The BUST label is not anyone wants!
The NHL draft is an exciting time for hockey fans and teams alike. You get to see the results of years worth of scouting and planning to see how your team is investing in its future.
If you pay attention to smaller leagues around the world you get to see the payoff for those young players. This of course comes with its fair share of hype and speculation as we talk about how these drafted players are going to turn out if they even work out at all.
The sad fact is, not every draft pick works out no matter how hyped they are. These are the ten biggest busts in NHL history.
10. Thomas Hickey
The 2007 draft had some real big names come through. Jakub Voracek, Sam Gagner, Kevin Shattenkirk, and Logan Couture are some examples of the high quality names that came in this draft. Given the lineup, who did the Kings choose to draft fourth overall? Thomas Hickey. To their credit, Hickey had seemed very promising. Two times he would score over 50 points in the WHL. This would be the peak of his professional career unfortunately.
Hickey would never play a game with the Kings. He spent his entire time there in the AHL, struggling to really find any sort of momentum, be it injuries or just poor play. Never being able to earn a roster spot with LA, Hickey would be placed on waivers and claimed by the Islanders. He’s been a relative mainstay in New York, but was still unable to find any real long term success, trading time between the NHL and the AHL for the rest of his career before retiring at the end of the 2021-22 season.
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9. Nikita Filatov
Filatov was drafted sixth overall in 2008 by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Prior to joining the NHL, he played in Russia for the CSKA Red Army hockey system, and averaged over three points per game. He also played for team Russia in the World Junior Championships twice, winning Top Three Player. Columbus was very excited to bring him aboard, hoping that adding a young, budding player such as him would help them make playoff contention. After navigating a dicey contract issue with the KHL, he would be brought into Columbus in a three year deal.
However, Filatov would only play 53 games in the NHL and would only amass 14 total points (6 goals and 8 assists). He would bounce between Columbus and their AHL affiliate before heading over to Ottawa and doing the same. Eventually he was released by the Senators and would spend the rest of his playing career in the KHL. Not at all what Columbus was hoping for when they drafted him.
8. Gord Kluzak
The Bruins bet a lot on Gord, and unfortunately their bet was misplaced. Kluzak was drafted first overall in 1982, but would stop playing hockey by 1991. He would only play in 299 games. In that time he would score 25 goals, and tally 98 assists. The Bruins were hoping Kluzak would lead them back into Stanley Cup contention, having fallen on harder times. Instead, Kluzak would struggle to stay healthy, only once playing a full season in his career. Plagued by knee injuries, Kluzak would be forced to retire, leaving behind only a what if.
7. Patrik Stefan
The 1999 draft saw the Canucks pick both of the Sedin twins, who went on to have incredible careers in Vancouver. However, the first overall pick of that same draft would not have the same luck. Drafted by the now dead Atlanta Thrashers that year, Stefan would go on to have a disappointing career to say the least. Atlanta hoped that Stefan would become their face, and lead them to Stanley Cup contention. The disappointment would start immediately.
In his rookie season, Stefan only scored 5 goals, and tallied 20 assists in 72 games. In his career, he would never tally more than 36 points. His numbers weren’t bad for a middle of the pack, role player, but he was far from the star he was hoped to become. He would also end up having one of the biggest blunders in NHL history, when he would fail to put the puck in the goal despite the net being empty, and him being inches away.
6. Nail Yakupov
Before Connor McDavid, the Oilers could not get it right with their draft picks. From 2010 to 2012 the Oilers had the first overall pick in the draft. In 2012 they would use that pick to select Nail Yakupov. The season would then be shortened due to a lockout, so Yakupov played in the KHL for 22 games and record 18 points. When he entered the NHL he would scored 17 goals and 14 assists in 48 games played, the entirety of the lockout shortened season.
That would be his career best. The next three seasons saw him score a high of 33 points, while never once scoring over 14 goals. He would have less luck in St Louis, scoring only 9 points. He finished his NHL career in Colorado, where he played 58 games, scoring 9 goals and tallying 7 assists. Yakupov would then return to the KHL, where he remains to this day.
5. Greg Joly
Joly was the first ever pick of the Washington Capitals, and he was selected first overall to boot. To be the first draft pick of a new team holds certain expectations, which unfortunately Joly would never meet. It doesn’t help that in his final season in the WHL he scored a whooping 92 points. Joly would fail to come close to matching these numbers in the NHL. His rookie season saw him score one goal and tally seven assists in 44 games played. He would also have a disgraceful minus-69 rating, in a season that saw Washington only win 8 games.
Joly was soon traded to Detroit after his second season in Washington saw him only improve a little bit. He would fail to make any sort of lasting impact in Detroit, bouncing between the NHL and the AHL. His career high was 27 points, which is bad enough, but the most shocking part is the fact that by the end of his career, he was a minus-165 overall. These are atrocious numbers for anyone, even more so for a defenseman, and it earns Joly his spot.
4. Brian Lawton
Lawton made history in 1983 when he became the first American born player to be drafted first overall. The North Stars would select him, helping him reach this historical moment. However, that historical moment would be the absolute pinnacle of his career. The reason he makes this list is not because of bad numbers, it’s because Lawton would fail to match the hype around him given the context of his draft.
Lawton would be selected above historical players. Pat LaFontaine and Steve Yzerman would make the Hall of Fame, while Slyvain Turgeon, Tom Barrasso, John MacLean, Russ Courtnall were all All Stars. Lawton made history for his nationality, but the North Stars might’ve been better off saving that moment for later, as Lawton would fail to clear over 30 points more than once in his career.
3. Claude Gauthier
The NHL established the draft in 1963. The first draft was certainly not up to the same standards as it is today. In fact, only nine players from that first draft even actually played in the NHL. Gauthier holds a special spot on this list however. Gauthier was not just the first ever first overall pick, but the first ever draft pick in NHL history. Despite being a part of this absolute historical moment, Gauthier would never play a single game in the NHL. That’s what earns him a spot on this list today.
2. Rick DiPietro
You knew he was going to be on here. Rick was a part of two of the worst decisions in NHL history. Before we get to that, let’s take a look at his career itself. DiPietro struggled horrifically to stay healthy most of his career. He went 3-15 with a 3.49 goals against average in his rooky season. He would show flashes of greatness, but never be able to build off of it. Which is where the decision making comes into play. DiPietro was drafted by the Islanders, who already had a standout goalie in Roberto Luongo. The Islanders would make the decision to trade Luongo to draft Rick, a laughable decision looking back given the career Luongo would go on to have.
The second terrible decision was the Islanders resigning him to a 15 year, 67.5 million contract. DiPietro would put up decent numbers for the first two years of that contract, then seemingly fall off a cliff. The Islanders had to buy out his contract to get out of it, which forced them to pay him until 2029.
1. Alexandre Daigle
The NHL has had many faces of the league. Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky, Sidney Crosby, and now Connor McDavid. It’s a great honor to be considered this, but it can also be a massive pressure. Daigle cracked under this pressure. After turning down multiple trade offers, Ottawa drafted Daigle first overall in 1993, with the expectations he would be the next guy. Daigle recorded 51 points in his rookie season, but would fail to reach such success again.
After four more seasons and only recorded over 40 points once, Daigle was traded to the Flyers. Daigle would continue to put up decent numbers, but not the numbers that were hoped out of him. It’s made worse by the fact that Daigle is on record saying, “I’m glad I got drafted first, because no one remembers number two.” The number two overall pick of that draft was Chris Pronger, who would go on to have a Hall of Fame career.
