landsharkhockey

36 Years Old • Male

The Ones that Got Away

Few things are more frustrating for a hockey fan than to see your team draft a great prospect, watch him come up through the ranks to become a star, only to then see him leave as a free agent or trade. It's the reality of the NHL, but imagine if it wasn't so. Imagine a world where your team could keep every player it ever drafted. How different would the NHL landscape be today? Would the Penguins and Redwings still be the powerhouse teams? Would the Lightning, Avalanche and Islanders be swimming in the basement? To get to the bottom of this, I took a look at the key drafted players who have since departed. First, we'll look at who has lost the most by position, and then we'll go team by team on the key losses.

Goalies

San Jose - The Sharks have given up the most talent in net recently, trading away both Vesa Toskala and Mikka Kiprusoff, mostly because they had Nabokov in the fold.

Montreal - While most Canadiens won't mourn the loss of Jose Theodore, it sure would be nice to have Tomas Vokoun hanging around, in the event that Carey Price can't recover and live up to expectations.

Anaheim - The Ducks have been stacked in net, as witnessed by their current tandem of Giguere and Hiller. Because of this, they were able to let Ilya Bryzgalov and Martin Gerber go over the years.

NY Islanders - Sure, having DiPietro sit for 15 years sounds great, but I'm thinking holding on to Roberto Luongo might have been a better idea.


Defense

Montreal - It's ridiculous to consider the talent that has come and gone through the Canadiens system, leaving them with Hal Gill? Here's a sampling: Mark Streit, Mike Komisarek, Ron Hainsey, Francois Beauchemin, Aaron Asham, Stephane Robidas, Craig Rivet, Patrice Brisebois

LA Kings - It's equally offensive to Kings fans to think about what might have been on the LA blueline had they not let some of these guys go: Denis Grebeshkov, Andreas Lilja, Lubomir Visnovsky, Joe Corvo, Kimmo Timonen, Rob Blake, Darryl Sydor

NY Islanders - Once again, what were the Islanders smoking when they let some of these guys go? - Chris Campoli, Eric Brewer, Zdeno Chara, Wade Redden, Brad Lukowich, Bryan McCabe


Offense

Colorado - The Avalanche experienced a decade of success, but over that time, they were forced to allow some pretty good talent leave town up front. Consider: Alex Tanguay, Sami Pahlsson, Chris Drury, Owen Nolan, Mats Sundin

Edmonton - The Oilers might have had a little more success had they held on to some of these guys: Jarret Stoll, Matt Lombardi, Mike Comrie, Ryan Smyth, Jason Arnott, Miro Satan, Kirk Maltby

Ottawa - The story in Ottawa would be dramatically different had they kept these guys in the fold. If nothing else, they wouldn't have the Heatley crisis on their hands. Patrick Eaves, Brooks Laich, Antoine Vermette, Martin Havlat, Marian Hossa, Pavol Demitra


Team by Team

Here is the most prominent names by team, with the one that hurts the most highlighted.

Anaheim
Goalies: Ilya Bryzgalov, Martin Gerber
Defense: Jordan Leopold, Shane O'Brien
Offense: Paul Kariya, Matt Cullen

Atlanta
Goalies: None
Defense: Braydon Coburn
Offense: Dany Heatley

Buffalo
Goalies: Martin Biron
Defense: Keith Ballard, Dennis Wideman, Brian Campbell, Cory Sarich
Offense: None

Boston
Goalies: Andrew Raycroft
Defense: Milan Jurcina, Hal Gill
Offense: Kris Versteeg, Joe Thornton, Sergei Samsonov

Calgary
Goalies: None
Defense: Kurtis Foster
Offense: Matt Lombardi, Chuck Kobasew, Travis Moen, Cory Stillman

Chicago
Goalies: Craig Anderson
Defense: Anton Babchuk, James Wisniewski
Offense: Tuomo Ruutu, Tyler Arnason, Daniel Cleary

Carolina
Goalies: J.S. Giguere
Defense: Jack Johnson, Chris Pronger
Offense: Andrew Ladd, Bobby Holik

Columbus
Goalies: Pascal Leclaire
Defense: None
Offense: Nik Zherdev

Colorado
Goalies: Tim Thomas
Defense: Tom Gilbert, Kurt Sauer, Martin Skoula
Offense: Alex Tanguay, Sami Pahlsson, Chris Drury, Owen Nolan, Mats Sundin

Dallas
Goalies: Dan Ellis
Defense: None
Offense: Jussi Jokinen, Jarome Iginla, Jamie Langenbrunner

Detroit
Goalies: None
Defense: Kyle Quincey, Mathieu Dandenault
Offense: Tomas Fleischmann, Mike Knuble, Slava Kozlov

Edmonton
Goalies: None
Defense: Matt Greene, Tom Poti
Offense: Jarret Stoll, Matt Lombardi, Mike Comrie, Ryan Smyth, Jason Arnott, Miro Satan, Kirk Maltby

Florida
Goalies: Alex Auld
Defense: Jay Bouwmeester, Jaroslav Spacek, Filip Kuba, Ed Jovanavski
Offense: Niklas Hagman, Kristian Huselius

Los Angeles
Goalies: Cristobal Huet
Defense: Denis Grebeshkov, Andreas Lilja, Lubomir Visnovsky, Joe Corvo, Kimmo Timonen, Rob Blake, Darryl Sydor
Offense: Mike Cammalleri, Olli Jokinen

Minnesota
Goalies: None
Defense: None
Offense: Patrick O'Sullivan, Marian Gaborik

Montreal
Goalies: Jose Theodore, Tomas Vokoun
Defense: Mark Streit, Mike Komisarek, Ron Hainsey, Francois Beauchemin, Aaron Asham, Stephane Robidas, Craig Rivet, Patrice Brisebois
Offense: Christopher Higgins, Mike Ribeiro, Michael Ryder, Saku Koivu, Darcy Tucker, Craig Conroy

Nashville
Goalies: None
Defense: Karlis Skrastins
Offense: Scottie Upshall, Scott Hartnell

New Jersey
Goalies: Scott Clemmensen
Defense: Mike Commodore, Willie Mitchell, Sheldon Souray, Scott Niedermeyer
Offense: Michael Rupp, Scott Gomez, Brian Gionta, Petr Sykora, Steve Sullivan, Brendan Morrison, Bill Guerin

NY Isles
Goalies: Roberto Luongo
Defense: Chris Campoli, Eric Brewer, Zdeno Chara, Wade Redden, Brad Lukowich, Bryan McCabe
Offense: Robert Nilsson, Raffi Torres, Tim Connolly, Michael Rupp, J.P. Dumont, Todd Bertuzzi, Derek Armstrong

NY Rangers
Goalies: None
Defense: Fedor Tyutin, Marek Zidlicky
Offense: Nigel Dawes, Petr Prucha, Dominic Moore, Manny Malhotra, Marc Savard, Alexei Kovalev, Doug Weight

Ottawa
Goalies: None
Defense: Andrej Meszaros, Tim Gleason, Sami Salo
Offense: Patrick Eaves, Brooks Laich, Antoine Vermette, Martin Havlat, Marian Hossa, Pavol Demitra

Philadelphia
Goalies: Antero Niittymaki, Johan Hedberg
Defense: Joni Pitkanen, Dennis Seidenberg
Offense: Steve Downie, Patrick Sharp, Justin Williams, Vinny Prospal

Phoenix
Goalies: Nikolai Khabibulin
Defense: Aaron Ward
Offense: Blake Wheeler, Fredrik Sjostrom, Daniel Briere, Keith Tkachuk, Kris Draper, Teemu Selanne

Pittsburgh
Goalies: Patrick Lalime
Defense: Ryan Whitney, Rob Scuderi, Andrew Ference, Michal Roszival
Offense: Daniel Carcillo, Erik Christensen, Colby Armstrong, Ryan Malone, Richard Park, Mark Recchi

San Jose
Goalies: Vesa Toskala, Miikka Kiprusoff
Defense: Matt Carle, Christian Ehrhoff, Brad Stuart
Offense: Mikael Samuelsson, Marco Sturm, Ray Whitney

St. Louis
Goalies: None
Defense: None
Offense: Lee Stempniak, Michal Handzus, Rod Brind'Amour

Tampa Bay
Goalies: None
Defense: Paul Mara, Pavel Kubina, Roman Hamrlik
Offense: Brad Richards, Daymond Langkow

Toronto
Goalies: Tuukka Rask
Defense: None
Offense: Kyle Wellwood, Brad Boyes, Nik Antropov, Fredrik Modin

Vancouver
Goalies: None
Defense: Mattias Ohlund, Adrian Aucoin
Offense: RJ Umberger, Jarkko Ruutu, Matt Cooke, Scott Walker

Washington
Goalies: None
Defense: Steve Eminger, Nathan Paetsch, Johnny Oduya, Sergei Gonchar
Offense: Andrew Brunette


To get more free fantasy hockey tips and tools, visit http://www.landsharkhockey.net. Landshark Hockey offers a free draft guide and draft ranking tool to help generate your draft sheet.

Leave a Comment

You must be logged in to leave a comment.