[devo22]

Originally Posted by trackercowe

Overall I think Burke's draft record shows he's at least competent, he's definitely better in other forms of player acquisition, but even though he may not succeed every year, that does not mean his entire drafting record should be called into question.

VANCOUVER:

Spoiler!

1999
1st round, 2nd overall - F Daniel Sedin
1st round, 3rd overall - F Henrik Sedin
3rd round, 69th overall - D Rene Vydareny
5th round, 129th overall - F Ryan Thorpe
6th round, 172th overall - D Josh Reed
7th round, 189th overall - G Kevin Swanson
8th round, 218th overall - D Markus Kankaanpera
9th round, 271th overall - D Darrell Hay

outside of the Sedins, not a single NHL game among the other picks.

2000
1st round, 23th overall - F Nathan Smith
3rd round, 71th overall - F Thatcher Bell
3rd round, 93th overall - D Tim Branham
5th round, 144th overall - F Pavel Duma
7th round, 208th overall - F Brandon Reid
8th round, 241th overall - F Nathan Barrett
9th round, 272th overall - F Tim Smith

just a horrible, horrible draft. Nathan Smith and Brandon Reid have a combined 39 NHL games to their names, the others didn't make it ... essentially the Canucks blew a whole draft class.

2001
1st round, 16th overall - F R.J. Umberger
3rd round, 66th overall - F Fedor Fedorov
4th round, 114th overall - F Evgeny Gladskikh
5th round, 151st overall - D Kevin Bieksa
7th round, 212nd overall - F Jason King
8th round, 245th overall - F Konstantin Mikhailov

The Canucks' best draft under Burke as a GM, as four players made it to the NHL. Umberger and Bieksa became good NHLers, King played 59 games and Fedorov got 18.

2002
2nd round, 49th overall - D Kirill Koltsov
2nd round, 55th overall - D Denis Grot
3rd round, 68th overall - D Brett Skinner
3rd round, 83rd overall - G Lukas Mensator
4th round, 114th overall - F John Laliberte
5th round, 151st overall - G Rob McVicar
7th round, 214th overall - F Marc-Andre Roy
7th round, 223th overall - F Ilya Krikunov
8th round, 247th overall - G Matt Violin
9th round, 277th overall - F Thomas Nussli
9th round, 278th overall - F Matt Gens

absolutely horrible - another complete draft class lost for Vancouver. Skinner played 11 games, McVicar a single game - and that's it. Nothing else. Zero. Nada.

2003
1st round, 23rd round - F Ryan Kesler
2nd round, 60th overall - F Marc-Andre Bernier
4th round, 111st overall - F Brandon Nolan
4th round, 128th overall - F Ty Morris
5th round, 160th overall - F Nicklas Danielsson
6th round, 190th overall - D Chad Brownlee
7th round, 222nd overall - F Francois-Pierre Guenette
8th round, 252nd overall - F Sergei Topol
8th round, 254th overall - D Nathan McIver
9th round, 285th overall - D Matthew Hansen

again, pretty bad. Kesler obviously turned out great, but that's about it. Nolan played 6 games in the NHL and McIver has played 36 as an injury callup. Nobody else made it.

So that's 42 draft picks, of which 13 have played at least one game in the NHL. Five of those players have played more than 100 NHL games - four of those were 1st round picks. One 1st round pick and three 2nd round picks were complete busts.

ANAHEIM:

Spoiler!

2005
1st round, 2nd overall - F Bobby Ryan
2nd round, 31st overall - D Brendan Mikkelson
3rd round, 63rd overall - F Jason Bailey
5th round, 127th overall - F Bobby Bolt
5th round, 141st overall - D Brian Salcido
7th round, 197th overall - G Jean-Phillippe Levasseur

Ryan is great, but that was an easy pick at the top. Other than that, Mikkelson has bounced around the NHL and AHL for various teams and Salcido got 2 NHL games.

2006
1st round, 19th overall - D Mark Mitera
2nd round, 38th overall - F Bryce Swan
3rd round, 83rd overall - D John de Gray
4th round, 112nd overall - F Matt Beleskey
6th round, 172nd overall - F Petteri Wirtanen

horrible. It's the last two picks that made it to the NHL - Beleskey turned out well as a utility player for the Ducks, Wirtanen got a 3 game stint five years ago. Their early picks in this one were total busts.

2007
1st round, 19th overall - F Logan MacMillan
2nd round, 42nd overall - F Eric Tangradi
3rd round, 63rd overall - F Maxime Macenauer
4th round, 92nd overall - F Justin Vaive
4th round, 93rd overall - D Steven Kampfer
4th round, 98th overall - G Sebastian Stefaniszin
4th round, 121st overall - G Mattias Modig
5th round, 151st overall - F Brett Morrison

another 1st round bust. Tangradi, Macenauer and Kampfer have all played in the NHL, but not as regulars, and all three of them are already with their third NHL organization right now. The others didn't make the NHL.

2008
1st round, 17th overall - D Jake Gardiner
2nd round, 35th overall - F Nicolas Deschamps
2nd round, 39th overall - F Eric O'Dell
2nd round, 43rd overall - D Justin Schultz
3rd round, 71st overall - F Josh Brittain
3rd round, 83rd overall - G Marco Cousineau
3rd round, 85th overall - F Brandon McMillan
4th round, 113th overall - D Ryan Hegarty
5th round, 143rd overall - D Stefan Warg
7th round, 208th overall - D Nick Pryor

probably his best draft in Anaheim. Gardiner and Schultz have made it as full-time NHLers - obviously not with the Ducks though. McMillan played 91 with the Ducks, but has faded and is in the AHL now. O'Dell only recently played his first NHL game with the Jets. The others didn't make it.

So that's 29 draft picks, of which 12 have played at least one game in the NHL. Only five of those players have played more than 100 NHL games. Two 1st round picks and two 2nd round picks were complete busts.

Didn't include Toronto yet because it's still early for that, but from today's point of view, it looks bad too outside of the top 10 picks.

I have no idea how much of this is to blame on Burke, but it's a pretty bad draft record. Maybe it's down to scouts, but the fact that the drafting of three different teams looks bad, you have to think that he's a big part of that. If Feaster gets blamed for the Jankowski risk, then what can we say about Burke? Nathan Smith. Mark Mitera. Logan MacMillan. Tyler Biggs. Plus all the 2nd round picks that never even got a sniff of the NHL.