Original pick: Ivan Vishnevskiy
The Dallas Stars were in the midst of five straight playoff appearances during the 2006 NHL Draft, but even though they had the 27th overall pick, they still had a lot of options. I mean, for crying out loud, this was a draft where Brad Marchand went 71st overall.
They went with a defenseman in Ivan Vishnevskiy who has a total of five NHL games to his name, when what they really should’ve focused on was a forward. Their highest scorer was Mike Ribeiro with a meager 59 points, while a defenseman in Sergei Zubov was the Stars’ second highest scorer. Lack of scoring hurt them in the playoffs that year too, when the only time they scored more than two goals was a quadruple-overtime loss in Game 1.
There were a lot of players that went under the radar in the 2006 Draft, but Mathieu Perreault getting selected near the end of the sixth round has to be high up there. We’re talking about a guy that’s scored 40 points in a season, and four goals in one game.
Perreault is a player who can provide offense from either the second or third line, and who can spark the team with a goal. Considering scoring was one of their main weaknesses while their blue line was pretty well set, it’s a wonder why the Stars ever targeted a defenseman. Perhaps they thought that their late-round pick was meaningless anyway, but this re-draft has proven that that’s far from being the case.
Next: 28. Ottawa Senators