Revisiting the 2014 NHL Draft: Biggest Busts and Steals

Let’s go back in time a decade to the 2014 NHL draft. Featuring the likes of future superstars like Ekblad, Pastrnak, and Shesterkin (along with some pretty spectacular busts), let’s take a look at all these picks and see who made the right picks.

the NHL draft a time when young men’s lives are going to change teamed legacies will be cemented by the picks they make or don’t make and coaches and GM’s Fates can ultimately be decided while it’s difficult to look at a draft and determine who made the right choices or the wrong ones in hindsight we do have that ability so let us go back 10 years to 2014 to see how those picks hand out whether they be busts steals or something in between we proudly select Aaron eblad be bad for eblad that was the chant that most of the bad teams in the 2013 2014 season were telling themselves as they hurdled towards the number one overall pick and what was seen as a generational type defensive prospect in Aaron eblad the consensus number one pick for most of the season eblad was seen as a do-it-all defenseman who could play in his defensive Zone equally as well as quarterbacking the power play so when the Panthers won the lottery to get that number one pick they didn’t overthink it and took eblad and eblad seemed to be living up to that generational building in his rookie year winning The Calder Trophy and making an All-Star Game in the 2014 2015 season unfortunately though that seemed to be the Apex of his career so far he’s made a couple of all-star teams sure and he’s been in Norris conversations but that’s a far cry from the expectations of a number one overall pick having said all of that he’s still a member of the Florida Panthers and one of their best defenseman and the leader on a team that has gone to back-to-back Stanley Cups so you can’t really say that this was a bust of a pick but for who the Florida Panthers thought they were getting at number one overall and who they actually got it’s a pretty big discrepancy not a bust but certainly not all that he could have been success the Buffalo Sabers select Sam Reinhardt after eblad it was a divided opinion as to who could go number two overall to Buffalo they decided to choose Sam Reinhardt a center from the Cy ice who is considered to be maybe the most cerebral player in this entire draft while there were some knocks about his physical abil namely his skating speed and physicality Reinhardt shot and his intangibles Drew comparisons to guys like James Neil and Jonathan Taves comparisons that had Buffalo fans salivating and Reinhard was pretty good in his first full season as a rookie putting up 23 goals and 42 points in 79 games in the 2015 2016 season there was a lot of hope that he would continue to grow and improve which to be fair he did in his time in Buffalo to become about a 50 60 point player consistently but Buffalo was expecting more from the number two overall pick and eventually in the midst of another rebuild shipped into Florida for a first round pick and goalie Prospect Deon Levi while saber fans and management expected that Reinhardt would continue to fizzle out in Florida he instead had a career Revival freed from the shackles of Buffalo he put up 82 points and 33 goals in his first year in Florida and this last year he put up career highs with 57 goals and 94 points and while Buffalo fans probably didn’t think of reinart as a bust when they traded him away watching him immediately realize his full potential in Florida has got to stay maybe it wasn’t a success from Buffalo’s perspective but for Reinhardt himself he earned that number two selection spot with his play the last few years in Florida [Music] success are very pleased to select from the Western Hockey League Prince Albert Raiders Leon dyle now Leon drle was surprisingly not the player that most Scouts were split between going number two overall with Sam reinard he was seen as the consensus number four overall player and thus it was a little bit of a surprise that the selected to take him here at number three but their instincts were dead on as Leon dry cidal immediately became one of the biggest impact players alongside Conor McDavid in Edmonton even though the monikers of German Gretzky were probably a bit too lofty and he only scored nine points in 37 games in his first year in the NHL tridle has come into his own in the last six or seven years putting up 40 goals and 100 points in every year that he has remained healthy but his best year was no doubt in 2019 2020 when he put up 110 points in 71 game winning the Art Ross trophy as a League’s leading scorer along with the Lester Pearson Trophy and the heartt as a League’s Most Valuable Player Nob brainer this was a slam dunk of a pick for the Oilers success with the fourth pick the Calgary Flames are proud to select from the ol Kingston Sam Bennett now Sam Bennett was the other player that Scouts were split on going number two overall and in fact in the final NHL Central scouting rankings he was the number one overall skater he was buil as an outstanding two-way player drawing comparisons like Reinhardt to Jonathan Daves with many Scouts praising his physicality Elite offensive skill and Puck Vision going number four overall to the Calgary Flames Bennett was expected to step into a young and budding core that included guys like Johnny kudro and Shawn Monahan to lead the Flames into a new era of Glory unfortunately that didn’t really happen in Calgary he put up 18 goals and 36 points in his first full season with Calgary in 20156 which were both his career high marks as a member of the Flames fr with his lack of production the Flames moved Bennett at the trade deadline in 2021 to the Florida Panthers and exchange for a second round pick and a prospect now like Reinhardt Bennett has improved substantially since arriving in Sunrise but unlike Reinhardt Bennett’s Improvement has only taken him to around average this last year he put up 20 goals and 41 points which are his second best marks of his career but looking at his performance compared to the three guys who were taken immediately before him it’s hard not to label Bennett as anything other than a disappointment me the New York Islanders select from the asua generals Michael del after the first four picks panned out it was no surprise that eventually we would hit a dud and that comes in the form of the New York Islanders number five overall selection unlike Bennett and Reinhardt who appr praise for their Vision in two-way play D Cole was seen as a pure playmaker with exceptional stick handling skills who is projected to be a Surefire top six Winger in the NHL drawing comparisons to Eric stall and if getting Malin there were high expectations for D Cole unfortunately D Cole just never managed to stick in the NHL he spent most of his pro career in the AHL where he put up middling numbers and only ended up playing in 112 games as a member of the Islanders scoring eight goals and recording 21 points no drama no injuries no off the ice issues he just never took the next step forward and as a result he ends up being the first major bust of this draft busted section we select from the WHL Calgary Hitman Jake fanan on the other end of the spectrum though you have Jake for Tannon a prospect who drew a lot of attention for his gargantuan frame at 61 210 lbs along with his incredible speed physicality offensive Acumen and hockey IQ he was an absolute beast in the WHL putting up a point a game and a ton of pims as one of those high energy players that Scouts just love to see the biggest negative that Scouts had before the draft was honestly mental he was seen as a guy who didn’t give 100% effort all the times and was often making terrible decisions and wouldn’t you know it that’s exactly what happened in the NHL on the ice he was fairly productive he played in 300 games for Vancouver put up 100 points and 55 goals and had a career high of 18 goals 36 points in 69 games in 2019 2020 he ran into problems with conditioning for two different coaching staffs and inou those questions of consistency of effort continued to dog him as he yo-yoed between the NHL and AHL as management tried to find some way to unlock his potential and then things all Came Crashing Down in May 2021 when vertana was placed on leave by the Canucks after allegations came forward by a woman that he had committed sexual assault in a North Vancouver Hotel while he was a member of the whl’s Calgary Hitman and investigation was launched that led to a trial in which ferana was found not guilty of these crimes but for a player who had been inconsistent at best and frustrating at worst the Canucks took the easy way out and just decided to release ver tanan an incredibly polarizing pick at the time that ultimately ended up busting busted the Carolina Hurricanes are extremely proud to welcome from the Red Deer Rebels Hayden flurry Hayden flurry was seen as the second best defenseman in this draft behind Aaron eblad and the Carolina Hurricanes jumped at the chance to pick him seventh overall he was described as a very solid two-way player who leaned a bit more on the defensive shutdown side than the offensive driver but was projected to be a solid second pairing defenseman along the lines of a mark Edward fic flurry story honestly follows very closely to that of Michael D Cole he just never hit that next stage in his development and as a result he was caught between the AHL and NHL for most of his career as a member of the Hurricanes at his PE in the NHL he was a below average bottom pairing defenseman but ad depth defenseman is not what anybody in Carolina thought that they were getting at s overall busted Toronto was uh proud and happy to select from Moto Sweden William nander William neander son of former nhlr Michael neander was seen as one of the best International skaters in the entire draft and he has proven to be just that taking eighth overall to the Toronto Maple Leafs neander was seen as anite beat playmaker like his dad with some scats saying he was the best Swedish Prospect since Nicholas Backstrom neander spent 2 years in the AHL before being called up to the me beliefs of the 20156 season and never looked back he’s evolved into basically a pointed game player and has scored 40 goals his last two seasons and has now submitted himself as Toronto’s second best forward behind Austin Matthews a Cornerstone piece of their franchise Toronto would absolutely do this pick the same if they had the chance success are excited to select from ala of the Quebec major Junior Hockey League Nikolai eers Nikolai Ellers was seen as a bit of a reach by the jet but it turns out that they knew something that most of the other Scouts do not eers was praised for his elite shot which Dre comparisons to Patrick Kane but the knock on him was that he needed to add some size and improve his two-way game elers has certainly done that in his NHL career making the Jets at age 19 putting up 15 goals and 38 points and never looking back he’s developed into a consistent top six Winger who puts up 50 to 60 points a year and about 20 to 30 goals he’s not a game breaker but he’s a guy most teams would gladly slot into their top six now though eers might be on his way out of Winnipeg he’s in the last year of a 7-year $42 million extension that he signed at the end of the 2017 season and he’s shown no signs that he’s interested in negotiating another extension at this point with winipeg despite all this you can’t really say that the JS didn’t get great productivity out of this pick and it’s one that they would do again sucess the Anaheim Ducks are proud to select from the Peter World Pets Nick Richie Richie was projected to to be the second best power forward in this entire draft with a massive 6’3 225lb frame like for tanan he’d loved to go to the front of the net and bang around had decent straight line speed but needed to clean up his Puck possession skills and hockey IQ Anaheim took him at 10th overall thinking they were getting the next iteration of Mila Luchi or maybe that he could be molded into the same vein as their incredible Captain Ryan Gap neither of those things happened as Richie only spent Five Seasons in Anaheim putting up 43 goals and 109 points with a career high of 15 goals in 2021 with Boston Richie wasn’t a bad player he bounced around in the NHL for8 years and became a very solid third line Winger you would ideally W more from a top 10 pick but given when Anaheim got back it’s not the end of the world not a bust but not the ideal outcome they were looking for me with our selection from hv71 Kevin fella fella Drew comparisons to Phil kessle for his incredible shot and his proclivity avoid the defensive Zone at all cost seen as a pure sniper who was going to go in the second half of the first round so it was a bit of surprise when Nashville took him at 11th overall and let’s be honest with ourselves his career in Nashville was pretty disappointing he only played one full season there putting up a respectable 23 goals and 48 points there before being traded to the Minnesota Wild and that turned out to be the best thing for him fala has put up at least 70 points in his last three seasons and in 2021-22 he put up 33 goals and 85 points with the Wild and made the All-Star team last year he’s become more than a respectable top six Winger in his own right but given that Nashville didn’t reap the first e rewards it’s a little bit hard to call this a successful pick definitely not a bus though me from the niagar Ice Dogs o Brandon Pini the coyotes took consensus top 15 pick Brendan perini at number 12 another power forward with tremendous offensive upside who is compared by some to Bobby Ryan while he lacked great foot speed and was a little less physical than Scouts would have liked his combination of size and offensive IQ was tantalizing and off the bat looked like it was going to go well for Arizona he put up 14 goals and 21 points in his first season in Arizona and then his second full season he put up 17 goals and 30 points then in mid November of 2018 he was traded along with Dylan stro to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Nick schaltz where he struggled immensely putting a bing 15 points in 47 games as a Blackhawk and then bouncing around between Detroit and Edmonton for the next few years currently in the Florida Panthers minor league system and it’s very unlikely he sticks as a regular nhlr that’s a bust pick right there busted the Washington Capitals are proud to select from the Czech Republic Jacob veran Jake The Snake Verana was seen as one of the five best European skers in the 2014 NHL draft verono was a wiry Speedster who could shoot the puck like nobody’s business and while there were concerns about his L frame Washington took him number 13 overall he only played in 5 years in DC before being treated to Detroit along with a first- round pick for Anthony mantha but in those 5 years he put up 76 goals 157 points in almost 300 games and scored some pivotal goals in the Caps run to win the Stanley Cup you could definitely argue there are players who are taken right after him who Washington would have preferred to have but I don’t think any caps fans are going to be turning up their nose at what we got out of Verana success the Dallas Stars are pleased to select from the Western Hockey League Swift Current Broncos Julius honka man given how good Dallas has been at drafting over the last 5 years or so it is kind of criminal that they miss so badly on Julius honka he was seen as a pure offensive defenseman with a pretty light frame at only 510 180 how drawing comparisons to Guys Like Mike Green and Rasmus Rolan despite the fears about his frame honka did manage to stay healthy through most of his career after being drafted by Dallas 14th overall the problems were honestly like most offens defensemen he just couldn’t manage to translate his game to the NHL level there were also some concerns about his coachability which is a hard stigma to get rid of and so he only ended up playing in 87 games with Dallas notching two goals and 13 points he’s gone unclaimed on wavers multiple times and he most recently was playing in the shl in 2022 no doubt about it this one’s a bust for Dallas busted joint red select from the US national development program and Dy really don’t think I need to spend too much time on this pick Dylan Lin has become a Cornerstone player for the Red Wings in their rebuild he’s currently their captain and has become a consistent 30 goal 70o player even though most Scouts had lurken going a little bit closer to the end of the first round than the middle Red Wings brass left what they saw about his skill and in tangibles and he has paid off that bit tfold easy win here for the Detroit Red Wings success colum BL Blue Jackets are proud to select from US national program SNY Milano Sunny Milano was another guy who was seen more as a guy you’d pick in the 20s than the teens but Columbus took the chance on the Long Island native and took him at 16 a pure skill forward who was seen as need to add some weight to his 6 foot frame Milano’s biggest challenge in the NHL has honestly been just availability injuries have really held back his careers he’s only played in more than 50 games four times in his n-year career he bounced around for a bit with Columbus between the NHL and AHL teams with injuries dotting his way and was ultimately traded to Anaheim in exchange for Deon Shore he’s now landed in Washington where he’s a solid middle six Winger but it’s a far cry from the guy that the Blue Jackets up that they were getting for their top six when he was healthy for the Blue Jackets he was productive giving them 42 points and 20 goals in 116 games like the old saying goes your best ability is availability I’m hard pressed to call this a bust for the Blue Jackets but it’s hard not to call it a disappointment me the Philadelphia Flyers select from Calgary of the Western Hockey League Travis sanheim and our first real off theboard pick comes at number 17 with the Philadelphia Flyers selecting Travis sanheim he was the 53rd ranked North American sker in the draft and the Philadelphia Flyers decided to take him in the first round the Calgary Hitman product was seen as a bit too light at 6’3 181 lbs but people saw upside with his offensive game with his ability to quarterback the power play and lead the breakout it was a risky gamble for Philadelphia but it paid off with sanheim he’s become a 40-point player who could eat up top four minutes and play on the power play a good pick for Philadelphia here sucess entry draft Minnesota’s proud to select from the US national development team Alex tuck another big Winger tuck wasen is a bit of an anomaly with his smooth hands and great Puck presence Minnesota rewarded that with the 18th overall pick while he went off to play at Boston College for three years when he returned though he only played in six games with Minnesota before they made the decision to trade him to the Vegas golden kns ahead of the expansion draft in exchange for Vegas agreeing to select Eric Halla a pick that they would probably also do over again it was truly a terrible decision by the wild because Alex tuck immediately became a solid player for the golden kns putting up 139 points and 61 goals in 250 games with Vegas he continued to improve after being traded to Buffalo in exchange for Jack eikel putting up 79 points and 36 goals in his second season with Buffalo and then 59 points last year he’s a legitimate top six Winger and it’s a good pick by Minnesota they just moved off of him too early skill-wise D’Angelo was absolutely a good pick here for the Tampa Bay Lightning at 19 he was a dynamic offensive defenseman who needed to clean up his play in his own Zone and work on some of his attitude issues there were questions about his maturity as he was suspended multiple times during his tenure with the OHL Saria sting twice for violating the abuse and diversity policy of the league and twice for abusive official while there was hope that these were just the actions of an immature teenager that didn’t seem to change once he reached the NHL in Tampa’s minor league affiliate the Syracuse crunchy was suspended twice once for abuse of an official and against an opposition player he was scratched for his last eight games as a member of the crunch before being being traded to the Arizona Coyotes affiliate the son Road Runner he eventually made his NHL debut in Arizona and was promptly suspended for shoving an official honestly I could do a whole video on the absolute [ __ ] show of a career that Tony D’Angelo had but the fact of the matter is he bounced around between a bunch of different teams like the Rangers Carolina Hurricanes and Philadelphia plyer and is for now a member of the Hurricanes roster again as far as production he’s been a bottom four defenseman for most of his career but he has had two 50o seasons I think that’s just indicative of the career he’s had incredible Talent that’s overshadowed by all the off the ice stuff can’t really call him a bus because of that productivity but boy howdy if he could just get right in the head who knows what could have been with D’Angelo me with our first choice in the 2014 Draft Blackhawks are proud to select a lanky Winger with great hands and vision SCH was seen as an offensive playmaker who’s incredibly creative with the puck drawing comparisons to a guy like Thomas vanck after 3 years playing for the University of North Dakota schall’s finally made his way onto the Chicago Blackhawks where in his second season he put up the respectable 21 goals 52 points that in November 2018 schmalz was traded in exchange for fellow of 2014 first round pick Brandon perini to the Arizona Coyotes where he has spent the remainder of his career schaltz has become a regular 50 60 point player and has scored 23 goals as a career high he’s definitely a good playmaker for the top six and Chicago got some decent production out of him while he was there and then good return in the trade for him this one has to be called a success for Chicago success St Louis Blues are proud to select from golf of the Ontario Hockey League Robbie fabry unlike most of the other four was selected before him fabri was seen more as a two-way player who is responsible in his own Zone and could occasionally contribute offensively St Louis took him at 21st overall hoping he could slot into that bottom six and add some depth he actually his career highend points as a rookie putting up 18 goals and 37 points he was also a member of that 2019 Stanley Cup team for St Louis only playing in 10 games in the playoffs but scoring one goal the very next year he was traded to Detroit in exchange for Jacob delarose and since then it’s been an up and down career due to injuries when he’s been healthy though he’s a 30-point guy mostly playing on the third line being a 20’s pick I think St Louis is probably fine with how this turned out even though they didn’t get much for him in the return success penguins are proud to pick casy fromo Finland and this one is an odd one caser Kon was seen as the best European sker in the entire draft yet he wasn’t picked until 22nd overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins Kine was seen as an elite offensive Creator who just needed some time to mature grow into his body and then could become an easy top six Winger if a team had the time to allow him to develop he could pay off dividends and Pittsburgh looked to be the perfect landing spot for him with Elite forwards like Crosby Malin and Kuni captaining could have plenty of time to mature and grow in the minor and then on July 15th just one year after being drafted he was traded to the Toronto Maple Leaf in the deal that brought Phil Castle to Pittsburgh there in Toronto he struggled to stick in the lineup but eventually did get a full-time gig with the Leafs in the 2018 2019 season when he put up 20 goals and 44 points his best Mark of his entire entire career unfortunately he just never managed to take the next step in his development in Toronto leveling out at about a 10 goal 30 point guy before being traded back to Pittsburg where he was basically a depth forward for most of that time and now is a part of the St Louis Blues Ka is not an unproductive player 28 points in 460 career games and he was a late first round pick so it’s not exactly a shock that he didn’t pan out but with the billing he was getting in the pre-draft process he’s at least a mild disappointment me it with our first selection we’re proud to select from the red de Rebels Conor Bleckley another reach pick here this time by the Colorado avalan who took Connor Bleckley out of the whl’s red de Rebels at 23rd overall Le Ley was seen as an all-around two-way player with a really good wrist shot and it was a decent skater who just needed to round out his game a bit more with comparisons drawn to Derek steon among others leley was rated as a second round to maybe end of the first round pick so it was a bit of a reach for Kyle to take him at 23rd and unfortunately things didn’t improve him there the Avalanche were critical of his conditioning when he showed it to his first NHL train camp in 2014 he was actually stripped of the captaincy of the Red Deer Rebels before the 2015 season and never signed an entry-level contract with the Colorado Avalanche his rights along with Alex Tang were traded to the Arizona Coyotes at the 2016 deadline in exchange for Mel Bacher and after acquiring his rights the coyotes also declined to offer him an entry level contract meaning that Bleckley was one of the few players eligible to reenter the NHL draft which he did in 2016 this time though it wasn’t the first round where he was picked getting selected at the end of this fifth round at pick 144 by the St Louis Blues who did did actually sign him to an entry level contract but Bleckley never played an HL game for St Louis and at the end of his entry level contract he was not offered a qualifying offer since then he spent most of his time in the ECHL playing in only 133 games and scoring 33 points in the AHL for his entire 10year career no question Colorado whiff here busted Vancouver select from the ol Sue St Marie Jared McAn a lot of people thought Jared mcin would go earlier in this draft so the Vancouver Knuck snapped him up at pick 24 hoping that the Susa Marie Greyhounds for would become a fixture on their growing young core he was compared to guys like Claud jaru for his offensive skill and defensive responsibility both he and fellow 2014 first round pick Jake fanan made the NHL out of training camp in 2015 but in his first year he only scored 18 points and nine goals in 69 games nice but then just two years after he was drafted McAn was part of a draft day deal that sent him to Florida in exchange for defenseman Eric good Branson he would spent three years in the sunshine state only putting up 53 points and 18 goals in 143 games before he was dealt again along with Ryan buad to the Pittsburgh Penguins and Pittsburgh system was a much better fit stylistically for him than either Vancouver or Florida as he put up 84 points and 39 goals in 141 games as a member of the pens but then as soon as he got settled he was again traded this time to the Toronto Maple Leaves where he was for a cup of coffee before the Seattle Kraken selected him in the 2021 expansion track and while at this point he seemed like he was a bottom six Winger who has never really going to amount to that much he actually thrived in Seattle in 233 games as a member of the Kraken he scored 100 82 points and 96 goals and is one of the veteran leaders of that team did Vancouver get the best value out of this pick for themselves probably not especially because they only got C Branson back for him but I can’t call him a bus because McAn has turned his career around and become a very good player just not for the team that drafted it success from Sweden David P there are a lot of GMS who should be really embarrassed that they passed on David past given what he has become the fifth rank European skater in the draft H was seen as a boomer bust Prospect because he was electric with the puck on his stick but he tended to disappear in games where he couldn’t get that puck or was getting too closely checked by the other team auson ignored those warning signs rolled the dice and it paid off huge for them after a couple of low-scoring years to start his career by this third year pasta was regularly scoring at least 70 points and 30 goals in the NHL and in the last two years has cemented himself as one of the great goal scorers in the league he scored 61 goals two years ago and 47 goals this last season putting up at least 110 points in both campaigns yeah Boston’s pretty happy with this pick success Montreal select from the Saskatoon Blades of the WHL Nikita sherback sherback was actually higher rated by Scouts than guys like Dylan Lin son malano and Robert fabri though it wasn’t seen as that big of a stretch for Montreal to take him with the 26th pick of the draft although Russian born sherback was a product of the Western Hockey League sasun blades where he put up 30 points more than his next closest teammate with his incredible offensive instincts and great power play presence cacin is a versatile player along the lines of an O oin and after marinating some more down in the Western Hockey League sherback finally made his debut in January 2017 that stay was shortlived as he onlya playing 29 games for the Montreal Canadians over the course of two years before being placed on waivers and claimed by La where he only played eight games his career statline of eight points and six goals in 37 career games over the course of three years kind of says it all and there’s no character concerns or injury issues to blame here just another guy who toured up in juniors and just couldn’t translate his game to the pro level as he had trouble sticking in the AHL and KHL and is now currently playing in the Slovak extra Lia big miss here by the Canadians busted and with our first selection San Jose was proud to select from the shiest thing Nicolai gold doen he would have told a team that they could get a guy compared to Mary and gabrick at the end of the first round they probably would have been elited that’s the guy that Goldman was drawing a lot of comparisons to from Pro Scouts due to his incredible playmaking ability and soft hands the big concern for goldobin unfortunately was character some scy called him Moody on the ice if he wasn’t getting his playing time but there was some hope with time and maturity he could find a place on the Shar deadly middle six and eventually cement himself as a top six forward but after only two years in the Sharks organization where he put up good numbers in the AHL but only two points in 11 games at the NHL level he was traded to the Vancouver Canucks he spent another 40 years in Vancouver playing over 100 games for the Canucks but only put up 18 goals and 44 points now what you’re hoping for from a guy that most Scouts thought would be a top six forward on a team definite bust for San Jose here busted New York Islanders are proud to select Joshua josang if it was just based on his offensive Talent alone Josh hosang probably would have gone in the top 20 but character concerns dropped into to the end of the first round in the year before the draft as a member of the ohl’s Windsor Spitfires josang was suspended for 15 games for an illegal hit from behind but Islanders GM gar snow decided to take a chance on hosang taking him with a 28th overall pick in the draft no surprise those attitude issues didn’t improve in the NHL where major criticism from almost all of his coaches in the NHL and AHL for effort and attitude and eventually under new GM L Melo he requested a trade from the New York Islanders after having only played in 53 games over the course of three years when the Islanders didn’t or more likely couldn’t trade him he refused to report to the AHL team until after the covid-19 pandemic when he finally went abroad to play in the shl he came back and played for the Marley’s in the 2021-22 season before going over to the KHL the following year it’s unlikely he ever sees any more NHL action and he ends his career with 53 games played in the NHL seven goals and 24 points this might be a late first round pick but it’s definitely a bust from the aisles busted from Moto Sweden Adrian then Stanley Cup champions LA Kings got to pick 29th instead of 30th thanks to some penalties applied to the Devils for their cap circumvent when signing ILO Kovalchuk and as a result they fell into the pick where they got to take Adrien kempe a product of moto in the Swedish Hockey League kempe was built as a two-way forward limited offensive upside which just goes to show you how wrong Scouts can be sometimes after making the LA Kings in the 201617 season kempi has been a main stay on Los Angeles’s top nine and in the last two years put up career highs in goals 42 and points 7 no bones about it great pick by the LA Kings and with the final pick in the 2014 first round the New Jersey Devil selected John quille out of the whl’s Brandon weeking quineville was projected to be a bottom six forward with some limited offensive upside along the lines of a guy like Craig Smith or Nick Bonino Drew PR for his skating ability and his hockey IQ he was seen as the epitome of the high floor low ceiling player he was mostly unremarkable during his time in New Jersey playing in 33 games and scoring two goals with five points for he was traded to the Blackhawks and exchange for John Ha only played in nine games as a Blackhawks spending most of the time in that organization as a member of the Rockford Ice Hawks in the AHL before he was selected by the Seattle Kraken in the 2021 expansion draft the Kraken elected to not sign him to a contract nor did any other NHL team he spent most of his last three years playing abroad and in the AHL with a return to the NHL looking unlikely the ceiling may have been low but quineville couldn’t even reach the floor definite Miss by the Devils busted while teams fortunes varied wildly in the first round as we all know the draft doesn’t end there there were plenty of gems in the later rounds that ended up turning into very good players even better than those taken in the first at the start of the second St Louis blue selected Ivan barbashev who would be an impact player for them and then for the Vegas golden kns on their Stanley Cup run last year Canucks drafted their goenda future Thatcher Demco at pick 36 all solid golender like Alex n jelovich and vek vanich are also taken early in the second rden Montour was selected by the Anaheim Ducks but he wouldn’t go on to have his massively successful Seasons until he was traded to the Florida Panthers in the 2020 21 season and he’s now established himself as one of the elite offensive defenseman in the league grinder depth guys like Nik kuel and Christian Dvorak were also taken in round two round three had a lot of flossom and jsum especially when it came to the forwards selected there was one who stood out Above All Else Bren point was selected by the Tampa Bay Lightning at pick 79 and is now a perennial 40 to 50 goal scorer with a career high of 95 points and an All-Star appearance to his name Michael amario Warren Fogle also taken to the third round but the real highlight here was the goenda got their goalie of the future and M leans at pick 76 and two picks later the Islanders selected their franchise goalie ilas sokin neither of them turned out to be the best goalie in this class that would belong to the guy selected towards the end of the fourth round eigor shesterkin was taken at pick 118 by the New York Rangers and ended up developing into an elite gender proving once and for all that every GM should just take shots at a goalie in the middle round hopefully one of them will develop into a star other notable fourth round picks in 2014 included Danton Heinen Michael bunting Sam laferty Capo kaken pictor arvidsson vly huso and Devon Taves in the fifth round even fewer full-time nhlers with with three notable exceptions Dakota Joshua was taken a pick 128 by the Toronto Maple Leafs even though he would make his NHL debut with the blues and make his name as a member of the Vancouver Canucks Oscar Lindblom was a solid forward for the Flyers after he was picked at pick 138 and Gustaf forsling the man himself was taken at pick 126 by the Vancouver Canucks and obviously has cemented himself as one of the better offensive defense men as a member of the Florida Panthers in the sixth round only two guys managed to become actual legitimate NHL players and Kevin leank picked at pick 171 and Sammy blade taken at pick 176 Victor Olson the first pick of pick seven by the Buffalo Sabers also ended up being a regular NHL along with Andre case at pick 205 and Jake Evans taken by the Montreal Canadians at pick 207 for irrelevant was Jacob Middleton taken at pick 210 by the LA Kings he actually managed to crack the NHL as well becoming a decent bottom pairing defenseman for the Minnesota Wild the NHL JMS take heed NHL fans take notice that no scouts really know what they’re talking about remember the picture celebrating or bemoaning the end of June could be the ones 10 years from now you look back on with Terror or with joy