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.
Our look back at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft is now in full swing as we poll the PHR community to see who would have been selected in the first round and in what order knowing what we know now. Through the first 21 picks, we’ve already seen potential Hall of Fame players switch teams, and multiple captains move up and down the draft board.
Here are the results of the redraft so far:
1st Overall: Jonathan Toews (St. Louis Blues)
2nd Overall: Claude Giroux (Pittsburgh Penguins)
3rd Overall: Nicklas Backstrom (Chicago Blackhawks)
4th Overall: Brad Marchand (Washington Capitals)
5th Overall: Phil Kessel (Boston Bruins)
6th Overall: Jordan Staal (Columbus Blue Jackets)
7th Overall: Milan Lucic (New York Islanders)
8th Overall: Kyle Okposo (Phoenix Coyotes)
9th Overall: Erik Johnson (Minnesota Wild)
10th Overall: Derick Brassard (Florida Panthers)
11th Overall: Bryan Little (Los Angeles Kings)
12th Overall: Nick Foligno (Atlanta Thrashers)
13th Overall: Semyon Varlamov (Toronto Maple Leafs)
14th Overall: Artem Anisimov (Vancouver Canucks)
15th Overall: Michael Grabner (Tampa Bay Lightning)
16th Overall: Patrik Berglund (San Jose Sharks)
17th Overall: Jeff Petry (Los Angeles Kings)
18th Overall: Jonathan Bernier (Colorado Avalanche)
19th Overall: Mathieu Perreault (Anaheim Ducks)
20th Overall: Michael Frolik (Montreal Canadiens)
21st Overall: Cal Clutterbuck (New York Rangers)
22nd Overall: James Reimer (Philadelphia Flyers)
23rd Overall: Leo Komarov (Washington Capitals)
24th Overall: Steve Mason (Buffalo Sabres)
25th Overall: Michal Neuvirth (St. Louis Blues)
26th Overall: Chris Stewart (Calgary Flames)
27th Overall: Andrew MacDonald (Dallas Stars)
28th Overall: Viktor Stalberg (Ottawa Senators)
With their original selection off the board in Foligno, the Senators instead wind up with Stalberg, a speedy winger who winds up going a lot higher than his original draft slot (161st overall to Toronto).
It took a little while for Stalberg to make it to Toronto as he spent three years at Vermont after being drafted before turning pro. He made an impact with the Maple Leafs fairly quickly, splitting the season between the NHL and AHL in his rookie year. However, that was his only year with the team as they moved him to Chicago as part of a five-player deal that saw them land winger Kris Versteeg.
The 32-year-old spent parts of three seasons with the Blackhawks with some mixed results. Although he had a 22-goal season in that time, he was more of a complementary piece and as a result, he was allowed to walk in free agency in 2013 just weeks after Chicago won the Stanley Cup.
Nashville believed that Stalberg could become more of a consistent contributor and as a result, they inked him to a four-year, $10MM deal that summer. It didn’t happen. By the second year of his deal, he had cleared waivers and spent a big chunk of the year with Milwaukee of the AHL. In the 2015 summer, the Predators bought him out; he remains on their books this season with a cap hit that’s just over $1.16MM.
He joined the Rangers that offseason and spent one year with the team before moving onto Carolina in free agency the following year. His time with the Hurricanes was short-lived as he was dealt at the trade deadline to Ottawa in February of 2017.
After being unable to land a contract that summer, Stalberg signed with EV Zug of the Swiss NLA and was quite productive last year with 50 points in 46 games which tied for second in league scoring. He remained with them to start this season but transferred to Omsk of the KHL in late October.
Stalberg will once again be a free agent this summer and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him try to land an NHL deal one more time. If that doesn’t happen, he’ll wrap up his NHL playing days with 168 points in 488 games which is pretty good for a player selected in the sixth round.
We move to the twenty-ninth pick which was held by Phoenix. After landing Peter Mueller with the eighth pick, they looked to the back end and selected Chris Summers. That pick hasn’t panned out particularly well as the blueliner has spent the majority of his professional career at the minor league level. They’ll wind up with a better player in our redraft but who should they take? Have your say by voting in the poll below.
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