When Bo Horvat was traded to the New York Islanders earlier this season, he lamented the end of his time with the Vancouver Canucks.
“I thought I was going to be a Canuck for life, to be honest with you. Things just didn’t work out that way,” he said, before signing a $68 million contract extension with the Islanders, as an example of things working out in unexpected ways.
Horvat was selected ninth overall in the 2013 NHL draft by the Canucks. In what will go down as one of NHL commissioner Gary Bettman’s cheekiest moments, he cut through the traditional booing at Prudential Center in New Jersey by saying he had a trade to announce and “I think you’re gonna wanna hear this.” Vancouver traded goalie Cory Schneider to the Devils, who traded the 9th overall pick to the Canucks, who used it to select Horvat.
It was one of several surprises in the draft on that day just under 10 years ago. Of course, the surprises didn’t end there. “Things just didn’t work out that way” might as well be written on the Class of 2013 reunion banner.
As many of its players have made headlines in the last year — including one leading his team to the Stanley Cup — we decided to do a redraft of 2013’s first round. The criteria is simple: Ranking the players that had the best NHL careers following their draft day. There might be a slight weighing on how things have ended up for them recently, but overall we wanted to see how their selection spots in 2013 reflected how they ended up in the NHL.
So, with that, let’s start with the obvious:
Previous pick: Nathan MacKinnon, C
Redraft pick: Same
No notes here. MacKinnon leads all players from this draft class in goals (267), assists (455) and — taking the math to its logical conclusion — points (722). He won the Calder Trophy in 2013-14, the Stanley Cup last season and was a finalist for the Hart Trophy three times. That the Avalanche made the correct call 10 years ago is a credit to them, because MacKinnon wasn’t a consensus first overall pick. Half of the most prominent prospect rankings at the time had MacKinnon ranked either second or third overall.
Previous pick: Aleksander Barkov, C
Redraft pick: Same
The player that then-ESPN commentator John Tortorella once said was better overall than Connor McDavid. The Panthers coveted MacKinnon but were more than happy to draft the NHL-ready Finn. Many pundits at the draft felt this was going to end up being Seth Jones going to Florida at No. 2. Instead, the Panthers stunk again in 2014 and drafted Aaron Ekblad first overall. Barkov is the only player from this draft class to win a Selke Trophy, which is even more impressive when you consider only three players not named Patrice Bergeron or Anze Kopitar won them from 2014-22.
Previous pick: Jonathan Drouin, C
Redraft pick: Bo Horvat, C (9th overall, Canucks)
The first major deviation from the original draft and an entirely predictable one. While Drouin never justified his lofty selection, Horvat’s last three seasons push him up to third overall in the redraft. He’s seventh among all centers in goals over the past three seasons (86 in 189 games) and established himself as a No. 1 center worthy of the $68 million investment the Islanders made in him. Maybe a touch of recency bias here as he’s really leveled up lately, but the numbers support his lofty placement.
Previous pick: Seth Jones, D
Redraft pick: Same
One of the toughest players in this draft classic to reevaluate because there are so many debates about his career. Did he fall short of expectations, having been rated first overall in five prospect rankings, or is being 19th among defensemen in scoring since 2013-14 something to laud? How much was his success in Columbus a product of his partner Zach Werenski? Has his game fallen off, or has he just fallen off the radar after arriving in Chicago? I still think he’s the fourth best player from this draft class. I don’t expect all of you to agree.
Previous pick: Elias Lindholm, C
Redraft pick: Juuse Saros, G (99th overall, Predators)
The Juice is easily the best goalie in the draft class (138-89-26, .919 save percentage), and I’d argue he’s the fifth best player overall after being selected 99th overall in 2013. Perhaps with the benefit of hindsight, teams would be more open to drafting a 5-foot-11 goalie and not X-raying his bones to see if he could grow taller — an actual thing that happened to Saros prior to this draft.
Previous pick: Sean Monahan, C
Redraft pick: Jake Guentzel, RW (77th overall, Penguins)
The Omaha-born Guentzel has hit 40 goals twice, surged to 84 points in 76 games last season and has 396 career points. He’s a point-per-game player in the postseason with one Stanley Cup win. One way to look at Guentzel’s career is that he’s purely a product of Sidney Crosby, and that’s a reasonable assessment. Another way to look at Guentzel is that he earned the right to play with Sid and has played well enough to maintain that status since 2016.
Previous pick: Darnell Nurse, D
Redraft pick: Elias Lindholm, C (5th overall, Hurricanes)
Lindholm was the consensus sixth-best prospect in the 2013 draft but ended up third overall in points (501). He’s just a solid pro whose defensive play has finally started to get noticed, as he was second for the Selke last season. Naturally, it was also a season in which he had 82 points in 82 games skating with Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau, but it usually takes a great offensive season to win best defensive forward for some reason.
Previous pick: Rasmus Ristolainen, D
Redraft pick: Shea Theodore, D (26th overall, Ducks)
We’re pretty sure Sabres fans would be OK with this swap of defensemen. Theodore has 257 points in 438 career games, having blossomed into one of the NHL’s best blueliners during his six seasons with the Vegas Golden Knights. He’s an analytics darling; Ristolainen was an analytics disaster by the end of his tenure in Buffalo and into his dispiriting time in Philadelphia.
Previous pick: Bo Horvat, C
Redraft pick: Sean Monahan, C (6th overall, Flames)
Monahan’s last three injury-laden seasons shouldn’t completely overwrite the success he had in the first seven years of his career. From 2013-20, Monahan was eighth among centers in goals (194) and 17th in points (411) in 541 games. He’s still fourth overall in points for this draft class. Perhaps his status grows if he can build on the momentum he had in Montreal this season. But the bottom line is that he’s declined at the same time other centers in this class have surged.
Previous pick: Valeri Nichushkin, RW
Redraft pick: Brett Pesce, D (66th overall, Hurricanes)
Nichushkin was either fourth or fifth in 11 of the top 12 prospect rankings in 2013, so having the KHL forward fall to the Stars at 10th was a draft-day surprise. But even with Nichushkin finally meeting expectations in Colorado, we’ll go with Pesce here. The perpetually underrated defenseman has developed into a minutes-munching defensive rock that can also kick in offensively. The reason he’s ahead of some of the other defensemen is because of specialization. Simply put, he’s the best player in this draft at what he does.
Previous pick: Samuel Morin, D
Redraft pick: Darnell Nurse, D (7th overall, Oilers)
Nurse has 225 points in 542 career games and has grown into a legit No. 1 pairing defenseman. But his effectiveness tips a lot more to the offensive side than the defensive side, which is why he goes from the second defenseman drafted to the fourth one redrafted. But let’s face it: This guy would have made a great Flyer.
Previous pick: Max Domi, C
Redraft pick: Rasmus Ristolainen, D (8th overall, Sabres)
Ristolainen has some strong seasons for some bad Buffalo teams early in his career, logging a lot of ice time and posting good offensive numbers. NHL.com had him as the second best defenseman in their 2018 redraft of this class. But over time, the holes in his game became gaping, and he stumbled into becoming a pariah for the analytics community. He’s had a solid career in the NHL, but not one worthy of his previous lofty draft position.
Previous pick: Josh Morrissey, D
Redraft pick: Same
The Jets got themselves a good one — but not a great one, until this season — in Morrissey. He’s finally having that offensive breakout season for the Jets with 67 points in 64 games. If he stays on that trajectory, no doubt he’ll climb this ranking. But for now, Winnipeg got him at the right spot.
Previous pick: Alexander Wennberg, C
Redraft pick: Pavel Buchnevich, LW (75th overall, Rangers)
There were a few wingers that could have slotted in here, but we’ll give the nod to Buchnevich for steadily improving as his career has continued. He set career bests in goals (30) and points (76) last season for the Blues. He’s continued to score (54 points in 48 games) for a Blues team that, by and large, forgot how to do so this season.
Previous pick: Ryan Pulock, D
Redraft pick: Carter Verhaeghe, C (82nd overall, Maple Leafs)
We’re not going to hold being a late bloomer against Verhaeghe, who didn’t make his NHL debut until Oct. 2019 with the Lightning. In three seasons with the Panthers, he has 146 points in 185 games, including a new career high in goals (32) this season. He’s a proven top-six forward now, one that would certainly be drafted higher than the third round in hindsight.
Previous pick: Nikita Zadorov, D
Redraft pick: MacKenzie Weegar, D (206th overall, Panthers)
Without question one of the biggest movers in the redraft, as the current Flames defenseman moves from the seventh round (!) into the 16th overall pick. (Only five players were drafted behind Weegar in 2013.) He’s blown up in the last three seasons as sort of a Jaccob Slavin lite, a defensive defenseman that can also pitch in offensively. The Sabres drafted a defenseman that played 550 games here, but Weegar is all-around better than Zadorov was in his best season.
Previous pick: Curtis Lazar, RW
Redraft pick: Andre Burakovsky, LW (23rd overall, Capitals)
Burakovsky is a perfectly fine and good NHL winger who has consistently produced offensively wherever he’s played and hit some career bests with the Avalanche. The quintessential player whose absence from the lineup isn’t always glaring but whose return to the lineup always offers a boost.
Previous pick: Mirco Mueller, D
Redraft pick: Tyler Bertuzzi, LW (58th overall, Red Wings)
Bertuzzi has proven to be a reliable point-producing middle-six winger for the Red Wings and now the Bruins. His 30-goal season might end up being anomalous in the long run, but he’s a good passer whose hustle draws a lot of penalties. He’d certainly move from the second to the first round in a redraft. (Sidenote: While we’ll always appreciate irony, we’re still upset that a guy named “Mirco Mueller” was actually 6-foot-3.)
Previous pick: Kerby Rychel, LW
Redraft pick: Ryan Pulock, D (15th overall, Islanders)
This was a tough call between Pulock and Nikita Zadorov, who are probably the two best defensemen left on the board. Pulock is a top-pairing guy whose all-around game gets him selected here, even if his offense hasn’t been quite up to standards in the last couple of Islanders campaigns.
Previous pick: Anthony Mantha, LW
Redraft pick: Valeri Nichushkin, RW (10th overall, Stars)
It’s been a wild ride for Nichushkin since 2013. After a strong rookie season, the rest of his time in Dallas was seen as a disappointment by many — except for the analytics community, which saw something there in the Russian winger that defied what the traditional stats were saying. He signed with the Avalanche — and it’s no coincidence they’re a data-driven front office — and blossomed into a great defensive forward that’s become a point-per-game player for the defending Cup champs.
Previous pick: Frederik Gauthier, C
Redraft pick: Max Domi, C (12th overall, Coyotes)
Domi is actually the eighth highest scoring player from the Class of 2013 but only really had one banger of a season: 28 goals and 72 points with the 2019-20 Canadiens. He’s now on his fifth team in four seasons after being traded from Chicago to Dallas. Some of that is circumstance, but some of that is also Domi having settled into a depth forward role on competitive teams. That’s a solid NHL career, but maybe not the stuff of 12th overall picks. For the record: There is zero chance the Leafs don’t draft a Domi if he’s available in this draft. Zero.
Previous pick: Emile Poirier, LW
Redraft pick: Anthony Duclair, LW (80th overall, Rangers)
Poirier would play the second fewest NHL games of any 2013 first-round pick. Here, the Flames land a talented scoring winger in Duclair, who seems to have finally found a home with the Panthers. He hit a career high with 31 goals last season.
Previous pick: Andre Burakovsky, LW
Redraft pick: Nikita Zadorov, D (16th overall, Sabres)
Zadorov is an interesting one. You could make the argument that 550 games as a physical defenseman playing around 17 minutes per game for most of his career might warrant the 16th overall pick that the Sabres spent on him. If properly deployed — see the 2021-22 Flames — he can be an effective blueliner. Overall, I was left wanting more from his career, but I understand if there are some fans (likely from Colorado) that see this placement as underrating the brutal beauty of Zadorov.
Previous pick: Hunter Shinkaruk, C
Redraft pick: Alexander Wennberg, C (14th overall, Blue Jackets)
Wennberg was drafted mid-round by the Blue Jackets in the hopes he could blossom into a top-flight center. He could never really find his groove as an offensive player — he never hit 60 points in a season and is still under 300 points in his career. But if you told the Canucks at No. 24 that the guy they picked would play 615 games in the NHL, they take that every time. Especially because the guy they did pick, Shinkaruk, played just 15 NHL games.
Previous pick: Michael McCarron, RW
Redraft pick: Andrew Copp, C (104th overall, Jets)
The last three seasons have taken Copp from a versatile forward to a scoring threat in the lineup, with a breakout offensive season that made him a trade deadline target for the Rangers. He hasn’t quite hit his mark yet in Detroit, however.
Previous pick: Shea Theodore, D
Redraft pick: Jonathan Drouin, LW/C (3rd overall, Lightning)
If you remember the 2013 NHL draft, then you’ve been waiting for this player in the redraft. Drouin was a supremely talented forward out of the QMJHL, who looked like he would be a building block for the Lightning. He had a breakout campaign in 2016-17 with 21 goals, but the Bolts decided to sell high on him to acquire Mikhail Sergachev from Montreal. Drouin has 274 points in 468 career games. He hit the 50-point mark twice. While he’s missed considerable time to injuries and personal issues, Drouin still produces at a 0.54 points-per-game average. There’s no question he’s an example of unfulfilled potential. There’s no chance he’s a lottery pick in hindsight. But he’s only 27. There’s more left in his hockey journey. At least we hope so.
Previous pick: Marko Dano, C
Redraft pick: Tristan Jarry, G (44th overall, Penguins)
Jarry wasn’t the first goalie selected in 2013 — that would be Zach Fucale at No. 36 by Montreal — but he’s clearly the second best goalie from the class behind Saros. There are nights when it looks like Jarry should be higher than this, and then there are nights (and playoff series) when 44th overall feels about right. Still, a career .915 save percentage and a 2.62 goals-against average are solid numbers. The Jackets would certainly take that.
Previous pick: Morgan Klimchuk, LW
Redraft pick: Oliver Bjorkstrand, RW (89th overall, Blue Jackets)
The date: Feb. 19, 2018. That’s when Morgan Klimchuk played 7:25 for the Flames and avoided becoming the only player in the Class of 2013’s first round never to have appeared in the NHL. Bjorkstrand had his best season in 2021-22 with 28 goals. His points averages are down slightly with the Seattle Kraken, but he’s grown into a very solid two-way winger.
Previous pick: Jason Dickinson, C
Redraft pick: Anthony Mantha, RW (20th overall, Red Wings)
Mantha put up some strong goal-scoring seasons for Detroit from 2017-20, which was enough for the Capitals to aggressively pursue the 6-foot-5 forward in a trade that included a first-round pick and Jakub Vrana. He has 22 goals in 108 games with the Capitals, struggling to stay in the lineup due to injuries.
Previous pick: Ryan Hartman, RW
Redraft pick: Same
Statistically, Hartman (219 points in 489 games) hasn’t done as much as Mantha (249 points in 410 games). But Hartman’s intangibles and “glue guy” status for the Minnesota Wild could make him a more valuable player today, albeit one that might never bang out another 34-goal season like he had in 2021-22.
There were other players we considered, such as Bruins defenseman Connor Clifton, Avalanche forwards Artturi Lehkonen and J.T. Compher, Red Wings forward Dominik Kubalik, Oilers forward Mattias Janmark and Devils defenseman Ryan Graves. Keep plugging away, boys. The re-redraft is scheduled for 2033.
Jersey Foul of the week
From the land of the Penguins:
@wyshynski where is puckdaddy when you need it most? The masses think this is ok, the nhl is sharing this epic fail. I wish he wore a hoodie underneath #atrocity #puckdaddy4life #jerseyfoul pic.twitter.com/Twa1TO4ivc
— TheTosh🍁 (@TopperTosh) March 7, 2023
We once featured a Jersey Foul that honored Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin with “Mosby No. 871” on the back. This one takes that Tribute Jersey to the extreme, with a hyphenated two-line nameplate that this fan seems so happy to wear for his team’s stars. Memo to our friends in Edmonton: Please don’t get any ideas.
Video of the week
This is the good stuff. #canucks pic.twitter.com/KABEJLlai4
— Wyatt Arndt (@TheStanchion) March 5, 2023
From the Canucks’ Jumbotron comes one of the sickest burns on the Toronto Maple Leafs that we’ve ever seen, and it was delivered by a child!
Winners and losers of the week
Winners: Houston and Atlanta
We’re not sure how all this NHL expansion talk started — although we have our suspicions — it’s undeniable that those potentially seeking teams for Houston and Atlanta have been given early front-runner status in the eyes of fans.
The NHL swears expansion isn’t looming. But it’s hard to imagine that much money being on the table, and even more after the Ottawa Senators‘ selling price, and the owners not wanting to snatch it if the expansion markets make sense. Houston does. As we’ll talk about on The Drop this week, two-time loser Atlanta does, too.
Loser: Quebec City
Another round of expansion buzz, another round of several American cities getting pushed ahead of the former home of the Nordiques. To state the obvious: Expansion is meant to create new fans and fresh, considerable revenue streams. Quebec City, for all its fervent fans and history, doesn’t meet that criterion for the NHL.
Winner: Shooting your shot
Promposal at the Tourney?
Yes ✅ #TheTourney23 pic.twitter.com/lxPem9CY75
— Minnesota Hockey (@MinnyHockey) March 8, 2023
Congrats to this Minnesota high school hockey player for getting his game introduction prom-posal accepted by his date. That she accepted on a hockey stick is the most Minnesota thing imaginable. Well, outside of his hockey hair.
Loser: Deadline Day
As the dust settles on the NHL trade deadline, we’re all trying to figure out why so much action happened before March 3. Was it the Bo Horvat trade starting the market early? Trades happening sooner due to the necessity of third-party teams to retain salary, and making sure of their availability? Or as Coyotes GM Bill Armstrong joked: Perhaps it was intentional sabotage by team management to make Canadian television’s deadline shows super boring?
The trade market this season was incredible. Deadline Day itself, a bit of a dud. Trend or outlier?
Winner/Loser: Tony DeAngelo
The Philadelphia Flyers defenseman received a two-game suspension this week for spearing. That the target of his spear was Corey Perry of the Tampa Bay Lightning resulted in Hockey Twitter being the most morally conflicted it has ever been about the actions of Tony DeAngelo.
Puck headlines
Watch The Drop
From a basement in Bristol, Arda and I break down some NHL trade deadline winners and losers. But mostly losers. Enjoy!