Since 1963, Calgary has never had a top 3 NHL Draft Pick

[JackIsBack]

Since 1963, the start of the NHL Amateur Draft, Calgary has never had a top 3 pick, the only team besides the Vegas Golden Knights to not have a top 3 draft pick. Calgary's top pick was 4th in 2014 (Sam Bennett), and after that, we've had five #6 picks (2016 - M.Tkachuk, 2013 - Monahan, 1998 - Fata, 1997 -D.Tkaczuk, 1992 - Stillman)

Number of First Overall Picks by Team:
Montreal Canadiens 5
Colorado Avalanche 4
Edmonton Oilers 4
New York Islanders 4
Buffalo Sabres 4
Boston Bruins 3
Dallas Stars 3
Detroit Red Wings 3
New Jersey Devils 3
Ottawa Senators 3
Pittsburgh Penguins 3
Tampa Bay Lightning 3
Washington Capitals 3
Florida Panthers 2
Toronto Maple Leafs 2
Winnipeg Jets 2
New York Rangers 2
Arizona Coyotes 1
Chicago Blackhawks 1
Columbus Blue Jackets 1
Los Angeles Kings 1
Philadelphia Flyers 1
St Louis Blues 1

Teams without a First Overall Pick (year - top 3 pick number or highest)
Anaheim Ducks 1994, 2005 - 2nd
Calgary Flames 2014 -4th
Carolina Hurricanes 2003, 2018 - 2nd; 2005 - 3rd
Minnesota Wild 2000 - 3rd
Nashville Predators 1998 - 2nd
San Jose Sharks 1991, 1996, 1997 - 2nd; 1992, 1998 - 3rd
Seattle Kraken 2021 - 2nd
Vancouver Canucks 1970, 1988, 1990, 1999 -2nd; 1971, 1972, 1973, 1999 - 3rd
Vegas Golden Knights 2017 - 6th



My point: After every year, they play with the formula, maybe they should add in a part where teams with first overall picks in the past 10 years are excluded from getting a top 3 pick - or something along those lines that distributes picks more evenly. Teams like Edmonton and Buffalo are getting multiple picks, and aren't developing those picks very well.

[JackIsBack]

Let me get this right... I've included #1 overall picks when teams moved, but not subsequent picks - for every team.

[Snuffleupagus]

We don't need no stinking high picks!!

[JackIsBack]

Originally Posted by Snuffleupagus

We don't need no stinking high picks!!

Lol... I get your point, but Edmonton doesn't need to wreck anymore #1 either.

[JackIsBack]

Fixed List - with (years)

Number of First Overall Picks by Team:
Montreal Canadiens 5 (1963, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1980)
Colorado Avalanche 4 (1989, 1990, 1991, 2013)
Edmonton Oilers 4 (2010, 2011, 2012, 2015)
New York Islanders 4 (1972, 1973, 2000, 2009)
Buffalo Sabres 4 (1970, 1987, 2018, 2021)
Boston Bruins 3 (1966, 1982, 1997)
Dallas Stars 3 (1978, 1983, 1988)
Detroit Red Wings 3 (1964, 1977, 1986)
New Jersey Devils 3 (1979, 2017, 2019)
Ottawa Senators 3 (1993, 1995, 1996)
Pittsburgh Penguins 3 (1984, 2003, 2005)
Tampa Bay Lightning 3 (1992, 1998, 2008)
Washington Capitals 3 (1974, 1976, 2004)
Florida Panthers 2 (1994, 2014)
Toronto Maple Leafs 2 (1985, 2016)
Winnipeg Jets 2 (1999, 2001)
New York Rangers 2 (1965, 2020)
Arizona Coyotes 1 (1981)
Chicago Blackhawks 1 (2007)
Columbus Blue Jackets 1 (2002)
Los Angeles Kings 1 (1967)
Philadelphia Flyers 1 (1975)
St Louis Blues 1 (2006)

[DoubleK]

Flames traded the #32 pick to Montreal.

[TheIronMaiden]

Very interesting that some of the most dominant franchises have had 3 or more first round picks. Not sure if that is a direct correlation, but interesting non the less.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

Very interesting that some of the most dominant franchises have had 3 or more first round picks. Not sure if that is a direct correlation, but interesting non the less.

GM Sam Pollock made a trade with the Oakland Seals in 1971 to get their first round pick as they had eyes on Guy Lafleur. They also made another trade that year to make sure the Seals finished last so they could draft Lafluer first overall.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Atlantas first-ever pick, Jacques Richard (taken 2nd over-all) was considered by some scouts to have been Lafleur's better. Sadly, alcohol and a reckless lifestyle killed that promise.

The next season, Tom Lysiak was also taken second-over-all. He had a solid, if less than stratospheric, pro career. First over-all that season? Denis Potvin.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

Very interesting that some of the most dominant franchises have had 3 or more first round picks. Not sure if that is a direct correlation, but interesting non the less.

In 1968 the Habs had the first three picks of the draft and in 1969 they had the first two picks. I think that the NHL used to reward the best team in the league with the first overall pick. After the Habs continued to get stronger, they reversed that.

[GioforPM]

Yotes with only one (and not even as the Yotes) is just bad fortune for that sad sack of a franchise.

[SutterBrother]

How come Dallas’s totals include the North Stars, but ours don’t include Atlanta?

As Reggie notes above - two 2nd overalls.

[timbit]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

In 1968 the Habs had the first three picks of the draft and in 1969 they had the first two picks. I think that the NHL used to reward the best team in the league with the first overall pick. After the Habs continued to get stronger, they reversed that.

The bolded part did not happen,

However prior to 1967, the NHL granted the Canadiens the choice of either drafting in turn with other teams or selecting the two French Canadian players of their choice before any other team drafted.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by timbit

The bolded part did not happen,

However prior to 1967, the NHL granted the Canadiens the choice of either drafting in turn with other teams or selecting the two French Canadian players of their choice before any other team drafted.

It extended until 1969. The only 2 years they actually used the option to pick first were 1968 and 1969.

The option was removed by the 1970 Draft, which is how Gilbert Perreault ended up in Buffalo.

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

Very interesting that some of the most dominant franchises have had 3 or more first round picks. Not sure if that is a direct correlation, but interesting non the less.

There is not really a direct correlation, in fact, a surprisingly small number of first overall picks have won the Cup with the team that drafted them.

In the 1970s, only 2 first overall picks won the Cup with their drafting team (Lafleur and Potvin). In the 1980s, it was again 2 (Lemieux and Modano). In the 1990s, only Lecavalier has a Cup ring from his draft team. The first decade of the 2000s changed things, as we've seen Fleury, Ovechkin, Crosby, Kane, and Stamkos all win the Cup with their drafting teams.

Stamkos is the most-recent first overall to win the Cup. Of course, there's a good chance that changes this year with both Colorado and Florida having strong teams.

[Strange Brew]

And we won't have a top 3 pick for a very long time either.

[Steve Bozek]

Not Calgary, but the Atlanta Flames did have 2 second overall picks in their first 2 years of operation: Jacques Richard and Tom Lysiak.

[Hemi-Cuda]

My fix for the draft would be to weight it against consecutive playoff misses. Every team gets a lottery ball for every year they miss the playoffs. When they make it again, they're ineligible for that year's draw and a single ball is removed. An additional ball is removed for every round they win, and the Stanley Cup champs automatically get reset to 0

Same sort of rules for the lottery draw. If you get the #5 pick, a ball is removed from your pool for next year. #4 pick gets 2 balls removed and so on with the #1 overall winner losing all of their lottery balls. The rest of the draft order is based on reverse standings like normal. This way there is no incentive to tank a season, missing the playoffs by 1 point gives you the same odds increase as being last, but if your team is bad enough long enough you will get that #1 pick eventually

[GullFoss]

The penguins sure did nail those first overall draft picks lol

[GullFoss]

First Overall Picks Since 1990 with at least 1 cup ring
Patrick Kane - 3
Marc-Andre Fleury - 3
Sidney Crosby -3
Steven Stamkos - 2
Alex Ovechkin - 1
Vincent Lecavalier - 1

First Overall Picks Since 1990 with 0 cups
Owen Power
Alexis Lafrenière
Jack Hughes
Rasmus Dahlin
Nico Hischier
Auston Matthews
Connor McDavid
Aaron Ekblad
Nathan MacKinnon
Nail Yakupov
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
Taylor Hall
John Tavares
Erik Johnson
Rick Nash
Ilya Kovalchuk
Rick DiPietro
Patrik Stefan
Joe Thornton
Chris Phillips
Bryan Berard
Ed Jovanovski
Alexandre Daigle
Roman Hamrlik
Eric Lindros
Owen Nolan

[Enoch Root]

not exactly a ringing endorsement for tanking, is it?