It is interesting that McKenna has never been shifted to center. Usually players of his skillset (speed, elite playmaking ability, high hockey IQ) are developed as centers at some point if they look like generational talents. In the last 25 years, how many wingers have gone 1st overall that ended up being top 5 players in the league? I would say Patrick Kane, Alex Ovechkin, Rick Nash and Ilya Kovalchuk are the only wingers that went first overall and have lived up to their hype.
In the last 25 years, I would say 17 players have lived up to the hype of being 1st overall and turned into legitimate franchise players that could even be considered one of the top 5 at their positions at some point. The rest I would say have not lived up to the hype of where they were selected.
Lived up to their 1st overall hype:
Schaefer (so far), Celebrini, Bedard, Jack Hughes, Dahlin, Matthews, McDavid, Ekblad, McKinnon, Tavares, Stamkos, Patrick Kane, Crosby, Ovechkin, Marc-Andre Fleury, Nash and Kovalchuk
Did not live up to the 1st overall hype:
Slafkovsky, Power, Lafreniere, Hischier, Yakupov (E=NG), RNH (E=NG), Hall (E=NG), Johnson and Dipietro.
I don’t think it’s as simple as looking at those lists though. Some drafts just aren’t as good as others (eg. the Yakupov draft).
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