An expert starts over Alexis Lafreniere's draft and there are surprises including a new 1st overall pick
One of the favorite exercises of some fans is to look back at a past draft and try to start over, to see what the new order would be if the same players were to be drafted today.
Often, there are several nice surprises (draft steals) and you also realize that some players were picked too early.
Let's try the exercise here with the 2020 draft, the one of Alexis Lafreniere, a draft that is still recent but whose order would certainly be changed if we had to do it again as of today.
As you know, New York Rangers forward and first overall pick in the 2020 draft, Alexis Lafreniere, has not necessarily produced up to expectations while players like Tim Stutzle (60 points in 2021-22) and Lucas Raymond (57 points in 2021-22) have been surprising.
As for Lafreniere, he had 21 points in 2020-2021 and 31 points in 2021-2022.
So here's what the new top-10 in this draft might look like. We take our cues from Bleacher Report expert Lyle Richardson:
1 - New York Rangers: Tim Stützle (drafted 3rd by the Sens)
2- Los Angeles Kings: Alexis Lafreniere (drafted 1st by the Rangers)
3 - Ottawa Senators: Lucas Raymond (drafted 4th by Detroit)
4 - Detroit Red Wings : Seth Jarvis (drafted 13th by the Hurricanes)
5 - Ottawa Senators: Anton Lundell (drafted 12th by the Panthers)
6 - Anaheim Ducks: Cole Perfetti (drafted 10th by the Jets)
7 - New Jersey Devils: Alexander Holtz (drafted 7th by the Devils)
8 - Buffalo Sabres: Jamie Drysdale (drafted 6th by the Ducks)
9 - Minnesota Wild: Quinton Byfield (drafted 2nd by the Kings)
10 - Winnipeg Jets: Jake Sanderson (drafted 5th by the Sens)
Honorable mention to Dawson Mercer.
Kaiden Guhle, drafted 16th by the CH, could also eventually move up in this ranking, during his career. Note that Justin Barron was also drafted 25th in this draft.
Again, this is an interesting exercise, but difficult to do and never unanimous, especially because we are talking about players who are still so young.
You have to be careful before you drop huge talents like Lafrenière or Byfield.
What would you change about this ranking?
Inspiration: Bleacherreport.com
| POLL | ||
Which one do you think will have a more successful career? | ||
| Tim St�tzle | 78 | 46.4 % |
| Alexis Lafreni�re | 35 | 20.8 % |
| Lucas Raymond | 32 | 19 % |
| Quinton Byfield | 23 | 13.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
