Last Ten 3rd Overall Picks

1999: C Henrik Sedin

10 years later, Sedin has established himself as a star player. Sedin has scored 109 goals and 460 points in 646 career games. He's coming off his best season having scored 22 goals and 82 points in 82 games during the 2008-2009 campaign.

Analysis: The Canucks got the player they were hoping for when they drafted Henrik Sedin. Bonus points for drafting him in a bad draft year (1st overall Patrick Stephan).

2000: RW Marian Gaborik

Gaborik is a superstar in every sense of the word. If he weren't injured so much, he may be a top 5 player in the league.

Analysis: Although he's always injured (only played 17 games during the 2008-2009 season), the Wild still obtained the skill they were hoping for (13 goals, 23 points in those 17 games). Gaborik has 219 goals and 437 points in 502 career games.

2001: C Alexandr Svitov

13 goals, 37 points in 179 career gamers. Probably not the production the Lightning were looking for when they took Svitov while Komisarek, Hemsky, and M. Koivu were still on the board.

Analysis: Complete bust. Wasn't even worth taking in the 5th round, let alone 3rd overall.

2002: D Jay Bouwmeester

Likely to become the most sought after free agent this summer, Bouwmeester has been/was the rock on defense Florida had hoped for when drafting him. He lead the league in ice time during the 2007-2008 season, and scores more goals than the average defenseman (42 in the last three seasons). Bouwmeester has 53 goals and 203 points in 471 games.

Analysis: Bouwmeester was a successful pick. However, he hasn't played a single post season game and is opting for free agency instead of re-signing with Florida. If only they had surrounded him with more talent...

2003: RW Nathan Horton

Despite playing on a non-playoff team, Horton has found goal scoring success. At age 25, he already has 122 goals to his name. He had a bit of an off year this season (45 points in 67 games), and hasn't really established himself as an elite forward yet. Horton has 122 goals and 238 points in 357 games.

Analysis: A bit of a disappointment. Horton was drafted 3rd overall in one of the deepest drafts of all time; a draft that saw Zach Parise go 17th, Ryan Getzlaf go 19th, and Mike Richards go 24th. If Florida could draft again, perhaps they would have opted to go with Thomas Vanek (who went 5th) or Dion Phaneuf (who went 9th).

In a first round that included Nikolia Zherdev, Corey Perry, Jeff Carter, Dustin Brown, Ryan Suter, and several other star players, Horton at 3rd overall can't not be seen as a bust. That said, I think if he gets better line mates in the future, he may establish himself as a premier forward in the NHL.

2004: D Cam Barker After a slow start to his career, Barker seems to have established himself as a power play dynamo having scored 29 of his 40 points on the power play this season.

Analysis: It's never easy going 3rd overall when the players selected before you are Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin, but Barker is still a successful pick, especially when considering some of the people who followed him (Ladd 4th, Montoya 6th, Olesz 7th, Picard 8th). Mike Green was taken 29th overall that draft, but he was a suprise pick which shouldn't be held against Chicago.

2005: D Jack Johnson

It's early in his career, but one has to consider Johnson a major bust. Carolina drafted him, traded him, and he's accomplished nothing in his time with LA. An offensive defenseman at the University of Michigan, Johnson has only scored 9 goals in 120 career games, along with an abysmal -42 rating.

Analysis: This is mostly LA's fault. Johnson doesn't have much defensive game to speak of, but that's been the focus of LA's development of him. Johnson seldom gets power play time, and has only been able to show his offensive prowess during shootouts (where he's scored a couple beauty's). Maybe Johnson will get traded of given power play time at some point, but if not then he'll never turn things around.

2006: C Jonathan Toews

There isn't much to say that hasn't already been said about Toews. He's the youngest captain in the league and is nearly a ppg player. Along with Kane, he's lead the Blackhawks back into the playoff picture after an absence of 7 seasons.

Analysis: I have a feeling Pittsburgh wouldn't have drafted Jordan Staal 2nd overall knowing what they know now.

2008 & 2009: C Kyle Turris and D Zach Bogosian

I combined these guys because the jury is still out on them. Bogosian had a great rookie season for Atlanta this year (47 gp, 9 goals, +11), while Turris had a mediocre first season with Phoenix (63 gp, 8 goals, -15).