Drafting Hall of Famers is not a Rangers’ strength

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.