It wouldn't be a classic NHL draft without some top tier busts coming out of the first round, but the 2018 class took that a bit to seriously, now making their case as one of the worst draft classes in NHL history. Big names like Quinn Hughes, Brady Tkachuk, and Rasmus Dahlin were all produced by this draft class, however that list end pretty quickly, and here is some of the reasons why the 2018 NHL draft is probably one of the worst ever.
The first round
The first round of the draft had it's fair share of talent, but had a much larger majority of players who would never really make the NHL cut, and players that history will soon forget. Players like Filip Zadina, Adam Boqvist, Vitali Kravtsov, and Ty Smith are just some of the notable first round picks taken in the 2018 draft, and the list can only continue.
Rasmus Dahlin, Quinn Hughes, Andrei Svechnikov, Jesper Kotkaniemi, Brady Tkachuk, and Joel Farabee are the only players to have played more than 400 games in the NHL, and only seven have managed to score 200 or more points. Not to mention six of the 32 first round picks didn't manage to even play 100 NHL games -- for example, the 21st overall pick Ryan Merkley only playing one season in San Jose.
But, it isn't all down to the statistics. The fact that the majority of those first round picks were nationally understood to be NHL talent, and most of the top 15 being on the cusp of already being NHL starters, many have barely even been around long enough to be remembered, and the overall value of the 2018 first round was something we haven't seen since. The word bust gets thrown around a lot, but his first round is much more than that. Little panned out, three never even appeared in the NHL, and the first round was only the tip of the iceberg to how bad this draft really was.
The Red Wings trifecta of busts
Over the last couple of seasons, the Detroit Red Wings haven't exactly been so savvy with their drafting, but 2018 is a memory they so desperately want to forget. Picking 6th, 30th, 33rd, and 36th in the draft, the names drawn from the hat were Filip Zadina who now plays in Switzerland after only playing 190 games for the Red Wings, scoring only 68 points in his time with Detroit; Joe Veleno, an NHL bottom six forward who scored 74 points for the Red Wings, now as a healthy scratch for Montreal; Jonathan Berggren, the final hope for the Red Wings, another bottom six forward but a consistent 20-point scorer; and Jared McIsaac, a defenseman currently over in Czechia, never appearing in a single NHL game.
It is safe to say the Red Wings will want to forget their 2018 draft class, however without Detroit's major group of busts, this class wouldn't have been as bad as it looked. But it turned out to be two first rounders and two early second rounders linking up for a total of 200 total points in Detroit, almost half the points Quinn Hughes has accumulated on his own --the player they passed on to pick Filip Zadina.
Only 16 100-plus point scorers
Something which often defines a draft, and how good it really panned out is how successful individual players perform on their stat lines, in this case, the 2018 class really disappointed. Sure Quinn Hughes and Brady Tkachuk have already secured 400-plus career points, however having only 16 total players with over 100 points since 2018 is poor, and most came from deep out of the first round.
Yegor Sharangovich who is the eighth-highest point scorer in the class was drafted 141st overall, Phillip Kurashev being the 13th-highest point scorer at 120th overall, and Sean Durzi, a journeyman defenseman who was a second round pick is the 15th-highest scorer, really puts in perspective how bad that class has been as scorers.
Their lifeline: The top 5
The only positive to come out of the 2018 draft was the top five. Usually the top five in the draft can vary: two busts and a franchise player, two elite players and a bust, or an elite player and two average players, the list goes on, however compared to future years and previous years, theirs isn't so bad. The top five being Rasmus Dahlin, Andrei Svechnikov, Jesper Kotkaniemi, Brady Tkachuk, and Barrett Hayton isn't the worst turnout, especially compared to classes such as the 2019 top five of Jack Hughes, Kappo Kakko, Kirby Dach, Bowen Byram, and Alex Turcotte. Even though the class as a whole doesn't compare to any other class regardless of opposing top fives, the 2018 top five didn't completely go down the drain, but it will still always disappoint.
The draft itself really didn't look bad on paper if you see some of the names, however the reality of the first round, the reality of how well they turned out, and the reality of some of the names never even reaching the NHL really speaks loud about how bad it truly is. A few all-stars, but a lot of busts, will there ever be a worse class than this?