The 10 most loaded draft classes in NHL history
By C.L. Kohuss
6. 1991
Unless you’re a total hockey nut who lives in the era of the 1990s (me), you may have forgotten how loaded this draft really was. Of course, it won’t likely ever reach the level of some other drafts on this list, but check out these names you’ve maybe forgotten: Zigmund Palffy, Martin Rucinsky, Alexei Kovalev, Michael Nylander, Alexei Zhitnik.
A big reason may be that fans and critics see the ‘90s as a diluted era where goal scoring hit a brick wall. That’s mainly due to new defensive schemes, though the idea that players simply stopped putting the puck in the net is a bit ludicrous. In fact, we get pretty excited today when a guy scores 50 goals or even comes close. It’s a huge accomplishment. Between 1991 and 1993? 18 Guys did it. Eighteen!
But getting back on track, let’s revisit some of the names listed above. Zhitnik and Nylander played in nearly 2,000 games between them, while Rucinsky split 1,300 games between the NHL and the CZE, including over 600 points with seven different major clubs. Palffy was a 300 goal scorer, averaging better than a point a game in 684 contests (think about that). Kovalev was a first round pick who played in over 1,300 games and scored over 1,000 points. He isn’t the Hall of Fame (yet), though the numbers certainly bear out that he should make it. He scored 21 points in 23 postseason games back in ’94 to lead the New York Rangers to a Stanley Cup.
If he does make the short list, it would add a fourth Hall player to the first round of this draft year, which includes Eric Lindros, Peter Forsberg and four-time Stanley Cup winner Scott Niedermayer. Markus Naslund, a face of the Vancouver Canucks for over a decade also went in Round 1. He played in 1,100 games and was five shy of scoring 400. He was a Hart finalist in ‘03 and made the All-Star game five times.
Glenn Murray? Selected two picks later, played in 1,000 games and scored more than 300 goals.