Hunt on waivers ok bit he wasnt playing all that bad. I agree, I have no clue why Simmonds is even still here. He has been useless for the past few seasons. He was waived. He was shopped around. NOBODY wants him. He is done. Sure the team has done right by him, but this is also a business. Time to say go down and be the new Rich Clune in the minors or go home. He is done. Holmberg needs to be back in and Dubas needs to make his moves for trade deadline to bolster things.

Hunt on waivers ok bit he wasnt playing all that bad. I agree, I have no clue why Simmonds is even still here. He has been useless for the past few seasons. He was waived. He was shopped around. NOBODY wants him. He is done. Sure the team has done right by him, but this is also a business. Time to say go down and be the new Rich Clune in the minors or go home. He is done. Holmberg needs to be back in and Dubas needs to make his moves for trade deadline to bolster things.
- Roadrunner75

Waiving Hunt and keeping Simmonds is a strange decision, I'll agree.

Hunt on waivers ok bit he wasnt playing all that bad. I agree, I have no clue why Simmonds is even still here. He has been useless for the past few seasons. He was waived. He was shopped around. NOBODY wants him. He is done. Sure the team has done right by him, but this is also a business. Time to say go down and be the new Rich Clune in the minors or go home. He is done. Holmberg needs to be back in and Dubas needs to make his moves for trade deadline to bolster things.
- Roadrunner75

Hunt lost his spot to McMann and Holmberg was recalled today and plays 4th line C with Kerfoot going back to the 3rd line. They’re going to have to make a decision when Brodie comes back: risk Benn on waivers or send down Holmberg, McMann (waiver exempt) or Simmonds.

Waiving Hunt and keeping Simmonds is a strange decision, I'll agree.
- Monkeypunk

I think everyone agrees. I mean, can't holmberg and McMann go down without waivers? So if they needed a spot for Brodie or Mete they could have moved one of them down. Maybe Hunt doesn't like it here or wants more opportunity and Dubas wants to just get rid of him? No clue. It doesn't make a lot of sense.

Hunt lost his spot to McMann and Holmberg was recalled today and plays 4th line C with Kerfoot going back to the 3rd line. They’re going to have to make a decision when Brodie comes back: risk Benn on waivers or send down Holmberg, McMann (waiver exempt) or Simmonds.
- Canada Cup

I'm spitting ideas out here. Maybe it's as you said, McMann and Holmberg have earned spots (Holmberg for sure has) and they want to see what a playoff line up mostly looks like and Hunt maybe isn't on it?

I'm spitting ideas out here. Maybe it's as you said, McMann and Holmberg have earned spots (Holmberg for sure has) and they want to see what a playoff line up mostly looks like and Hunt maybe isn't on it?
- Aaron_85

I think it’s the only reason Holmberg went down and Kerfoot played as 4C: they knew Holmberg was going to be back and they wanted a bit more time to decide between Hunt and McMann. It’s possible that ZAR was part of that decision mix as well but I don’t think there was any real question about Holmberg especially since it meant Kerfoot playing 4C.

Wow. First kudos to Priestley. He did good work. Man that was a hell of a show on Ballard.

biases aren't such a bad thing, especially when you're able to acknowledge them, sometimes it's even fun to embrace them. in part it's what made me enjoy last night's win a bit more
- Pat1993

in fairness, I would of taken Slafkovsky 1st overall as well.

I said in the past 30 years, here are the 1st overall picks in the last 30 years previous to the Slafkovsky pick - Now Honestly see if you completely disagree with the 5 worst that I picked. Also with the the understanding that I agree it is early on Slafkovsky, but his stats for year 1 are really poor.

Juraj Slafkovsky
Owen Power
Alexis Lafrenière
Jack Hughes
Rasmus Dahlin
Nico Hischier
Auston Matthews
Connor McDavid
Aaron Ekblad
Nathan MacKinnon
Nail Yakupov
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
Taylor Hall
John Tavares
Steven Stamkos
Patrick Kane
Erik Johnson
Sidney Crosby
Alex Ovechkin
Marc-Andre Fleury
Rick Nash
Ilya Kovalchuk
Rick DiPietro
Patrik Stefan
Vincent Lecavalier
Joe Thornton
Chris Phillips
Bryan Berard
Ed Jovanovski
Alexandre Daigle
- winsix

nobody had a worst rookie year than Joe Thornton...

Patrik Stefan was the worst 1st overall. hands down.

How many 1st overalls have we had on our team? Clark, Sundin, Berard, Lindros, Tavares, Matthews, Thornton, Nolan...
- Tee-Dot

Berard was the one that still hurts me.
never know how dominant he could of been

nobody had a worst rookie year than Joe Thornton...

Patrik Stefan was the worst 1st overall. hands down.
- aries1976

I would say DiPietro was worse than Stephan. Both had little impact in the NHL, but DiPietro was awful and made alot of money. Thornton did have a brutal rookie season. He was poorly managed in Boston.

Berard was the one that still hurts me.
never know how dominant he could of been
- aries1976

Same here. I always though Hossa had intent when he ended Berard's career.

nobody had a worst rookie year than Joe Thornton...

Patrik Stefan was the worst 1st overall. hands down.
- aries1976

Id agree

but also, look at that draft, just the worst..ever?

redraft the first round..it goes something like

Sedin
Sedin
Havlat
Guy
Guy

Tim Connolly? Jackman?, Boynton? what a top 5

Canucks fired their coach?

Wow, I did not see that one coming.

Berard was the one that still hurts me.
never know how dominant he could of been
- aries1976

He was not going to be dominant.

We all make him out to be an incredibly gifted player, because we want to be nice.

The truth was, he was nowhere near being a good 1st overall pick.

About a week or two before the accident, Pat Quinn called him a "work in progress" - and it wasn't meant as a compliment.

Hell, the Islanders had already given up on him - they traded him to Toronto for a washed up Felix Potvin.

Id agree

but also, look at that draft, just the worst..ever?

redraft the first round..it goes something like

Sedin
Sedin
Havlat
Guy
Guy

Tim Connolly? Jackman?, Boynton? what a top 5
- senstroll

I mean the worst #1 overall pick? Go back a ways to when some of us old farts were too young to even be paying that much attention, and you've got guys like Doug Wickenheiser (1980), Brian Lawton (1983), Gord Kluzak (1982) who are probably at the pinnacle of that.

If you look at individual draft classes and how the #1 overall compares to their class, those three would also be at the top of the list, followed by:


Stefan - definitely the guy who I think is both the biggest miss and lowest impact - probably 25-30 better selections. He is a legend in hockey history, though - for not scoring on a clear breakaway on an empty net, and allowing Hemsky to turn the puck back up ice and score with 1 second left to tie it for the Oilers against Dallas. Might be one of the more egregious screw ups in hockey history.

Yakupov - in his draft year, there are probably 25-30 better selections - he had 31 points in a shortened season of 48 games that year, and would never be that good again, which is pretty sad.

Daigle - there had to be at least 35 better options all things considered. He had 3 20 goal seasons, and in each of those seasons he had 51 points. It was the rest of the time that he was terrible. Because of those 3 seasons, I'd put him higher than Stefan.

Erik Johnson - about 10 guys who were better picks

DiPietro - probably about 11 or 12 guys who were better options.

Joe Murphy - Probably 10 better options - so it wasn't a particularly strong draft - I mean some of the guys who had better careers were Scott Young, Zarley Zalapski and Lule Odelein . . .

Phillips - I think a lot of people liked him, but all I see nothing in his game that makes him excel - but it was a bad draft class with only about 7 or 8 guys who were better options - and that assumes that guys with one or two decent seasons like Derek Morris were better choices.

Nugent-Hopkins - there are probably about 7 better picks from his draft year

Owen Nolan - I know he was a good player who scored over 30 8 times, but in his draft class the Nordiques missed Jagr, Brodeur, Zubov, Tkachuk, Bondra, Sydor and Weight, who were all probably more impactful players.

I mean the worst #1 overall pick? Go back a ways to when some of us old farts were too young to even be paying that much attention, and you've got guys like Doug Wickenheiser (1980), Brian Lawton (1983), Gord Kluzak (1982) who are probably at the pinnacle of that.
- Monkeypunk

I was only talking about the names that were listed.

He was not going to be dominant.

We all make him out to be an incredibly gifted player, because we want to be nice.

The truth was, he was nowhere near being a good 1st overall pick.

About a week or two before the accident, Pat Quinn called him a "work in progress" - and it wasn't meant as a compliment.

Hell, the Islanders had already given up on him - they traded him to Toronto for a washed up Felix Potvin.
- Atomic Wedgie

He's better than you're giving him credit for. In the year he was injured was just 22 years old, which for many defensemen made him still a work in progress. His play on the defensive side of the puck needed work, but his skating, passing and shooting were all well above average.

The Islanders weren't giving up on him - they were acquiring an all-star goaltender who they felt could regain that form - especially since Potvin was only 27.

In his draft class, there weren't too many players who would have projected to be better than Berard - Iginla, Kiprusoff, Giguere, Doan, Sykora, Redden maybe, but after them you're into guys who had moments - like Marc Savard, Robidas, Dvorak . . but no one who stood out that much.

I was only talking about the names that were listed.
- senstroll

Ok. I wasn't trying to argue, I was trying to contribute.

Ok. I wasn't trying to argue, I was trying to contribute.
- Monkeypunk

Totally going to use that one on my wife.

You need to use the context of the time to actually make the argument over who SHOULD have been picked first overall. It's an entirely different question over who later proved to be the best of the bunch.

All you can use is their draft year and the pedigree they had going in if you're trying to be honest about who "should" have gone first.

And to be fair to Patrick Stefan, injuries and concussions derailed his career.

You need to use the context of the time to actually make the argument over who SHOULD have been picked first overall. It's an entirely different question over who later proved to be the best of the bunch.

All you can use is their draft year and the pedigree they had going in if you're trying to be honest about who "should" have gone first.
- AdamFrench

Even I got tired of trying to make the “worst pick of a particular draft” vs “comparing players picked first” distinction.

Meier fighting Carlo

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