table 1 above, we can see the players in Table 2 below are the players from the first round of the draft who would have been eligible for designation under the P.D.T. rule and therefore would have started their careers with and played for different teams:

The casual fan, looking at the names from Table 2, would find the list about evenly split between recognizable and less recognizable names.

From that same list of names above, the one having interest for Maple Leafs fans would, of course, be Dave Bolland. The obvious question:

1.      Does Dave Bolland provide the depth down the middle, as he did in Chicago, to help the Maple Leafs win a Cup?

As intriguing as that question is, the answer will never be known.

As was the case for the revised Entry Drafts for 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003, the revised Entry Draft for 2004 provides many questions for endless speculation, discussion, and debate.

Protected Draft Territory - Alternate Draft History for the Year 2003

In my previous article (How to Rectify the NHL Draft Lottery) I put forth a proposal on how to rectify what I see as the issues with the current NHL Draft Lottery. My proposal was to give each NHL team what I call a Protected Draft Territory or P.D.T.

In that previous article, I spelled out the initial misgivings I had with my proposal – that it would bestow an unfair advantage on the NHL’s Canadian teams because of their proximity to large amateur hockey leagues and unfairly penalize the NHL’s U.S. teams because of their perceived lack of amateur hockey leagues in their vicinity. But as you will see below, the application of the P.D.T. to the year 2003 did not result in any discernible level of advantage or disadvantage.

At this point I’ll rehash the three P.D.T. rules that I applied to the 2003 NHL Entry Draft:

1. A player’s birth place, not his last amateur hockey team before becoming eligible for the NHL Entry Draft, determined which P.D.T., if any, the player would be eligible for.
2. Where more than one NHL team shares a natural territory (such as a province or a state), how close a player’s birth place is to an NHL team determined which P.D.T. the player would be eligible for.
3. As each player was removed from the original entry draft because of designation under the P.D.T., the players below the removed player were moved up in the draft order. This seems rather arbitrary. But without any knowledge of what each team would have drafted had the player they originally drafted not been available, it seems like a fair compromise. So, for example, if the first player chosen in the original entry draft had been designated under the P.D.T., the second player chosen in the original entry draft was moved up to the first player chosen in the revised entry draft.

In what has been called one of the deepest drafts in the history of the NHL Entry Draft, the application of these three simple rules to the NHL Entry Draft for the year 2003 could have dramatically altered the history of the NHL as we know it. Many key players on Cup winning teams simply might not have been there to help those teams secure their Cups or perhaps might have helped their new teams secure a Cup instead.

Table 1 below is actually two tables in one. The first six columns represent how the original NHL Entry Draft transpired. The second six columns represent how a revised NHL Entry Draft might have transpired after the application of the P.D.T. rules.

Table 1.

There’s so many recognizable names from the original 2003 Entry Draft that a list of the players who had, or are continuing to have. a long and illustrious NHL career would be long. For example, Marc Andre Fleury, Eric Staal, Nathan Norton, Thomas Vanek, Mialn Michalek, Ryan Suter, Braydon Coburn, Dion Phaneuf, Jeff Carter, Dustin Brown, Brent Seabrook, Zach Parise, Ryan Getzlaf, Brent Burns, Ryan Kessler, Mike Richards, and Corey Perry,.

Even though they had traded away their first round pick in the 2003 entry draft, the Maple Leafs would still have had a substantial list of players falling within their P.D.T. from which to choose – Nathan Horton, Jeff Carter, Brent Burns, and Corey Perry. But to be consistent with how the P.D.T. rules have been applied to the other drafts, the assumption will be that the Maple Leafs would have chosen the player within their P.D.T. who went highest in the original entry draft – Nathan Horton.

Again, with two of the top three original picks being designated under the P.D.T., the picks in the revised draft would have been substantially different. For example, Eric Staal, Thomas Vanek, Milan Michalek, Braydon Coburn, Jeff Carter, Zach Parise, Ryan Getzlaf, Brent Burns, Mike Richards, and Corey Perry would have all been drafted by different teams.

By looking closely at Table 1 above, we can see the players in Table 2 below are the players from the first round of the draft who would have been eligible for designation under the P.D.T. rule and therefore would have played for different teams:

Table 2.

The casual fan, looking at the names from Table 2, would be hard=pressed to find more than a couple of less than recognizable names – Hugh Jesslman and Danny Richmond. The rest would certainly stand out.

From that same list of names above, the one having the most interest to Leafs fans would, of course, be Nathan Horton. The obvious questions:

1.      How much of an impact would Nathan Horton have made as Mats Sundin’s right winger?

2.      With Nathan Horton patrolling the right wing on the first line, would the Maple Leafs have felt a need to trade for Phil Kessel?

The answers to these questions will never be known, but they are still Intriguing what-ifs.

As was the case for the revised Entry Drafts for 2000, 2001, and 2002, the revised Entry Draft for 2003 provides many more questions for endless speculation, discussion, and debate.

Protected Draft Territory - Alternate Draft History for the Year 2002

In my previous article (How to Rectify the NHL Draft Lottery) I put forth a proposal on how to rectify what I see as the issues with the current NHL Draft Lottery. My proposal was to give each NHL team what I call a Protected Draft Territory or P.D.T.

In that previous article, I spelled out the initial misgivings I had with my proposal – that it would bestow an unfair advantage on the NHL’s Canadian teams because of their proximity to large amateur hockey leagues and unfairly penalize the NHL’s U.S. teams because of their perceived lack of amateur hockey leagues in their vicinity. But as you will see below, the application of the P.D.T. to the year 2002 did not result in any discernible level of advantage or disadvantage.

At this point I’ll rehash the P.D.T. rules that I applied to the 2002 NHL Entry Draft:

1. A player’s birth place, not his last amateur hockey team before becoming eligible for the NHL Entry Draft, determined which P.D.T., if any, the player would be eligible for.
2. Where more than one NHL team shares a natural territory (such as a province or a state), how close a player’s birth place is to an NHL team determined which P.D.T. the player would be eligible for.

A third rule was also applied in an attempt to keep the revised NHL Entry Draft for 2002 as simple as possible:

3. As each player was removed from the original entry draft because of designation under the P.D.T., the players below the removed player were moved up in the draft order. This seems rather arbitrary. But without any knowledge of what each team would have drafted had the player they originally drafted not been available, it seems like a fair compromise. So, for example, if the first player chosen in the original entry draft had been designated under the P.D.T., the second player chosen in the original entry draft was moved up to the first player chosen in the revised entry draft.

Once again, amazing how the application of these three simple rules to the NHL Entry Draft for the year 2002 could have dramatically altered the history of the NHL as we know it. Some key players on Cup winning teams simply might not have been there to help those teams secure their Cups or perhaps might have helped their new teams secure a Cup instead.

Table 1 below is actually two tables in one. The first six columns represent how the original NHL Entry Draft transpired. The second six columns represent how a revised NHL Entry Draft might have transpired after the application of the P.D.T. rule.

Table 1.

There’s more than a few recognizable names from the original 2002 Entry Draft. For example, Rick Nash, Kari Lehtonen, Jay Bouwmeester, Joffrey Lupul, Alexander Semin, Alexander Steen, Cam Ward, etc.

There is no doubt the Maple Leafs would have designated Rick Nash, who was drafted 1^st overall in the original draft, under their P.D.T. and this designation would have caused many other recognizable names to be drafted by different teams. For example, Kari Lehtonen, Scottie Upshall, Joffrey Lupul, Alexander Semin, Alexander Steen, Cam Ward, Jarret Stoll, and Josh Harding among others.

By looking closely at Table 1 above, we can see the players in Table 2 below are the players from the first round of the draft who would have been eligible for designation under the P.D.T. rule:

Table 2.

For the casual fan, it might be a challenge to find more than a few recognizable names from Table 2. But the first two would certainly stand out - Rick Nash and Jay Bouwmeester.

From that same list of names above, the one having the most interest to Leafs fans would, of course, be Rick Nash. The obvious questions:

1.      How much of an impact would Rick Nash have made as Mats Sundin’s left winger?

2.      How much better would the Maple Leafs have been and continue to be with a line comprised of Rick Nash, Jason Spezza, and Phil Kessel? Assuming the trade for Phil Kessel was done…

Intriguing as those questions might be for Leafs fans, the answers will never be known.

As was the case for the revised Entry Drafts for 2000 and 2001, the revised Entry Draft for 2002 provides many more questions for endless speculation, discussion, and debate.

Protected Draft Territory - Alternate Draft History for the Year 2001

In an attempt to rectify what I see as the issues with the current NHL Draft Lottery, I came up with a proposal for each NHL team to be given what I call a Protected Draft Territory or P.D.T. For a better understanding of my proposal, see my previous article (How to Rectify the NHL Draft Lottery).

As I mentioned in my previous article (Protected Draft Territory – Alternate Draft History for the Year 2000) initially I had some misgivings that the application of the P.D.T. to the NHL Entry Draft would result in some level of unfairness for the U.S. based NHL teams. But as you will see below, the application of the P.D.T. to the year 2001 did not result in any discernible level of unfairness.

At this point I should rehash the P.D.T. rules that I applied to each NHL Entry Draft:

1. A player’s birth place, not his last amateur hockey team before becoming eligible for the NHL Entry Draft, determined which P.D.T., if any, the player would be eligible for.
2. Where more than one NHL team shares a natural territory (such as a province or a state), how close a player’s birth place is to an NHL team determined which P.D.T. the player would be eligible for.

In an attempt to keep the revised NHL Entry Drafts for each year as simple as possible, a third rule was also applied:

3. As each player was removed from the original entry draft because of designation under the P.D.T., the players below the removed player were moved up in the draft order. This seems rather arbitrary. But without any knowledge of what each team would have drafted had the player they originally drafted not been available, it seems like a fair compromise. So, for example, if the first player chosen in the original entry draft had been designated under the P.D.T., the second player chosen in the original entry draft was moved up to the first player chosen in the revised entry draft.

Once again, amazing how the application of these three simple rules to the NHL Entry Draft for the year 2001 could have dramatically altered the history of the NHL as we know it. Some key players on Cup winning teams simply might not have been there to help those teams secure their Cups or perhaps might have helped their new teams secure a Cup instead.

Table 1 below is actually two tables in one. The first six columns represent how the original NHL Entry Draft transpired. The second six columns represent how a revised NHL Entry Draft might have transpired after the application of the P.D.T. rules.

 Table 1.

For a casual fan, there are more than a few recognizable names from the original 2001 Entry Draft. For example, Ilya Kovalchuk, Jason Spezza, Stephen Weiss, Millo Koivu, Mike Komisarek, Ales Hemsky, etc.

As there was a player, Jason Spezza, who was taken 2^nd overall in the original draft, the application of the P.D.T. rule to the 2001 Entry Draft might have caused many other recognizable names to be drafted by different teams. For example, Stephen Weiss, Mikko Koivu, Tuomo Ruulu, Ales Hemsky, and Carlo Colaiacovo among others.

By looking closely at Table 1 above, we can see the players in Table 2 below are the players from the first round of the draft who would have been eligible for designation under the P.D.T.:

 

Table 2.

To the same casual fans, the most recognizable names from Table 2 above are Jason Spezza, Mike Komisarek, Dan Hamhuis, R.J. Umberger, and Derek Roy.

From the list of names above, the name having the most interest to Leafs fans would, of course, be Jason Spezza. The most obvious question – how much of an impact would Jason Spezza have made as a number 2 centre behind Mats Sundin? We’ll never know.

But, there are many more questions for endless speculation, discussion, and debate that the revised Entry Draft for 2001 could generate. Enjoy.