NHL Draft: Worst 1st-round pick in franchise history: Montreal Canadiens, Terry Ryan 1995 NHL Draft
There are some interesting draft picks in the history of the Montreal Canadiens, but there is no missed opportunity like the Habs had in 1995. They had a top-ten pick, and the Canadiens were taking a winger. They took one who eventually won championships for his league and won multiple gold medals with Team Canada. Unfortunately for the Canadiens, Terry Ryan was one of the greats at the game of ball hockey, not ice hockey.
Ryan only played eight NHL games with the Canadiens scattered over three seasons. He was clearly a draft bust, and injuries ruined any chance he’d have to make his career any better. An ankle injury was so bad that it ended his ice hockey career in 2003, just six years after he was drafted.
It’s unfortunately what happened to Ryan. He was destined to be really good, but it appears injuries really sidelined him at every level. Someone who wasn’t marred by injury, who ended up putting up a Hall of Fame career and a guy who went after Ryan was former Flames superstar Jarome Iginla. Imagine Iginla playing in Montreal for the majority of his career?
It’s clear that Iginla’s career would have been much better if he played for the Canadiens and the Canadiens stretch from the 90s to mid-2000s would have been much better. They would be better for each other because Iginla would have been surrounded by talent, unlike what he was working with in Calgary. From 1997 to 2004, the Canadiens missed the playoffs four times and they never made it past the second round. Iginla would have changed that by himself.