Which are the greatest NHL draft classes of all time? Some years gave us multiple all-time superstars. Others yielded incredible depth and dozens of long, productive NHL careers. In naming my top five classes, I searched for the years that gave us the best combinations of star power and depth.
I lied. I’ve named six classes. I couldn’t bring myself to cut any of my top six and make it a top five. Each of the classes is simply that good. With that, let’s continue the series with No. 5.
No. 5: The 1990 Draft
Why it’s No. 5: Scores major points for yielding two all-time legends plus a handful of ‘Hall of Very Good’ players who had long and successful careers
Top scorer: Jaromir Jagr: 1,921 points
Hall of Famers: Martin Brodeur, Sergei Zubov (Jaromir Jagr a lock once eligible)
Other notables: Keith Tkachuk, Peter Bondra, Doug Weight, Owen Nolan, Slava Kozlov, Geoff Sanderson, Mike Ricci, Darryl Sydor, Derian Hatcher, Keith Primeau, Petr Nedved, Alexei Zhamnov, Craig Conroy
Scouting was a different beast in 1990 than it is now. You couldn’t see game film of prospects from all over the world with the click of a button. The batting average on first-rounders thus wasn’t always perfect. But the 1990 scouts deserve a round of applause. Each of the top five picks and seven of the top eight played at least 900 NHL games. The Quebec Nordiques did just fine with power forward Owen Nolan first overall. He scored more than 400 goals and played in five All-Star Games, and they got a crucial piece for their first Stanley Cup when, as the Colorado Avalanche, they traded him to the San Jose Sharks in a deal that brought them Sandis Ozolinsh.
Jaromir Jagr ended up by far the top prize among 1990 skaters. He was coveted higher than his No. 5 overall draft slot even then, but the story has it that he told the top four teams he wouldn’t report to them if they picked him. He wanted to play with Mario Lemieux and forced the issue, giving the Penguins a gift at fifth overall when they should’ve had to trade up to get him. We know what happened after that. They won the Stanley Cup in Jagr’s first two NHL seasons. He went on to win five scoring titles and a Hart Trophy and tally the second-most points in NHL history. Remarkably, he’s yet to retire even at age 51, playing for his hometown Kladno while doubling as the team’s majority owner in the Czech Extraliga.
With Martin Brodeur going to the New Jersey Devils at 20th overall, another legend would soon be cemented. He won the Calder Trophy by 1993-94, the first of three career Stanley Cups in his 1994-95 and four Vezina Trophies. He piled up 691 wins, the most in NHL history by a country mile.
The 1990 draft class thus earns top marks for harvesting those two players alone. But the steady, slick blueliner Sergei Zubov put together a Hall of Fame career, too, while Peter Bondra managed 500 goals despite spending most of his prime in the Dead Puck Era. He ranks among the most overlooked potential Hall of Fame cases. And what about Keith Tkachuk? He remains one of three players in NHL history with 500-plus goals and 2,000-plus PIM.
The class of 1990 delivered some of the better playmaking centers of the 1990s and 2000s in Doug Weight and Alexei Zhamnov, some Stanley Cup-winning minute munchers on defense in Darryl Sydor and Derian Hatcher and some beastly power forwards in Nolan, Tkachuk and Keith Primeau. It had a bit of everything.
1988 top five picks
1. Owen Nolan, Quebec Nordiques
2. Petr Nedved, Vancouver Canucks
3. Keith Primeau, Detroit Red Wings
4. Mike Ricci, Philadelphia Flyers
5. Jaromir Jagr, Pittsburgh Penguins
1998 top five, redrafted (actual spot in brackets)
1. Jaromir Jagr (5th)
2. Martin Brodeur (20th)
3. Sergei Zubov (85th)
4. Keith Tkachuk (19th)
5. Peter Bondra (156th)
Previous entries in the Greatest Draft Classes series
Greatest NHL Drafts of All-time: #6 – Modano, Mogilny, Selanne arrive in Class of 1988
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