Drafting Hall of Famers is not a Rangers’ strength
When we did our story about the best players from each draft round for the Rangers, we came up with an interesting number. Three. That’s how many Hall of Fame players the New York Rangers have drafted among the 545 players that they have selected since 1963.
The three immortals are Brian Leetch, Brad Park and Sergei Zubov, all defensemen. That number will grow to four when Henrik Lundqvist is inevitably inducted into the Hall, but even four seemed like a pretty small total. We took a took at the rest of the teams in the NHL to see how they compare and found some interesting results.
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We’ve divided the teams based on when they entered the league. We’ve listed all of the players drafted who ended up in the Hall of Fame. We’ve also listed some possible future inductees. Our list of possible Hall of Famers is pretty liberal, so we put the sure things first and they are in bold type.
Remember, these are Hall of Famers drafted by teams. They didn’t necessarily play for the teams that picked them.
Original Six teams
Looking at the Original Six, amazingly, only two teams drafted more Hall of Fame players than the three by the Rangers. Montreal drafted a stunning nine eventual Hall of Fame members and most of them played much of their careers with the Canadiens. Detroit drafted four players who are in the Hall.
Like the Rangers, Chicago and Boston have drafted only three Hall of Fame players and, believe it or not, the Toronto Maple Leafs have drafted only two. Look at Boston. The only HOF player who actually played for them was Ray Bourque. The other two (Mark Howe and Ken Dryden) played their HOF careers elsewhere.
New York Rangers (3): Brian Leetch, Brad Park, Sergei Zubov
Possibles: Henrik Lundqvist, Tony Amonte, Rick Middleton, Mike Richter, Doug Weight
With Lundqvist, the Rangers’ number will jump to four but that will be fewer than their counterparts who have some players destined for the Hall.
Montreal Canadiens (9): Guy Carbonneau, Chris Chelios, Vachislav Fetisov, Bob Gainey, Guy Lafleur, Rod Langway, Larry Robinson. Patrick Roy, Steve Schutt
Possibles: Carey Price, Saku Koivu, Andrei Markov, P.K. Subban
Detroit Red Wings (4): Marcel Dionne, Sergei Federov, Niklas LIdstrom, Steve Yzerman
Possibles: Pavel Datsyuk, Pete Mahovlich, Chris Osgood, Henrik Zetterberg
Chicago Blackhawks (3): Dominick Hasek, Denis Savard, Doug Wilson
Possibles: Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith , Ed Olczyk, Jeremy Roenick, Darryl Sutter, Jonathan Toews
Boston Bruins (3): Ray Bourque, Ken Dryden, Mark Howe
Possibles: Joe Thornton, Patrice Bergeron, Phil Kessel,Brad Marchand
Toronto Maple Leafs (2): Lanny McDonald, Darryl Sittler
Possibles: Vincent Damphousse, Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews, Tukka Rask
The Original Six had the benefit of participating in drafts since 1963, the most of all NHL teams. From 1963 to 1966, only two Hall of Fame players were drafted, Ken Dryden and Brad Park. Next up, a look at the teams that began drafting in 1967 when the league expanded for the first time.
First expansion teams
In 1967 the NHL added six teams, doubling in size. Only one team, the L.A. Kings has produced more Hall of Fame players than the Rangers. The Penguins have drafted only two HOF players, but they look to add four more and that means they could end up with the one of the best draft records.
Los Angeles Kings (4) : Rob Blake, Larry Murphy, Luc Robitaille, Billy Smith
Possibles: Anze Kopitar, Jonathan Quick, Drew Doughty, Bernie Nicholls, Dave Taylor
Philadelphia Flyers (3): Bill Barber, Bobby Clarke, Peter Forsberg
Possibles: Claude Giroux, Rick Tocchet, Justin Williams,
Dallas Stars/Minnesota North Stars (2): Jarome Iginla, Mike Modano
Possibles: Jamie Benn, Jere Lehtinen
St. Louis Blues (2): Bernie Federko, Doug GilmourPossibles: Rod Brind’Amour, T.J. Oshie, Alex Pietrangelo, Vladimir Tarasenko
Pittsburgh Penguins (2): Mario Lemieux, Mark Recchi Possibles: Sidney Crosby, Marc-Andre Fleury, Jaromir Jagr, Evgeni Malkin, Kris, Letang, Markus Naslund California Golden Seals/Oakland Seals/Cleveland Barons (Defunct): NonePossibles: Dennis Maruk
The second expansion wave
Starting in 1970 the NHL began a series of expansions, adding teams in Buffalo,Long Island, Vancouver, Atlanta, Kansas City and Washington. The Islanders have had a lot of success along with the New Jersey Devils (former the K.C. Scouts and Colorado Rockies). One note about the Devils is that they are one of two teams to get credit for Vachislav Fetisov. He was first drafted, but never signed with the Canadiens.
It is kind of depressing for Rangers fans to know that the Islanders drafted five Hall of Fame players with a potential for a even more.
New York Islanders (5): Clark Gillies, Pat Lafontaine, Mike Bossy, Denis Potvin, Bryan Trottier
Possibles: Zdeno Chara, John Tavares, Roberto Luongo, Ziggy Palffy, Brent Sutter
Calgary Flames formerly the Atlanta Flames(4): Brett Hull, Al MacInnis, Sergei Makarov, Joe Nieuwendyk
Possibles: Theo Fleury, Johnny Gaudreau, Brad Marsh, Gary Roberts, Gary Suter
New Jersey Devils formerly the Kansas City Scouts/Colorado Rockies (4) : Martin Brodeur, Vachislav Fetisov (2nd time), Scott Niedermayer, Brendan Shanahan
Possibles: Patrik Elias, Kirk Muller, Zach Parise, Pat Verbeek,
Buffalo Sabres (3): Dave Andreychuk, Phil Housley, Gilbert Perreault
Possibles: Alexander Mogilny, Tom Barasso, Brian Campbell, Jack Eichel, Danny Gare, Ryan Miller, Craig Ramsey, Pierre Turgeon
Vancouver Canucks (3): Pavel Bure Igor Larianov, Cam Neely
Possibles: Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin, Trevor Linden
Washington Capitals (2): Mike Gartner, Scott Stevens
Possibles: Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstom, Peter Bondra, John Carlson, Sergei Gonchar, Evgeny Kuznetsov
By the late 1970s the NHL had grown to 18 teams and had won the battle for hockey supremacy over the World Hockey Association (WHA). That’s when they absorbed the four strongest WHA teams.
Former WHA teams
In 1979 the NHL and the WHA merged, adding four teams to the league. The Oilers lead the way with six Hall of Famers including three who ended up in New York. It’s worth noting that Wayne Gretzky was never drafted by an NHL team.
What’s remarkable is that the Oilers, in three draft years from 1979 to 1981, picked all six of their future Hall of Fame players. That’s how you win four Stanley Cups in a row.
Of the other WHA teams, Quebec/Colorado has picked four future Hall of Famers and they have Eric Lindros, the most famous HOF draftee who refused to play for the team that drafted him.
Edmonton Oilers (6): Glenn Anderson, Paul Coffey, Grant Fuhr, ,Jari Kurri, Kevin Lowe, Mark Messier
Possibles: Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid,
Colorado Avalanche formerly the Quebec Nordiques (4): Michel Goulet, Eric Lindros, Joe Sakic, Mats Sundin
Possibles: Nathan MacKinnon, Adam Foote, Dale Hunter, Gabriel Landeskog, Owen Nolan, Ryan O’Reilly, Mikko Rantanen, Tim Thomas
Arizona Coyotes formerly the Phoenix Coyotes/Winnipeg Jets (2): Dale Hawerchuk, Teemu Selanne
Possibles: Shane Doan, Nikolai Khabibulin, Keith Tkachuk, Blake Wheeler
Carolina Hurricanes formerly the Hartford Whalers (2): Ron Francis, Chris Pronger
Possibles: Eric Staal
Newest teams
Since the 1980’s the NHL has added eight teams (including the Kraken) and it’s obvious that these teams have not had the chance to develop any Hall of Fame players. Paul Kariya with Anaheim and Marian Hossa with Ottawa are the only two, but every team except Vegas has some possibilities.
Anaheim Ducks (1): Paul Kariya
Possibles: Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry
Ottawa Senators (1): Marian Hossa
Possibles: Daniel Alfredsson, Erik Karlsson, Jason Spezza, Mark Stone, Alexei Yashin
Columbus Blue Jackets: None
Possibles: Rick Nash
Minnesota Wild : None
Possibles: Brent Burns, Marian Gaborik, Mikko Koivu
Nashville Predators: None
Possibles: Shea Weber, Roman Josi, Pekka Rinne, Ryan Suter
San Jose Sharks: None
Possibles: Patrick Marleau, Evgeni Nabokov, Joe Pavelski
Winnipeg Jets formerly the Atlanta Thrashers: None
Possibles: Dany Heatley, Ilya Kovalchuk, Mark Scheifele
Tampa Bay Lightning: None
Possibles: Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov, Vincent Lecavalier, Brayden Point, Andrey Vasilevskiy
Florida Panthers: None
Possible: Aaron Ekblad
Vegas Golden Knights: None
Possibles: Too soon
Conclusion
So there you have it. The Rangers aren’t an abject failure at drafting immortal player (but their record at drafting HOF forwards is pretty dismal). Only eight NHL teams have drafted more than three players who have ended up in the Hall of Fame. It really does point out how exclusive a club the Hall of Fame really is. We’ve listed a lot of possible future Hall of Famers, but in reality, most of them won’t make it.
There is one common denominator among the teams with the most Hall of Famers and that is Stanley Cup championships. The Hall of Fame favors players with Cups on their resumes and that’s why teams like Tampa,the Islanders, Devils and other team with multiple Cups, show up with a lot of HOF picks.
Another issue is failure. Teams that have awful records end up with high draft picks with the Islanders, Penguins and Devils the perfect examples. The Rangers have consistently been competitive, even if they finished out of the playoff picture. Hopefully the team’s two recent lottery wins will reverse that.
So Ranger fans should not be discouraged by the small number of Hall of Famers drafted by the Blueshirts. Maybe the fact that the Rangers have made a habit of trading away promising young players is a bigger issue.
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