Backdraft 2011: Ranking the forwards, defensemen & goalies from the 2011 NHL draft
Take a look back at the 2011 NHL draft: We've ranked the top 10 forwards and top 10 defensemen by career NHL points and goalies by career NHL wins.
FORWARDS: Here are the top 10 highest-scoring forwards selected in the 2011 NHL draft, with draft position and NHL games played:
FORWARDS | Draft position | NHL GP | NHL Points |
Gabriel Landeskog | 2nd overall | 356 | 246 |
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins | 1st overall | 313 | 222 |
Brandon Saad | 43rd overall | 286 | 179 |
Jonathan Huberdeau | 3rd overall | 272 | 172 |
Ondrej Palat | 208th overall | 232 | 166 |
Sean Couturier | 8th overall | 350 | 157 |
Mika Zibanejad | 6th overall | 281 | 151 |
Nikita Kucherov | 58th overall | 211 | 148 |
Mark Scheifele | 7th overall | 227 | 145 |
Johnny Gaudreau | 104th overall | 160 | 143 |
NOTES:
--Scoring potential: The 2011 draft appears to be jam-packed with high-end forwards, from the first three picks (Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Gabriel Landeskog and Jonathan Huberdeau) to late gems such as Johnny Gaudreau (104th overall pick), Andrew Shaw (139th overall pick) and Ondrej Palat (the fourth-last player drafted at 208th overall).
--Lightning strikes thrice: It's looking like a great draft for Tampa Bay, as Steve Yzerman's team snagged forwards Vladislav Namestnikov 27th overall, Nikita Kucherov 58th overall and Palat 208th overall. (Not to mention, the Bolts bagged defenseman Nikita Nesterov with the 148th overall pick.)
--Best of the rest: Other promising forwards drafted in 2011 include Ryan Strome (fifth overall pick), Rickard Rakell (30th overall pick), Boone Jenner (37th overall pick), Victor Rask (42nd overall), Vincent Trocheck (64th overall) and several others.
DEFENSEMEN: Here are the top 10 highest-scoring defensemen selected in the 2011 NHL draft, with draft position and NHL games played:
DEFENSEMEN | Draft position | NHL GP | NHL Points |
Dougie Hamilton | 9th overall | 260 | 126 |
Adam Larsson | 4th overall | 274 | 69 |
Jonas Brodin | 10th overall | 263 | 54 |
Oscar Klefbom | 19th overall | 107 | 35 |
Ryan Murphy | 12th overall | 124 | 35 |
Nathan Beaulieu | 17th overall | 151 | 32 |
Connor Murphy | 20th overall | 181 | 32 |
Jyrki Jokipakka | 195th overall | 109 | 22 |
Josh Manson | 160th overall | 99 | 18 |
Nikita Nesterov | 148th overall | 84 | 16 |
NOTES:
--Alberta trade bait: The first two defensemen drafted in 2011 -- Adam Larsson (fourth overall pick) and Dougie Hamilton (ninth overall pick) -- have already been dealt to another NHL team. Larsson went to the Edmonton Oilers this summer (in exchange for Taylor Hall, the No. 1 overall pick in 2010), while Hamilton went to the Calgary Flames last summer (in exchange for draft picks).
--A total of 11 defensemen were taken in the first round, including the seven highest-scoring blueliners from the 2011 draft (see the list above). The four other first-round defensemen were Duncan Siemens (11th overall pick), Jamie Oleksiak (14th overall pick), Joe Morrow (23rd overall pick) and Stuart Percy (25th overall pick).
--The first 19 defensemen taken in the 2011 draft have already appeared in at least one NHL game. Rasmus Bengtsson, the 20th defensemen selected and 59th overall pick by the Florida Panthers, has yet to make it to the big leagues.
GOALIES: A total of nine goalies selected in the 2011 NHL draft have appeared in at least one NHL game. Here they are ranked by NHL wins, with draft position and NHL games played:
GOALIES | Draft position | NHL GP | NHL Wins |
John Gibson | 39th overall | 66 | 37 |
Garret Sparks | 190th overall | 17 | 6 |
Chris Gibson | 49th overall | 4 | 1 |
Nathan Lieuwen | 167th overall | 7 | 1 |
Anton Forsberg | 188th overall | 9 | 1 |
Jordan Binnington | 88th overall | 1 | 0 |
Jason Kasdorf | 157th overall | 1 | 0 |
Magnus Hellberg | 38th overall | 2 | 0 |
Laurent Brossoit | 164th overall | 6 | 0 |
NOTES:
--It's way too soon to say anything definitive about the 2011 goalie crop, but at this point it looks like John Gibson and then everybody else. The Anaheim Ducks were convinced enough to trade Frederik Andersen this summer and hand the 2015-16 starting job to Gibson, while no other netminder from 2011 has established himself at the NHL level.
--Magnus Hellberg was the first goalie drafted in 2011, at 38th overall by the Nashville Predators, one pick before Anaheim selected Gibson. Hellberg's stock has fallen, however, as evidenced by Nashville trading him to the New York Rangers last summer for a sixth-round draft pick.
--Garret Sparks, the second-last goalie drafted in the seventh round at 190th overall, is the only netminder other than Gibson with more than one NHL win to his credit. Sparks earned six victories down the stretch with the Toronto Maple Leafs last season.
More in the 'Backdraft' series:
Backdraft 2010: Seguin, Fowler and Andersen setting the pace
Backdraft 2009: Tavares, Hedman and Lehner at head of 2009 NHL draft class
Backdraft 2008: Stamkos, Karlsson and Holtby sit in No. 1 spot in positional rankings
Backdraft 2007: Kane, Subban and Darling lead the way
Backdraft 2006: Backstrom, Johnson and Mason top the positional rankings
Backdraft 2005: Crosby, Yandle and Quick headline the 2005 draft derby
Backdraft 2004: Ovechkin, Streit and Rinne lead the way
Backdraft 2003: Staal, Weber and Fleury rank No. 1 by position
Backdraft 2002: Nash, Keith and Lehtonen at head of class
Backdraft 2001: Kovalchuk, Zidlicky and Anderson on top
Backdraft 2000: Heatley, Visnovsky and Lundqvist lead the rankings
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