The 2003 first round

The 2003 NHL Entry Draft was held in Nashville from June 21-22, 2003. The Pittsburgh Penguins took Marc-Andre Fleury #1 overall — the rare American-pick-#1-since-1979 (Fleury is from Quebec, but Pittsburgh had the pick). The Carolina Hurricanes took Eric Staal #2. The Florida Panthers took Nathan Horton #3. The Columbus Blue Jackets took Nikolai Zherdev #4.

By the time you got to the back half of the first round, you were drafting Brent Burns (#20), Zach Parise (#17), Ryan Getzlaf (#19), Ryan Kesler (#23), Mike Richards (#24), and Corey Perry (#28) — five players who would each play 1,000+ NHL games and combine for 12 Stanley Cups.

The second round was the real story

Patrice Bergeron — eventual six-time Selke Trophy winner and 2011 Stanley Cup champion — was selected 45th overall by Boston in the second round. Jeff Carter (#11 overall, but listed often in best-class summaries) and Joe Pavelski (#205, 7th round!) were two more late-round Hall of Fame-caliber career players to come out of 2003.

All-told, the 2003 Draft produced 13+ players who reached 1,000 NHL games, 9 players who won at least one Stanley Cup, and 4 players who reached the Hall of Fame as of 2024 (Fleury, Staal, Bergeron, Getzlaf — and Perry/Burns are likely first-ballot when eligible). The 1979 Draft produced 5 Hall of Famers (Messier, Bourque, Gartner, Anderson, Goulet) but in a much smaller league with weaker depth at the back of the draft.

Why 2005 (Crosby's class) doesn't take the title

The 2005 NHL Entry Draft is the most-famous because Sidney Crosby went #1 overall (Pittsburgh’s lottery win commonly called ‘the Sidney Crosby Sweepstakes’). Crosby is widely the best player from any 21st-century draft. But 2005 has historically thinner depth — after Crosby and Bobby Ryan (#2), Jack Johnson (#3), and Anže Kopitar (#11), the class falls off significantly. Carey Price (#5) and Tuukka Rask (#21) became Hall of Fame-caliber goalies, but the rest of the first round is largely solid-not-spectacular careers.

The 2003 class is regarded as the best because of its sheer depth — almost every team that drafted in the top 32 came away with a long-term NHL contributor. 2005 is the best top-of-draft year. 1984 (Mario Lemieux #1) is the best dynasty-trigger year. 1979 is the consensus best older-era draft.

Background facts cross-referenced with the Wikipedia article on 2003 NHL Entry Draft and Pro-Football-Reference / Basketball-Reference public records. Lead image via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).