NHL Draft: Evaluating Each Team’s 2012 Draft Class

Best And Worst Draft Performances

In 2010, the Minnesota Wild dominated the draft, having by far the best class that year. However, they were trumped by the even more dominant Tampa Bay Lightning class in 2011. As for the worst drafts, the Vancouver Canucks finished at the bottom in both of the prior drafts. In total, they selected 11 players who combined for eight career points. Great work Vancouver!

But which team would hold the best numbers this time around? Who will take over Vancouver’s throne for drafting the worst group of players in 2012? Using the same stats, plus an additional one for games played, that I have used, we can determine which team had the strongest and weakest draft class in 2012.

First up, games played. The San Jose Sharks led the way with a 21.5 GP/S/P total. Their 6 selections combined for 901 career games played. Meanwhile, the Wild had a 27.5 GP/S/P in 2010 and the Lightning had a 29.7 GP/S/P total. That’s a wide margin between the Sharks and the Lightning, and it shows that even the best group of selections in 2012 wasn’t even near good enough to beat out the 2011 Lightning class.

As for the worst class in 2012, in terms of GP/S/P, that title belongs to the Colorado Avalanche. The Avalanche recorded a 2.3 GP/S/P, which wound up being stronger than previous weak classes for Vancouver and Washington, as Vancouver in 2010 had a 0.02 GP/S/P and Washington in 2011, they had a 1.9 GP/S/P.

Next, let’s look at goals. The Sharks yet again finish atop the draft in 2012 in goals, while Minnesota did so in 2010 and the Lightning did so in 2011. But how would they match-up against the Wild and Lightning?

The Sharks 6 selections combined for 170 career goals in their career. That leads to them securing a 4 G/S/P total, while the 2010 Wild class put up a 5.4 G/S/P and the 2011 Lightning class potted a 7.5 G/S/P. Yet again, the Sharks were blown out of the water by the two previous drafts.

However, the Sharks did take up 9.3% of the league total G/S/P, for what that’s worth. As for the lowest G/S/P, that belongs to the New York Islanders, whose 7 selections combined for a whopping 11 career goals.

That led to a 0.22 G/S/P. Vancouver recorded a 0 G/S/P total (2010) and a 0.1 G/S/P (2011). That being said, the Islanders don’t have the weakest draft class; that title still belongs to the lowly Canucks.

Now it’s time for the assists. The Toronto Maple Leafs had led all teams for A/S/P, as their 6 selections combined for a career total of 252 assists. That gave them a 6 A/S/P after Minnesota led with 8.3 A/S/P in 2010 and the Lightning led with 12.4 A/S/P.

Both those totals remain far-and-away better than the 2012 total for Toronto. The Leafs did makeup 7.7% of the league total, which is a decent number. As for the worst team, that title belongs to the Avalanche. Their 5 selections combined for 18 assists, which wound up awarding them a league-worst 0.5 A/S/P. That total was still stronger than the Canucks 2010 (0) and 2011 (0.1) totals.

Finally, it’s time to look at points. The Maple Leafs actually finished atop the league for P/S/P in the 2012 draft. Their 6 selections have combined for a career total of 347 points. That leads to the 8.3 P/S/P total, which ranks first in 2012, but dead-last behind the 2010 Wild class (13.7 P/S/P) and 2011 Lightning class (19.9 P/S/P).

That leads the Leafs to make up 6.8% of the 2012 class total. As for the worst P/S/P in 2012, it belongs to the Avalanche. Their 5 selections have combined for a career total of 26 points. That helped them to a grand 0.7 P/S/P. That total is surprisingly still stronger than the previous low totals set by Vancouver in 2010 (0) and 2011 (0.2).

It’s safe to say that the 2012 draft is the worst draft thus far in my research, while 2011 remains on top.