The 2010 NHL Draft had a strong class, including Tyler Seguin. How did the 2011 NHL Draft stack up against the 2010 draft?
In all, there were 211 players selected in the 2011 NHL Draft (209 selections in 2010). Those 211 selections combined to play in 21,692 games out of a possible 131,242 games, ultimately meaning that this class combined to play in 16.5% of all eligible games due to injury, development in junior or AHL leagues and inability to compete at the NHL level. The 2010 class played just 15% of their possible games.
The best player to come out of the 2011 draft was the 58th overall selection for the Tampa Bay Lightning, Nikita Kucherov. Meanwhile, the first overall selection, held for the second straight year by the Edmonton Oilers, was used to select Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who ranks fourth in this draft in career points.
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Kucherov has recorded 188 goals and 274 for 462 points in 447 games (the only draft pick with over a point per game average in this class). Meanwhile, Nugent-Hopkins has recorded 147 goals and 235 assists for 382 points in 539 games.
Goals, assists, and points are also important to note when reviewing and comparing draft classes. Combined, the 211 players selected in 2011, scored 3,886 goals.
To compare 2010 and 2011, what I did was take the total number of goals (3,886, in this case) and divide that by the number of players selected (211), then divide that by the eligible number of seasons that those players could have played in (8).
That brings us to what I call the number of goals scored per season per player, or G/S/P. The 2011 draft class recorded a G/S/P of 2.3 (2010 draft class had a G/S/P of 2).
As for assists that players recorded, the 2011 draft class combined for 5,567 assists. That means that, per season, the 211 players selected recorded an A/S/P of 3.3 (2010 produced a 3 A/S/P rate). Yet again, the 2011 draft class out-produced the 2010 draft class.
That means that the 211 players selected in the 2011 NHL draft also did better putting up total points, compared to 2010. That statement is backed up with the P/S/P (Points per season, per player) numbers put up by the 2011 class (5.6 P/S/P) than that of 2010 (5 P/S/P).