NHL Draft: Worst first-round draft pick in each team’s history

NHL Draft: Worst 1st-round pick in franchise history: Washington Capitals, Alexander Volchkov 1996 NHL Draft

The Washington Capitals were ecstatic. Byron Dafoe asked the Washington Capitals for a trade, and he wanted to go to the Los Angeles Kings. It took a few months, but the Capitals finally made a deal with LA, and it got them the fourth-overall pick in the 1996 NHL Draft. They had to add Dimitri Khristich to the deal to make it happen, but it was a small price to pay to get the kind of talent that comes in the top five.

The Capitals did not make the best decision with their newly-found asset. They took Alexander Volchkov, who came over from Russia and was already contributing in the OHL for the Barrie Colts.

Honestly, this was a failure in scouting the draft as a whole. The 1996 NHL Draft was awful. They should have drafted for future picks. If they traded for the Kings’ 1997 first-round pick, they could have selected Olli Jokinen, Roberto Luongo, or Marian Hossa. Here, their best bet in the first round was Dainius Zubrus.

This was still a bad pick. Volchkov only played three games in the NHL as a fourth-overall pick. There were options there that at least could have contributed like Derek Morris, Marco Sturm, and Daniel Briere. Those aren’t franchise changers, but the Capitals would have been happy taking them with the fourth pick in this draft. If we want to get real deep, they should have taken current Capitals defenseman Zdeno Chara who went in the third round. Either way, this pick will go down in history as a terrible trade and a terrible pick.