Quote:
Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm
1997 was supposed to be deep, since when? You're making stuff up.
I was about 15 at the time but I don't remember then, or any time since then people referring to 1997 as a deep draft.
|
Leading up to it, it was hyped as deep. A lot of it because of Thornton, and Samsonov got a lot of attention, too. Luongo was projected to be a star goalie. Even Tkaczuk was well-regarded after the WJC.
Not saying anything about how it was evaluated since. Point of the exercise is that in any 1st round there will be some who end up having great NHL careers, some having decent NHL and some will never make it. You can pick any year. In hindsight, '97 was probably not much better or worse than most other years.
Edit: It may have been "better than average."
When Patrik Stefan was 1st overall, then the twins:
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/nhl1999e.html
Not a pretty sight.