Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.
We’re looking back at the 2005 NHL Draft, which kicked off the salary cap era and ushered in many of the current NHL superstars. The question we’re looking to answer is knowing now what we didn’t know then, how different would this draft look now with the benefit of hindsight?
Here are the results of our redraft so far:
1st Overall: Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins)
2nd Overall: Carey Price (Mighty Ducks of Anaheim)
3rd Overall: Anze Kopitar (Carolina Hurricanes)
4th Overall: Jonathan Quick (Minnesota Wild)
5th Overall: Kris Letang (Montreal Canadiens)
6th Overall: Tuukka Rask (Columbus Blue Jackets)
7th Overall: Bobby Ryan (Chicago Blackhawks)
8th Overall: Marc-Edouard Vlasic (San Jose Sharks)
9th Overall: Ben Bishop (Ottawa Senators)
10th Overall: James Neal (Vancouver Canucks)
11th Overall: T.J. Oshie (Los Angeles Kings)
12th Overall: Keith Yandle (New York Rangers)
13th Overall: Paul Stastny (Buffalo Sabres)
14th Overall: Marc Staal (Washington Capitals)
15th Overall: Patric Hornqvist (New York Islanders)
16th Overall: Niklas Hjalmarsson (Atlanta Thrashers)
17th Overall: Anton Stralman (Phoenix Coyotes)
18th Overall: Jack Johnson (Nashville Predators)
19th Overall: Matt Niskanen (Detroit Red Wings)
20th Overall: Justin Abdelkader (Florida Panthers)
21st Overall: Martin Hanzal (Toronto Maple Leafs)
22nd Overall: Andrew Cogliano (Boston Bruins)
23rd Overall: Kris Russell (New Jersey Devils)
24th Overall: Darren Helm (St. Louis Blues)
Now we move forward to the 25th pick, which was held by the Edmonton Oilers.
To recap how this works:
- We will go through the 2005 NHL Draft and have our readers select, through a voting process, who they think should have been taken with the selection.
- The entire first round will be redrafted, spanning picks one through thirty. The new selection is chosen by the majority of votes.
Back in 2005, the Blues selected center Andrew Cogliano out of St. Michael’s of the OPJHL, an Ontario junior hockey league that doesn’t eliminate college eligibility. While he hasn’t turned into a top end forward, he has been one of the steadier players in this draft class.
After being drafted, Cogliano played two years at the University of Michigan before turning pro. Instead of starting in the minors, he immediately made the jump to the NHL level and picked up 45 points in his rookie season, a total that remains his career high today. Unfortunately, his early success raised expectations that he wasn’t able to live up to.
The 29 year old spent the first four years of his career with the Oilers before being dealt to Anaheim in 2011 for a second round pick in 2013. (That pick turned into Marc-Olivier Roy, who never signed with Edmonton.) Cogliano is in his sixth season in an Anaheim uniform and while he hasn’t put up gaudy scoring numbers, he has been a serviceable middle six forward.
One of the calling cards of Cogliano’s career so far has been his durability. He has yet to miss a single game due to injury or being a healthy scratch, spanning 739 games over ten seasons. He ranks third in games played from players drafted in 2005, behind only Anze Kopitar (Los Angeles) and Marc-Edouard Vlasic (San Jose).
With the 25th pick of the 2005 NHL Redraft, who should the Oilers select? Cast your vote below!
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